The Monmouth Film Festival (MFF), New Jersey’s renowned and critically acclaimed international film event is known for showcasing the finest independent films from all regions of the globe. Additionally, the Festival has spotlighted celebrities including Kevin Smith, Sinbad, Michael Cera, Micahel Kelly, Sandra Oh, amongst others, as well as presented and hosted exclusive panels with leading industry professionals from top networks including Viacom, Disney/ABC, Hulu, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Blue Sky Studios, and others.

Due to Covid-19 regulations, the Monmouth Film Festival has expressed sincere regrets that the traditional theatrical experience they have utilized since 2016 (at the Two River Theater in Red Bank) will not be possible this year. However, it has given them the opportunity to branch out and stream the sights and sounds of these incredible films right into your homes and hands. This new and exciting format will allow for the HD high-resolution streaming of ALL this year’s movies and at no cost to the public.

“We are proud of our roots as an integral non-profit arts organization here in Monmouth County, New Jersey. New Jersey, as many across the country have learned, has gotten hit hard over the past months from Covid-19, it’s been equally as heartbreaking as it has been devastating to our communities and quality of life. So we had to do something special this year to give back to our community and help rebuild people’s spirits, creativity, and overall mental well being, without them needing to leave the safety of their homes. We have voted to make this year’s 2020 ‘Hybrid’ Monmouth Film Festival completely FREE of charge. All movies, streams, interactive panels, and workshops will be accessible by simply registering on our website, all for free,” said Monmouth Film Festival Founder and President Nicholas Marchese. “Yes, we rely on funding from our community to help us grow and return each year, but more importantly we rely on our community itself! They’ve always been there for us, so this year we are here for you.”

In addition to the online festival offerings, the Monmouth Film Festival is working closely with public safety and medical professionals to create an opening night (outdoor) Red Carpet event at a location in Red Bank (TBD) on Friday, August 14 at 7:00 pm. This event is catered toward this year’s featured filmmakers, as well as industry professionals and artists who are looking for an opportunity to safely network and connect while enjoying some great food and brews from our friends at Triumph Brewing Company. Please keep an eye on the MFF website for further details.

An exciting lineup of more than 65 films, short and feature-length, can be found by visiting the Monmouth Film Festival website. Note: Some streams may have limited or capped viewing capacity, so please be sure to register as soon as possible for streams and films you don’t want to miss. Virtual interactive panels and workshops will be presented from the website this year, open to real-time questions and feedback from the audience via chat.

The complete 2020 Film Festival Program is available at MonmouthFilmFestival.org.

Feature Films include Grizzly II. Revenge (George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern), Give Or Take (Jamie Effros); documentaries Mentally Al (Al Lubel), In Case of Emergency, and Miracle Fishing.

A rich selection of New Jersey Films, short and feature length, are also featured in the festival this year, like Bruce Springsteen: Hometown.

We are confident that this will still be a year to remember, while also being the safest and smartest option for our community at this time. Your stories are more important now than ever and we want to continue to host a platform for artists to network, connect, learn, and grow.

Visit MonmouthFilmFstival.org for a complete schedule.

AllThereBoutique.com

What could possibly make holiday shopping more enjoyable than a boutique that comes to you! Or, you can shop on the website at allthereboutique.com. All items are in stock. Free same day delivery if items are ordered before 5 p.m.

The Center of Balance

Welcome to the beginning of a new you or a wonderful gift for someone you love. The Center of Balance provides a safe, pleasant, and comfortable environment to collectively expand your consciousness. They offer Primordial Sound Meditation, or PSM, a healing practice that allows you to experience inner calm and deep relaxation; and the Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique®, which involves guiding a person into a relaxed state in order to access a part of you that some people refer to as the Subconscious, Higher Self, or Universal Mind. Located at 273 NJ-34 in Colts Neck, visit thecenterofbalancenj.com, or call 732.740.6171.

