The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices

#731 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew — 3 Sep 2026
Sometimes the best conversations are the ones that don’t go according to plan.
Tonight’s FireSide Chat was originally scheduled to feature Trunnis Goggins of the 4Ps Podcast, but a delayed flight kept Trunnis from joining us. We heard from him during the show, and we’ll be getting him rescheduled for a future FireSide Chat.
Instead, AJ Cox, Mike McNany, and Mark O’Loughlin did what the FireSide Chat crew does best—sat down, talked, laughed, and let the conversation go wherever it needed to go.
The crew talked about everything from the heat in Georgia and the price of gas in California to life aboard ship and what Marines actually do during long deployments at sea. Mark shared his experience from more than four years of sea time, including the constant training, physical fitness, weapons maintenance, cross-training, and the challenge of keeping Marines engaged during extended time aboard ship.
The conversation also turned toward life after the military, including work-life balance, continuing your education, using the GI Bill, making yourself more marketable in the civilian workforce, and continuing to grow after taking off the uniform.
AJ also previewed some things coming up on The Lost Art Project, including the next FireSide Chat discussion on brotherhood and sisterhood after military service and the upcoming Jarhead Jabber Q&A.
And, as always, there was plenty of good-natured trash talk and laughter mixed in along the way.
Mike closed the evening with a simple but powerful thought on teamwork:
“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
That pretty well summed up the night. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and whether we’re serving in uniform or navigating life afterward, we’re better when we have good people around us.
On the show: 🎙️ Andrew “AJ” Cox — Host 🎙️ Mike McNany — FireSide Chat Crew 🎙️ Mark O’Loughlin — FireSide Chat Crew
The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices Collect • Preserve • Educate • Inspire Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.

🎙️ EPISODE #730 — KAREN OAKES | U.S. MARINE CORPS VETERAN
In this episode of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices, host Andrew “AJ” Cox sits down with Marine Corps Veteran Karen Oakes for a candid story about service, perseverance, difficult chapters after the uniform, and the lasting impact of becoming a Marine.
Karen was born in San Diego and later grew up in the small community of Anacortes, Washington. With a father who had served as a Marine, she ultimately chose the Marine Corps herself and enlisted in 1986. Six months after first approaching her recruiter—after recovering from ankle surgery—she shipped off to recruit training at Parris Island.
After earning the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, Karen entered the communications field and trained at Twenty-Nine Palms before receiving orders to Okinawa. Her service came during a period when women in the Marine Corps were continuing to break barriers and establish themselves in traditionally male-dominated environments.
Karen speaks openly about some of the treatment she experienced as a female Marine, the challenges she encountered overseas and later at MCAS El Toro, and the toll those experiences took on her. Eventually she was moved to the squadron headquarters, where she worked directly in support of the command.
By the end of her active-duty service, the Marine Corps was trying hard to keep her. Opportunities including embassy duty and Marine One were discussed, but Karen ultimately chose to leave active duty and return to Washington.
Her story did not become easier after taking off the uniform.
Karen continued serving through the Reserve and National Guard while building a civilian life and raising a family. She shares an extremely personal account of spending seventeen years in an abusive and controlling marriage, eventually reaching the point where law enforcement became involved and she fought her way through divorce and a new beginning.
Years later, Karen reconnected with her high school sweetheart—a Navy Veteran—and today they have been married for more than eleven years.
Karen now owns Peninsula Signatures, a mobile notary business serving her Western Washington community. She also continues the Veteran-helping-Veteran mentality: if a Veteran in her area needs something notarized, she offers to do it free of charge.
When asked about her proudest military accomplishment, Karen’s answer was simple:
🇺🇸 Earning her Eagle, Globe and Anchor.
And knowing everything she knows today, would she still become a Marine?
“Abso-frickin-lutely.”
Karen’s story is one of a generation of female Marines who served during a changing era of the Corps. They endured challenges, pushed through barriers, and helped pave the way for the Marines who followed them.
🎙️ Host: Andrew “AJ” Cox🇺🇸 Guest: Karen Oakes — U.S. Marine Corps Veteran📍 Business: Peninsula Signatures — Mobile Notary Services
The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ VoicesPreserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
#VeteransVoices #MarineCorps #USMC #WomenMarines #MarineVeteran #VeteranStories #MilitaryHistory #Veterans #SemperFi #TheLostArtProject

