The Veterans Sound Off Podcast
On each episode of the show we will travel across the State of Mississippi and visit each American Legion Post and discover how the members there are still serving America in their communities.
The Veterans Sound Off Podcast
Riding for Veterans: The Post 6 Legion Riders Story
Leather jackets, rumbling engines, and hearts dedicated to service—the Perry A. Johns American Legion Post 6 Legion Riders embody the continuing mission of veterans helping veterans long after their military service ends. From the moment Tina Hurst and her husband encountered a group of Legion Riders escorting a fallen veteran in 2006, they were drawn into a brotherhood that would become the first official Legion Riders chapter in Mississippi.
The Legion Riders aren't just motorcycle enthusiasts who happen to be veterans—they're a structured organization with clear requirements and a focused mission. Members must belong to the American Legion family and own and operate their own motorcycles with proper insurance and registration. Their organized rides, led by designated road captains, follow strict safety protocols that have resulted in an impressive safety record despite challenging conditions. As one member noted, "It's not the motorcycle that's dangerous, it's the automobiles you have to look out for."
What truly distinguishes the Post 6 Riders is their commitment to supporting fellow veterans. Their current focus centers on Ronnie's Retreat, a facility being developed for homeless veterans in nearby Tishomingo County. On April 19th, they'll hold a fundraising ride to raise $2,000 for a matching grant to bring power to the retreat—a critical step in making the facility operational for veterans in need. These efforts mirror their participation in national initiatives like the Legacy Run, which supports the Veterans and Children's Foundation.
Beyond their charitable work, these Riders form the backbone of their local Legion post. "The riders at Post 6 are the leadership in this post," Tina explains. "They hold leadership positions in every branch of this family and they are the core support for everything that happens here." This integration ensures their motorcycle rides translate directly into meaningful service for veterans.
Want to support or join this remarkable group? The Post 6 Legion Riders meet on the second Thursday of each month at 511 South Tate Street in Corinth, Mississippi. Even if you don't ride, you can participate in their events or support their causes. After all, as these veterans have shown, service doesn't end when the uniform comes off—sometimes it just finds a new road.
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This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast. I'm your host, jerry Allhands, a veteran of the US Air Force and US Army. I'm also a past Department of Mississippi commander of the American Legion. On each episode we will hear from the members of the American Legion family and from other groups that continue to support veterans and their families. This week we visit with the Perry A Johns American Legion Post 6 Legion Riders and learn how the Post 6 Riders became official and what they have planned for 2025. I'm in northwest Mississippi this morning talking with the Legion Riders of Post 6. And every time I have said I'm not even going to say the name of the city because every time I do it I do it wrong. Y'all. Somebody say the name of the city, because every time I do it, I do it wrong. Y'all. Somebody say the name of the city.
Tina Hurst:How about I spell it, to teach you how to say it?
Jerry Allhands:Oh see, there you go. She's going to spell it. All right, spell it.
Tina Hurst:C-A-H-H-H-H-H-R-N-T-H.
Jerry Allhands:Corinth.
Tina Hurst:Corinth.
Jerry Allhands:See Corinth Mississippi. There you go. I'm going to ask somebody, if you would, who would like to open us with prayer this morning.
Tina Hurst:I think that we would ask that our chapter chaplain do that if that is agreeable to you.
Jerry Allhands:Who's your chapter chaplain?
Tina Hurst:Terry Phillips.
Jerry Allhands:Is Terry Phillips in the room?
Tina Hurst:Terry Phillips is in the room.
Terry Phillips:All right if you'll bow your heads. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, lord, for this day. Thank you, lord, for all the blessings you've given us. Thank you, lord, for us safe travels here and back home. Pray, lord, that everything we do we do in your name. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.
Jerry Allhands:Amen, and this morning we're going to start with introductions. If you would, starting from my left going to my right, If you would please introduce yourself and give your title here with the Legion Riders.
Terry Phillips:I'm Terry Phillips and I'm the Riders Chaplain and one of the Road Captain.
Tina Hurst:Tina Hurst. I am the Chapter 6 Riders Director and Road Captain.
Mike Shipman:Mike Shipman, post 6, riders road captain.
Jim Horton:Jim Horton post six assistant director.
Jerry Allhands:And starting with Tina. Tina, what makes you eligible to be in the Legion Riders?
Tina Hurst:I am a member of the auxiliary and I own, operate and insure my own motorcycle. That's pretty much it. That's pretty much it.
Jerry Allhands:That's pretty much it.
