Tag: Mack Payne

660- Reaction to podcast about possible ICC actions

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date June 11, 2023

In this episode, we deliver some content that we wished to produce and distribute on another podcast show, The 2030 Podcast.

However, due to the internet hijacking capabilities, we have run into a roadblock of failures to get to the main menu of the WordPress system to create an episode and then publish it. I do intend to pursue with the original podcast episode on the ICC and ecocide once the problems get resolved from the hijacking and errors caused by intruding parties on the internet content management systems.

So, with your permission, we will use this podcast show to create, deliver and publish what would have been episode 128 for The 2030 Podcast Show and thus, deliver it to you and to our valued guests.

As you may know, I am a subscriber and listener (as well as a past guest and interviewee of the podcast show from Mack Payne, called The Vietnam Veteran News podcast.

In one of his latest episodes (# 2535), Mack goes into the possibility of being held liable for “ecocide” during the Vietnam War, especially in the use of herbicide Agent Orange.

If you are interested in the ICC (i.e., the International Criminal Court) in the Netherlands, then this description of ecocide (as a result of the recent destruction of a dam in Ukraine) may be of significance. In fact, you may have screwball nuts claiming that there is liability from every viewpoint, including climate change. That is, even Greta Thunberg has her 2 cents. But, as I applaud Mack Payne, the podcaster for VietnamVeteranNews.com, I wholeheartedly accept and repeat and agree with what he said about her: (paraphrased) “Who the hell cares what Greta T has to say?” — because, in my opinion, she is one of the worst influencers in today’s world.

Now, as a Vietnam Veteran myself who served as a combat infantrymen in the war, I was a victim of agent orange (i.e. AO), and I am still today suffering from complications resulting from that.

[Note: If you don’t know what AO is, you may want to do some research and see what this herbicide was and how it was used during the Vietnam War — especially the complications that it caused for the US Veterans who fought there in the jungles, etc.]

You may even think that the use of AO could possibly fit into the definitions of what is currently promoted as “ecocide.”

But this podcast is an example of warnings that could be sent to the US government that the ICC could launch an attack on the USA because of the use of AO some 60 to 70 years ago.

In any case, I myself do not believe that this liability should be even promoted or expanded just to suit the ego of idiots like Greta T., as she is now losing popularity — especially when she is no longer the “cute” little 16-year old with pigtails, as she will always be remembered for her being refused admittance to the Climate meeting and just shouting “blah blah blah” for no reason.

One final note: if you would enjoy listening to an interview with myself that Mack Payne did earlier about the Vietnam War and PTSD, you may want to go to episode 2245 of Mack’s podcast show (in this URL: https://soundcloud.com/mackpayne-1/episode-2245-vietnam-vet-fred-castanedas-killer-ptsd-remedies?si=2fc717ac53ec4f8c9a1aa5598367d774&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The interview is about 45 minutes in length, but it covers four different methods that I used in dealing with PTSD as I tried to recover from the war. I have included the site image of Mack Payne and my interview with him, per the link, above.

Thank you for your attention, and thank you for listening.

Tags 2030podcast.com, ecocide, Mack Payne, Podcastreporter.com, vietnamveterannews.com

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650- Podcasting and the National Vietnam War Veterans Day 2023

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date March 29, 2023

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter show, we deliver some perspectives into the remembrance and celebrations of the National Vietnam War Veterans Day of 2023. This national day of recognition is always on the 29th of March.

And, yes, I was a part of the war, as a UPI reporter and cameraman captured a photo while we were on patrol as we were crossing a rapidly-flowing river in the mountains and jungle. And, yes, that is myself that the reporter captured on film some 52 years ago.

US troops of the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division ford a river about 11 miles west of Chu Lai in South Vietnam (then the Republic of Vietnam, or RVN), 15th August 1971. The GIs, members of Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, are among the last U. S. combat troops still operating in the field. US B-52 aircraft bombed suspected communist troop concentrations near the demilitarized zone, on August 15th, following more shelling and ground assaults earlier on August 15th. More than 750 rounds of mortar and artillery fire have been directed at South Vietnamese outposts along the demilitarized zone August 14-15th.

