You Can Help Our Veterans “€“ With Chad Robichaux From Mighty Oaks Warriors: Our nation’s veterans have made great sacrifices to serve our country. Find out how effective faith-based programs are bringing healing and hope to restore these great warriors”€™ lives.

Air Date: 12/4/2019

Guest:Chad Robichaux

On-air Personalities: Rick Green

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. This is WallBuilders Live, where we talk about today’s hottest topics on policy, faith, culture, everything that’s going on in the world, but we look at it from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. If you do that, if you actually say, hey, what does the Bible say about this particular issue, and friends, there is not a single topic on the planet that the Bible doesn’t address, not a single topic. Whether you’re talking about with your family, with your business, with politics, with government, all of those things, the Bible tells us the right position on each of those issues. So we look at that here on this program.

We also look at the historical perspective. What can we learn from history? What works, what doesn’t work? What have we seen work well, what has always failed like socialism? And how can we learn from history and then apply that to the issues of the day? And then lastly, we look at a constitutional perspective and I’ll say that last because it’s not important. It’s just that when we get to the specific application in America, then it’s appropriate for us to say how does this constitutional republic work? What’s the rules by which we should play the game of society, how our communities are formed. We are a constitutional republic and we have that Constitution to guide us on how that would work.

So when we say biblical, historical and constitutional perspective here on WallBuilders Live, that’s what we mean. Now, you might also be wondering what WallBuilders means?

Our Name

That comes from the scripture in Nehemiah there in the Old Testament that says, arise and rebuild the walls that we may no longer be a reproach. So wall building today means restoring the foundations, restoring the principles that made America the greatest nation, modern nation in history.

In the first place, what are the principles that produce such a good society? And that’s what we’re about restoring here WallBuilders. Rebuilding those foundations that truly work, those foundations that will make a nation strong.

If you’re curious about us, go to wallbuilderslive.com. You can learn more about all of our host here on the program, that’s myself, Rick Green, I”€™m a former Texas legislator. It’s of course David Barton, the America’s premier historian and our founder here at WallBuilders. Tim Barton, national and pastor and president of WallBuilders are all three of us.

Typically, on the program today, we’re actually going to have a special interview with Chad Robichaux . Now if you’re not familiar with Chad and Mighty Oaks Warriors programs, you hadn’t been listening to WallBuilders long because we had Chad on as often as we can, just a phenomenal story. His individual story as a special ops guy that did so many tours, you know, I can’t even remember how many, but incredible sacrifice for our country and came back like a lot of our warriors with a lost sense of purpose and nearly lost his marriage, nearly took his own life, went through some really, really tough times and that happens to so many of our warriors.

Special Guest Chad Robichaux

Thankfully, his wife really spoken to his life and some godly men came around him and spoken to his life. And as a result, he took the formula that God put in his life to save his life and his marriage, and took that and expanded it into my do tours programs that has now touched thousands and thousands of lives out there and made an incredible, incredible difference.

We absolutely love these guys. We donate to them, WallBuilders supports them, wants to get as many of our listeners to support them as possible as well. And Chad’s going to be heading out to Washington DC to testify here in a few days. And so we wanted to get him on for an update about what’s been going on with him these last few months of the year. Catch up a little bit on Mighty Oaks Warriors programs, talk a little bit about what he’s going to Washington to testify on and share that with you. So stay with us, Chad Robichaux, our special guest today. Stay with us, you’re listening to hear from WallBuilders Live.

Front Sight Handgun Training Course

Hey friends, Rick Green here from WallBuilders Live. What do Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Ben Shapiro, Rick Green, Tim Barton, David Barton, what all these folks have in common other than the fact that they’re conservative commentators that defend the Constitution and educate America on the Constitution. They’re all raving about Front Sight Firearms Training Institute.