Tina Hurst:That's it. You just have to be a member of the Legion family, which I'm a member of, the auxiliary. That could be the sons or the Legion and own or operate a motorcycle.
Jerry Allhands:Own and operate sorry. Own and operate. Own and operate. And you remember the American Legion Auxiliary.
Tina Hurst:Mm-hmm, all right.
Jerry Allhands:And how did you join the auxiliary? What makes you eligible for the auxiliary?
Tina Hurst:My son was Gulf War Navy and my husband was in the Navy during the Panama conflict.
Jerry Allhands:How long have you been in the Riders?
Tina Hurst:Since 2007. In 2006, the Legion Riders were formed in Mississippi through the DEC approved all that, so we became official in 2006. We I say we, mike and I bought our first motorcycle in 2006. We were out riding and stopped at a little old hole-in-the-wall restaurant called the Hitchin' Post at Kossuth and stopped at a little old hole-in-the-wall restaurant called the Hitchin' Post at Kasuth. There were motorcycles in the parking lot and we went in to eat lunch and inside was a group of Legion Riders. They were on their way to escort a veteran who'd been killed in action and asked us to come with them. From that day to this I've been a Legion rider.
Jerry Allhands:And you said Kasu Kasuth. What is that? Where is that?
Tina Hurst:That is about 10 miles west of Corinth. That's where a lot of us went to high school. There's nothing there except a gas station, a little store and a high school.
Jerry Allhands:That's a lot Kasuth, kasuth, kasuth.
Mike Shipman:No K-O-S-S-U-T-H.
Jerry Allhands:I can't even say that one Kasuth, kasuth, kasuth Not.
Tina Hurst:Kasuth, no Kasuth.
Jerry Allhands:Perfect, Mike. What makes you eligible to be a rider?
Mike Shipman:Well, I'm a veteran and I've been in the Legion for over 30 years and being some friends, along with Tina and most people in this room, by being in the Legion, because I grew up in the Legion. My father was a World War II veteran. He was commander here for many years and we kind of seen. You know, what else could we do to help benefit the Legion, to help build the membership, because you know, membership is how we raise money to donate to the different organizations. And so once I come back home, I was stationed at Fort Seal. I served during the Panama conflict, stationed at Panama for a while. Notice, a lot of us like riding motorcycles, so Tina's help and a few others, best I can remember was the first chapter in the state.
Mike Shipman:We were and it's really been a big access. People get in. I'm a veteran but I like to ride motorcycles. I said, hey, you'll fit right in, and so we started the legion riders. Tina keeps us busy. Uh, my car. We got a lot of mics in this chapter seems like we do, but uh, you know, we want to have a good time but there's a lot of work put into it and certain ones, especially the ones in this room, they put in a lot of personal time to make this a success. And by being a veteran and liking to ride motorcycles and armed and discharged, you know, out of the military, met all the requirements. It's something I really enjoy. I've rode motorcycles all my life and been a veteran since 1978, so I just I really enjoy this being part of the Legion. Now.
Jerry Allhands:If I can ask, which branch of the service were you in?
Mike Shipman:In the Army. What did you do in the Army? I was a field artillery when I went through boot camp. But when I went to Panama, I was a field artillery when I went through boot camp. When I went to Panama, I was in combat engineers.
Jerry Allhands:And you said you were stationed in Panama.
Mike Shipman:Well, I served time before they had the invasion of Panama. We built roads and an airstrip down there in the jungle.
Jerry Allhands:What size motorcycle do you ride? What do you have? I have a.
Mike Shipman:Harley Davidson Road Glide, got all the bags on it. I got a little trailer. I pull behind it. Care all my stuff if I have to Travel all over? A lot of trips are going during the summer, going 5,000, 6,000-mile trips on it.
Jerry Allhands:Whoa yeah, that'll wear you out in a hurry.
Mike Shipman:But now the rides, usually with the Legion family. We try to ride on the weekend. Some we may ride 200 or 300 miles that day. We have some big rides to the coast planned already. We talked about our last meeting. We ride as a group. We have rules we have to follow. We follow all the laws of the state. The road captains have a big responsibility. It's very well organized. It ain't just a bunch going out acting crazy. We don't tolerate that at all.
Jerry Allhands:So there's no Sons of Anarchy on this ride. No, no, yeah. I say that because so many times people ask me oh, you're a motorcycle gang, you're a motorcycle group, and we clarify that real quick.
Mike Shipman:But now we do have respect for all the clubs and riders. We'll treat them with respect that they'll let us. You know, we don't try to say we're better than nobody else, but we have a mission. We actually have a mission, you know, to help support the different organizations that we donate to.