In addition to my combat experiences, I was also injured by exposure to Agent Orange, and I sometimes reflect on how my condition can never be cured, but only treated (as the VA medications will only slow down the inevitable, which is that the toxin will kill me — so much so that I have been murdered or “killed” even though I am not completely dead yet, and my life in my body has not fully expired). And a t-shirt that I have tells the truth to everyone around me.

As a podcaster, I am grateful that I had a chance to live this long so far, even though my complications from AO exposure to the toxins are taking more of a toll on my health. But these seem to remind me of the Vietnam War and the experiences that I had going through my tour of duty as a combat infantryman, where I served as a machine-gunner and grenadier in the jungles, the mountains and the rice paddies.

I have told this story of my time in the war and how I dealt with some of the issues that I still carry today — especially of how I had to confront the PTSD when I returned home. This was highlighted in an interview that I did on Mack Payne’s podcast show, Vietnam Veteran News. You can go to a podcast show where I include a 45-minute interview with Mack on an earlier podcast episode #611 in this series at this URL: podcastreporter.com/?p=2236:

611- BONUS episode — Vietnam Veterans Podcast interview 2022

Now, earlier, I attended a session of the Texas legislature, where the National Day for Vietnam Veterans was declared. Also, there was a statue that was dedicated to over 3,000 Texas Vietnam Veterans who were killed in the war. That statue is now in the grounds of the Texas State Capitol, as a reminder of the sacrifices made by its citizens:

In my past podcast shows, I have contributed to the veterans of that war, as well as others in my 2 previous shows, Combat Infantryman’s Podcast show and the 82nd Airborne Division podcast (both now podfaded after 11 years).

So podcasting has allowed me to deliver homage and honor to the veterans who fought in that war and who sacrificed. As you can determine from my own experiences, not all veterans who returned without being physically maimed in combat were still affected or injured. Some of us will always carry the pangs of the war in our minds, our hearts and our decaying bodies after 52 years.

But podcasting has, for the most part, allowed me to reflect on the war and has given me a chance to obtain a bit of closure on the memories and the nightmares from that time in history where the veterans were shunned by a large group of an ungrateful American public upon their return home.

I have a Zippo lighter as a relic from the war, and I had it engraved with some words of wisdom that I still see today: It says “For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a taste that the protected can never know.”

So, to my fellow veterans, I deliver a salute to them as part of my gratitude and camaraderie to say “Welcome home, brother.”

Thank you for your attention — and please thank a veteran for what you are enjoying today (your life).

Tags Agent Orange, Mack Payne, Podcastreporter.com, Vietnam War, vietnamveterannews.com

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RAL 03- Podcasting memoirs — Military experiences in the war

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 15, 2022

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This is episode 03 of RealAcademyOfLife.com – My Military life in the war — as part of my memoirs.

In this episode, I wish to publish my experiences in my real academy of life described by podcast episodes — they can do a better job of providing the content for memoirs that really is part of the podcast of REAL ACADEMY OF LIFE, as well as syndicating it to PODCAST REPORTER.

If I take a look at my life (currently without a bucket list), I would approach this from the perspective of my funeral services. You see, Ordinarily, I would have requested 5 photos to be put on display during my upcoming funeral services:

– Photo of myself with my wife and children (myself as a family man);

– Photo of myself in business attire (showing myself as a business man);

– Photo of myself in my charro attire (showing myself as a folklorico dancer and instructor);

– Photo of myself in my uniform in 1972 (showing myself as a military man and veteran of the war in Vietnam); and

– Photo of my wedding, with all the wedding party (showing myself surrounded by the friends and family who shared the happiest day of my life).

However, in this episode of THE REAL ACADEMY OF LIFE, we will focus on one of these eras in my life — just a part of my experiences in the military when I was a combat infantryman and paratrooper during the Vietnam War.

For the initial discussion points in my life, I would want to include a repurposed podcast episode that focused on combat and camaraderie — which is the title of the episode content that Mack Payne (podcaster with his show of VietnamVeteranNews.com) published in his show with my own thoughts of those two situations.

Then we would want to discuss how I dealt with the return from combat and assimilated myself back into THE WORLD after my tour in Vietnam.