Circus Wines, Beer & Spirits

One stop shopping for all your holiday beverage needs! The company has two large brick and mortar stores, under the name Spirits Unlimited of Red Bank (56 Newman Springs Road) and Middletown (853 State Highway 35), with a third location in Sea Girt. The family-owned business specializes in hand-picked selections of the best wine, spirits, and beer on the market. They pride themselves on offering true deep discount pricing on the highest quality products, with the goal to save you money and have you coming back for more. A lesson taught from their grandparents, they will jump through hoops to help you find what you are looking for. If it’s out there and available, Circus will find it! Visit CircusWines.com for Weekly Specials and Season Selections.

Colts Neck Pharmacy – The Gift Boutique

Unique gifts for every person on your holiday list, from babies to brides, hostess to best friend. Custom made baskets and gifts, with free wrapping and decoration. If you’re looking for specialty chocolates and jewelry, look no further. Need a quick gift, stop in! Planning for every person on your list? The Gift Boutique can help with that also. Local delivery available. Ask about their loyalty reward program when visiting at 420 Highway 34 Suite 309 in Colts Neck, visit ColtsNeckPharmacy.com.

Count Basie Center for the Arts

The gift of entertainment is always a hit and never goes out of style. There are performances for every age and every taste at this world class center for performances, culture and education. Choose among the many concerts, plays, children’s shows, dance, and comedy. Some feature national and international stars; other productions showcase local talent. And if you can’t decide, opt for a gift certificate. For a chance to win tickets, visit woobox.com/dfiweq. 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, 732.842.9000, thebasie.org

Dearborn Market

Dearborn Market’s gift baskets make a delicious and beautiful hostess or holiday gift this season!  Dearborn uses only the freshest fruits and high-quality gourmet specialty items with a range of products from Italy to local New Jersey companies. There’s a wide variety of baskets to choose from and you can also customize to your liking. Local delivery and shipping nationwide is available. Visit Dearbornmarket.com for a complete list or call 732.264.0256 to order yours today!

Kids Bedroom Gallery

Holiday special of 10% off your entire purchase to all CM readers! (Does not include Natart Furniture). This is the time for parents and grandparents to order for a holiday delivery! This is the store where grown-ups don’t pay retail with a showroom of more than 65 cribs, kids beds, and teen lofts on display. Visit at 282 Route 18 North in East Brunswick, call 732.210.4811, or visit kidsbedroomgallery.com.

L.A. Dance NJ PAC

It’s time to dance! The brand new location in Colts Neck is a great place for all ages and all levels. The location is new, but this is the 15th season in New Jersey. Owner Angela not only offers dance, but has brought in amazing vocal, acting, and piano coaches to prepare those pursuing a career in the arts, or for those who want to practice for a particular local play or school event. The arts make a special holiday gift and if you enroll in December, you will receive gifts, a dance bag, and a $10 gift card for in-stock L.A. Dance merchandise. Colts Neck Shopping Center, 420 Route 34S, 732.637.8181, ladancenjpac.com 

Majestic Exteriors

Start the holiday season with home improvements. Why not treat yourself to sprucing up windows, doors, curb appeal or tackling that long awaited repair? Majestic is an award winning company, family- owned and operated, with more than 21 years of experience and thousands of satisfied customers. It offers extended workmanship warranties to guarantee coverage long after the work is completed. Majestic provides the experience and results that you demand and deserve for your investment and will work with you to achieve the right solutions to bring lasting comfort to your valued home. Colts Neck Shopping Plaza, 420 Rt 34, 732.577.9813, majesticrenovations.com.

Nails Plus

The latest trend from Hollywood arrives in Colts Neck~ the Korean-Style Luxury Full Body Scrub. Lasting 75 minutes, the treatment begins with a soak under the water jets from EIGHT Vichy shower heads (from France), simultaneously prepping skin and massaging the body. Next enjoy a scrub from the neck to the feet with textured gloves to eliminate impurities, a shampoo, scalp massage, and a Swedish body massage with oils. (CBD cream available as an add-on). The tradition of Korean body scrubs has been around for centuries, and has countless health and beauty benefits including skin rejuvenation, reduction of cellulite, weight loss, lymphatic drainage, chronic pain relief, and stress reduction. Free regular mani/pedi with purchase. 732.410.4651, 340 Route 34 S, Colts Neck (near Perkins)

When asked if the band plays original songs, Dr. Sykoff responded, “We are a cover band primarily, but the idea of writing our own music has always crossed our minds. It remains an aspirational goal. Scott (Woska) has written music in the past, and it would be his musical talent that would lead the band into this new undertaking.”