In fact, if you go to my website right now today at rickgreen.com, you can watch the video of Dennis Prager training at front side or Larry Elder training the front side or Tim Barton and myself training out there front side. It’s an opportunity for you to learn how to defend yourself and your family to make sure that you’re ready and able to do that. It is a fantastic place to train. They train literally 30,000-40,000 people a year and they’re just wonderful to work with. And you can go with us, we’re headed back out. We’re going to have a great time out there as the WallBuilders family.

And if you’re a supporter of WallBuilders, we have an amazing deal for you, it’s actually going to cost you one-tenth the normal price to attend this two-day handgun training because you’re going with us and you’ll also get the Constitution crash course. I’ll be teaching on the constitution. You”€™ll get the intellectual ammunition that you need to defend the Second Amendment and our Constitution as well as getting the physical training on how to defend yourself and your family. And this is for everyone: guys, gals, everyone should take this class. For no matter how much you shot your whole life or if you’ve never touched a gun, learn how to defend your family.

Everybody Needs to Take This Course

We’re going to be going several times throughout the year and we would love to have you be a part of that. Check out rickgreen.com today to find out the dates and all the specifics and getting all of your questions answered. Check out rickgreen.com today to join us on this front sight trip for both your constitutional and your handgun defense training.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live, thanks for staying with us. Chad Robichaux back with us from Mighty Oaks Warriors program, always good to have you, Chad. Thanks for coming on, man.

Chad:

Thanks for having me back.

Rick:

Hey, bro, you had a super successful annual dinner fundraiser this year in Houston recently. Tell us more about it and how when did you guys meet your goals for fundraising?

Chad:

Yeah, we had Dan Crenshaw come in and Chad Prather emceed it and congressman Crenshaw just gave great speech about veterans. Of course, he’s a veteran himself, a Navy SEAL winning combat and now. And then I spoke, Jeremy Sonar, our executive director spoke and gave testimony from one of our graduates, Robert [inaudible 06:15], just to amazing job.

We sold out so we had 650 people there and next year, we’re looking at having probably twice as many and get some more seats. But we did an excellent on fundraising. We raised a little over $300,000 to go in our scholarship fund, the scholarship warriors and how programs for 2020. And, you know, this year, we had 3,090 graduates from our legacy program. And we on our resiliency side have spoken over 130,000 active duty troops on base around the world. So we’re just continuing to press for reprograms. We have a lot of demand right now an active duty. In the veteran community, we have the great now currently, we have 1,585 applications come to our programs. So is a big demand and we’re so thankful for events like that and for grateful nation to get behind us and make it happen.

An Incredible Impact

Rick:

Well, man you guys have an incredible impact. And for all of our listeners right now that are going okay, great, I missed the dinner, can I still help but it’s in the year coming up? This is the time when people make contributions. This is one that you know, Karen and I give to every year, the Barton”€™s love, we all love what you do Chad”€™s, we want to give our listeners a chance even if they missed the dinner, being able to sponsor. And by the way, every year, you can sponsor the dinner even if you don’t make it, that’s usually what happens to us. But it’s not the end of the year yet, you still got a few weeks here to donate and Chad, I’m going to guess going right to the websites, it”€™s easiest way to do it, mightyoaksprograms.org

Chad:

mightyoaksprograms.org. Then for those who aren’t familiar, you know when you donate and he goes in our scholarship fund and that helps to get a warrior, cost $2,500 to get a warrior to our program, we’re in 32 camps a year. It’s totally free to them including travel, active duty side, the veteran community, or spouses as well, we take care of spouses and we also serve first responders too.

PTSD

So, you know, military men and women are still at war for 20 years now and a lot of our struggling, suicide rates are still at all-time high and an active duty, it’s an all-time high, turnover rate right now in the veteran community is 20 a day and divorce rates and in people [inaudible 08:21] PTSD and the big problem is out there. But the good news is we have a solution. We have the solutions, and we know the solution is a relationship with Christ and living the lives that we were created to live.

