#14. Untold Stories of Veterans: A Journey about Humboldt Heroes with Scott Hammond

Scott Hammond: [upbeat music] She's, I don't think

she's very big. Not, not, not like you're, you're huge.

Nick Flores: Well, no, I wouldn't say that. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: You're national.

Nick Flores: I'm still just starting out, you know?

Scott Hammond: It's cool.

Nick Flores: It's been a, it's been a fun process.

I mean, you get to talk to interesting people, so.

Scott Hammond: And drink beer and hang out, yeah.

Nick Flores: Not a bad way to kill a Thursday.

Scott Hammond: With a-

Nick Flores: Have a beer, have an interesting conversation

Scott Hammond: … cold Heineken?

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, absolutely.

Nick Flores: And so for people that don't know,

how did Humboldt Heroes start? 'Cause that's how I found you.

Scott Hammond: Um, started, uh, so when you're an insurance guy or anybody in

business, you'll get, uh, advertising people show up. And so this guy, um, a friend of mine, uh, John, shows up and he goes, "Hey, how about, uh, how about some radio spots? And, you know, you're trying to promote your business. You're brand new. You wanna catch all these guys ahead of you." And I said, "Well, you know, I, I was in radio guy," and blah, blah, blah. And he goes, "Well, we do this thing in Texas called, uh, Texas, uh, Texoma Hero. It's up in Texoma, Texas, close to Oklahoma, odd. And so, uh, at Billy Bob Chrysler Dodge, and we honor vets there." And I go, "Oh, you mean like a Humboldt hero?" I go, cool." My dad was a vet. He was a World War II pilot, and, um, amazing guy, Bob. And I said, "Yeah, could we do that here?" He goes, "I don't see why not. Why don't we…" Do, do… We started, and then it got traction, And I got to, uh, hand it off to this other guy who created the, the, the nomination forms, the website, the Facebook page, went to town. And, uh, that's seven years ago. We've honored a vet once a month consistently since, and it's been amazing.

Nick Flores: For seven years? Wow.

Scott Hammond: So yeah, seven years and, um, it's pretty modest.

You know, somebody said, "Why don't you go national?" I go, "No, wreck it." [laughs] It's, it's designed to be modest and local and, and hometowny. And, you know, if we have 40, 50 people, it's a big crowd. And so, um, it's been just, uh, magical to say thanks to people that have served.

Nick Flores: Well, it's a great idea to shine a light on

spotlight, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, or haven't for years. A lot of people, you know,

a while, and, and every one of them is different. Uh, there's some of these are really sobering, and others are just total tears, and others are total laughter and fun and, you know, and every guy, gal. So we, we honor all five branches of the military, male, female, currently serving or not. And, um, a lot of guys go, "Hey, I didn't, you know, I wasn't in combat. I didn't, you know, you know, take anybody out." I go, "Well, I'm not a hero." "Well, did you serve?" "Yeah." "Did you give up years?" "Yes." "Did you come back and contribute to your community?" "Yeah." I go, "That's hero stuff." So it's, um, some guys are pretty modest heroes, and a lot of them are different. I could tell a story um, yeah, all of them are heartwarming and amazing and, and, uh, fun to be part of.

Nick Flores: Do a lot of them kind of push back on that hero branding?

Say, "You know, I just-

Scott Hammond: In the nomination

Nick Flores: … I just did what I did."

Scott Hammond: Yeah, in the nomination part, they might, um, "Hey, I'm no

hero." And I'm going, "Okay. Well, let's keep talking. Tell me more. What'd you do?" "Well, I worked with canines in Korea, in a, South Korea, and I worked with dogs." "Cool, Debbie. You're, you're a hero. That'll, that'll work." "Well, I'm a current, uh, lieutenant JG. I'm the only woman, uh, Coast Guard up at Humboldt, McKinleyville." I go, "Rachel, you're amazing. That works." So it, it… And we try to, try to keep it, you know, diversity's

great, and yet there's some guys and gals dying. So we caught a World War II gal, uh, Dorothy, who was in a, a movie with Bing Crosby called Here Come And some of you old-timers will know what that might be anyway, or maybe you know who Bing Crosby is. Anyway, she was in a movie. She was enrolled as a female, uh, Navy gal. And, uh, we got to recognize her, and it was touching, and she died two months later. So all these World War II guys, I mean, 15, 20 years ago. They're very rare now, so if you could get a guy and, or a gal, and they're in their 90s or even 100s now. And so we wanna make sure we grab those guys before they, they get their, uh, ticket to heaven.

Nick Flores: Yeah, and get to hear their story before it's

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And those are folks that bring out generations of people.

Here's like five generations of Humboldt people, and you go, "Wow, that, that's heroic." You know? That you raised a family and you, you settled in, in Eureka or Humboldt somewhere, and you got this amazing, cool family that came out and wanted to get grandpa out there. In fact, we just had another guy. He died, uh, a couple weeks ago. He, he was an amazing, um, drag racer out of Samoa. He's like known motorhead guy, and he did it that day. So anyway.