Jerry Allhands:Jim, what makes you eligible to be in the American Legion of Riders? You're going to have to move forward to the microphone.
Jim Horton:Yeah well, I'm a US Navy veteran. My father was also a World War II veteran, so that makes me a double dual membership, you know, as a regular legionnaire as well as a son.
Jerry Allhands:What did you do in the Navy?
Jim Horton:I was an aviation ordnanceman.
Jerry Allhands:Yeah, for those of us who weren't privileged enough to be in the navy. What does that mean?
Jim Horton:uh, I loaded munitions, ordinance and stuff on. I was in an f-14 outfit I was stationed out in san diego. I was on the uss kitty hawk and, uh, it was a f-14 fighter squadron. We loaded the missiles in the 20-millimeter rounds and made sure all of our ordnance, electronics and things make sure they worked, you know, and things that we would be on launches and recoveries.
Jerry Allhands:Okay, how long were you?
Terry Phillips:in the.
Jim Horton:Navy launches and recoveries.
Jerry Allhands:Okay, how long were you in the Navy?
Jim Horton:All total my active duty and my reserve time was about 10 years.
Jerry Allhands:My favorite question is would you go back now? Yes, yes.
Tina Hurst:So, we're going to enlist you anyway. I don't know if he'd go back or not? Yeah, no, I didn't say him, I said you. But if he went, yeah, I'd go.
Jerry Allhands:You'd go? Okay, I'd go too, now, yeah, not last year, yeah.
Jim Horton:No, I would do it in a heartbeat, yeah.
Jerry Allhands:If I could, they won't let us in for some reason.
Jim Horton:No, it might be an age thing, I don't know.
Jerry Allhands:It's arthritis. Yeah, yeah yeah, Tina, let's talk a little bit about some of the activities you are coming up this year the Legion Riders.
Tina Hurst:One of the things that we have coming up. We had a fairly lively discussion at our meeting this week about veteran homelessness. We have a facility that is in process called Ronnie's Retreat, over in Tishomingo County. It's about 10, 12 miles east of us, and we, as a post-six family Legion Riders, adopted Ronnie's Retreat and Hinderless 22 as our mission for this year. So the first thing that we have coming up is April the 19th. We are having a ride to benefit Ronnie's Retreat and Hinderless 22 to raise funds for a matching grant that we're going to help them get power to the place. He's got four buildings out there that he's going to house homeless veterans. He has doctors on staff ready to go, ready to volunteer their time. He's got counselors ready to go. They just don't have power. And that's the next step.
Jerry Allhands:Where is this location?
Tina Hurst:It is in Burnsville, Mississippi.
Jerry Allhands:Is that North Mississippi, where we're at?
Tina Hurst:Yes, it's about 15 miles east of Corinth.
Jerry Allhands:You were saying that you're looking at raising matching funds, right.
Tina Hurst:So the Auxiliary, the ALA Foundation, has grants for veteran service projects and they will award up to $10,000, but you have to match 20% of that money. Okay, so that's the matching.
Jerry Allhands:So y'all are going to try to raise 20% of $10,000.
Tina Hurst:Right, we're going to raise $2,000, and we're going to we're not going to try, we're going to To match that grant to help them get power to the area. This is an.
Jerry Allhands:American Legion Auxiliary grant, or is this?
Tina Hurst:a— yes, it's an ALA Foundation grant.
Jerry Allhands:Tell me a little bit about that from your side.
Tina Hurst:I mean, how did you find out about the grant? What encouraged y'all to move this direction? Unit 6 has actually gotten a grant before. We got a grant to buy a trailer to haul for Mississippi Project Package to use to haul the donations that they receive across the state. So Ricky Pope is a member of this post and he has that trailer trailer and he goes to different places and takes donations of items that get sent to the troops that are overseas.
Jerry Allhands:And you say that y'all will, we will, we will raise two thousand dollars and this will be done on April 19th, I think you said.
Tina Hurst:Yes, april 19th.
Jerry Allhands:So this run and I'm going to do air quotes here run. What is a run?
Tina Hurst:We, I say we. I was the road captain for 10 years by myself, until I talked some other people into helping. But the road captains set a ride route. They'll decide where we go. The last one we did we went to memorials, veterans, memorials. Those were our stops.
Jerry Allhands:But for somebody who's never I mean ridden a motorcycle, never been involved in anything. What is a run? What's?
Tina Hurst:involved. We meet here, they pay a registration fee, we ride, we come back. We usually have a meal this one we are going to have pancakes and poppies that day as well, so they'll have breakfast here when they come in and they'll register for the ride and then we'll ride and we'll probably ride all day and we'll come back.