And this coming month, I’m going to get an opportunity to go to December 11 before Congress and Republican Congresswoman, Vicki Hartzler put this call hearing together for me to go and testify on the success we’re having at [inaudible 08:45] faith-based solutions. Yet someone get to go before Congress and talk about that solution and talk about the systemic programming for veterans in the VA and DoD on issues, like posttraumatic stress, veteran suicide, and mental health, [inaudible 09:05 as well. And talk about faith programs and the success [inaudible 09:10] programs, not just Mighty Oaks, but success faith programs I”€™ve had and now that we actually have data to back it up.

Yeah. Well, when you say, Chad, you know, we have the solution, and you use the word success, I mean, this is quantifiable. You guys have had absolutely phenomenal results. I’m assuming that’s part of what you’re going to share with them is the data that, you know, what is it now, eight years, nine, how long have you been doing this?

Restoring Veterans

Chad:

We”€™ve doing this, we got our ninth year. And, you know, a lot of programs you know, and this was us”€¦two spheres ago, we were saying our data was your successful, we were helping people we’re changing people’s lives, we’re saving lives and restoring families and change people’s eternities. Like, those are a great things, but you know, people want to see data. And so we had a third party independent study done, a doctoral study called Longitudinal Data, always, you know, proud of myself when I say the big word.

But they did. It was independent of us and did a three year study was our graduates, and acted in all the details and numbers. But the end result was we outperform clinical programs that are similar. And we outperformed all clinical programs dealing with PTSD. And so this could be published in the medical journal and it was just a huge success, the findings. And not surprising to us, we know this because many of our graduates come to us, many of our students on active duty inhibitors like come to us because DoD programs and clinical programs through the VA-DoD had not worked and so they end up with us. Not because they believe in a faith-based program because even in agree with us as Christians, they’re coming because nothing else works.

And so we just had a tremendous successes through that. And look, I mean, the DoD-VA has had their shot at this for a long time. About 15 years ago, they recognize there”€™s a problems when they were 16 suicides a day.

Government Programs Have Failed

And so at that point 15 years ago, since then they’ve stood up about 1,200 programs, clinical program at 1,200, I mean DoD-NBA and the problems only got worse. So those programs essentially have failed. Anytime you do something, you bring a solution, it gets worse, and that’s a failure.

And when I say the problems get worse and went from 16 suicides data upwards to 22 suicides a day. And suicide in an active duty quadrupled and so these programs have failed. I mean, well, faith-programs and community alternative programs have been successful in about you know, 2008, that was when we started defunding those types of programs and making this program not available to our warriors, and we want to see them brought back and the veterans have an option. We’re not saying shut down clinical programs, were saying that the veteran should have an option. If they want to go to a faith-based program, they should go to find those through the VA and DoD and they should build building network.

Rick:

Yeah, the ones that work best are the ones that, you know, became defunded in a way. And I’m assuming that’s part of what congresswoman Hartzler is trying to point out here and say, these are the most effective programs. If we’re going to get the best results, obviously, we should be doing everything we can. Then we need to be looking at the programs that have the data to prove that they actually work. Hold that thought, Chad, we’re going to take a quick break. We’ll be right back,

Chad Robichaux, from Mighty Oaks Warrior programs. Be sure and check out their website and make a contribution there to help their great work. It’s mightyoaksprograms.org, mightyoaksprograms.org. We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

America’s Hidden History

DAVID:

Hi, this is David Barton.

TIM:

And, this is Tim Barton, and we want to let you know about a series that’s happening right now on TBN on Thursday night. TBN is the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Every Thursday night, there’s a series that we’ve filmed called America’s Hidden History.

And, this season is called “€œAmerica’s Hidden Heroes.”€ The reason is, we highlight heroes from American history. For years we’ve been focusing on the forgotten history and heros of the nation.

And now, we have a TV show just highlighting some of those heroes.

DAVID:

These are inspiring stories about some of the greatest people maybe you’ve never heard about. We go on location to the sites and show you where the events happened. It’s the stories of folks like Bronco Charlie, Stagecoach Mary, Jedediah Smith, Robert Smalls, and so many inspiring folks.