Nick Flores: Is that a weird feeling where you got to

y- almost enjoy that moment with them, and then it turns out, oh,

their last?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yes and no. I- it's kinda… I,

nobody gets out of here alive, as the saying goes. Johnny, my father, liked to say that. Then he died three years ago. But, uh, so to be able to honor somebody, yeah, and I'll get some photos. So it is a little weird in my office that we captured some photos of different heroes, and there's a couple people that are no longer with us. So yeah, we, we grabbed that before. You know, you recorded Johnny Cash before he died, Caught, caught the really good record.

[laughs]

Nick Flores: I've lucked out. I don't think I've had any guests who have

knock on wood.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you will.

Nick Flores: I should say.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it happens.

Nick Flores: Eventually, but that'll be a weird moment to be able

talked to this person, and now-"

Scott Hammond: Right, and now they're-

Nick Flores: … it's, now they're gone. But that moment is frozen in this,

Scott Hammond: It's a good one. Maybe I'll be here first.

[laughs]

Nick Flores: Well, I hope not.

Scott Hammond: [laughs] I-

Nick Flores: I hope not

Scott Hammond: … I'm not quite ready, Lord.

Nick Flores: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: So, um-Yeah. So after raising nine kids,

days. You know, it's like, "Oh, will I, will I go before the kids? I don't know." And I don't know that I get to choose that, so anyway.

Nick Flores: Nine kids. How old is your oldest and how old's your

Scott Hammond: 18 to 38. So we have five guys and four gals and

nine, soon to be 10 grandkids.

Nick Flores: Oh, congratulations.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's pretty rad. We were in our 50s and we didn't have any

Late 50s, it's like grandcats and granddogs. It's like, "Come on, you guys. Let's get busy here. Let's g- what's your deal?" We got friends in their tons of grandkids. Going, "Let's…" Anyway.

Nick Flores: Kinda nudging them, "Let's-"

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's their job. I-

Nick Flores: "… let's start making some moves."

Scott Hammond: I don't… Yeah, I don't have any control over that.

So, uh, what else would you like to know about

Nick Flores: Well, I,

I really like the idea. I like the idea that you guys are kind of taking a moment to recognize people who, you know, sometimes they don't get the recognition that they deserve. Sometimes you go into the military, and then you're out, back into civilian life.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Nick Flores: And it's just, if you saw combat,

you went through something, and now you're just expected to move

Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah, and that's the concern.

A, you know, a lot of men and women come back changed, augmented and depressed, you know, or worse. And, um, it's, it's a big concern. It, it was a really big concern after Vietnam 'cause they came back to an, a antagonistic America, and they got, they caught a lot of crap, and what, what a terrible war and a terrible experience and a terrible return. It's like, and so some of those guys now

and really super grateful. You know? There's, there's… It's almost a healing sort of a thing. Maybe it's a full circle healing, for lack of a better term. Um, but you gave me an idea there, so we can look for, you know, the, the new Vietnam, the, the World War II vet that's gone is, Vietnam vet 'cause some of those guys are pretty old.

Nick Flores: Were any of the Vietnam vets kind of hesitant to step into the

Scott Hammond: A couple have said, "No. No, thank you," and, um, as

have others. Uh, you know, "I was no hero," and, you know, "I was around so many, so many guys that died. They're the heroes. I can't possibly." And, and other guys embrace that. They go, "You know what? I'm gonna get up and recognize every hero I know, Humboldt County sheriffs,

EPD, all my buddies from the 54th," you know, all that stuff. And it's, so that's, that's kinda cool when they're, you know, sh- uh, re- reflecting and deflecting the glory to maybe helped them become heroes.

Nick Flores: That would be, that would be an incredibly challenging

build these relationships with people, go over there, and then come back without some of them-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … and just have to progress. At least in everyday life,

and it's because of old age, you can say, "Well, you know, they lived a great

life."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Nick Flores: "They-"

Scott Hammond: Right.

Nick Flores: "They made it as far as they were supposed to go,

anymore."

Scott Hammond: Thank God.

Nick Flores: "And they're hopefully in a better place."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Nick Flores: But if you're over there with someone in their 20s or in their 30s,

them-

Scott Hammond: And your crew is gone.

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, and these guys, um, especially World War II saw a

lot of that, Korea I'm sure, and Vietnam too.

But, um, so my dad flew P-51s in Okinawa, so they were all trained in Atlanta, and this P-51 is a really badass airplane. It's like aviators wanna fly that today. It's like driving a Ferrari race car at Indy or s- anyway, so, um, and he watched guys die in training in Atlanta 'cause it was such a new airplane. And he said they went over with 26 guys, and, like, five guys came back, so y- these guys were really up close and intimate with death and loss and friends that, you know, heartbreak.

