Veterans’ Voices & The Malcores (Hour 2)

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.

Coming to Northeast Wisconsin live from the Civic Media Studios, this is Mino and the Mayor.

And here are your hosts, John Minow and Jim Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back.

Good night on the mayor here on a Wednesday morning special.

Thanks to Nick Slepsky, farmer's market cheese curry, Nick.

He will be in action this afternoon starting at three o'clock on Broadway Street, the very first farmer's market of the year.

And you know what?

We were talking about how nasty it was out there.

We just had two ladies walk in, Jessica and Jessica.

And they both, they're just wearing like tank tops and shorts.

And they're like, what are you talking about?

It's like

74 out here right now.

20 years in the military.

They're tough.

They're tough.

We're wimpy here.

And

Jessica's, I'm from Alaska.

I can handle this.

Hello, we're going to Jessica one and Jessica two.

Jessica Williams and Jessica George.

How you doing, ladies?

Doing great.

Thanks for having us on the show.

This is so

awesome.

It's the local combat veterans segment.

Veterans salute brought to you by the Olson legal group.

Well, go ahead, whoever wants to jump in first and let's talk a little bit about the wonderful things that you guys are doing for female veterans, which I think never get enough credit.

So whoever would like to jump in, you go right ahead and talk about the great things.

Great.

Yeah, we're really excited to serve.

the local community and help women veterans understand their commitment and their connection to each other and to the community.

So we do a lot of speaking.

The last couple of weeks ago we did a...

kind of a meet and greet question and answer situation with the Little Shoot High School, which was an incredible, incredible meeting.

And we got to meet some really great people and we reached out to a lot of women.

And we also have a focus in sort of development and leadership and helping women understand that they can make the world around them a better place.

And we also explain a lot of things about how veterans interact with their communities and what they can expect if they decide to join the military, especially when we talk to younger women.

Is that a little bit of your goal then?

Is a little bit of a recruitment?

Or is it more education?

No, no, it's just educational purposes.

We're not interested in trying to persuade anyone.

We just want to kind of share our stories, sort of the good, bad, and the ugly, and let people know what it was like being a female in the United States military, Air Force for me, Army for Jess.

You know, every time I speak, I always mention this.

I swear, every time we don't give the female...

Enlisted enough credit.

We just don't because when my little trips overseas They were outside the wire.

They're going into little villages in Baghdad They're working with the civilians in a way that the men could not And I saw it firsthand the women and the kids wanted nothing to do with the guys But as soon as the female Soldier walked in they would run up there armful of kids hugging and things like that It was and they got so much more information and doing it that way than the men could

Once you guys agree,

I would agree with that.

What do you think Jess?

Yes

I think it's a really important aspect of kind of female involvement in the military, not just in the military, but I think in humanity in general.

The human side of women is a little bit easier to, I think, relate to, especially in a softer sense.

I

mean,

it's important.

For a kid.

For

a kid,

for sure.

And other women.

You're talking to anybody over the age of 21.

I think those guys need a script.

No, I would agree.

with you that, and if it's human nature or what, but I think children are very attracted to a mother figure.

Sure, it's very comforting.

But I mean, there's definitely a time and a place for, you know, a male influence in a child's life, absolutely.

Can you tell a little bit about your experience, just in general?

You said what, 22 years?

22 years, United States Air Force, active duty, I retired in 2018.

I joined as living in Chicago, traveled the world.

I have four daughters, two of them were born in England.

I adopted another one of my daughter's friends, and she's my kid, and my youngest daughter just graduated high school, Appleton West.

Awesome.

And just finishing up raising kids, and I got two granddaughters.

So my time in the military, I lived in England for a few years.

I've been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Bosnia as far as deployments go.

I was a helicopter mechanic in special operations for 15 of my 22 years.

You know, I lived a life, my hair on fire, traveling around the world and seeing a bunch of stuff.

Where were you in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I was in Northern Iraq at Erbil.

Erbil is the first, is now an international airport.

We've built it up since then.

But I was there way before that when it was just a couple of police officers and some chicken wire.

Wow.

Yeah.

And

then we're in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, I was at Bodrum, which is the big base, center for the entire operation.

So I did a lot of work out there.

Okay, I have to ask you, so when I was over there, middle of the night, my hooch was right next to this one area that had cyclone fences all around it and a gate that you could not get into this one little place.

