S7 E8, Part 1: This Veteran and His Ancestral Legacy: Jackson Weaver, Choctaw

Honeydough and welcome to Native Choctaw, a podcast by natives for all. Here we're keeping our native ancestors' stories and history alive while also sharing with you our native culture, traditions, and more. I'm Rachel Youngman, a Choctaw originally from Anadarko, Oklahoma. I hope you'll enjoy this journey with me as we learn from our Native American guests. And I hope you'll do me a favor. Feel free to like and share these episodes. I so appreciate it. I am Choctaw Proud. I am Choctaw Proud. We are the Choctaw Nation, and together, we're more. Today is November 11, 2024, and it's Veterans Day, y'all. I can hardly talk about the men and women who have so bravely served this country without getting goosebumps and teary-eyed. I believe in this country, and I believe we should honor those who have served. We're going to visit today with Jackson Weaver, a proud citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and a service-connected disabled veteran. He is a former U.S. Army recruiting and retention non-commissioned officer who has over 17 years' experience specializing in healthcare staffing to federal hospitals across the U.S. and owns the healthcare staffing company, Worldwide Medical Staffing. Jackson has personally recruited and managed hundreds of physicians, advanced practice, RNs, and allied health professionals to virtually every Indian health area and via VISN on the list. He has managed projects and schedules that range from five to 50 full-time employees and has vast experience with government procurement, security, and onboarding processes. Jackson is an expert staffing consultant with the ability to partner with the CMO and hospital leadership on emerging trends, credentialing, scheduling, and cross-coverage opportunities. He offers a unique perspective as both an IHS beneficiary and businessman who has 17 years of experience staffing the hospitals who serve not only himself but also his family. Jackson purchased Worldwide Medical Staffing in 2021 and he oversees the daily operations, account management, and recruitment activities. Listeners, today we'll get to hear about Jackson's ancestral stories and then we'll go over some good information for you about Native Americans in the medical field that I certainly didn't know, and perhaps you're the same. And Jackson will share with those of you out there looking to get into the medical field, resume building, and more, so stay tuned. You don't want to miss this. First, let's get to know you and your ancestors, Jackson. I found their stories fascinating, by the way. Where did you grow up? Hallito. I was born in Los Angeles, California, Monabello, California, East LA, and I was raised in Arizona in Chandler, Arizona. So I moved to Chandler, Arizona, probably at age six years old in kindergarten, and I went to school here, except for one year that I spent in Southwest Arkansas with my grandparents, and I would have been in like my sixth grade here. But I grew up here in Phoenix, Arizona. Okay, and obviously you're in your new office now, and I think we'll talk about that in a little bit, but how hot is it there today? Today, we're in the 80s, believe it or not, and it will be rising, but yeah, we're in sunny Arizona, and I have a glass office that I'm still getting used to because of the heat that beat on me in the afternoons. But thank God for air conditioning, and we have plenty of it. I find it interesting that Native Americans, such as yourself, are sometimes mistaken for every ethnicity except Native American, and you had that situation happen to you in school, correct? I had that happen to me when I was moving into this building, believe it or not. I mean, this last week, as a matter of fact, but yes, growing up in Phoenix, there's a large Hispanic population, and then the Native population would be Apache, Indians, or Navajo, somebody like myself, they're just going to say, "Mexican." You're like a Choctaw misplaced. Pretty much. Even growing up in Anadarko as a Choctaw, and that's in Oklahoma, people would be like, "What are you doing in Anadarko? Shouldn't you be towards Durant?" And you eventually went into the service. Tell us about that. So I went into the Army National Guard as a high school student. I joined what they had called a split option program. So I went to basic training in Georgia at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the summertime before I graduated my senior year of high school. So I did that in Georgia, and then I returned back to Chandler and went to high school, finished high school. And then the second part of the training, which would have been job training, I had joined the artillery. So I was a forward observer in the artillery, a 13 Fox. We ended up doing my training for still Oklahoma. But I spent the summer out there in Lawton, Oklahoma, doing my artillery school, my artillery training, and had a wonderful summer there, and almost close to home to where my grandparents were. And then I returned back to Arizona where I enrolled into community college myself. Well, and when you said Fort Sill, it really rang a bell for me. So when my dad left Riverside Indian School as an art teacher, he went to work for and retired from Fort Sill. And