And, um, I think, I think the only equivalence to me old age watched all his friends die and, you know, his ex-wives', [laughs] kids and grandkids, and, you know, he called himself the last of the So he saw it on the latter side of life. Uh, you start to outlive everybody, and you go, "Oh, what's going on? They're dropping like flies," you know? And so… And Joni and I are seeing that i- in our 60s. Even now it's like, you know, not everybody's dying, go, "Oh, he, wait, he died?" You know, get home from work, "Wait, no. Say that's not true. So-and-so died? You're kidding. What happened?" "Car wreck on 299." "Oh my God." So, so the, the recurring death theme is, is what we're [laughs] talking about

[laughs]

Nick Flores: Do you think your dad was

more prepared for that than the average person because he at an earlier time in life? Or what… Does it… I would imagine it still-

Scott Hammond: Kind-

Nick Flores: … it obviously still stings.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, kind of a story. Um,

so my dad was an alcoholic in World War, after World War II. So they s- they didn't have drugs. They had Budweiser. I mean, you may have a Heineken. They had Bud.

And he drank till I was 13, so he was an alcoholic, full-blown, functional, nice guy. Bob was, you know, sweet Bob. And, uh, he got sober. So they, they divorced, and we moved to San Diego and together again and got divorced again. And, and so he was on his own, and one day he hit bottom and wound up at the, uh, the correctional s- facility in downtown San Diego, which is, you know, hitting bottom for an alcoholic.

And he went to AA and got sober, and he s- he died sober 40 years later. And the incredible story about him is, yeah, I think his life prepared him for that, but also I came back with a Bible from I was the hippie from Humboldt, uh, who found Jesus, found Joni, Jesus, found sobriety, found a degree at Humboldt, barely, in recreation. I was a B student, man. Come on. And I brought him back this, this amazing Ryrie study BibleAnd he, he was, he'd just gone to AA. He wasn't even religious. And he goes, "Well, you know, I only read the King James." I go, "You're just f- so full of crap." I said, "Keep the Bible. It's a gift from me." And a couple years later he got cancer, plugged into a church. He got baptized, and the guy was pretty radically changed in terms of his, his life perspective, his death perspective, his eternity. And, and, um, we just became amazingly good friends. And he'd come up to Humboldt and visit, and his priority order was worship at church, golf, ice cream for the kids, and more golf, and smoking cigarettes out in the back porch where we would make him go. [laughs] "You can't smoke in the house, Dad.

Come on." So did he have a perspective on death? Yeah. I think it was really cool. He, he died pretty comfortable back in my brother and, and sister-in-law, and so kind of a cool story. So yeah, I think he was pretty prepared as, as that goes.

Um, saw it coming, you know, could write about it and, and talk about it and pray about it, and he was very forthright. He would come to our home in McKinleyville, Nick, um, the stories of World War II, which were rad. He saw Hiroshi- the Hiroshima, uh, cloud, the nuclear cloud in the morning.

Nick Flores: Oh, he was there to see it?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he was on a mission.

Nick Flores: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: And it was top secret, so they go, "What the hell is that?"

"Do you hear me, Bob? What is that?" "We don't know." And so they– That was a surprise. He did the Bataan Death March, where they, freed all the prisoners. They were Marines. And with a P-51, apparently you can get pretty low to the And so he saw one Marine carrying another, and the guy on his back was able to wave at Dad in the plane, and they freed those guys.

And, uh, just crazy stories. A big bullet shell right up, in the parachute, so he almost caught one in the backside, been me not here with you, Nick, talking today.

[laughs] So, you know, skidding a P-51, a priceless airplane, into a, a landing, and just, "Yeah, tell that one again, Dad. That's a cool story." And he'd forget, and he'd tell it again. "Oh, Tell us that one again. That's an amazing story." And, history at your table, kinda neat.

Nick Flores: Did he talk about it a lot before becoming sober?

Or that was something he engaged in afterwards?

Scott Hammond: Um, I don't think I was old enough to

warrant that discussion, and he was probably, uh, not present enough to do that. So I think that came over time. I'm, I'm not sure he was actually overly bashful about that. He always loved the military. And so he ended up selling insurance on Pendleton 'cause he loved Marines and Marine Corps and all o- all of it, man. He dug it. He's a total patriot in a good, the word and,

and, um, felt like he wanted to support those guys. And, and I– Yeah, I think– So he would freely share. And a lot of guys, gals can't. They just… It's too painful. And, you know, I totally respect that and get that and don't wanna push that. But, um, I think it was therapeutical. Get it out there, man.

Nick Flores: Well, I think it's gotta be better than holding

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Nick Flores: I mean, if you think of it like this burden

to lighten the load and let somebody else carry some of it for

would help.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Nick Flores: But then again, if you s- I mean, seeing the bomb,

the bomb would be pretty-

Scott Hammond: From the air

Nick Flores: … would be pretty heavy.

Scott Hammond: On the horizon, you go, "What?"

Um, and he killed people, and he was– he freely talked about that.

It wasn't braggadocio, but he goes, "I, I was really good at what I did." And th- their whole, their sorties were disruptive, meaning they would come in with a fleet of kinda like Private Ryan at the end where they blew the tanks up, the tank busters. They would blow up convoys of Japanese, um, soldiers and equipment. And, um, and he, he, he blew them up in that he did his job, and he was, he was damn good at it. And, and I'm, and I'm glad. I, I love Japanese. I love all people. But we, you know, we, we, we won that war. We had to win it.