And I'm not even joking about this.

I thought that's maybe where they held detainees.

Sure, but it wasn't sort of special ops guy

stayed and that's what all snake eaters

Yes, but it's like they want it's like you don't even talk to them They just do their own thing in the middle of the night you'd hear helicopter take off and right before the Sun was coming up the helicopter would land and it's like don't ask those guys where they've been what they've been doing So we're those the guys you dealt with

that certainly.

I was maintenance on those types of Wow So we had a very tip of the spear Opportunity to be involved in the wartime effort over there

That's cool.

It was pretty

neat.

How about you, Jessica?

My source is completely different.

I did Reserve Army for nine years and Human Resources...

Four-three-two?

No.

Okay.

Six-four-six Regional Support Group.

Training division in Fort McCoy.

I also did a career counselor as well as post-operations.

Okay.

In nine years, never deployed.

Mine's all been state side.

And that's part of kind of like why we're doing the veteran story is that we each have a story and a different path that took us.

Awesome.

And every veteran that has enlisted has their own reasons of enlistening as well as whatever direction has taken it.

And maybe things have changed, right?

We'll say this.

You said in a deploy or whatever.

Once you raise your hand and say you're ready, willing, and able, okay?

And they swear you in.

Whatever you said you wanted to do is 90% off the window, right?

I

mean, guys, I said, I definitely want to go.

I want to go to Iraq.

And they were at Fort Riley for the entire time.

And other people were like, man, I just want to get my thing.

I'm getting college credits.

And they were on the front lines

where they were

promised.

Isn't that the case?

So you just never know once you're

in what's going to happen.

That's very true.

I put on my dream sheet when you go through basic training and you get through your tech school where they train you how to do your job, you can tell them where you want to go as far as being stationed, right?

So, and I scrawled on the top of my page, you know, no overseas.

My first set of orders was to get a dean of Japan.

Exactly.

They were like, thank you for playing the organist send you where you

want.

Exactly.

Tell me about your path.

Jessica, too, was some counseling and state side.

Did you go in as a helicopter mechanic?

Did you like that when you were a kid in high school, or did they put you to that?

Actually, I got fairly lucky.

I went in open general, which meant I went in under the guise of, you can make me do whatever you want.

So in the Air Force, I wouldn't have been standing out in the grass with a gun.

However,

I could have had any number of jobs and I ended up with maintenance.

I was pretty mechanically inclined even from a very young age and the Armed Forces Vocational Battery Aptitude Test, right?

Oh my gosh, I

can't believe I remember that.

I need to retire.

That tests your abilities across a certain number of areas and they found out that I was pretty good at mechanics and it actually ended up being an incredible fit for me because I did love working with my hands and so that job actually ended up being

a perfect fit for me.

I loved it.

Jessica George, who just spoke, and Jessica Williams in the house right now.

Veteran Salook brought to you by Olson Legal Group.

I think we should do more of that.

whether they're going into the military or not with some kids in certain grades, because there's kids that have an aptitude for mechanics, for engineering, we've had engineers in here, and yet their parents, oh, you got to go to college and get a liberal arts degree.

It's like, that's not for everybody, you know, and I just think that's awesome that you took the test, and did you take the same test in the Army?

I did, and it's interesting that you mentioned that.

I had to college first.

So I said no way in hell was I going to join the military.

So I enlisted after college.

And so technically I should have gone as an officer route.

And that's why I went in the HR department.

Because everyone just assumes that you're inventory and that you're one and only job is to, you know, shoot things.

But mine role was more so making sure that the older soldiers are taken care of, that they're getting paid, that their families are taken care of.

And so the career counselor role was later on in my career to actually help the soldiers.

determine why they should re-enlist.

But another part that you just mentioned, we have a young lady that comes in here, Nicole Stockman out at UW Green Base, runs a veteran service office.

And she was talking about, she was 21, she wasn't in the military, but she was married to a career military for 21 years.

And she, like what you said about placement and families and things, she'd get a phone call from her husband and break, hey, pack up, we're going to Japan.

Wow.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And it's like, if they didn't have somebody like you,

I'll tell you, being on the ground in Afghanistan on the round, Jessica, she was my savior every time, because we had to be responsible for filing our own travel vouchers and taking care of our own pay.

We didn't know what we were doing, and we were like, well, please, somebody help us.