To do this, we will first admit that I had a bad case of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) when I came back from the war). And then I had a 45-minute discussion in an interview with Mack Payne in the same podcast show (i.e., VietnamVeteranNews.com) in which we discussed my multiple ways of dealing with the PTSD situations after the war. The four main ways of my dealing with my post-war problems and complications were:

Writing — both nonfiction stories and later podcast and blog content;
College and graduate education (in a rather obsessive manner);
Joining and participating in Veterans Service Organizations; and
Podcasting and blogging.

However, I do wish to mention that there were another few minor experiences that I had while in the Army, especially when I was an instructor in the 82nd Airborne RECONDO school, as well as being a recruiter-canvasser for the 82nd Airborne Division in the West and Southeast of the USA, just before my participation in the deployment of the 82nd Airborne for entering the Yom Kippur war in October of 1973.

In addition, I will also discuss and describe my experiences with my treatment by the VA — the Veterans Affairs (earlier referred to as the Veterans’ Administration) — and the struggles to deal with my physical complications from the war as a disabled veteran.

However, we can deal with those in a later episode of this podcast series called THE REAL ACADEMY OF LIFE).

So, for this long episode, we will first include the 24-minute discussion of combat and camaraderie…and then follow it up with a 45-minute interview with Mack Payne about dealing with PTSD for VietnamVeternanNews.com.

I salute those veterans who fought in the infantry in the Vietnam war, and who experienced the combat and camaraderie.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Mack Payne, Real Academy of Life, Vietnam War, vietnamveterannews.com

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619- Podcast Guesting can help with non-fiction writers

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date September 24, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter show, we discuss the theme of podcast guest interviews being a great tool for the non-fiction author or writer. This is supplemented by a FREE RESOURCE from Tom Schwab, an entrepreneur who stresses the importance and the benefits of being a podcast guest. This resource is a FREE pdf document that is called “Non-Fiction authors can leverage Podcast Guesting.”

And you can go to the web site for Tom at InterviewValet.com to learn more about his training and free resources (and get yourself a copy of his PDF via download).

Now, I myself was a non-fiction author. It started back in 1974, and it has even today helped me in podcasting. I was a guest interviewee on a podcast show called VietnamVeteranNews.Com, where the host, Mack Payne, interviewed me about my situations in dealing with PTSD after returning from Vietnam as a combat infantryman (episode 2245 of the podcast show VietnamVeteranNews.com .) You can see the image, below, of the podcast episode and a photo of Mack Payne for that episode in which I was a guest interviewee. And so, even with decades separating the topic and the theme from the present day, the podcast guesting still helps to promote my podcast show and my following from the veterans who listen to that show.

As for Tom Schwab, he delivers some helpful hints on how to succeed with podcast guesting, if indeed you are an author or writer who creates and/or publishes works in the non-fiction genre.

This free PDF resource goes into the following details for the writer or author who may specialize in non-fiction:

Reach An Engaged, Relevant Audience
Some Reasons Non-Fiction Authors Should Go On Podcast Interviews
Connect with Influencers
Generate Real Leads
Establish Authority As A Subject Matter Expert
Generate Website Traffic
Build SEO Value With Backlinks
Increase Brand Trust Quickly
Talking > Writing For Building Connections
Repurpose Into Multi-Use Content, and
Extend Your Reach

And Tom then spends time in the details of how you can leverage Podcast Guesting in this situation for your own purposes:

01 Drive Preorders
02 Launch a Consultancy Business
03 Book Tour Without The Travel
04 Promote Your Academic Work
05 Break Into New Geography
06 Launch A Powerful Brand
07 Land Paid Speaking Gigs
08 Get Translated Into Multiple Languages
09 Be The Category King/Queen
10 Get More Followers
11 Launch A Movie

Now, I have known Tom since 2014 when I did interview him as a guest on my podcast shows to understand why he would want to succeed in his business WITHOUT starting a podcast, but rather be a guest on different shows.

I strongly recommend that you download this free pdf and evaluate the situation where you can leverage being a guest on a podcast and how this can be a major benefit to you and your audience. And also, I would recommend that you scan his site for other resources and training materials that may enhance your situation either as a guest or a podcast host in the near future and drive your business to success.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags interviewvalet.com, Mack Payne, Podcastreporter.com, Tom Schwab, vietnamveterannews.com

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611- BONUS episode — Vietnam Veterans Podcast interview 2022

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date February 13, 2022
2 Comments on 611- BONUS episode — Vietnam Veterans Podcast interview 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver to you the interview that was published on 8 February 2022 by Mack Payne in his podcast show, VietnamVeteranNews.com.