And he was in it to win it, and he did, and he did his job well. And, you know, there were– It wasn't like in a video game where you the trigger and use all your bullets. He, he explained that you, you mete them out very carefully. So for all you munitions and gun guys out there, just don't squeeze all your ammo out at once.

[laughs]

Nick Flores: Well, and what's unique about that war

heroes, like heroes in the sense that they were embraced because that war stood for something in a really tangible way.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Nick Flores: Whereas if you take Vietnam-

Scott Hammond: Hard. Yeah

Nick Flores: … people, people did not support that war.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It, it's so hard to look back and go,

"What were we all thinking?" And, um, uh, you know, could we– woulda, coulda, shoulda. I, you know, history, who drove that and why?

And, uh-

Nick Flores: Hindsight is 20/20.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, and now they're our best friends,

I would, I would visit Vietnam gladly. That'd be cool.

Nick Flores: Well, take Japan.

Scott Hammond: Take Japan. Take Germany. [laughs]

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Our trading partners. [laughs] Our best friends.

Best thing you can do, do, kids, is lose a war to America. We'll, we'll take care of you.

So-

Nick Flores: Yeah, it's crazy how…

It, it's just crazy how it all pans out, you know? And the fact that you had these kids going through this thing, and it was a world

away.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Nick Flores: And you c- you were here, and you were just kind of separate from

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Um,

I mean, kids that go to war that, at twen- at 20 or 19. Yeah, we were, uh… Where were we? Oh, we were in Alameda, um, just over the weekend. My son lives down there. I think we were in a museum and looking at photos. It's, and gosh, some of these guys are babies, just like little guys, young guys going, and gals, mostly guys, going overseas. It's likeOh, can you– we have an– Aaron's 21, our 21-year-old. He was… Can you imagine him going overseas right now? That'd be rad. And go lay down his life. I'm going, "Oh, my gosh." So yeah. And yeah, so Private Ryan holds a lot of meaning.

Nick Flores: Was your dad still around when you started doing Humboldt Heroes?

Scott Hammond: Uh, no, he died in '04, and I started in

'13. '14. We started Humboldt Heroes in '15, so was he around? He was, he wasn't alive on the earth. Hmm. Now it's mystical. I, I hope so. If not, he'll get the video. He'll s-

Nick Flores: He'll see it.

Scott Hammond: He gets Face- He's got Facebook in heaven.

Nick Flores: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Hey, just check out the Facebook page, Dad.

He's a good reader." [laughs]

Nick Flores: Such a- It would've been crazy to go through

like that. I mean, babies. You had these, just kids fighting this, this

war for

the world-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … in some sense.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you're all in. That's the difference.

It's like, oh, this… You know, it's interesting 'cause the Civil War is interesting, too, they explained it, was like you and I being young men and going for the NBA or the NFL. There was no… Or rock and roll or skateboard champion or, or rock band. There was no, there was no equival- equivalence. The only heroic thing you could do is go to war and die for your side. So whether you're a Confederate country boy or a Yankee from New York, this is the deal. This was your arena where you're gonna show and, you know, of course, that was a whole other different… Talking about kids going to war, gee, you know, against each other. You know, now it's, um… There's a real theme to this podcast. It's like- [laughs]

Nick Flores: I know. We're just going to war now.

Scott Hammond: We're like on war and death today, folks.

[laughs]

Nick Flores: Well, it's form fitting for Humboldt Heroes.

I mean, what you guys are doing is, is right up that alley.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. It's, um… So we're doing one tomorrow.

Nick Flores: Yeah, I do.

Scott Hammond: Uh, so Bear River Casino's a, a, a partner, as is

Dutch Brothers and Porter Street Barbecue, and we have some KISS Radio and some other folks who are all major pa- Pierre Carbonneau is the tile guy, but he's kinda my right, my wing man. He's, he's a vet. He knows all the local vets in the groups. And so we actually decided to take one of these on the road, and so he's a… The hero's a Native guy, and he's, um, uh, we're gonna recognize him tomorrow at 4:00 PM, Friday, the 28th, at, uh, Bear River. So really, you know, in their ballroom. Should be pretty low-key, although Facebook's kinda blowing up on it. It's kinda nice, so I think we're gonna be have a few the whole thing lasts 15 minutes, Nick. It's low-key. It's, it's, it's honoring. The, the hero can, you know, give a little speech and, you know, say thanks. And, uh, we've been really fortunate to have TV coverage, and, um, Standard covers it, and probably, probably in today. I'll, I'll look at the paper when we're done. But, um, so it's really neat to have kind of this, uh… You know, it takes a… You know, one plus one equals 11. It takes other people to make it, make it happen, and I'm really grateful for that 'cause there's, you know, this,

this thing is, it's not so big, but it costs money. It costs money to promote it on the radio. It costs money to, [coughs] to do it, to buy… We have these nice American-made mahogany award boxes that we put a real authentic American flag in and a certificate. And so we don't screw around. It's, it's pretty nice. It's something you could put on your, on your mantelpiece and, you know, show it with pride. And, um, and then the local merchants jump in there schwag, and Dutch Bros. Coffee and a mug. And so it's, um… And it's all really appreciated stuff, so it's really cool.