TIM:

Now, this happens every Thursday night, and the time is gonna be different based on where you live. Either way, we think this is something that will so encourage and inspire you in learning some of these great stories from America’s Hidden History.

A Faith-Based Program

Rick:

We’re back on WallBuilders Live, thanks for staying with us. Chad Robichaux with us from Mighty Oaks Warrior programs. The website is mightyoaksprograms.org. Chad, as we were going to break, we’re talking about, you know, crazy that the most effective programs are the ones that get defunded, usually over these ridiculous, you know, separation of church and state arguments and just bad constitutional knowledge from members of Congress. So at this point, it looks like they’re, you know, considering this reason for the hearing is to restore funding to programs like this?

Chad:

Yeah, you know, obviously, we’re not talking about replacing clinical programs and shutting clinical options down. We’re just saying that faith-based programs have always been successful and it need to be a viable option for our warriors, they should build this, have a choice.

Rick:

You know, I’ve asked you this before and I think the two things I remember, I know you’ve listed more than these two things. But the two things that stand out to me every time as to why your programs haven’t been so successful. Number one is because you address the spiritual element which a lot of programs don’t and so the faith-based piece. But number two is also it’s warriors helping warriors. I mean every one of the guys that you got in there, I mean, they can sit there and they can talk to these guys in a way that a guy like I can’t, right. So I mean, you really have warriors treating warriors here.

Aiming At the Wrong Target

Chad:

Yeah, both of those things exactly right. I mean you know, you want to know why like an organization like Mighty Oaks has to exist, why has the VA and DoD failed is because they’re aimed at the wrong target. They’re dealing with the mind and body and they have great people that work with VA. People that are actually VA all the time would have great people that can heal the body and heal the mind. But you heal the mind and body, but until you heal someone’s soul, they’re never truly going to be well and in combat, the effects of combat or spiritual wounds is wound to the soul. And so therein met the target and they’re getting it wrong.

And so you know, when you address a spiritual wound, you need to address it from a spiritual standpoint that we know that to be as a relationship with Christ. And trust me when we say that this isn’t a Christian program for Christians, we have about half or our people show up, do not believe what we believe and we recently had a Satanist come through.

And see, I don’t mean, like the guy like showed up the first day, then realize we’re a Christian program, he’s like, hey, I think I’m in the wrong place. I”€™m like, no, you don’t have to believe we believe and he’s like, no, I do believe would you believe, I’m just going to other teams. It”€™s like I’m active in the Satan’s church and he had like 666 tattoos in his [crosstalk 16:13].

Not Just For Christians

And we convinced them to stay for the week as the food is good, he’s got a lot of fun. And we, you know, our teams, just such a welcoming. And at the end of week, he ended up asking to get baptized. It’s pretty, pretty awesome.

Rick:

Oh, it’s incredible.

Chad:

I mean, it’s just not a Christian program to Christians. You know what you said earlier is one of the most important things. Is that we’re not a clinical program, so we don’t have conditions there. We train all of our leaders and all of our leaders in our program. You have to be a combat vet to go but to be a leader in a program, you have to be a combat vet. So they’re coming from a position of experience and they’ve been there. They’ve had the hardships, they fell in the face, but they got back up again, learn the way forward. They want to pay it forward to the next guy.

And that’s one of the recipes to success when you deal with people that’ve been through hardships, is having someone that had been there before them.

Rick:

Yeah, amen. Well, before I let you go, for me, because you know, it’s been a few months since we’ve had you on and we got a lot of new listeners that maybe haven’t heard yet or not familiar with Mighty Oaks at this point. Quickly remind us, I mean, you’re now I think you have what, three or four campuses across the country where you guys are ranchers where you bring guys in now?