Jerry Allhands:What do you do on a ride? I mean?
Tina Hurst:Ride. Just ride, just ride.
Jerry Allhands:Just get on there and go, okay.
Tina Hurst:We try not to stop. Yeah, we. We ride about 45 minutes and then we'll stop for a bathroom break, water break, whatever, and then we get on and ride another 45 minutes.
Jerry Allhands:So it's a fun ride, it's just you're not doing anything as you go from point a to point b or anything like that. No, no purpose, no goal, no timeline, we just ride. And how do you go about raising the, the money? What? What happens to to get this money to come in while you're on this ride?
Tina Hurst:registration fee. So they, so the riders come in and they pay a fee per rider or per bike to ride okay, do you get sponsors for it?
Jerry Allhands:or I mean, two thousand dollars is a lot of. For me it's a lot of money and I'm thinking if every rider has got to pay a fee to ride, that's a lot of donations from an individual.
Tina Hurst:Yeah, but they always come through. The rider community in our area has some of the biggest hearts of anybody, I know. If they find out that there's a veteran in need or there's a purpose that supports a veteran, they're going to turn out, they're going to show up.
Jerry Allhands:Can anybody be involved in this right? Sure, how do you get the word out to the public on this?
Tina Hurst:We use our Facebook page. We have flyers that we're going to send out.
Jerry Allhands:What is your Facebook page? What's your, your we?
Tina Hurst:have multiple pages. Uh, current post six is one. We have uh msalr support page, which is a public page, and then that's it do you have a website? We have a state page. We have MS the ALR chapters of Mississippi page. Okay, we do not have a website.
Jerry Allhands:If somebody wanted to reach out to the post, six riders, and you know want to want to join. Is there a phone number or do they just show up in the post or what? How does that happen?
Tina Hurst:Uh, the only phone number would be my phone number or Mike's phone number or Nora's phone number. There's a list outside the building that has about 10 people on it.
Jerry Allhands:Okay.
Tina Hurst:There are phone numbers on the Facebook page.
Jerry Allhands:Is that something you want to share, or the people have to come by the post to see that number?
Tina Hurst:No, we can share it All right Share phone number 662-415-9938. 662-415-9799.
Jerry Allhands:And who's going to answer that phone?
Tina Hurst:That would be me and Mike.
Jerry Allhands:Which Mike is that? Because I got five Mike.
Tina Hurst:Mike, mike, mike and Mike. That's the first, mike Mike Hurst, mike Hurst.
Jerry Allhands:All right. And what if somebody? If they meet the obligation or the privilege of being a rider, they have to be a veteran or a member of the auxiliary, or what?
Tina Hurst:Or the sons.
Jerry Allhands:Or the sons? Yep, okay, and how, being a veteran, anybody, I mean, does it have to be an honorable discharge? Can you have a dishonorable discharge? Can you be an idiot, Can you?
Tina Hurst:You have to have an honorable discharge.
Jerry Allhands:It's the same qualifications that you would have to meet to be a member of the legion okay, so honorably discharged, having served any time since december 7th right 1941, right one day of active duty.
Tina Hurst:Yep, honorable discharge, honorable discharge and own a motorcycle and own a motorcycle. What else? Or you have to be the spouse of someone who owns a motorcycle and you still qualify for full membership okay, besides owning a motorcycle, is there anything else?
Jerry Allhands:I mean, do they have to have a, an endorsement, do they have to have?
Tina Hurst:insurance, they have to have an endorsement, they have to keep insurance and they have to keep a valid registration and do you require them to prove that they've got all this before? Absolutely Every year Every year. Every year.
Jerry Allhands:Okay, and so they walk in with a driver's license, proof of insurance, proof of registration.
Tina Hurst:What else? Well, they have to be a member of the Legion family. So we want them to be a member of the Sons, the Auxiliary or the Legion and actually participate with those three portions of the family. The riders at Post 6 are the leadership in this post. They hold leadership positions in every branch of this family and they are the core support for everything that happens here.
Jerry Allhands:Mike, how many members are there in this writer's post? Writer's chapter.
Mike Shipman:I think about 30. Okay.
Jerry Allhands:And the writers meet when.