Nick Flores: Do you guys have any criteria for

w- who you give the award to, or are you just kinda-

Scott Hammond: I thought you'd never ask. [laughs] So you think, "Hey,

of guys and gals," and it's, that's not true. So we're always looking for nominations, and I'll tell you how you can do that in a minute. So if your listeners know of a local veteran hero, um… And we, we've been asked, "Hey, could you do policemen that are not vets?" And, "Could you do yada, yada? He was a, you know, whatever, uh, firefighter." You know, no. Really sorry. We'd, we'd like to intro, you know, introduce everybody as heroes, restricted that by definition. But, uh, we have a nomination form in the office. Uh, people can call me directly. They can message me on, on Facebook, Humboldt Heroes. Um, there's a website, but yeah, I would just call Scott Hammond State Farm locally and Google us. 444-2504. Uh, like your good neighbor, we'll be right there. Um, so they can call us and, and just, we can take it over the phone. And so, uh, so that's the beginning of the vetting. Get the nomination, and then there's a little panel of us we kinda consider them. And some of it's availability. If, you know, a lot of guys or g- gals are not in town, um, at different times. One guy was 103, and he couldn't leave Fortuna. Got it.

Cool.

Uh, so there's a little process to it, and we try to make it fair. I don't know what f- fair is a tough word to define for you, but we try to make it kinda equitable. We've done a fair amount of local Native population, um, uh, people of color. Um, one of my favorite guys, I told you I'd tell you who my favorite, one of my favorite heroes still is. Would you like to hear about Carl?

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So Carl Adams. [clears throat] Take a drink of water.

Hey, Carl, out there, wherever you are. He's in Africa right now. So he's a two-star general. He's my age. He's 61 or 2. He's a thoracic surgeon at St. Joe's, and he's a medic, and he's a ranger. And you would be a real badass if you had five or six or so deployments.

27, and he's just-He's the guy that'll, that'll fix you in a Huey helicopter and sew you up if you're bleeding to death or in a bunker hospital, whatever they call it, bunker, uh, ER.

And, um, 10, 10 feet under is his operating room, you know? So, uh, and he's, he just- What's cool about Carl is he's still a whole bunch of fun. He's nice to have a glass of wine with. He's just– The stories are endless and, and he's

maintained not a joking attitude, but he's maintained humor in the midst of h-heroism and tragedy. And, uh, of course, he married the 30-year-old stewardess from Brazil, and they're h- living in Colorado on a ranch,

so.

Nick Flores: Shout out to Carl.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Way to go, Carl. Have some kids, bro.

Nick Flores: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Um, and so– And he, he's around on occasion, yet he's,

he's also tethered to a pager 'cause he's on call. He, he comes to Eureka, but he has to be within eight minutes of Joe's in case there's, you know, somebody's heart blows up. But, uh, just a terrific guy and a whole bunch of fun, and one, that you'd like to, you know, just hang out with and really cool guy.

Nick Flores: Do you think that the military is almost a metric for

people excelling to some degree?

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Nick Flores: Do you think it's, it's something that it instills

gravitates towards that?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, I think, um…

I, I've interviewed a lot of people over the I, I, you know, I, I look twice at a degree It, it's, it's a part of a package and, you know, it's– it doesn't mean you're bonafide. It just means that you, you took the training and you did, you did what you said you would do. You spent four years or whatever, 10, um, and you served and… You know, when you think about it, so if you and I right now had to end this podcast and, "Hey, Scott and Nick, uh, get on the bus. We're leaving for Fort Sam Houston for four years," and you're leaving everything. No more, no more of this. And you just– and you split. And, and plus we're gonna put you through basic training. We're gonna kick your ass. We're gonna h- give you a haircut. We're going to… We'll give you a uniform. And, and just check out for four years. It– When I look at it that way, I go, "That's so rad." It's, it's such a giving act of, um, insanity o-on a giving level. I couldn't imagine 'cause I'm so rooted with kids and business and, and wealth, and I own a home in McKinleyville and special needs kid, Gabriel, what would he do, and all those considerations. And these folks, uh, amazingly, uh, chucked it for a little while

And so, uh, no matter what they did, I think that's pretty freaking heroic. And I'm gonna do it 'cause I love my country. I love freedom. I love what we stand for. We, we have this thing called a Constitution. There's– We have this system called capitalism. We have this thing called, you know, a republic that's amazing, and there's no better system that's ever been invented. W- Tell me where that is on the Earth, 'cause I might wanna go visit at least, and I don't know where that is, and, you know, Denmark has really good medical, and Netherlands is, my son tells me, is gonna be really cheap.