FireSide Chat w/ the Crew — Episode 729
What Does Service Look Like After the Uniform?
Tonight’s FireSide Chat w/ the Crew tackled a question that hits home for a lot of Veterans: Does your service really end when the uniform comes off?
Joining the discussion were Andrew “AJ” Cox, Chris Campbell, Jess Kindelspire, and Vick Ney.
The Crew talked about how military service becomes part of who we are and how that desire to serve often follows us long after active duty. Service after the military can look completely different—it may mean mentoring the next generation, serving your community, raising a family, joining a Veteran organization, teaching, volunteering, preserving history, or simply being there for another Veteran.
The conversation explored finding a new mission and sense of purpose, how that mission changes depending on where you are in life, and why Veterans can continue making a difference without trying to recreate their time in uniform.
The Crew also discussed Veteran organizations, preserving history, connecting generations of Veterans, leadership, embracing new ideas, and the importance of organizations continuing to evolve rather than becoming stagnant.
As always, there were plenty of laughs, stories, rabbit holes, and the completely unscripted conversation that makes FireSide Chat w/ the Crew what it is.
The uniform may come off. The mission may change. But the opportunity to serve never really goes away.
🔥 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew🎙️ Episode 729📅 30 August 2026
Featuring:Andrew “AJ” CoxChris CampbellJess KindelspireVick Ney
The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ VoicesPreserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
#VeteransVoices #FireSideChat #Veterans #Military #LifeAfterService #VeteranCommunity #Purpose #TheLostArtProject

🎙️ EPISODE #728 — FIRESIDE CHAT W/ THE CREW & SPECIAL GUEST DR. CHARLES RUSSO
What happens when technology makes information easier to access—but people stop doing the hard work of thinking for themselves?
Dr. Charles M. Russo, retired U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist, former federal intelligence analyst, educator, author, and speaker, returned to the FireSide Chat for a wide-ranging conversation with host Andrew “AJ” Cox and Crew member Mark O’Loughlin.
The discussion quickly moved beyond Charles’ military and intelligence background and into something affecting nearly every part of society: critical thinking.
Charles discusses his philosophy of “precision and curiosity”—the need to think carefully, remain curious, ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and actually investigate information rather than simply accepting what appears on a screen.
The conversation explores the growing influence of artificial intelligence, including both its tremendous potential and the danger of what Charles describes as “cognitive surrender”—allowing technology to replace human judgment instead of using it as a tool to strengthen our work.
AJ, Charles, and Mark also dig into education, reading, leadership, intelligence analysis, social media, misinformation, analytical integrity, and the importance of getting back to the fundamentals. Mark sums up much of the conversation with a simple principle: “brilliance in the basics.”
Charles also discusses his continued writing and research, including several books currently moving toward publication. His work examines critical thinking, philosophy, intelligence analysis, analytical integrity, leadership, and the importance of keeping political ideology separate from professional intelligence analysis.
For young service members and future leaders, his advice is refreshingly simple: read. Read books. Take notes. Write down your thoughts. Question what you are being told. Develop your own perspective. The technology will continue to change, but the ability to think, reason, communicate, and make sound decisions remains essential.
This episode is much more than a conversation about intelligence. It is a discussion about how we think—and what happens when we stop.
🎙️ Participants:• Andrew “AJ” Cox — Host/Founder, The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices• Dr. Charles M. Russo — Special Guest, U.S. Navy Veteran, former federal intelligence analyst, educator & author• Mark O’Loughlin — FireSide Chat Crew
🇺🇸 The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ VoicesPreserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
#VeteransVoices #FireSideChat #USNavy #CriticalThinking #ArtificialIntelligence #Leadership #Intelligence #Veterans #Military #VeteranStories