Particularly unforgettable to the band are the annual performances for the Zilinski Foundation – an organization dedicated to supporting wounded veterans and providing them with trained support dogs.

“At each of these galas with 350 plus guests, we meet wounded veterans coping with all kinds of devastating disabilities, slowly working their way back into civilian life,” said Dr. Sykoff. “Participating with the Foundation to help raise money to support these veterans manage overwhelming medical expenses is an unforgettable experience. Knowing our efforts help these veterans recover from both the complex physical and emotional wounds of combat remains the most memorable experience.”

An event performed last month is especially close to their hearts and a very different format for the group. “We embarked on an unusual and special technological project,” explained Dr. Woska. “We unfortunately lost our singer Erin Patrick to cancer three years ago. She was with us from the very beginning and is very special to us.”

Dr. Lessing brought Erin to the band having met her when his daughter and Erin sang in a high school choir together. He expressed how meaningful this event was to them all. “The Docs of Rock performed a special tribute to honor Erin’s talent and spirit along with the Monmouth County SPCA, a charity she supported. Using computers, screens, video footage and studio recordings we attempted to bring Erin ‘back to life’ as she sang ‘live’ with us on stage for her family and friends and supporters of a great charity.”

Looking back on the last six years, Dr. Lessing reflected how he feels the power of music is well known yet poorly understood. He refers to himself as “grateful” for being able to “channel that mysterious and joyful energy from the stage to the dance floor.” Dr. Sykoff, speaking for the band added, “The Docs of Rock has become a charity band giving back to our community by supporting worthy causes that improve the lives of others. Many underserved and isolated people living in our community are in desperate need of the services. These non-profit organizations provide social, emotional and psychological sustenance and, most of all, hope. Combining this humanitarian commitment with our love of music remains an opportunity for which we are forever grateful.”

“I’d never been in the restaurant business other than as a musician,” shared Tim. “I went into the restaurant business blindly. I knew the front of the house, I was confident with that, but I was totally ignorant of the back of the house. But I was fortunate to have absolutely spectacular people working for me over the years. Very few people leave us to go to another restaurant. Most people stay with us because they like the way we treat them. And we try to do it right, pay them appropriately, treat them with respect.”

The Rum Runner was an established restaurant desperately in need of repairs where Tim had played. He off-handedly told the owner to give him a call if he ever wanted to sell, and two years later the call came in. Tim bought the restaurant on New Year’s Eve 1986 after raising $1 million through second mortgages and savings. While renovating, an old friend of Tim’s named Bruce Springsteen asked if he and his band could rehearse upstairs for their Tunnel of Love tour. Happy to help, Tim offered the space at no charge. When he opened the doors to business in October 1987, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

“So, because I wouldn’t take any money from him, Bruce showed up on Halloween night with his band,” Tim tells the story in between chuckles. “They were in costume, meanwhile you could never do this now, but they were all in black with masks over their faces and they called themselves the terrorists of love. They kicked my band off the stage, they just pulled us off, and I realized shortly thereafter it was him. Even the audience wasn’t sure because he was wearing a mask. But then the mask came off and he started doing Glory Days, and well this was the second time I had buyer’s remorse. The word got out so fast, the parking lot was full, and there were no cell phones back then. People were on pay phones telling their friends, ‘Springsteen is at The Rum Runner.’ And what ended up happening was, we were just overwhelmed. I’m playing piano with Bruce and I look out the window and see police cars all over the place because we just got mobbed and there’s a back-up on Ocean Avenue. The cars were all over, and in my neighbor’s yard at Ship Ahoy, and about a week later the fence went up. (Tim laughed). We have since become friends. I don’t blame him, the original Rum Runner was quiet, nearly closed, everyone shared parking, and now all of a sudden what’s going on here? Springsteen is playing across the street. It was sort of good for business.”