Mike Shipman:Usually we'll meet when we have the American Legion regular membership meetings. When is that? The second Thursday of each month at 6 o'clock. Then, after we have the regular Legion meeting, legion riders will meet, something I don't know if we made clear a while ago. When we have our rides to raise money, anybody can come ride. Other groups you know a lot of different clubs ride with us and some will come make a donation. Then they'll go do their thing. But any groups are welcome to ride with us. When we're doing a fundraiser they don't have to be a member of the Legion Riders. When we're having fundraisers it's kind of, I guess you'd say, open to the public.
Terry Phillips:Okay.
Mike Shipman:But we expect everybody to act right.
Jerry Allhands:Sure, so you meet on the second Thursday at 6 pm here at the Post. That's correct Is that immediately following your regular post meeting.
Mike Shipman:Yes.
Jerry Allhands:Okay, what's the physical address of this post?
Tina Hurst:511 South Tate Street in Corinth Mississippi 38834.
Mike Shipman:Mike, tell me a little bit more about the ride that you were just telling me about a moment ago, which?
Jerry Allhands:ride To get out and ride.
Mike Shipman:Yeah, usually when we meet here at the post, like Tina said, you'll register, you'll pay your fee. Usually it's $25 a bike, depending on what we're doing. We have a lot of good fellowship. Usually Mike Hurst will have coffee made for us. Usually it's pretty strong, but we can adjust accordingly. Sometimes we have snacks and stuff. We'll always have a rider's meeting, you know, tell where we're going, explain the route, what we expect during the ride and then once we get back a lot of times the ladies' auxiliary. They'll have a meal or have lunch fixed or whatever's appropriate for that afternoon to have us something to eat.
Jerry Allhands:That's pretty good. You get to go on a fun ride and come back and get fed.
Mike Shipman:Oh yeah, and usually we'll have to stop, you know, like Tina said, for the bathroom breaks, or may have to fuel up. Different ones have different size gas tanks and it's just a big brotherhood. It just seems to bring people together real well. No laugh, cut up, have a good time, but it's for a very important mission.
Jerry Allhands:Jim, tell me a little bit about what a road captain is.
Jim Horton:They're usually in charge of the ride itself. They plan the route, plan stop times when we do have those, and they get blockers in case blockers are needed for the intersections. What does that mean? If you've got a column of bikes and you come into an intersection, they have assigned people. They call blockers. They ride on ahead and block the road just long enough for the column of bikes to get through, to pass through, and then they catch up. Okay.
Jerry Allhands:Do you get a hard time from the law enforcement if you have to do that?
Jim Horton:No, sir, not. We never have to, my knowledge.
Jerry Allhands:What about the public?
Jim Horton:I haven't seen any complaints. You know it's for our safety and theirs. You know how many riders are usually involved when something like that happens it varies, you know, some people can't come because of work or other obligations, but usually we have maybe 10, 15, something like that. That on a normal thing. You know, a bigger event we might have more.
Jerry Allhands:The average ride lasts how long?
Jim Horton:I've been on some, you know, maybe an hour and a half to three hours. It just depends on where we're going and what we're doing. You know, If we're going to some place in particular, we'll stop and spend some time there, you know, and then we'll move on to somewhere else. So your time is going to vary.
Jerry Allhands:Tina, what is the one thing that y'all did as a group this past year that was the most memorable for you.
Tina Hurst:When we went to Camp Shelby to greet the Legacy Run when they came through, we went down there and helped work, handing out water, snacks, helped Debra with setting up, so we had we, the department got detergent pods for the Legacy Run people that were coming through so they could do laundry at Camp Shelby that night. Okay, and being there seeing them come through and being able to spend the afternoon and the evening with them at Camp Shelby. You know Mike said it's a brotherhood. I'm not a man, but my Legion family, my riders, treat me just like I am. They don't treat our auxiliary members or our Sons members any different because we are a family and we behave as a family. You know the Legion says there's no rank among us, this organization, this post family. That's truer than I've ever seen, because there's not a single person in this entire post family that doesn't matter to everybody else in this family.
Jerry Allhands:Tell me about the Legacy Ride. You said that going down to Camp Shelby. For those who don't know what the Legacy Ride is, what is that?
Tina Hurst:Legacy Ride is the National Legion Riders fundraiser. So the beneficiary of the Legacy Run for years has been the Legacy Scholarships. They are now fully funded. So the national leadership went to the Legion Rider leadership and said, hey, we need you to come over here and help us with this. So they switched over to the Veterans and Children's Foundation, which trains veteran service officers and also gives $1,500 grants to veterans and their families that are struggling. So that has been the beneficiary of the Legacy Run for the last two years and will continue to be until they decide to change it again. You can support the Legacy Run without actually having to ride in the Legacy Run.
Terry Phillips:How do you do that?
