Episode 06: Charlie The Vet
By: Time Wasterz
2009

Remember that David Lynch movie The Straight Story? It was the one about the old guy that drove his lawnmower across Iowa and Wisconsin to visit his estranged brother who was dying of cancer. It's one of my favorites. Disney distributed it to. How's that? Lynch movie with Disney distro. Anyway, there is a scene in a bar when the main character Alvin Straight is talking to some younger guys and he says, "You don't think about getting old when you are young... you shouldn't." I met Charlie through my work. He is a 91 year old vet originally from Ohio that has been active in 3 wars, he has been shot, stabbed, drowned 3 times (the last time he did not have air for 45 min), travelled the world many times over, and also held a number of interesting careers. He told me that a once paid 3000$ for a calculator. And this was back in the day, 3000$ was like 20,000$. It was 3' x 3' and it took two people to carry. He told me he was an alcoholic after he retired. I asked him when he retired and he said, "80." I was like, "Wow, that's only 10 years ago." Then he goes, "No, 1980." He is one of the sweetest and most lively people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. We should just show the interview in real time; it was that good. We shot this in October last year before the election, but the things he says about the candidates were so interesting we thought we would leave them in.