Serving Veterans All Over the World

Chad:

Yeah, we have four and those four ranches, you know serve people from all over the world, Active Duty Military sends people to us on orders from multiple ranches, Sports Veteran Community as well. And so wherever these veterans live or military live, we’re going to get them there. So we bring them to the ranches, which are in California, Ohio, Virginia and Texas. And you know whatever it takes getting there, we get them there.

So if you’re a veteran listening or an active duty service member, spouse, first responder, get over the website, do the application and we’ll get [inaudible 17:55].

Rick:

Mightyoaksprograms.org. And again for the veteran, there’s no charge to them. You’ll find a way to get them there, phenomenal results. How many of you had go through the program now?

Chad:

Well, in the Resiliency Program, we’ve had 130,000 go through, but that’s more a conference. The camps that we have 32 of those camps a year, we’ve had 3,090 graduates and those who are week long, intensive camps. Before I get off, one more thing we’re going to ask for your listeners to help us with, I don’t want to go to Congress unarmed. And so I’m asking for, you know, just a grateful nation, Americans who believe in what we believe to get behind us and pray for us while we go there. And then we want to go armed with signatures of people that say they agree with faith programs being available for veterans.

Sign the Petition

And we have a petition on our website, you can sign a petition. It literally takes you less than 60 seconds to get on the website and sign this petition. We’re trying to go there with least 10,000 signatures. And all you have to do is go to mightyoaksprograms.org/coalition and get in there and sign it. And that’s going to”€¦ we”€™ll like to go to Congress with, I mean, who knows how many signatures we get, but I’d like to go at least 10,000 signatures of just saying, this is the Voice of America and what we believe should be available for warriors.

Rick:

What is the forward slash, what’s the last part?

Chad:

Coalition.

Rick:

Coalition. Okay, man, well, I didn’t realize that. Absolutely, let’s get people not only signing this, I’m going to challenge everybody listening right now, not only get on there and join the pledge, but take that link and share it on Facebook, on Twitter, on you know, Snapchat, whatever all the social media tools are that everybody is using now, share it and let’s get chat twice that at least 20,000 and we’ve only got a little bit of time here, literally days. So share it today. Get your name on that on that petition right now.

Chad, this can make a huge, huge difference, because we all know it takes resources to do these things. And it’s not just resources, it’s the context. And so if they’re saying government is saying and Congress is saying, we want part of the funds we’re spending on these kind of things to go to faith-based groups like Mighty Oaks and others that are out there, it’s going to tremendously increase the number of veterans they get the care they actually need.

Working Together

Chad:

Yeah, we have to come together and do this. This isn’t just for our organization, this helps a chaplaincy and churches and church groups and other ministries like Mighty Oaks there. They’re trying to serve our warriors and is just [inaudible 20:27] knock down obstacles. So as I do work around the country, I hear people complain all the time, i’s, you know”€¦ veterans aren’t getting the care they need. But, you know, come on, take 60 seconds to sign a petition to help out, chip in.

Rick:

Dude, it didn’t take that long. I did it before you answered that last statement that you just made. Alright, I got on, went to that page, added my name of the petition. Folks, it’s that quick, it’s that easy. And now it’s even got a Facebook button, I’m about to push and share it on my Facebook page as well. Everybody out there can do that and do it today. I mean, we’re literally talking days, Chad is headed to Washington, going to be testifying before Congress, we”€™ll be praying for you, brother and hopefully, sending tons of signatures with you as well.

Chad:

Thanks so much, man.

Rick:

That’s Chad Robichaux. Always good to have you, brother. We’ll talk to you soon.

Chad:

Alright, God bless.

Rick:

Stay with folks, we”€™ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Moment From America”€™s History

David:

This is David Barton with another moment from America’s history. Federal courts have made several amazing rulings recently. Ordering the removal of a cross from a cemetery, banning religious holiday displays, removing the Ten Commandments from public view, prohibiting student prayers whether verbal or silent, and numerous other similar restrictive rulings.