Tim met Beth at The Rum Runner, and for that it will always be the flagship for his company, holding a special place in his heart. With three of their four children in college up until last month when their son, Jack, graduated from Fordham, Tim says the restaurants have been a blessing. The daunting and impending financial strain of three in college had led Tim to want to expand. As seems typical with his endeavors, he sought a way to fix the problem he saw coming.

“We had one restaurant for 17 years, The Rum Runner in Sea Bright, and I was very content there. Then my eldest started getting close to college and I realized what was going to happen and said to myself that’s not going to work. Maybe we better get another restaurant. And we started down the path.”

That path has led to eleven successful restaurants in Bayonne, West Orange, Woodbridge, Maryland and all over Monmouth County. The newest for McLoone’s Restaurants is the Iron Whale in Asbury Park that opened in May.

In 2012, a dear friend and WOR radio host, Joan Hamburg, convinced Tim to create The Tim McLoone Radio Show. His first show aired in December of 2012 and taped in front of a live audience at Tim McLoone’s Supper Club in Asbury Park every week. The variety-type show covered a vast array of topics including sports, music, food, entertainment and their take on the hot topics.

One topic that often came up on the radio show was giving back. Tim’s childhood experiences instilled in him a sense of helping others.

“I grew up on the grounds of VA hospitals, I was born on one, and then we moved to the VA hospital in East Orange,” said Tim. “I was immersed in the world of adults. I was the only child living there. So, I became, in a sense, friends with the soldiers returning from mostly Korea. They had amputations, restless leg, what we would now call PTSD. I think that had a lot to do with it. My father was in charge of the activities and what that meant was he brought the entertainment and athletic things to campus.”

When in his junior year of high school at Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, Tim met a priest who asked him to go to a retreat called YCLI – the Young Christian Leaders Institute.

“It sounded horrible, and I was going to have to go for a week to a monastery in North Jersey and I’m thinking this is going to be the worst,” said Tim. “I landed in a world of idealism. It was 1963 and the country was about to change. This one charismatic priest gathered all similarly thinking religious people and got them to buy into this thinking. And it was all workshops, and you were just on fire about how great it was. It was funny, and there was a lot of music, and you couldn’t help but get affected by it.”

“Seven days changed my life. I went back there the next two years as a counselor because it lit something in me. It was a life changing moment, and it got me thinking outside myself. And nothing came of it for a very long time until I went to work for the New Jersey Nets. There was a player who had been incarcerated, but he was a very nice guy, and he wanted to do something nice for the kids in Newark, and basically would anybody else come along. Who wants to volunteer on Christmas Eve? Well, I did. I was feeling cynical about my life, and religion, and Christmas and everything like that. I went and I took my oldest daughter with me. We went home in the car singing Christmas carols and it got me thinking that whole next year.”

When asked of all his achievements, which is closest to his heart, Tim doesn’t hesitate to answer.

“People often ask me that,” said Tim. “The truth of it is, I’ve always been attracted to challenges, and I tend to take them. I volunteer for stuff maybe I shouldn’t, even in job offers. A lot of attractive stuff comes my way, and people would think they’re interesting and fun, and they are. Like being a musician all my life, how much fun is that? When I’m playing music there’s nowhere else in the world I want to be in that moment. There’s nothing else on my mind. The same thing goes when I’m coaching track and cross country. I’m with those kids and that’s what we’re doing. It’s where I’m happy to be in the moment.”

Is there a particular play or musical that helped spark your interest in theater?

JOAN: My early theater inspiration was going to see plays in New York with my family, especially classic musicals—I particularly remember My Fair Lady and The King and I and Kiss Me, Kate.

BOB: I went with my mother to see the National Tour of The Glass Menagerie in Pueblo, Colorado, where I grew up, and the set amazed me. As the actor spoke, the wall began to dissolve. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The theatricality of it all knocked me out. I would have been about fifteen and I just adored it.

Bob, you have acted, directed, and written for theater. Which gave you the most satisfaction and why?