And Jessica was her particular MOS in the Air Force, we call it an AFSE, but her particular job was the most valuable.

In fact, I

I would always seek her out and say, come a person in her role, come and speak to my airmen, come and speak to my soldiers and tell them how to, how to manage their stuff, how to manage their career, because it was absolutely instrumental.

Sure, we can do the deployment stuff on our heads easily, but the job that's really hard and the one that's really, really.

behind the scenes is the things that Jessica did.

And mentally, that takes that strain away from the people that got some other serious things on their mind.

Absolutely.

When I'm too tired to fire on my chabobotcher because I've been working 18 hours and we're fixing helicopters and I need to have somebody help me through it because I can't see straight anymore.

I would just because the type of person that I would have definitely leaned on at that

time.

Jessica, that's a great program, if you will, lack of better word.

But coming back, how was your readjustment?

Because we have people on here that

aren't real happy about the support they got coming back into civilian life.

And you guys seem like you were very well adjusted, but do we

have it?

Well, we wear it

well.

I think we've all had our own challenges.

Interestingly enough, my career was actually helping our service members transition.

So previously working for the state and as a National Guard contractor, I actually helped write resumes and get those service members back on track.

which is important.

Let me just throw this out there and tell me, like we had a guy in here yesterday, or two days ago, Don Carper's name is.

He's the navigator, we call it Veterans Village.

Okay, now then.

And it was shocking at times how these guys would come in who fulfilled their military careers or whatever, but they didn't have a clue on the next step in certain ways.

Some of the things we almost take for granted, that was

important.

And it's really, really important.

And you know, there's all those programs to get, you know,

apples and oranges, but let me just give you an example that I've dealt with with prisoners coming back into society because they've been off the grid.

I mean, these guys, there's some people that, well, I don't know what cell phones are, but you guys are, we assume you're in the loop the whole time and they come back and they struggle a

little bit.

Sure, reintegration is always a struggle, actually.

And it's interesting that you bring that up because my,

My current job is I'm a Reserve Component Transition Assistance Advisor.

I work for the government currently.

And so my job is to actually make sure people getting out and transitioning and who have questions about their benefits know who to talk to because honestly there's a hundred different agencies that you need to talk to about.

Maybe I need to change my retirement.

Maybe I want to get a

education benefit, and there's 50 different agencies that you need to talk to.

And they're changing.

And they

change all the time, and you don't know who to call.

So the questions are always there.

So my job is to sift through all of that red tape, jargon, which office you need to see, and find the information that you need, give you that information, and then hook you up with the right offices.

a veteran so that you can utilize all of the benefits.

Because we have guys, I'm in the VFW, up by where I live, I live up in Tomahawk.

And I'm in the VFW, there are guys in the town that should be getting a retirement or a medical disability from their service and have never applied for it.

And they're in their 60s, 70s, 80s.

Exactly.

But I

think it's great, let me interrupt you, Jessica.

is the educational opportunities that they have.

It's incredible and you don't have to study a certain track.

You can do anything you want.

You go back in horticulture and I teach at TC and we're getting more and more people and it's, if they, actually it's getting paid for.

I know they got to pass the class and everything, but I just think it's too bad if somebody's sitting there bored.

What am I going to do?

It's like, well,

We'll help you.

Yeah.

The cool thing about Wisconsin is actually word number one in the United States for offering benefits, a military benefit.

You're going to be a veteran.

Do it in Wisconsin.

Exactly.

Jessica Williams, Jessica George, local vets, veteran salute brought to you by Olson Legal Group.

Back with them right after this.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

started.

So the music is that left a

good job in the city?

That's why we're playing it in honor of these people who left.

Well,

I made it a way back Wednesday today, so it's all older tunes.

Oh, all right.

All

right.

We get guests, we start interviewing and all of a sudden there's a song that usually ties into them.

So anyway, yes.

Jessica Williams and Jessica George, both United States military veterans, one Jessica in the Air Force, the other in the United States Army.

When you have young people, or not even young people, I don't care who it is, some guy at a bar when he says, tell me something I don't know about female veterans.

What do you say?

I would say like we bleed blood like everybody else.

I mean they don't realize that the how important the role the females play in the military.

That's very true and I actually was pretty fortunate in my career.

Jessica said that she was absolutely helpful and supportive of her troops.

