With the 2024 elections fast approaching, were focusing this episode on the people who are working hard to make sure America continues to have the safest, most secure, and most accurate elections on the planet. To begin, Matt Reisinger (1:40), the Director of Elections & General Registrar for Warren County Virginia joins us to talk about how local elections are run, why early voting is important, and why it’s important for citizens to volunteer to help run elections. Next, the chair and vice chair of the Election Assistance Commission Chairman Ben Hoveland and Commissioner Donald Palmer - a Navy veteran- join Ellen and Joe to discuss the challenges facing state and local election officials this year and what the federal government is doing to help – to include voter education and countering foreign malign influence. Lastly, our own Loren Westerfield, deputy director of Vet the Vote, joins us to update our listeners on the latest numbers (we recruited more than 140,000 poll workers!), the latest partners (NASCAR joined the coalition!), and what’s coming down the pike in terms of local events. For more, check out www.VetThe.Vote.

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We're sure it comes as no surprise that this world is filled with people who want to manipulate you - to shape your thoughts and feelings so they can influence your behaviors. This episode is all about how humans construct our realities with our five senses and the information we gather beyond our senses. And this is a garbage-in garbage-out process - when we consume bogus information, we tend to make decisions that aren't aligned with the interests of ourselves, our families, and our nation. Joining us in this episode is Zach Fryer-Biggs (1:33), the managing editor of Military.com - one of the military and veteran community's "hometown newspapers." Zach talks about why our system of self government requires a free, fair, independent, and inquisitive press. Next, we speak with Sasha Havilcek (18:05), the CEO of ISD Global who is an expert on extremism, polarization, and disinformation to help us uncover who is trying to influence you during our elections and why. Lastly, Joe brings former USMC intelligence officer Andrew Borene (1:00:54) aboard to talk about the dirty tricks propagandists use to fool us and how we can detect their attempts and thwart them. Nobody messes with M'erica! Andrew now serves as an open source intelligence expert, and we urge veterans and their family members to treat their news and social media consumption in the same way we'd gather intelligence - confirm the source, verify the information, cross check with other sources, and analyze for motive before deciding. It's up to us to seek good information upon which to make decisions about the future of this country. Now you're armed to do just that.

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This episode is all about the many contributions women have made to our national defense and how the military services are changing to better leverage the full talents of the American people. Leading off today's conversation, Joe speaks with U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot and combat veteran, Katey van Dam (1:33). Katey deployed in support of combat operations in Afghanistan and counter-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa/Gulf of Aden. She also co-founded No Exceptions, a non-partisan initiative that led the effort to get the Department of Defense to allow women to compete for jobs in the infantry, artillery, tanks, combat engineers and other previously closed military occupational specialties (MOSs). Next up, Ellen has a chat with Army veteran Phyllis Wilson (14:05) who served 37 years in the Army as a Military Intelligence (MI) Voice Intercept Operator. Phyllis has served around the globe – visiting more than 35 countries and had been mobilized numerous times to shoulder the duties of defense of the nation and has deployed to Iraq several times as an Intelligence Analyst with Special Operations. She now leads the efforts of the Womens Military Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery - whose mission is to capture and tell the stories of the many women who have defended our country. Lastly, Lindsay Knight (43:15) of Blue Star Families joins us for a discussion on what her organization is doing to strengthen the military community.

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For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and at https://linktr.ee/vettedconversations