BOB: Because I started out as an actor, I used to say that playwriting was a great challenge, and directing is always pleasurable, but the only thing that really matters is acting. As a professor, I understood the act of performing in front of a classroom. But today I would say that writing brought me the most pleasure, because it was difficult.

What is one of your favorite projects or productions at TRT and why?

BOB: I loved our first season—especially our first show, The Cocktail Hour by A.R. Gurney, and Shaw’s Misalliance.

JOAN: It’s so hard to say—I love so much of what we’ve done. I could look at the whole list of plays, I’m sure, and remember many favorites. But these days, of course, I’m reminded of how much I love Be More Chill.

If anything were possible, which actor(s) would you choose for a collaboration?

BOB: I took a class with Marilyn Monroe when I was studying to be an actor. I would have worked with her!

What can we expect at the upcoming addition to TRT, the Center for New Work, Education and Design?

JOAN AND BOB: We will open our Center for New Work, Education and Design in 2019. The Center will allow us to grow the impact and reach of our education programs, new-play development activities, and many free community events we offer through our ‘Inside Two River’ program. The building will include two rehearsal spaces; scenery, props and costume shops; centrally located offices; and multiple storage areas. This exceptional new space will further the reputation of Two River, and Red Bank, as a home for world-class theater and theater artists.

There is certainly much to celebrate at TRT. The residents of this state and beyond are fortunate to continue to enjoy the fruits of Joan and Bob Rechnitz’s vision, drive, and generosity.

The Center for New Work, Education and Design will have three floors and will be connected to Two River’s permanent home. It was designed by Red Bank architects Kaplan, Gaunt + DeSantis. It will include rehearsal studio spacing, offices and writing spaces for artists, expanded scene shop spaces, a woodshop for the props department, a costume shop, centrally located offices, and multiple storage areas.

The  Founders and Board of Trustees have established a 25th Anniversary Fund to support critical priorities for the theater’s growth, including the development and construction of the new Center. The financial goal for the 25th Anniversary Fund is $18,000,000 and gifts totaling $16,500,000 have been raised to date, with the remaining $1,500,000 of the goal to be raised through philanthropic and community support. Gifts to the Fund will be accepted throughout 2019, and pledges can be gifted over a longer period of time.

CM: Was Joe Namath your sports hero?

Theismann: Yea, he was my hero. Joe Namath was always an idol of mine. I emulated him. I walked around with my shoulders hunched over, I had the same kind of shoes he had, I went and bought a white rug, a shower mat, and that became my llama skin rug in my bedroom when Joe had that. Oh yea, when he broke his jaw I changed my face mask to be like his. He’s a dear friend today, which is really great. He had sort of been a model for me. Joe has always been so gracious, I’ve observed him being gracious to people and been around him. And no matter what aspects of life you move into, that’s one of the most important things – no one is ever more important than anyone else, and I think you have to treat everybody with respect. It gets a little overwhelming at times, but I think it’s harder to be a stinker, I use another word, but we’ll say stinker. I think it’s harder to be a stinker than it is to be nice. When people come up to you and say hello, you say hello, I mean it’s not that hard. I close my presentations with another little quote, “it’s nice to be important but it’s a lot more important to be nice.” There was a time when I got full of myself. I was an MVP of the League, I was a World Champion quarterback, I was doing well financially and I thought I was the cat’s meow. It was all about me. And once my leg got broken that all changed. I got a real perspective on life.

CM: How did you transition through your career-ending injury? How did you survive that?

Theismann: It wasn’t easy. I had a chance to take a step back and look at myself and see who I was, what I was becoming, the way I looked at life, and I decided I didn’t want to be that. I didn’t want to be the guy who was all consumed with himself. I wanted to be somebody who could affect other people. I want to be able to affect people in a positive way. That’s why I love doing the presentations I do. I love to be able to give people somewhat of a foundation, a game plan, for how to live life. I take my life, the good and the bad, and I say this is how I’ve lived my life and take what you want from it but maybe it will affect yours in a positive way.

CM: So in 1983 you started with motivational speaking and in 1985 you retired from football. Did you know then you wanted to go into the world of broadcasting and acting?