you and I were laughing the other day about our similar stories with Volkswagen buses. So I just think it's so funny, my dad drove one to work every day, and then you and your family had one too, right? Correct. Yes, yes, we had one for that's the car we had when I was born, apparently, because that's the first van I remember up until my dad sold it for 500 bucks and, you know, to one of the cousins that turned 16 and it was gone. Nowhere conditioning in Arizona and driven multiple times across country, pretty much every summer from Phoenix to Arkansas, crossing Texas, and the heat or even in the wintertime in the cold, it would go to the northern route through Oklahoma City. But no long at 55 miles an hour, you know, for 1000 miles each way, no radio either. Oh, yes. Oh, and I'm sure you had siblings, right? I was traveling with three sisters and only boy. And yeah, I mean, sometimes, sometimes with no middle seat and a playpen in the in the middle and no seatbelts. I don't think it even had to see belts. And the way it went to what color was the bus that y'all had? We had a red to tell it was two tone. It was a white top with a red, red bottom on it. Yes, ours was to crazy. Well, and it's funny because when you and I talked about the VW bus, by the way, any listeners that also had a VW bus please show us your photos because I don't think I have one from when we had ours. But I called my sister and I was like, do you remember the Volkswagen bus? Like, it was red and white. I remember that. But I was like, I remember the seats being out of it and it's just sitting on the floor. And she said, that's because it for a little bit, we had taken the seats out of it because we had sheep for a while. And we used to pick up the sheep in the bus to, I don't know, transport them to the vet, take them home, whatever it was. And it spurred a memory for me that I remember riding in that bus without seats with the sheep. So anyway, my dad would drive that van to work in Lawton, even though we lived in the country outside of Anadarko. And that van probably had a lot of miles on it. Good to know we could have sold it for $500 sounds like that's what it was worth. And I'll tell you, one thing that stuck out as I grew older as a kid with that bus was, before HOAs, they would just leave a nasty letter on your car or your house. And we had moved into a, I won't say a nicer, it was a brand new neighborhood, but we probably had the oldest bus in the neighborhood, right? And of course it leaked oil. So, you know, got to leave that parked on the street. And I always remember people would leave anonymous notes saying, you know, get rid of that hunk of junk. You know, and I remember my parents being offended and they wouldn't tell us kids, but you're smart enough to overhear what's happening. And then you're embarrassed at school because, you know. You mean to our bus. Yeah, pretty much. You're the kid with the bus leaking oil all over the new neighborhoods. It must be a Choctaw thing too. Any other Choctaws out there have the Volkswagen bus? That's too funny. Well, thanks for taking that memory lane jog with me for a little bit. Now you are also a service-connected disabled veteran, correct? Yes, correct. Okay, help me and others understand the meaning of that term if you would. Sure. So that's a very broad term. And it used to mean a lot of things to me, but what the real term is, it's any kind of injury, illness, sickness, something that occurred or happened to you while you were in uniform. It may be considered a disability. And that's a military, a veteran's disability. It's not to be confused or it's not the same as like a social security disability or something like that where people are unable to work. It's basically, if any, again, it could be anything from a smashed finger to a missing limb that your disability could range. And every service member, whether you're in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, they all do like an exit interview, if you will, or a physical at the end and they evaluate anything that's happened and through your service history, if you will, and they'll provide you with what's called a rating. And so different veterans have different ratings, but that's kind of the overall what service-connected disabled veterans are or what it is. That makes sense. Thank you so much for sharing that with us and also thank you for your service to our country. I'd like to give a shout out to your wife and kids. So hello to them. You have two daughters and a son, correct? Correct. Yes, I have a wife, Megan, and I have two daughters, Sophia and Sadie, and then I have a son named Cody, and the daughters are 12 and 7, Cody's 23. Wonderful. So they're kind of spread out a little bit, right? A little spread out. We had a good time raising Cody as, I don't want to say an only child because he ended up with sisters, but had a good time with him coaching his football teams and watching him wrestle. He was a varsity wrestler and then now the girls are coming along. They're both in ballet, but the youngest one plays piano and does piano recitals. And then the 12-year-old practices, mixed martial arts. She's a gray belt and jujitsu, and very, very proud of her. By the way, for those of you who are just listening and not watching