That was her capacity.

I ended up being a first sergeant for a little while in the military, which was tough because I got to see both the side of the person.

of the the soldier and the airman and then I got to see the side of the person who Struggled through things had the same problems as everybody else or if your wife left them Or they they've got a lot of debt or they're in trouble with the law or whatever and I saw that side of them too and had to help them in both those capacities Which was really great.

So Jessica and I kind of similar in that way She did that like kind of a lot more in-depth, but I did that for a brief period of time in the military

I can see you guys both think good at that.

You don't seem rigid to me.

You know what I mean?

And

if you ask my daughters, they might have

something

else to say about

that.

Once you put the uniform on, I don't know.

Maybe

that's what it is.

You guys are casual.

You stayed for 22 years.

I mean, something must have called you to do that.

That's a long time, quite

honestly.

Yeah, actually, the military's been in my family for a long time.

My grandfather was in World War II.

He fouled Patton up through Germany.

And he had a lot of not so awesome stories, but a lot of really great ones as well.

He

passed away.

He did.

He

just recently actually, just

two years ago.

96 years old.

He served well, got a

field commission, very decorated, great service to his country, sure.

And my dad was in during Vietnam.

My brother spent four years in during the Gulf War and then you know My turn so I stepped up and did the same thing.

What did you

end up rank wise?

I was east seven.

Okay, so pretty good non-commissioned officer

Absolutely.

Yep.

I really enjoyed the military and a lot of people ask me often You know, why did I join and that's that's a very common question.

Yeah, I

bet and I wish I sometimes I wish I could say the well I want to travel want to see the world But truth truthfully it was I really want to serve my country that really was it

I think that's a bottom line for that last second before you sign the dotted line.

Wouldn't you say Jessica?

Yes,

100%

I mean that really is and you have to have that.

Sure.

I mean you're writing a blank check, right?

You

can catch this up into my life,

please.

Recruitment is down a little bit and everything but the Air Force.

Israel, kids got to do it after high school for two years.

I mean you, if you

I don't get political here.

I'm just curious what you thought because we do need good people, you know, defending our country and working in so many, there's just so much more than just the infantry, right?

They're just, like you talked about.

We had a basketball player

here at Green Bay who was from Norway and they had the country of Norway.

They had

to do two years.

Am I personal?

I guess opinion, I would almost wish that America would be like other countries where it was a obligation that you had to give two

years.

Mostly because you get the structure, you get the same norms and the values and the brother-sisterly vibe and like protecting one another and just kind of more of a basic where I feel like

just in civilian life, everyone's kind of disconnected.

They're floating.

They're

floating, whereas they're structured.

You guys come out of a structured environment and reporting, and that's healthy for someone to just know it, whether they want to live that.

I think there's so much more than, like you said, just...

the combat side.

I mean, you talked about the camaraderie and kids at 19 years old, I think that's a good thing.

There's that leadership.

There's the strategic planning.

There's that process and like there's steps of exactly what direction you're going to go, which is why normally the transitions are hard because in the civilian life, it's kind of like, well, whatever this company does is different than this company.

But in the military, regardless of what branch you're in, you actually are kind of following the same rules for the most part.

I think yeah, Jessica, I totally agree with you and I think I don't know about two years, but it's a long time.

Yeah, I know.

At least based on training.

I think it

would be really great for people to, because it really builds the self.

It

helps with identity.

It helps with your humanity.

It helps us be more connected as people when we can have a common goal and work towards something together, even if it is just a two-year.

hitch for you know a common goal to protect the safety and peace of your nation.

I was

working on a chapter for my new book last night and this guy was in the Marines and for whatever reason it's the biggest toughest drill sergeant had something he thought had something against me something against me and he would always make him carry the heaviest guy that we put around the shoulders and he's like I my leg physically I couldn't do it but I did

Because that guy was right alongside me the whole time.

And he said, at the end of boot camp, he said, I knew I was going to get kicked out of the Marines, but this guy was so mean to me.

At the end, I went to his thing.

I wanted to punch him just once.

I didn't care if I went to the break.

He'd made my life so miserable.

We sat down in the bunk.

And when I walked out of there, I thank God that I had this guy in my life.

Because I realize now, when I go to Vietnam, how horrific it's going to be if he hadn't.

Right.

tested me and took me beyond what my mind told me I could do, I never would have made it.