I'm going, "Yeah, but it's, it's terrible." [laughs] They also have legal prostitution in storefronts, so what up with that, dog? Anyway, so there's,

uh… I, I think I understand a little bit about and, you know, I, I didn't serve. I understand it, and I wanna honor that. That's why we're talking.

Nick Flores: Do you have any trouble

quarreling in your own mind the aspect of taking a life? 'Cause you do seem like you're a religious man. Has that ever been a point of contention in your life?

Scott Hammond: Um, I never had the opportunity to do that.

I, I th-thought about it last night with my I wanted to kill him in the kitchen.

Nick Flores: No, not, not necessarily you killing somebody-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Nick Flores: … but where you are around these people

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … your dad.

Scott Hammond: Um,

no, I, I don't think so. I, I'm, I'm good.

Um, I liked my joke though. I was gonna kill Micah last night 'cause ass at 18 in, in the kitchen. Just-

Nick Flores: That's how it goes though at that age

Scott Hammond: … 10:00, and it's just like, "Let's fight with Dad." Okay.

No, you don't wanna fight with Dad at 10:00 at That's the wrong answer, and, and us dads are stupid enough to get snookered into those pitfalls, and I– it was not a win, but we figured it out, and I apologized, so we're okay. But the bottom line is, um, so reframe the question for me. Am I uneasy with knowing

kill people?

Nick Flores: No. Well, how do you-

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Nick Flores: … how do you

deal with that? 'Cause obviously in the b- in the Bible it says you shouldn't

take a life.

Scott Hammond: Okay. So-

Nick Flores: And so I've t- I've just talked to a number of different

Scott Hammond: From a spiritual sort of-

Nick Flores: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … place.

Nick Flores: From a religious standpoint.

Scott Hammond: That's fair. Um, well, it, it, the Bible actually says,

"Thou shall not murder," and, um, and taking somebody's life is probably almost never okay. And so I don't wanna equivocate on it. I think in wartime, um, I think, uh, I've heard this taught recently, it that, hey, wartime and nations against nations,

um, it's, it's really not about k- murdering. It's about winning. And so do people die? Yeah. Is that, is that God's perfect plan?

No.

Is it, um, is it, uh, okay for a man of conscience or a man of God who, who loves God and who has a good heart to go and, and fight for his country and kill folks? Or… And who's, who's the more guilty, the guy that pulls the, the lever for the bomb or the pilot or the guy I, I'm not sure. The bank robber or the getaway car?

I, you know, or, or you and I paying taxes today to a military the US government. So-You know, the, the, the chain of, of command and of culpability is pretty

long. So no, I, I think I understand war, and I think I understand the fact that were [clears throat] … If it was a legit threat by China or something, I, I, you know, we defended our coast here against the Japanese. That's why REQA radar system is there. That's why Centerville Beach existed.

Um, Samoa had some stuff that was– We were watching for submarines, and they, actually chucked a few bombs in the forest up by Brookings and started a little forest fire. Like, yeah, I, I wouldn't want– I don't want a bunch of people on Central Avenue in McKinleyville that are not from my country [laughs] . You know, so… And it's hard to conceive of, right? So here's, here's a German occupation of Arcata. It's like, what? What? [laughs] The Chinese have landed in McKinleyville. We're in trouble.

So it, uh, I'm being a little silly and getting off topic, but yeah, I, I… I also honor conscience. So, uh, when Tobey Maguire played that guy in that, uh, Korean War, he was a medic, but he was a… I can't think of the movie. I He's a hero, but he was an, a conscientious objector, and so I totally, totally get that.

And, um-

Nick Flores: Are you talking about "Hacksaw Ridge"?

Scott Hammond: "Hacksaw Ridge," yeah. Thank you.

Nick Flores: With, um, not Tobey Maguire. It's-

Scott Hammond: It's the other guy.

Nick Flores: Yeah. It's the other Spider-Man.

Scott Hammond: He played Spider-Man?

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the other Spider- [laughs]

Nick Flores: I can't think of his name.

Scott Hammond: Wait, the other Batman. Wait, there's been 10 guys that played Batman.

Nick Flores: Not Tobey Maguire.

Scott Hammond: It was the other Spider-Man.

Nick Flores: It's on the tip of my tongue. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Nick Flores: I know what you're talking about, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That was a great movie. And so

are there folks that, that, uh, can't conscious, conscientiously-

Nick Flores: Andrew Garfield. Sorry for interrupting you.

Scott Hammond: Garfield. Thank you.

Nick Flores: That's his name. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you got it. Okay.

Um, am I good with it? Yeah. I th- I think there's, there's freedom of religion and expression, and if I can't… If I'm called on to serve, and I can't hold a rifle, and, "Hey, go train some dogs in Korea," well, or be a medic, be, be Andrew Garfield. And he was actually killer her-hero. He saved a lot of guys. [lip smacks] Um, does that answer your question?

Nick Flores: Yeah, I think so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Nick Flores: It's just, it's a nuanced discussion, you know?