🇺🇸 VETERAN STORY — TED SOSNICKI | U.S. NAVY VETERAN 🇺🇸
Some Veteran stories are about where someone served. Others show just how far a lifetime of service can take one person.
In this episode of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices, Historical Archivist Dee Galvin sits down with U.S. Navy Veteran Ted Sosnicki for Part One of an incredible story spanning two decades of Naval service, extensive technical training, deployments around the world, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and friendships that lasted long after the uniform came off.
For Dee, this interview is also deeply personal.
Ted was the best friend of Dee’s late husband, Dana Bruce Galvin, a Marine whose memory continues to inspire Dee’s work as a Historical Archivist. Throughout their conversation, stories of Dana provide a powerful reminder that some of the greatest things Veterans carry away from their service are the friendships and bonds forged along the way.
Ted grew up in Arizona in a military family with an early fascination for ships, aircraft and military history. When it came time to choose his own path, the decision ultimately came down to the Marine Corps or Navy. A coin flip helped settle it — and the Navy won.
Ted entered Navy boot camp in San Diego in 1980 and began what became an unusually diverse career. His training included numerous aircraft platforms as well as shipboard firefighting, damage control, aircrew, special warfare, military training instructor duties, CBR/special weapons training and much more.
His assignments and deployments took him around the world aboard numerous ships and to locations throughout Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Puerto Rico, Guam, Guantanamo Bay and beyond. He also served in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Ted’s knowledge and experience became so extensive that when he reached 20 years and submitted his retirement paperwork, he recalls the Navy taking months to decide whether it was willing to let him go.
And there is much more to his story.
This episode concludes with Ted and Dee realizing that nearly two hours isn't enough. Part Two will continue Ted's story, including more about life after service, family, friendship and the experiences that followed his Navy career.
🎙️ Guest: Ted Sosnicki — U.S. Navy Veteran🎙️ Historical Archivist/Interviewer: Dee Galvin — The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices❤️ In Memory of: Dana Bruce Galvin
Every Veteran carries a piece of our nation's history. Our mission is to make sure those stories aren't lost when the storyteller is gone.
The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ VoicesPreserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.

🎙️ Veteran Story: Michael “Mikey” Brehm — U.S. Navy Veteran
What begins as a conversation between two military musicians who have not seen one another in nearly a decade becomes an honest, funny, and deeply personal look at service, family, ambition, burnout, and knowing when life is calling you in a new direction.
Texas native Michael Brehm grew up playing sports and music before discovering jazz trumpet and earning a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies from Texas State University. After performing aboard cruise ships, meeting his wife, Jamie, and temporarily settling in Canada, Michael began searching for a stable way to continue pursuing music while building a future for his family. That search eventually led him to the U.S. Navy Music Program.
Michael shares his experiences at Navy boot camp, attending the Armed Forces School of Music, serving with Navy Band Northwest, advancing quickly to E-5, and learning that military musicians do far more than perform. Through ceremonies, public events, and personal interactions, he discovered how music can represent service, honor sacrifice, and reach people in ways words sometimes cannot.
One of his proudest moments came during boot camp graduation, when he performed a trumpet solo in “America the Beautiful.” Afterward, an intimidating instructor stopped him to explain how deeply the performance had affected him. For Michael, that moment revealed the true purpose behind wearing the uniform and making music in service to others.
His journey also included leadership responsibilities, family pressures, injuries, professional frustration, counseling, and the difficult lesson that constantly saying “yes” can eventually lead to burnout. Through the Navy’s Career Intermission Program and the GI Bill, Michael earned a master’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory before returning to service at Navy Band Northeast in Newport.
When Jamie received an opportunity to pursue her dream career, Michael chose family and a new future over another enlistment. Now living in Connecticut with their four children, he is preparing to pursue an MBA and help build the next chapter of their family’s life.
Throughout the episode, Michael reflects honestly on both the good and difficult parts of military service, the leaders who shaped him, unforgettable performances, embarrassing moments, and the lasting benefits of taking life as it comes.
His words of wisdom are simple but powerful: Fear regret more than risk. The things you are most afraid to pursue may be the very things you should run toward.
Episode Participants
🎙️ Andrew “AJ” Cox — Host, Founder and Executive Director of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices; retired U.S. Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant and military musician
🎺 Michael “Mikey” Brehm — Guest; U.S. Navy veteran, trumpet player, military musician, husband, father, and graduate of the New England Conservatory
Every veteran’s experience is part of our shared history. By recording these stories in the veteran’s own words, we preserve not only where they served, but who they became because of that service.
🌐 thelostartprojectveteransvoices.org
Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.