Yeah, that's interesting that you say that.

I'm interested to hear about your book for sure.

That's why I stayed in the military as long as I did, because I ended up crossing over and becoming that mentor, that leader, that somebody that was right beside a lot of my airmen, kind of cheering them on and giving them kudos and helping them reach their goals.

And that was where I found meaning in my life.

I bet

your language was better than the DI in 1966, though.

I don't know.

I was special operations and that was maintenance.

We'll

see.

The other thing is that it's so important that people learn to work as a team.

And we don't have a lot of that.

That's being very, very important to companies, but very important in schools that we work as teams now because there's, you know, there's diversity and you get, there's so much more when, you know,

come together right when the hole is so much greater than the sum of its parts

so that's great connection human connection right

jessica williams jessica george thank you so much and do me if you come back again

because i feel

like we're just scratching the surface in a certain way on females in the military and i think it's something that really really needs to get as much sunshine to it or light to it everyone i call it as humanly possible

i still

think it's another told story

thank you thank you both so very very much thank

you very much quick break back after this

Got

something to say?

Text Mino and the Mayor directly through the Civic Media app.

Download the app, choose your station, W-I-S-S or WGBW, then hit the talk button in the lower right hand corner and text the studio directly.

Now, back to Mino and the Mayor.

Here's John Mino and Jim Schmidt.

Hey,

thank you very much.

Welcome back man.

What's some great guests right there?

Jessica Williams Jessica George couple of local veterans Veterans salute brought to by Olson legal group talked about the female version or not version of female aspect and outlook of being in the military I want to get them again my honor great

Wow, do they bring you the

cookies?

No, that was cheese curd Nick

cheese curd Nick, right?

He's gonna have

his things set up today on right across the river from you guys Set up for this cheese curd stand

Very

nice.

Have some cookies.

We tested them.

They're good.

Jim was actually a little disappointed.

I'll

hold on for

the cheese curds.

It was the first thing I asked him when he handed me a cookie.

I was like are these

safe?

These are always more suspicious

in the house

and you

know Nick so even when he says the other safe or like But I'll tell you one thing that probably proves they're safe.

He's lost 47 pounds

Tapeworm.

Gotta

be.

Think

what he

does

for

a living.

What he does for a living is he deep fries, cheese curds, and he cooks the best burgers and brats.

You know, I'll present to you guys the

fattest

ones.

And

those are

Nathan Hotdogs.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Love a

good

Nathan Hotdog.

Yeah, love

that dog.

Anyway, he looks great, and it's all working for him.

So nice.

Yep, nice.

So you know if those cookies had anything else in them, he wouldn't have lost 47 pounds.

Right.

And we're not

talking about the extra couple of calories.

Benedetta Malcher in the house.

How you guys doing?

We're doing good.

I'm not loving this weather.

Yes.

Mother nature could refresh our memory on what fall looks like.

Well, we

talked last week that, you know, sometimes the weather does influence people getting out of the house.

You know, I think it does.

You know, we had an open house last night at the home that we have listed on Humboldt, like 10 acres right

in town with the pond.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

But, you know, it's rainy.

So we did have a nice family stop by who's very interested.

But, you know, things are quiet.

and it's raining.

Everybody kind of hunkers down.

They just

do.

Yeah.

Well, it's gloomy, too.

That doesn't help.

Unless you bring a packer.

It's

crazy what we'll

do for a packer game.

And every 80,000 people stand in line and yet,

you

know, any other event, it's

just,

it's a no show.

Anyway, I do.

So maybe we'll have to see if there's just some packers.

There you go.

Get that Jordan Love guy in

the

living room.

That would bring him

up, for sure.

I'm not sure that's our budget.

I think we're more of a practice squad type budgetary.

Right,

right.

So what are

you hearing out there?

I mean, we talk a lot about people who are buying homes are sometimes a little bit older.

We always talk about first-time buyers, but right now people who are 55 are kind of looking to re...

What is it the redesign her life?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, kind of right

right into

a ranch Yeah,

you know, I think it's you know right now I think we're starting to feel especially with the first time home buyers and she brought it up a little bit of buyer fatigue

We

know I think

we've

got a lot of you know I know our buyers when you you know They find these homes that they like but there's now like 11 offers 15 offers

again on these homes.

And it's tough.