Scott Hammond: It is. It-

Nick Flores: Because you can't-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Nick Flores: I mean, if, if war is knocking on your door, what do you do?

Scott Hammond: What do you do? And, and does it routinely with us? No.

Um, we're big enough and, you know, deep enough. We're-

Nick Flores: And isolated enough. No, when you talked about our geographic

Scott Hammond: Yeah, we are. Yeah.

Nick Flores: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We're… I don't know. Well, Humboldt, you know…

I don't know what Humboldt's gonna do in a nuclear holocaust. They, they tell us we're in a good position, Um, but I do know there are bad guys and bad actors out there that… That's why there's special forces. You know, Netherlands does not have a, an arm- standing army. They have special forces. Germany has an army, but they have… A lot of countries just have a special force division because they knock out human trafficking. They knock out drug imports. They knock out, um, you know, like our Green Beret or SEALs. They, they take out real bad guys, and I think, uh, there are bad guys out there, real bad, real bad institutions even. And, um, [lip smacks] but I think it's different. It's, it's not like it's… And maybe I'll be proven… Hopefully, uh, uh, hopefully, we'll never have bad guys like we had as a coalition in World War II that we're going, "Hey, I think we'd like to have Europe." You know? So, um, we'll see. Now I'm speculating, so hope I answered that.

Nick Flores: Yeah. Well, I don't know. W-World War III might pop up the way this-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … Russia-Ukraine thing is going, but-

Scott Hammond: Welcome to the death podcast of World War III and war and death.

Um, [laughs] so, um, yeah, let's hope not.

Um, so yeah, a, a, a standing army, I, you know, uh, peace through strength. I, I think there's, you know, sadly, there are those bullies in, in life would take advantage of somebody that wasn't strong.

Nick Flores: There's something to the big stick mentality that people don't want-

Scott Hammond: It's true

Nick Flores: … to acknowledge.

Scott Hammond: Oh, would none of us want to talk about it.

Eh, war, you know, it's e- And it's easy. The armchair quarterbacks that enjoy all the freedoms, weed and staying at home and watching NBA playoffs and eating Porter Street and just be- living crazy DaVita, that, you know… What have you done to earn your And the answer is, "Well, I, uh…" No, 'cause you've done nothing, and the bottom line is, and you expect it, and you're a narcissist, And wow, Scott, we're really go heavy now. Uh, [laughs] so, so th-there's that aspect where I don't think any of that is won is appreci- appreciated by some. And, and we don't know 'cause we've never known different. You and I have had plenty of food our We've had food on the table I think. I have. I don't know about you. Um, and I was pretty poor in San Diego with my we've known nothing but opulence. We live better than 95% of the rest of the world. Our, our median income's 35,000. You know how, how much that is? It's like 98% better than the rest of the world, and it's like… And, and we get sadly fat and sassy, and I'm, I'm not here to kinda start going off on us 'cause that's not fair, right? Or the purpose. The purpose is, um, let's say thanks to the guys

that won, that had their part in winning and maintaining freedom in all of its glory, meaning some of it's opulence. Some of it's a hot tub tonight going, Heineken in the hot tub. I'm feeling good. Thank you. Thanks for this freedom, God, and, and, and veterans and forefathers that figured out how to write a system that kinda works pretty good, that's self-checking hopefully, and hopefully it's gonna be checking soon again 'cause it does. That's what it does." And soUm, anyway, uh, anything else on Humboldt Heroes you wanna know?

Nick Flores: Well, actually I was a little curious.

I came across the idea that you run a blog.

Scott Hammond: I do.

Nick Flores: You have a website?

Scott Hammond: Did you read my blog?

Nick Flores: Yeah, I checked out a couple posts.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow, I wrote a really good one today.

I started the blog… I wrote a book called "The Everyday Dad" all came from a blog called Become a Better Father, which my son lost the blog. Did- we didn't pay for the [laughs] the domain.

Nick Flores: Oh, the hosting. Oh.

Scott Hammond: The hosting. Shit, we lost an entire amazing catalog of

And so, um, I– beginning of COVID, I, I put together a, a WordPress blog called Great Neighbor Scott, and, uh, just some rant- some rants and ra- not even rants, just my kinda life story. But the last, uh, 50 days, uh, today's day 51, I'm in 100-day writing, uh, challenge with a coach in Houston, and she's just challenged me to keep going and find a thread and, and, uh, I think today's is really good. I wrote about my 18-year-old interlude last night with Micah, fighting with my son, my, my m- my man boy son in the kitchen about just something stupid. But anyway, the bottom line is, um, uh, yes, I do, and yes, it's gonna become a book, um, for folks, um, about… It's, it's kind of about life and about, um, I'm calling– I think I'm gonna… my working title is "The Grandfather" and what it, kind of the journey of a man to go through life with kids, grandkids, and working, and retirement now, and staring at retirement options and what do you do, and there's not enough money, You know, you need two things to retire, Nick. Remember, health and wealth. It looks like you might have a bit of both. So, um, if you don't have those, you're not gonna have a good retirement. It's gonna suck. You need, you need w- both, not even one. [laughs] And if you have none, well, that's not a retirement at all 'cause probably in a different track. So, so it's been fun. So I'm starting to kinda find my writing

um, uh, I'm finding after watching "The Whale" Did you see the movie?