on YouTube, feel free to head over to YouTube if you get a chance and you'll see pictures of this beautiful family. So tell us about your son, Cody, as he's another serviceman that we definitely should acknowledge. Cody is currently on active duty. He's in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He decided to go a little bit farther than his father, and like any good son must outdo his father. And so he had to go active duty rather than artillery. He wanted infantry, airborne infantry, and that's where he is. Oh, he's so proud. So proud. I love the guy. I talk to him all the time. I'm blessed to have him as a son, and I'm glad that we have the relationship that we can kind of -- it's moved on to like more mentor and just friends, if you will. We trade memes and jokes. Now, especially where I've been here, I've been to Fort Benning where I went. So it's kind of cool to see that, and to witness that. So good job to you and your wife, and good job to you, Cody, for serving our country. We really appreciate you. I will also share on my Facebook page photos of your daughters when they got to meet Choctaw Chief and Assistant Chief. I bet that was a big day for them, right? Yes. So they've actually got to meet the Chiefs a few times now. Wow. Maybe like two or three, because we're fortunate enough to be Choctaw, and the Choctaw have an outreach program. I'm sure you're familiar. They do cultural visits at least once a year or every other year. Great. It's amazing, and there's a large group of -- a large Choctaw that moved out west after World War II, and I'm part of that class as well, and that's kind of how we ended up out here. And, you know, the Chief and Assistant Chief will come, and they bring the delegation from Oklahoma, and they do a nice visit, and they'll bring the dancers, and they'll do a presentation, and, you know, and then you get FaceTime with Chiefs. First off, I love our tribe, but I love our tribe even more, the fact that we have a Chief and Assistant Chief, and a whole team of people that travel with them, I'm sure, that do these outreaches. Sorry, we're a little bit biased today, y'all. Great. Wow. We'll be back after this quick break. Are you in the medical field looking for your next opportunity? Listeners, I'm proud to introduce you to Native American veteran-owned staffing company, Worldwide Medical Staffing. Owner and CEO Jackson Weaver is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and is a service-connected disabled veteran, where he and his team staff for commercial healthcare and government entities, such as the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and DHS, and specialize in staffing Indian Health and VA hospitals nationwide. Isn't it nice to know that our veterans are being cared for by staff who have been hand-picked by a veteran who's been in the staffing business for 17 years? Healthcare job seekers, check out these open jobs on www.medical.com. If you're seeking temporary, long-term, or permanent placement of physicians, advanced practice, registered nurses, and more, check out www.medical.com. And Yako Kee, to our medical professionals, and to those who have served our country. Now, after you got out of the military, you started working in the field of recruiting, and obviously you're still in that area today, and we'll talk about that later. But I know you wanted to make a quick mention to honor a veteran that you once recruited. Tell us about him. I'll talk about Private Michael Miller. As a recruiter, I probably had a mission to recruit 33 people per year, and it changes for different recruiters. So if any former recruiters are watching, go at 33, because I hear now it's more of like 12 per year, the new quotas. But back when I was doing it, it was 33 a year. So I always say, I probably, I know three years in it, I've placed at least 90 people into the military, for better or worse. And I know by name, most of them, just because you get to know these people as you, you know, go through their life and their documents and their backgrounds and meet their families. Well, I used to do high school displays and high school visits as part of my job. And I stumbled across Private Miller, and he was one of those recruits that had already kind of made up his mind that he was going to join. And basically, my job was to go and talk his parents into allowing him to join because he was only 17 at the time. And of course, me being a recruiter and responsible for my 33 a year, went ahead and accomplished that mission and got him enrolled and got him enlisted. And, and he joined and then he went on to help me for a while as a recruiter as my assistant recruiter just because he was such a good guy and always willing to help out and always willing to help me and refer other people to me. And I met his family quite often and he was in my territory, but about a year and a half into his service, he was well about a year in he was called to Afghanistan and subsequently, probably six months into that deployment was killed by an IED. So, just want to always carry him with us and carry him with me and his friends and I just always talk about them when I can. So, give a shout out to him as well, especially today being Veterans Day. And, you know, he's not for keeping his memory alive