You get really tired really

fast.

You grind.

Yeah.

There was even one that we had shown in L.A.

you know, structurally a nice home just hadn't been updated.

Probably 35, 40, maybe even 50 years.

And you know, the flooring was starting to come up.

11 offers on that home.

11 offers.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's really, it's crazy right now.

I was talking to a guy last night.

lives in Chicago, his son's 25, and he was just, it's everywhere.

They're just, they haven't kept up with the building.

I mean, and he's like, is this going to change?

He doesn't want his kid living in an apartment because you're not building equity.

And I would agree with that, but on the other hand-

Let me ask you something.

You're always talking about building things and businesses and yadda yadda, we've got all this land.

Doesn't it seem like somebody would say, I'm going to take-

10 acres.

And I'm going to build all these houses with zero.

You know what I

mean?

As

far

as walking, everything,

no

steps.

Wouldn't

that go over big?

You know, you would think that it would, but here's the issue that I think we run into a lot.

And I think, you know, when you're, when you're right sizing, when you're downsizing and you're looking at, okay, we've got this huge house that we don't want to take care of anymore.

And or it's two stories and we're trying to find that ranch home or those zero entry kind of homes.

they're more expensive than the house that you have.

And

so it's

really hard for those buyers

that are, you

know, there's

sellers, potentially sellers and buyers to move from a payment that is much smaller than a payment that they're going to have, or maybe no payment.

And so it's really hard to move into something that's smaller, but costs more.

If I had a mortgage paid off, I would not, I wouldn't think I'd go to the gas station.

If there's no mortgage,

oh my

gosh.

for

every month, absolutely.

But I do think that that has to happen.

The municipalities have to get involved.

So let's say you buy 60 acres of land, and I don't quarter lots, whatever you want to do.

That's a lot of houses, but there's a lot of infrastructure to that, sewer, water,

and the city's got to

pay for that.

They gotta say, we'll do that for you, as long as you build these, because once you've got families living there, it's good for the schools, it's

good for the tax base, it's good

for the labor force.

You got to step up and because it's expensive.

I mean,

I just want to say in their

defense, it's expensive to build.

the city's gonna have to take on debt for that, but you

gotta

bank on them, because they don't really tiff residential, you know, tax increment financing.

They don't really do that for residential.

And that just, I think that needs to happen.

Yeah, yeah, that would be nice.

I'm sure, you know, with everything that the developers do, I'm sure they would really appreciate it.

Well, and they're not, they're not so much.

They're anxiously listening for our

advice.

As much as these guys are entrepreneurs, they're not the biggest risk takers I've ever met, you know?

That's why they're building

apartments

now

versus condos or starter homes.

I would say that they're in that you've lived and you've learned category.

Maybe that's it.

You've done it before, you know where you don't

take

your

risks anymore.

But I can change so

fast,

huh?

Yeah.

But I agree with you, just having older community, all ranches, kind of zero inch.

Heck, it worked at the villages.

And what if you would do that style and then what if you would

like...

Off for a little

weed

garden So the mayor has been fired

The guy

the real

estate developer who ended up going to prison because

More criminals dispensing advice to them.

Even though you are

a person for doing those

things.

If you

guys could build a house, if somebody said, I'm donating three acres, but you guys have to build a house that you know would be really popular, what would you guys design?

What would you guys build?

Ranch, 100% ranch.

And you'd build 12 of them.

You just make them quarter

acre lots

and you

wouldn't build one house on three acres.

That's a waste of opportunity.

I had even a third of acres.

Pretty much

a lot, isn't

it?

Well, that is

a nice size lot.

Maybe

that's a quarter to small.

But I just think that that kind of stuff has to happen.

You talk about the villages and you're joking about it, but is there anything more successful than

that?

Exactly.

Exactly.

I don't

know

what

it is,

but it

works.

So continue.

What you guys would do to design it?

Oh, yeah.

Well, I mean, I think you've got to go.

I mean, if we're doing a few of them, you've got to do a little sampling of just about every kind of interior.

But because interiors are very personalized, you know, you

can walk

into a white woodwork home and somebody loves it.

And the next person is like, this is out.

I like staying wood.

You know, so, you know, the cosmetic part of it don't really know, but you've got to have a ranch home.