As one current justices noted, “€œThe Supreme Court has now become quote, a national board of theology.”€ Our Founding Fathers would be astounded. They designed the first amendment to keep the federal courts completely out of this issue.

As Thomas Jefferson forcefully declared, “€œI consider the federal government as prohibited by the Constitution from meddling with religious exercises. The first amendment was designed to keep decisions on religious expression out of the federal courts and in the hands of the local communities.”€ For more information on God’s hand in American history contact WallBuilders at 1-800-8-REBUILD.

Rick:

Thanks for staying with us here on WallBuilders Live. Special thanks to Chad Robichaux for joining us today as well. Always good to have Chad on the program and great to hear the positive updates and just incredible growth. I mean, they are growing like crazy reaching more and more of our warriors and serving them and saving lives, saving marriages. It’s a phenomenal program that you really do want to support and pray for and of course, well, I’ll be praying for Chad as he gets ready and prepares for going to speak before Congress. And we want to encourage you one more time to go sign that petition, that website, again mightyoaksprograms.org/coalition, mightyoaksprograms.org/coalition.

That was not some stage thing in the last segment, I really did go on to that link as Chad was answering that question and very quickly was able to add my name to the petition, you can do the exact same thing. And then share it, of course on Facebook and all of your social media tools. What a great opportunity to be a part of the solution. Your addition of your name there and sharing it out there will be a force multiplier. Because what’s going to happen is, the more numbers they have to share before Congress and the more congressmen realize how many of us out there support this and want to see it happen, the more likely they’ll get the support that they need to be able to reach more and more veterans and thousands of people that have served us that have been willing to lay their lives down for us. In order to protect our freedom, thousands of them will benefit as a result.

MightyOaksPrograms.org

The numbers are shocking to say the least, estimated 20 veterans a day commit suicide. It’s a number that is hard to grasp, and every veteran that goes through this program, like Chad said, they reach the soul. It’s not just dealing with a particular issue, it’s literally reaching their soul. And so I’m so happy to be a part of Mighty Oaks Warriors program as a supporter and I want you to be able to enjoy that as well. So be sure to visit the website today, mightyoaksprograms.org. It is a great thing to support.

Now I want to challenge you, while we”€™re into issuing challenges today, I want to challenge you to be a part of the solution to saving our constitutional republic. You can clearly do that in things like Mighty Oaks Warriors programs, you’re helping to support those who are defending the Republic. But then we also want to challenge you to be a part of the solution in your community.

One of the things WallBuilders does incredibly well is take the information, you know it we take the knowledge and the history and the stories and the formula for America success and we put it into programs that are fun to learn. Yes, history, government, politics, those things can actually be enjoyed, they can be entertaining. And David Barton mastered that years ago. And it’s how we’ve built WallBuilders as we have is by bringing the stories to life.

You Can Help Our Veterans “€“ With Chad Robichaux

And so the programs that are available to you right there at wallbuilders.com, you can take things like the Foundations of Freedom program. It’s videos that include Michelle Bachman and Carol Swaim and Glenn Beck and others, and take that video series and do it in your Sunday school class, at your church or the American Heritage series and other fun you want to do in your Sunday school class.

You can take our Constitutional Live program and become a Constitution coach, and bring that history to life in your community. Host that class at your church or tea party group or civic group or just in your home and become the catalyst in your community as a constitution coach, to bring the Constitution to life and to train citizens, to bring civics to life, where citizens are literally learning.

You know, we’ve said for a long time, the problem in our nation is we stopped teaching civics, we stopped teaching people how to be good Citizens. Well, you can be the catalyst in your community to start doing that. You’d be shocked at how many people are gathering. Hundreds of groups are happening right now this week, all across the country using our Constitution program to teach civics and challenge citizens to be good citizens and you can do the exact same thing. You can be the one in your community, you can learn how to sign up for that, simply at constitutioncoach.com. All the other programs available at wallbuilders.com. All those links available for you today at wallbuilderslive.com.

Thanks so much for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live.