Tina Hurst:By registering on the national website. When they open registration, you can go in and you can pay the $50 registration. No, it's more than $50 now. I think it was $85 the last time but you can pay that registration fee and that money goes toward the legacy run donation. You get a patch, you get all the stuff that anybody that's riding gets. You just don't ride um.
Tina Hurst:I've been able to participate in portions of that run twice and both times it's been amazing the last, the last time, the last time we rode, we left mobile and we had fairly sunny skies until we got to meridian, and while we were at meridian lunch, the monsoon started and it stayed until we got to Tupelo. I've never participated with over 300 motorcycles riding in the rain so bad that all you can see is the taillights in front of you, and nobody went down.
Terry Phillips:Wow.
Tina Hurst:No wrecks, nobody went down, nothing From Meridian all the way to Tupelo.
Jerry Allhands:And how far is that?
Tina Hurst:I don't have a clue.
Jerry Allhands:We'll look that one up. It is.
Tina Hurst:It's a couple hundred miles A couple hundred miles, probably, yeah, several miles. What did you say? 250., wow, 250 miles In the rain, in the rain, in the pouring rain. I mean no joke. Everybody had on rain suits. Everybody had on, you know, people had full face helmets, gloves, the whole nine. There was not a single person on that ride that was not soaking wet by the time we got to Tupelo.
Jerry Allhands:What time of the year.
Tina Hurst:This was in August.
Jerry Allhands:Mississippi, in Mississippi, in rain.
Tina Hurst:In the humidity, in the rain.
Jerry Allhands:Wearing a rain suit.
Tina Hurst:Wearing a rain suit.
Jerry Allhands:So you're wet on the inside and the outside.
Tina Hurst:That's right, that's right.
Jerry Allhands:So we've talked about the Legacy Ride, we've discussed the event. This Rain Legacy Ride. This was two years ago, three years ago, year before last, year before last, okay, and the one that you just did in Camp Shelby was when.
Tina Hurst:That was in August of 24. Wow.
Jerry Allhands:So Legacy Run is always in August.
Tina Hurst:It's always in August, it leads up to the national convention and it always ends at the national convention.
Jerry Allhands:And for somebody who wants to get involved with that. You mentioned a website. What's the?
Tina Hurst:It's a.
Jerry Allhands:Legionorg yes.
Tina Hurst:Legionorg. I say ALA for veterans, but that's not it, it's Legionorg. Slash riders. Okay, and then you'll have to search for the Legacy Run, or you could just go on Google and type in American Legion Legacy Run.
Jerry Allhands:Well, that makes it too easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, let's pause for a moment to hear from some of the people who have helped to make this episode possible with their financial support. A very special thank you to Dean and Judy Graves of Mount Vernon, missouri, for their financial support. Dean passed away recently without ever hearing the podcast, but he believed in this project and his support helps to make each episode possible, and Be willing to show up for a veteran.
988:Be willing to stick your nose where it doesn't belong.
Terry Phillips:Be willing to push and prod if things don't add up. Be willing to trust your gut.
988:Follow your heart and take a risk, be willing to sit without saying a word, without checking the time, without trying to solve.
Mike Shipman:Sometimes suicide wants to rip a person from this world.
988:Be willing to grab with both hands and hold on to a friend, a spouse, a daughter, a son.
Terry Phillips:Be the one who's willing to ask to guess wrong to even offend another, to keep them safe, to remind them that they are valuable. If you know a veteran, be the one to reach out and make them a part of your life.
988:When a person calls 988, they're connected to a crisis counselor. Crisis is completely self-defined. If you're wondering if you should call, you should probably call. A caller can expect to talk about coping skills, talk about resources and ways to move forward. Beyond the call, they can call us, they can chat, they can text and when they come out on the other side they're feeling better. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifelineorg. Hello, my name is Nora Moreland. I am a proud US Marine, the granddaughter of a World War II US Navy veteran, adelbert Shea, who served in the Pacific Theater, the wife of a combat corpsman and a mother of an active duty Marine. I would humbly ask you to sponsor the Veterans Sound Off podcast. Each episode tells the stories of what we in the American Legion do locally and around the world. Thank you.
Jerry Allhands:The Veterans Sound Off podcast is made possible by you, the listener, and we need your help in keeping this podcast series going. Your continued financial support enables us to produce these episodes. Call 662-902-6658 today and we'll give you all the details on how you and or your business can become a sponsor. And now back to this episode of the Veterans Sound Off Podcast. Back to the post. Here. We meet on the second Thursday at 6 pm and anybody's welcome to come to a post meeting.