You've got, you know, if you're going to build something right now that you want, you want to know that it's going to resale no matter what.

that

you guys know after all these

years

of

business that you guys absolutely can't miss.

But you don't want to make it look all the same either.

So like in Nashville, right?

They have these developments and you can pick out good, better, best.

Oh, sure.

Absolutely.

But they will not let you deviate.

They must have a warehouse

for a better, better, best.

They'll say, well,

look, I'd like to just, no, no, no, no,

no,

no.

These are your three choices for windows doors,

color, siding, all

sorts of stuff.

Yeah, they do that in Minneapolis as well.

And that's where you can.

You can make a little money.

You

can and it's kind of like the condos that we have out in Luxembourg,

across

from Northbrook, is they're really all look, you know, they're the same style, but you can pick out whatever outside

you

want.

So you're picking out

your color vinyl, as long as it's not anything, you know, crazy.

You're picking out your stone.

So every single one, when you drive down the street, looks a little bit different, even though it's the same style of house.

So you know what I wish people would realize sometimes?

that when they put really bizarre colors on their house, like we were gonna do a thing at two rivers.

And I swear, the neighbors, the quote unquote neighbors there, had such ugly, bizarre doors, they were turquoise.

Out of this normal looking house, these bright, unbelievable turquoise, it's like.

I wouldn't want to wake up every morning and look at that ugly door next door to me.

I think that

spray paint stuff.

This door has really impacted his life.

Yeah,

I'm just saying.

I think you

should pen a letter.

Every day of the three in the morning, we can't have spray paint, but a big kiss on that door

every time, every morning.

And the way around that is to get into an association

where you can't.

Right.

There

you go.

Yeah.

I don't know if you've ever seen that home in downtown Sheboygan that's painted in broncholors colors.

Oh, yeah.

There's one in downtown Manitowoc, though, right by that church that's for sale, which I like to buy.

There's a big

church.

I'd love to buy an old church.

Yes, there's one for sale in

downtown

Manitowoc.

Can I get an

amen?

But somebody did a Packer house next door that's all green and gold.

Oh, wow.

That Denver guy, he went all in.

He went all in.

He went all in.

That's not a local man.

He is all in on that house.

He's

all

in.

And I'm sure his neighbors hate that, but

had he

been in an association like,

Even out here, you have some shingle roofs.

I mean, that's not shingle roofs, cedar.

That's expensive.

Over by the Lake Largo.

You want to

live over there, that's not cheap, but the neighbors feel very confident that nobody's going to have

vinyl siding

next to them.

Nobody's going

to

have this asphalt shingles next to them.

And I don't know, there's some comfort in that.

Well, you know, I think a lot of people, they don't like those associations.

They don't like people telling them what they can and cannot do.

But at the end of the day, it does keep the values up.

It does.

It does.

when for everybody to think

about it.

So, okay, so we got to Ranch House and we all interrupted you after the Ranch House, your design.

Am I like taking this from like

plant?

Well, first and foremost, let's talk design.

I was looking at the planner out in the lobby and the planter has like two weeds, plastic weeds

coming out of it, foam blocks with the

tanks still on.

And I'm like, this, this.

What are the guys doing?

What?

Is that our

lobby?

Your lobby.

Intern.

Yeah.

Go up there and check it out first.

Yeah.

Go check it out.

He's

absolutely right.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Post a picture to your page.

Post a picture, show people.

Ben may have already posted a picture.

You know, the devil is in the details.

Yeah.

Well, it's been nice having the Melchor.

Yeah.

I know.

Oh, my God, he

has your job on me.

One segment, you fire the

man.

I know.

If

you're gonna build these ranch homes, what would be the price point?

You know, you'd love to keep them if you could and it is it is hard if you could keep them under like 350.

Yeah,

I was gonna say fantastic

Yeah, around 350, 325.

I don't know a lot about square foot, but if the infrastructure is put in for

you, maybe you could swing something down 325.

And

make sure you have the egress in the plumbing in the basement.

That's the big thing.

If you're not going to finish the basement, make sure you have those things in

there.

Yeah, that's huge.

People don't realize it.

You put in the egress window, even if you're not going to use it for somebody that might buy it then, that five grand or whatever they'd have to put in to do a new bedroom.

It's worth it when you build work.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah 100% we're at

the mall cars Ben and Diana Mallorca are moving at the mall cars back with them right after this

You're

listening to civic media