Nick Flores: It's a powerful movie.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. He's teaching JC guys how to write, uh,

online, and he goes, "Start writing your passion. Start writing with a voice that is, is passionate or pissed off or whatever that is, but write something that you feel, you feel." And I

think I got a couple feels about some stuff, and I think I'm gonna, you know… And I don't have to use the F-bomb to feel it, but there's some emphasis words that prob- that are coming out a little bit [laughs] you know, may or may not add meaning. They, they are for me. Maybe it's all therapeutic. I don't know. But, um, starting to formulate the pieces of a I'll let you know.

Nick Flores: And did all of that start out of this desire to just

figure out what it means to be a good father for you?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I think, I think the writing voice came out of, um,

a lot of experience around, uh, God stuff, marriage stuff, communication stuff. A lot of good fathering and parenting is just from good business management. I mean, it's not strictly management. It's relationship management and connection and empathy and having a connection with your kid or your spouse that transcends the problems that are gonna come against that in you and, and her and them. And so, um, to write toward that and to go, "Okay, um, it's ha- it's hard 'cause you work 80 hours a week, be Mr. Mom and connect with your wife and be an amazing soccer, golfer, whatever, softball player," and there's not enough bandwidth to be all that. So you gotta start choosing. So you pare it down. And so part of what my theme is, and I think it's biblical and, and solid and ethical, it's, it's life is about relationships. And you can't take… It's not about money. It's not about, uh, your pleasure and your self-serving ways and how you pleasure yourself with your, your Xbox or whatever, whatever your drug is. It's about what did you do to connect with people? H-how did you make it amazing for, um, for those around you? How did you add to the team, or did you? And so my book is… was and will be about, um, being intentional about that and finding that low-hanging fruit um… You know, I take my kids to bagels on Sundays just to date my kids and hang out. "Hey, how are ya?" Actually, we, we go to Grocery Outlet in McKinleyville on Saturday. "Hey, we gonna go to Gross Out this week?" Let's go get some of those nasty chips." And so just time together. So that's, that's where that's coming from. So thanks for noticing I had a blog.

Nick Flores: Yeah. Well, cultivating meaningful relationships,

to really success in life-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … and just being happy, is you, you,

you need to connect with people-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … on a deeper level.

Scott Hammond: Amen to that. Yeah. And, and you can get better at it.

It's, it's one of those-

Nick Flores: That's a skill.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Wri– Uh, my, my son's friend called me a rapport

you know, and I, I, I prefer rapport architect.

Nick Flores: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: So yeah, p- friends are just folks we haven't met yet.

And, um, and I, I like the counseling I got. So I just got some counseling the last couple years. COVID and life caved in on me briefly. And, and Tamala goes, "Just get curious. Be curious with people. Y- 'Hey, what's going on, Joni? Are you okay?' I'm curious. I don't have to be vested. I'm just cur- Are you okay? What can I do for you?' Or be curious about yourself. 'Wow, what, where did, where did that anger come from? Hmm, I got some work to do on that.'" And so to be in discovery and making connection, not control. That's the other thing. We all wanna control everybody, and it's like, stop it. I, I can't even control me very well. I'm not gonna control you or my wife. So it's getting out of that s- that, that results business and into a little bit more surrender and going, "Hey, you know, um, my head, and I'm not gonna give you control over my I'll do the right thing at the end of the day and take the high road," unless you're me in the kitchen last night blowing up at my son, losing my mind, and we all do that. And-

Nick Flores: We all slip up.

Scott Hammond: We do, and you repent, you get it right, and you make…

I, I think we're gonna be okay. So anyway.

Nick Flores: Well, Scott, yeah, we can get-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Nick Flores: … you out of here. This was a lot of fun, man.

I appreciate you coming on-

Scott Hammond: Hey, man

Nick Flores: … to talk about Humboldt Heroes.

Scott Hammond: The honor's all mine, Nick, and like to come back

Nick Flores: Yeah. Do you want to plug where people can find

stuff?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Um-

Nick Flores: Your blog, Humboldt Heroes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Humble Heroes, uh, is, uh, I believe on a

website. It, it was. I'm not sure it's [laughs] still there, you can find it all day long on Facebook. It's great. It's huge, lots of video. Um, Humboldt Heroes, uh, you can call me, 444-2504, Scott Hammond, State Farm, downtown Eureka, 7th and G, as in good

neighbor, uh, because like a good neighbor, I'll be right there. And, uh, we do it every last Friday of the month or Christmas, and then we usually move it. But you can find us once a month doing that outdoors. And I have said this, and, and I regretted saying it. It's never rained in seven years. Well, December, it rained like crazy. We had to take it indoors. It was crowded and crazy,

Nick Flores: Okay. Well, thanks, Scott. I appreciate you doing this, man.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me.

Have a great day