Tina Hurst:Anybody is welcome to come to a post meeting.
Jerry Allhands:How much does it cost to join the riders? Or is there a fee to join the riders? I should say there is a fee to join the riders, or does is there a fee to join the?
Tina Hurst:riders. I should say there is a fee to join the riders. Um, you have to pay your legion auxiliary sons membership, whatever that is, and then it's ten dollars for our riders and five dollars of that goes to the department. Is that a yearly?
Jerry Allhands:it's yearly yes, okay, um, and a person joins here at the post, or can they go online and join, or how does that happen?
Tina Hurst:They can join online, not the riders. They can join the Legion Auxiliary or the Suns online. It just takes a little while to get to us.
Terry Phillips:Okay.
Jerry Allhands:So you prefer somebody to join here locally?
Tina Hurst:Yes, join the Legion. We prefer that they come here. Okay, we prefer that they come here.
Jerry Allhands:Okay, what's the worst thing? You've seen, Mike, as a rider. I'm sure you've seen accidents. You've seen things like that happen For years. My wife said I could get a motorcycle as soon as I increased my life insurance, which I did recently, and now she's encouraging me. Why are you encouraging me? What's the absolute worst thing you think?
Mike Shipman:you've seen Just right offhand. As far as the Legion riders, I can't think of any bad wrecks we've had. Of course we've seen wrecks. We come up on them. The thing about motorcycles usually it's not the motorcycle that's dangerous, it's the automobiles you have to look out for. But people break down. But we always have something set up somebody with a truck and trailer. Usually we have tools that we carry with us so we can get somebody else going. One of the worst things I've seen is somebody wanting to ride that either don't have a motorcycle or for some reason can't afford to keep it. That kind of breaks my heart. But yeah, you know we've seen wrecks. But again, out of all the years of riding with the Legion riders, I can't think of none of us on a Legion ride that's been in a bad accident.
Jerry Allhands:It's good to know. It is Good to know. Well, jim, what would you encourage someone to if they wanted to join? Would you encourage them to join the riders? And we talk about training. What would you say to somebody?
Jim Horton:Yeah, I would encourage them very much to join. It's a lot of fun, it has a purpose, it has a goal in mind. Practice training, you know, on your bike. Get familiar with your bike, you know, so you'll be comfortable on your bike. Get familiar with your bike, you know, so you'll be comfortable. I've seen where some people buy a bike just to get in some kind of special ride. That's never been on a bike in their life ever.
Jim Horton:And you know they don't know what they're doing and that promotes a danger to themselves and everybody else around them. You know safety is the main thing on a ride. You've got to pay attention to the road because, like Mike said, it's not necessarily the bikers that's causing the wrecks, it's the automobiles. They don't see us. That's the number one excuse. Well, I didn't see him, you know. In my opinion on that, what I think could be one of the possible reasons is that most people in cars that's not familiar with motorcycles or anything, their mind is not attuned to watch for motorcycles. They're smaller objects. They don't think of them as often. All they're interested in is being safe around cars and big trucks. A lot of times they just probably actually don't see them because their mind's not geared that way. It's not trained to look for smaller vehicles on the road.
Jerry Allhands:Where would you send someone to get trained to ride a motorcycle?
Jim Horton:There's different places that provide it. Harley-davidson has an excellent program. Tina went to it and they pretty much teach you everything the proper steering techniques and just anything to do with how to ride a motorcycle. They cover it.
Jerry Allhands:Tina, tell me a little bit about the training you went through.
Tina Hurst:It's a weekend class. I through the harley dealership, um. I actually took my written test before I went and then um used that as my writing test to get my license. But I learned more riding with these guys Because after I got my license and had my motorcycle, they taught me. They put me in different spots in the lineup. You need to learn how to ride here. You need to learn how to ride there. You need to learn how to do this. You need to learn how to ride in the front. You need to learn how to ride here. You need to learn how to ride there. You need to learn how to do this. You need to learn how to ride in the front. You need to learn how to ride in the back. You need to learn how to keep up, not let your spaces gap. I learned a lot in the first two years riding with them.
Jerry Allhands:So let's talk about that. I've seen riders on the road and they've all got these spacings and these two in a line or something. What is that all about, mike? If you would explain some of that to us.
Mike Shipman:We don't ride handlebar to handlebar.