and blessings to the family, friends, all of those who supported him on his journey to serve our country. I'm so proud of our men and women who have served but for those who have moved on to the afterlife after being so brave, I just, I hope that they're able to look down and be proud of what they did and how they served. So thank you again for sharing that with us. On the recruitment front for the military, I didn't know that that's how it worked that you basically are more than just, hey, I'm recruiting this person here you go, and then you walk away you stay in touch with those people. Well, especially in the National Guard, because that's where it's kind of different where the active duty, you sign somebody up, they're gone for four years. But in the National Guard, they're gone for their basic training, their job training, they might be back in six months or a year. And then they go one weekend a month, and I'm still here the whole time so you end up building a relationship with them, even after the fact you end up working with them maybe even side by side hey that was my recruiter you know but now you know that's just kind of how it works. So it's a little bit different with the National Guard recruitment. Yeah, it's much more intimate. And that's where recruiters always got a bad rap if you will, they'll say anything, well not us because we have to see you when you get back, so you can sell somebody a line of BS and then hope to never see them again because it doesn't work like that. You're gonna love this, hey I did not love this. But yeah, no as a matter of fact you lied to me, you know all of that stuff you don't want to. And especially from their families too because you do get to know their family, but you know you're part of the community so. I think at one point you told me that he was the only casualty that you had known of amongst the people that you had recruited over the years right. That's a fact, yes I mean you know as you know God forbid as many casualties as we've had in these wars, not a lot of recruiters, you know like I'd say my recruiting class, maybe one or two others that we don't lose a lot of soldiers when you think of it on those terms, you know. And I know for a fact he was the only one out of mine and even my recruiter colleagues I can't think of too many, but it is a fact of life that we've dealt with. Sure, so I'm excited to talk about a long line of veterans that have served our country in your family, but starting with your father he was not military but he still served in a different way, correct? Yes, yes my father, well first he started out working in the oil fields of West Texas in his early 20s right out of college until what happens to a lot of people who work in the oil fields he smashed some of his fingers or lost some fingers and which kind of ended that career for him and propelled him into law enforcement. He ended up joining the Border Patrol, he was, my father was born in Germany, he's a Choctaw born in Germany, he was born on an air base in Germany and lived in England most of his life growing up in between bouts of living in rural Oklahoma and England or rural Oklahoma and it's funny how that works but he ended up going and finishing high school in Tucson, Arizona so that's how the family dealt. Oh my goodness. Did he have any kind of accent from living in the UK? You know, I wouldn't know, that's one question I don't think I've ever asked but I doubt it. Okay. That's a good question but he ended up, once it happened in the oil fields he ended up joining the Border Patrol and what's interesting with him is his accident happened on his right hand and that's your shooting hand. In order to even qualify to pass the Border Patrol Academy, he had to teach himself how to shoot left-handed. No way. Yeah, you know, and it's something you don't even think about nowadays or people would shake his hand and say, oh, I didn't know he was missing a finger. Oh yeah, look again, he's missing a finger, you know, two fingers. Damn. Yeah, so he ended up, started in the Border Patrol and then ended up as a GS-15 in the Immigration Naturalization Service, INS. He was a deputy director before he retired in the early 2000s and he's been a private investigator ever since and lives here in Mesa so I talk to him pretty often as well. All right, so if anyone needs a PI, we can obviously, we know who to call now. Correct. So you mentioned that he traveled around with, as he was growing up, so your grandfather is, he served in the Army, correct? Correct, my grandfather, we called him Chief. He was from Medill, Oklahoma, and he joined in, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1943 as a senior in high school himself and he passed his test to become a bomber pilot. And in the bomber program, I should say, and he went on to military, the military sent him to college, if you will, and he got fast-tracked into their flight program and became a warrant officer and maybe that's why we call him Chief. I used to ask him, why do we call you Chief and say, because I'm the Chief, but being in the military, I know you call the Chief Warren, you call the Chief Chief, you know, so. Right. Anyway, he was a CW-4, but he was a pilot, and then when the war ended, and he never actually was a pilot in though, he was doing all this training to go to be deployed into the Pacific. And just as that was starting to, he was starting to get those orders, the war was over, and so he did not have to deploy as a bomber pilot to anywhere. But then he ended up joining what's now called the Air Force, the U.S. Air Force, because back then there was no U.S. Air Force. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and that was in that, you know, first part of the war. So then as the newly formed Air Force, he joined and became what was called an OSI officer, Office of the Special Investigations, where he served out another 20 years of his military career. And he traveled all around Oklahoma. He was stationed on Oklahoma air bases, and he was basically like, if you asked him what he did, he would say he was a cop, and basically he would investigate things on post, and he worked all across the state of Oklahoma. That's fantastic. Now, his name was Jack O. Weaver, Jr., correct? Correct. Okay. So, you know, I noticed in the Medill Record newspaper in May of 1946, he was mentioned as an Army recruiting officer. Does it make you smile to know he was also a recruiter of sorts? Yes, it does. In fact, I saw the article that you had emailed, and I got a big smile, because that's one of the stories he used to tell me all the time as a kid, is it was just an additional duty. When the war ended, they didn't know what to do with people that, and you're on orders, you're in the military, so you guys are going to be recruiters. He ended up on a team that was pulling around an anti-aircraft light, and they were taking it to state fairs and carnivals across the U.S. with the Army. He was on like a tractor/trailer rig with these big spotlights. The story he likes to tell, though, is they were in Louisiana one night, and they were having a good time, and they were given a display, and an airplane would fly over, and they would hit it with the big spotlights, and they would circle it, and they'd go by, and they'd shut it off, and then they'd come back on, and they'd hit it with the spotlight, and they'd go back. And they were doing it, and everybody's like, "Next thing you know, the sheriff pulls up, and he's running crazy, why?" Because the pilot in the commercial airliner above was calling down to the, he was trying to land, and every time he got into landing, they would hit him with the spotlight. Oh no, oh no. The only thing he could do was call the tower. The tower could call the sheriff. The sheriff had to get in his car and drive to the fair. Oh boy. I was like, "Oh, shut it off!" So we had to shut the thing off, and hope they didn't get in trouble for it. I don't know what the recourse was. You had one job. I know that the air traffic controller was pretty upset. Oh, I bet, I bet. Holy moly. So he would, he told you that story, like when you were younger? Yeah, oh yeah. So that's so neat. I've heard so many growing up with him, and spending, I spend every summer up with him, and I spent a school year out there, and I mean, I see this, I soak up so many stories from him over and over, so I could, I've heard tons of that stuff, so yes. I bet, I bet. That's so fun. I love those stories, and those are the things that I'm glad we're preserving today. We've got to keep on making sure your kids and your grandkids will hear these same stories. So I was proud to hear about your grandpa, and I can't help but mention my grandpa was also a fighter pilot in the Air Force in both the Korean War and World War II, because I think that was his time frame too, Korean War and World War II. My grandpa's name, and I have to brag since it is Veterans Day, his name was William Creeley Shoffner, and we called him Papa Shoff. So it sounds like we have some similarities going on here with our grandpas. Anyway, in 2018, Chief Batten visited your grandpa, Jack, and your grandma, Johnny. Tell us about that. So that was kind of one of the results from their cultural visits out here. I got some time with the Chief, and I knew Chief Batten, and I knew he had been visiting elders. I knew about his project, so I just, I wrote down their information and just handed it off to him, not thinking it would turn into anything. Sure. And it did. And the funny thing on that is my grandfather, Chief, is such a, I won't say a mistrusting person, but a little mistrusting. He thought it was a scam when the Chief called him. He thought, "No way." And well, because the Chief Batten said, "Oh, I met your grandson in Scottsdale, and I lived in Chandler." And my grandpa was very smart, you know what I mean? So he was like, "I'm out." He was like, "He doesn't live in Scottsdale." I have a grandson close, but not that close. And he didn't have the dark power out here. And you know, I would, you know, so, but by the time, he might have hung up on the Chief, honestly. By the time I got worked out, and we all knew who he was, it was really, my grandfather talked about that probably for the rest of his life, that he didn't understand how such an important man, such a busy man, would take the time out of his day to come out to the middle of nowhere to do an interview on him and to take his picture. I've still got goosebumps right now. That is so Chief Batten. That is exactly what he does. And he remembers