Episode #725 — Kasey Slaton | U.S. Air Force Veteran
For more than 21 years, Kasey Slaton called the United States Air Force home. What began as a 19-year-old becoming the first person in her immediate family to join the military grew into a career that took her around the world, built lifelong friendships, and ultimately shaped the woman, wife, mother, and veteran she is today.
Kasey's journey even began with an unexpected twist—arriving at basic training a day late and finding herself assigned to a band flight, despite never having played an instrument! Handed a pair of cymbals and told they always needed a cymbal player, she embraced the experience and discovered an early lesson that would follow her throughout her career: sometimes the unexpected opportunities become the most memorable.
Kasey went on to become an Air Force medic, training at Sheppard Air Force Base before completing hands-on hospital training at Offutt AFB. Her career would eventually take her to Randolph AFB, a deployment to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Kunsan Air Base in Korea, Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Turkey, Alaska, and beyond.
Throughout the conversation, Kasey shares what it was like serving as a woman in the Air Force, the strong female leadership and sisterhood she experienced, balancing military service with motherhood, and the relationships that have lasted long after leaving uniform.
After joining in May 2004, Kasey completed her Air Force career on September 30, 2025, with more than 21 years of service. She also talks candidly about how strange it felt to suddenly become a civilian after decades of military structure and how programs such as SkillBridge and the Seven Eagle Group helped prepare her for that transition.
One of the most meaningful moments comes when Kasey leaves a message directly to her children—Kenzie, Maddox, Jack, Eliana, and Asher—creating exactly the kind of family history The Lost Art Project was created to preserve.
This episode isn't simply about where Kasey served. It's about the people, experiences, family, camaraderie, service, and memories collected over more than two decades in uniform.
🎙️ The Lost Art Project: Veterans' Voices 🇺🇸 Episode #725 — Kasey Slaton, U.S. Air Force Veteran
🌐 thelostartprojectveteransvoices.org
Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
 

🔥 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew — Episode #724
What happens when you put a group of Veterans together, give them an open microphone, and let the conversation go wherever it needs to go? You get a FireSide Chat.
Episode #724 of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices brought the crew back together for an evening filled with humor, military memories, leadership lessons, changing warfare, AI, drones, and a serious discussion about whether joining the military is still a good decision for today's young men and women.
The night began on a personal note as the crew celebrated Jess Kindelspire's birthday. Jess reflected on a surprise party that brought friends together from across the country and shared how humbled he was by the people who had traveled to celebrate with him.
From there, the conversation moved through the kind of stories only Veterans can tell—from weather and cigars to memories from deployments and military life—before turning toward leadership and today's military.
When a viewer asked what the crew thought about a young person joining the Army today, the answer sparked one of the strongest conversations of the evening. The crew discussed the importance of small-unit leadership, trusting NCOs, giving junior leaders responsibility, developing the people beneath you, and how good leaders create an environment where their people can rise to the occasion.
The discussion then turned toward the changing battlefield. AI, drones and new technologies may change the tools of warfare, but the crew agreed that the fundamentals remain: leadership, initiative, decision-making, adaptability and brilliance in the basics.
Technology changes. People still matter.
The evening wrapped up with Words of Wisdom, Mark's Humdinger, a book recommendation from Jess, and the crew's reminder that history shows Americans have faced difficult and divided times before—and found ways to overcome them.
🎙️ Host: AJ Cox — Founder/Executive Director, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran🔥 Crew: Jess Kindelspire, Mike McNany, Mark O'Loughlin & Vick Ney — Veterans bringing their experience, humor and leadership perspectives to the conversation.
These conversations are exactly why Veterans' voices matter. Beyond the battles and deployments are decades of experience, leadership, mistakes, friendships, lessons learned and wisdom worth passing to the next generation.
The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ VoicesCollect. Preserve. Educate. Inspire.
Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
 