Mike Shipman:We ride in a staggered formation like left to right, at least one bike length in between you To give you some space If something happens. You can go left, you can go right, or give you some space to stop. Okay, we use a lot of hand signals to let ones know behind you what's going on. You always check for the rider behind you. If you don't see them, you stop and check on them. There's a lot of little rules and sometimes I guess we get ahead of ourselves, maybe thinking everybody knows them. That's why we have a rider's meeting to go over these rules before each meeting and you do the hand and arm signals, and you refresh all that every time.
Mike Shipman:Usually and we'll see what the group is because we ride enough with everybody to kind of know you know who's been riding, who knows this and that but we go over a lot of rules every time we have riders meeting so when you get out on the road everybody feels comfortable, that everybody knows what's you know needed of them required of them.
Jerry Allhands:Yes, and I would assume, based on everything you've just said, that that will cut down on accidents and incidents on the road.
Mike Shipman:Definitely.
Jerry Allhands:What would you say to an automobile rider driver who's on the road with other motorcyclists to ensure your safety and ensure theirs as well?
Mike Shipman:A lot of people just with the cars, motorcycles. Everybody wants to ride. It's too big a hurry, they ride too fast, they don't give enough space. You've got to give space and you've got to pay attention to what you're doing. Stay off your cell phones people. I've been in law enforcement for a long time and cell phones on the road now it's as bad as the DUI drivers are, worse it's bad. And when you have a pencil that can cover up a motorcycle in the mirror about the width of a pencil, light these motorcycles up. Make sure all your lights are working. But people pay attention.
Jerry Allhands:It's good that you brought that up about law enforcement, Tina. What do you do in your day-to-day life as far as employment goes?
Tina Hurst:I work for an attorney law firm, mostly real estate transactional law.
Mike Shipman:Mike, what do you do? 40 years in law enforcement, still serving?
Jerry Allhands:Awesome.
Mike Shipman:Local police sheriff state. I'm a deputy sheriff now here in Alcorn County and McNair County. I retired from the Corinth Police Department.
Jerry Allhands:Jim, what are you doing?
Jim Horton:I'm retired of 18 years with the correctional officer. I started out at the Corinth Police Department and then switched over to the Alcorn County Sheriff's Department.
Jerry Allhands:All right, Coming up in this next year, outside of the event coming up on April 19th. Is there anything else that you want people to be aware of coming up?
Tina Hurst:We have an annual event for the Legion Riders at Chapter 6, which is called our Freedom Ride. It's the first Saturday in October and that is our main fundraiser for the year. That's how we raise all of our funds to do what the Legion Riders do every year.
Jerry Allhands:And give me that date again.
Tina Hurst:It's. I don't know what it is.
Jerry Allhands:It's the first.
Tina Hurst:Saturday in October I think it's the 4th October, the 4th, yeah, and we usually have an auction mail 50-50, different things.
Jerry Allhands:And this is something anybody in the public can be involved with.
Tina Hurst:Anybody in the public can be involved with. Yes, All of our events at the Post are open to the public.
Jerry Allhands:Anything you all would like to add as far as the. What do I call it? It's a chapter, Chapter okay.
Mike Shipman:Our Legion Riders and the American Legion. Family, family, family. Bring your wife, your kids, your girlfriend, maybe not both.
Jerry Allhands:Definitely not at the same time right.
Mike Shipman:But we encourage family involvement because all of us, when we served our families, got us through what we had to deal with while serving in the military and very family-oriented and something else. When we say brotherhood, see all these ladies, we have A lot of things we do wouldn't be possible without the lady. But brotherhood, it's brotherhood. She may be a female brotherhood.
Tina Hurst:He can say that because he's known me since I was 13.
Jerry Allhands:Ooh, I want to thank you all for joining me today on this, and I really appreciate you being here, Terry, if you would give us a closing prayer as well.
Terry Phillips:Heavenly Father. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to gather here today. Lord, we pray that you watch over us all as we travel back home. Keep us safe, have everything we do do in your name. In Jesus Christ's name, we pray.
Jerry Allhands:Amen. Thank you, Terry, and that was our visit with the Post 6 Legion Riders. Be sure to join us next time for another visit with a member of the American Legion family. We want to say thank you to the members of the Post 6 family who made financial and physical contributions to the support of this podcast. If you would like to support this podcast, please call 662-902-6658 for more information. A very special thank you to Jonathan Michael Fleming for his musical talents. You can find his CDs and videos on Facebook, Instagram, Amazon Music and YouTube. We hope you've enjoyed this episode and look forward to your feedback and ask that you subscribe to and share the Veterans Sound Off podcast with your friends and family. This has been a production of All Hands Media LLC, with offices in Reno, Laura, Mississippi. All rights reserved.