people's names. I am amazed by that. Yes. Yeah, and he remembers his house. My grandfather built his house there. It was an underground house. And Chief, last time I saw him, he was like, "How's that house?" You know, because it was very, you know, rememberable, if you will. I'm so glad you made that happen, too. Love that story. Yes. So you mentioned that your grandpa, Jack, was a little untrusting. What else was he like? So, you know, and getting back to our similarity, he was in Korea as well. He went to Korea. He was in Berlin during the Berlin air lifts. He, very interesting stories and have all the times, but he was a very Christian man. He went to church probably four times a week that I remember. I mean, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday prayer meeting and Thursday visiting. And then maybe some lawn mowing in sprinkled in there around the church or building signs or doing anything he could to spread the word. I'll say he's a very tough man. He's very tough. And I'd say he's a loving man, but also just a very tough old man and grew up very poor and believed in being self-sufficient and kind of living off the grid, really, or trying to be prepared for anything that may or may not happen to you in life. There you go. Sounds like he was also wise. Got to be prepared for anything. And, you know, those of you who have served people who have seen war, they probably have a totally different perspective than people like myself. Completely. And that goes from everything from food to the paper dollar to, I mean, he used to tell me that he'd seen trunks full of German, Deutsch marks that were worth the paper they were on. You know, when, when Germany fell, that was it. I mean, what's what good is that box of German cash and all kinds of, you know, when there's no food, there's no food. He was always, that was his, his last 30 years was preparing his place with fish and game and you, whatever you might think of to be able to live off the land was kind of his, his goal. That's fantastic. Sounds like the Choctaw was, was definitely in his blood. And he taught you to be extra proud. He taught me more than anything. Well, and that's where it's like, I don't like this to turn negative, but he always was the guy that said, don't ever let somebody run you over ever, you know, but don't ever be bullied, don't ever bully somebody. But God forbid you're not going to be bullied. And even if you're going to, you know, get your nose punched in, you know, they won't do it again. And so he was like, he was kind of a tough guy when I, when I went, you know, just, but he was a very pride guy. And I'll just say that very proud person that was not afraid to tell you if you're wrong or tell you if you're right and stand up for what he believed in. Amazing. Again, not, not bad words, but it definitely sounds like he was similar to my grandpa in that age group that that was a lot tougher and they probably had to be a lot tougher. So I'm sorry to hear that your grandpa Jack passed away, not too long ago. How old was he when he passed. So he, he was almost 97 years old. He, he was born in 25. And he passed away just one on two years next month, actually. Yeah, it's, it's, it's one of those things that he lived an extremely long life. And we had, towards the end, we probably said bye to each other more than a few times. And so it's kind of a weird, we had a weird relationship like that. So it's kind of, I miss him, but I'm glad that, you know, he's on to bigger and better from here. Yes, he is. Well, in listeners, Grandpa Jack's story is also recorded in the beautiful book by Choctaw Nation and the wonderful writings of Judy Allen, called Memory Keepers. And you can reach out to the Choctaw headquarters gift shop at 580-924-8280 to purchase your book. Now Jack's wife, Johnny is still with us today, correct? Yes, my grandmother, Johnny Colleen is still with us. She's down in Tucson, living close to her daughter, my aunt, down there. Oh good, oh good. Well, then if you're, if Jack was 97 when he passed, she's got to be close to that as well. She was born in 25, so she's, she's knocking on the door. And I'll tell you, they probably until about five years ago were doing garden work in Arkansas. And that's no, I mean, they, I think the secret to their longevity was just manual labor and living in the clean air of the Wachita Mountains. Yeah, beautiful. It's also beautiful out there. So, hello's to your grandma, Johnny. I can only imagine all the things that she must have seen over the years. Where was she born? So she was born in, in Alesworth, Oklahoma. Okay. You won't find Alesworth. No Alesworth, I was going to say. So the stories I always heard their houses were, Alesworth was flooded out when they added on to Lake Texoma. Oh, interesting. If you're familiar with Lake Texoma, you may be fishing on top of Alesworth, Oklahoma somewhere in there. That's crazy. I've always, that story always makes me want to go diving and see what I find. I'm sure a lot of people do that, right? I've heard the stories as a kid of these giant monster catfish that live out there and they live in the abandoned homes that had been filled in or had been, you know, waterlogged. So, some big catfish lurking around down there. Stay tuned for part two of this series.