🔥 FireSide Chat w/ the Crew — Supporting Today’s Service Members
The FireSide Chat crew is back together for another unscripted evening filled with military camaraderie, serious conversation, personal updates, history, sports, and the kind of humor that only veterans can truly appreciate.
AJ welcomes Jim Russell back following their first opportunity to meet in person at the Marine Corps League National Convention. Jim—the crew’s ALS warrior—demonstrates his new communication device and reminds everyone that an ALS diagnosis does not erase a person’s voice, humor, determination, or ability to make a difference. The crew also discusses upcoming Marine Corps League events in the Knoxville area, including the Marine Corps Mud Run on September 12.
The most important discussion of the evening centers on the sailors serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the criticism directed toward today’s service members by some within the veteran community. Jess challenges veterans to stop the generational hazing and recognize the realities facing those currently serving through long deployments, continuous operations, limited port calls, family separation, and changing threats.
The crew agrees that veterans must remember an important truth: once we leave the military, we become alumni. Our experience still matters, but our responsibility should be to mentor, encourage, and advocate—not publicly tear down the generation that followed us.
The conversation asks veterans to break the cycle. If today’s service members are struggling, they do not need to hear, “That’s what you signed up for.” They need the veteran community to listen, understand, and stand beside them.
Of course, it would not be a FireSide Chat without plenty of laughter. The crew also covers artificial intelligence, runaway robots, unusual sports ideas, football rivalries, Florida drivers, military travel stories, extreme desert heat, and the questionable decisions that somehow make perfect sense when veterans are together.
Jess closes his historical segment by recommending John Keegan’s Intelligence in War, explaining that technology and battlefields may change, but sound intelligence must always shape operations—not be altered to support a predetermined plan.
The crew’s final words of wisdom offer two powerful reminders:
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway
“You only fail when you do not try in the first place.”
Episode Participants
🎙️ Andrew “AJ” Cox — Host; Founder and Executive Director of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices
🔥 Aaron Davis — FireSide Chat crew member; veteran advocate and contributor
📚 Jess Kindelspire — FireSide Chat crew member; historical and military affairs contributor
💪 James “Jim” Russell — FireSide Chat crew member, veteran advocate, and ALS warrior
This episode is a reminder that service does not end when the uniform comes off. Veterans still have a responsibility to support those serving today, check on the people beside them, and use their experience to strengthen—not divide—the military community.
🌐 thelostartprojectveteransvoices.org
Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.
 

James Pennington | U.S. Army Veteran
What begins as the story of a young man from rural northwest Alabama becomes an incredible journey of service, medicine, faith, leadership, and caring for America’s warriors in some of their most difficult moments.
In this episode of The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices, AJ sits down with Army veteran James Pennington to preserve a military story spanning decades.
James grew up with military service already woven into his family. His grandfather served during World War II in the Pacific, and his father served during Vietnam. In 1984, James followed that tradition, entering the Army shortly after high school.
Originally hoping to become an 11B Infantryman with Airborne and Ranger options, the needs of the Army changed his direction. James became a medic, completed Airborne School, and served with the 82nd Airborne Division. He later transitioned into the National Guard, but another calling was beginning to take shape.
James remembered something his father had taught him years earlier: when you need help, go see the chaplain.
That lesson eventually helped lead James from caring for soldiers physically as a medic to caring for them spiritually and emotionally as an Army Chaplain.
His story takes listeners through service in the post-9/11 era, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, ministry in combat, work at Walter Reed, and the enormous responsibility of supporting service members carrying the physical and emotional consequences of war.
James also shares one of the most solemn responsibilities of his career—serving in mortuary affairs in Afghanistan, praying over fallen Americans, reading scripture, and helping ensure they were treated with dignity before their final journey home.
This conversation goes far beyond military assignments. It explores what it means to be present when someone is hurting, the burden carried by those who care for others, the realities of combat, and the importance of preserving these experiences.
James closes with a message that fits the mission of this project perfectly:
Veterans—tell your stories. And for those who haven't served—listen, and make the effort to understand.
🎙️ Guest: James Pennington — U.S. Army Veteran🎙️ Host: AJ Cox — The Lost Art Project: Veterans’ Voices
Every Veteran carries a piece of history. By preserving these firsthand accounts, we ensure those experiences remain available for families, educators, historians, researchers, and future generations.
Preserving Voices. Protecting Legacies.