Here is the audio player for the entire unedited podcast episode which contains the audio interview with Mack Payne posted on 8 February 2022 from VietnamVeteranNews.com: (it follows the web site image)

and here is the 44 minutes of audio in the interview with Mack Payne from his show:

So, in this episode, we deliver the interview which we talked about in episode 566 of this show, Podcast Reporter. We also deliver this audio interview for a bonus episode in the podcast show being created called The Real Academy of Life.

Hope you enjoy this, as it was a very stressful struggle for me to give an account of my experiences in Vietnam with another Vietnam veteran.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Mack Payne, Podcastreporter.com, Real Academy of Life, vietnamveterannews.com

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566- True history stories in Podcasting — content with flashbacks

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date January 29, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss one type of content for podcasters (especially senior or older podcasters) — that is, the stories of historical value and truth that we remember and are faced with daily from our own past, and which may cause flashbacks (and sometimes bring on an episode of PTSD).

I am referring to a photo that was taken over 50 years ago, while I was a combat infantrymen in the jungles of Vietnam during the war. This was a photo of which I clearly remembered the situation once I had seen it in a summer, 2021, issue of Vietnam Veterans of America magazine.

That’s right…the photo is of yours truly on a patrol in the mountains and jungles of Vietnam over 50 years ago. The articles surrounding this photo tells the story of 3 combat troops who were killed in action during that time. The photo below is the reminder for the story.

The reason that this story is important for this podcast show is that memories like this can cause us to try to create and send a message out to willing audiences in the form of podcast shows and episodes.

Such was my case when, in 2008, I created a podcast show called the Combat Infantrymen’s podcast. It was going strong in 2017, when I had to podfade the show, due to health complications that I was suffering, as well as operations and hospitalization (mainly from complications due to Agent Orange exposure). In looking back (without going to my saved archives), I think I must have had between over 50 to 100 episodes in that show.

The creation of the podcast show and its episodes allowed me to send my message out to fellow combat infantrymen — not only during the Vietnam War, but also from WWII and Korea, etc. It also allowed me to purge some of the PTSD demons that haunted me, and it did give me (at times) some form of closure during the years of creating, producing, posting and publishing my podcast show. Also, I had grown closer to many brothers of mine who served in the War (many of whom were in the same Division and unit in which I was in), especially when I promoted the association that I was publishing this podcast show for. This was for the Combat Infantrymen’s Association — not only for the soldiers who fought in the war, but for their families and the relatives of those who did not make it home. We honored them.

For the Association was the main conduit of my stories, my interviews, my history and my content for all the episodes that I had published.

So, sometimes your own past history and stories can create good content for a welcomed audience that would appreciate your show and be appreciative of the content and the closure that you can provide, depending upon the stories.

So, from the stories that I had told about World War II paratroopers who earned the CIB (combat infantryman’s badge) when it was first issued in 1943 — and especially one paratrooper (D. G. Harris, RIP) who crossed the Waal River at the Nijmegen bridge in Holland during Operation Market Garden, as well as make 2 more combat jumps in Salerno and Sicily — to the tales of combat veterans during the Vietnam War, this podcast show delivered a unique VALUE to those veterans who consumed podcasts. However, today, there are several Vietnam Veteran podcast shows, including the Vietnam Veteran News with Mack Payne. Now, although Mack delivers a consistent stream of episodes, I tried to reach out to him to provide him with great stories from a combat infantrymen of myself in the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal)… — all I wanted to do was to thank him for his show and respect to Vietnam Veterans and offer him some free content of interviews that I had done….

So, from this podcaster, I wish to tell you podcasters that some of the stories and history that you may have in your life may be great content to provide value to some of the audiences that you may not even realize may be hungry for your stories and interviews.

We hope that you, also, can find a way to get your own personal stories (when it makes sense to do so and when you are mentally and psychologically ready to share them) out to your new audiences. In this way, we hope you make your podcasting careers more successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags getty images, Mack Payne, Podcastreporter.com, Vietnam War, vva.org