Theismann: I actually worked in television in Washington D.C. I did Good Morning Washington. I took two classes in college, speech and argumentation, that served me very well and still do to this day. Just learning how to get up in front of people. Public speaking is perhaps the number one fear of individuals. I made my living doing it for so many years. I’ve been blessed to have different careers, whether it was professional football, or broadcasting, speaking, or now acting to a degree, so I’ve had a chance to dabble in a lot of areas.

I had a guy ask me the other day, he said he has friends who had success early in their lives and now they walk around like empty shells, ghosts. He wanted to know how I escaped that. What I did was look at life like this, football was the axle of my wheel; that’s where I made my income, that’s where I put a ton of my energy, but then I also believe that you have to have some type of diversions from that to really expand as a person. So I got into acting in the 80s. Then I did motivational speaking in the 80s. Then I invested in real estate, then in different businesses, and I learned about different businesses. And so if something happened to the axle, I had different spokes to be able to rely on. So many people focus on one thing and one thing only. It’s the same thing as a portfolio when it comes to finances, you need to diversify. So when I was having this conversation I asked him, what do your friends like? What is their passion beyond the one thing that they did? I find it hard to believe that an individual would have one, singular passion.

CM: Where did you get that knowledge from? As you say, most people stick to the one thing they’re really good at.

Theismann: A little bit of it came from Coach Gibbs. (Joe Jackson Gibbs 20th and 26th head coach in the history of the Washington Redskins.) When I got Coach Gibbs as my head coach in Washington he was 100% focused on football. And then he got into NASCAR. And I talked to some guys who had Joe as a coach after I got out of the game and he had gotten into NASCAR. Not that he didn’t totally love it and commit to football, but it was a little bit of a diversion mentally for him and they said he was a different person to deal with. They felt he was more approachable, easier to spend time with. And it made sense to me. You can get so focused that you really can’t see the forest for the trees. You get so consumed with what you have going on, you really don’t know what else is going on around you. We went to two World Championships when I had a chance to play for him, and he won two after that. So his record, he’s in the Hall of Fame, and he certainly deserves to be there. Every day we get a chance to learn something, and if you really want to learn something, you can. There are opportunities out there, and opportunity is my favorite word. When you’ve stopped learning, then basically you’ve stopped living.

CM: What has been the most challenging aspect of your career?

Theismann: I think when I got hurt one of the most challenging aspects of my career was mentally not feeling sorry for myself. I did for a while. You don’t get hurt and say, okay, life’s a bowl of cherries and I’m going to start picking them out. I went through a little bit of depression, figuring out what I was going to do. One of the hardest things I had to deal with was asking my self why. You ask yourself, ‘why did this happen?’ I had just signed a brand-new five-year contract, and then all of sudden I was hurt and I couldn’t fulfill the obligation I had. I was looking forward to it, but I couldn’t.

CM: Where did you hang out in Jersey?

Theismann: Now my sister lives in Freehold. But then, as kids? Silver Beach, we used to go down to Seaside. My first major injury was there. I dislocated my shoulder at Long Beach Island. This is a funny one. It was after my sophomore year in high school, we had a really good year, and we go down to the beach. So I hurt my shoulder and I call my dad and say, ‘Dad I just want to let you know I hurt my shoulder.’ and my father says, “Which one?” So I say, ‘My left.’ And he says, “Okay, here’s your mother.” He wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt my right one. Don’t hurt the money maker.

CM: What is your number one tip to a young person about life?

Theismann: Have dreams. And don’t let anybody dissuade you from your dreams. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t be, or become, everything you want to be. I came out of high school I was 5’10’’ and 152 pounds. I entered the University of Notre Dame at 5’10’’ and 158 pounds. I was one of 13 quarterbacks, a skinny little kid, and I wrote down on a piece of paper the day I got to college, ‘I will be the greatest quarterback ever to play at Notre Dame.’ Now whether I was, or whether I was not, is insignificant to the fact that my dream was put out into the universe. I tell people to write down their goals in four specific areas: professional, personal, spiritual, and financial. What do you want? Bring it out into the universe. The universe is out there to help us to accomplish the things we want. Too often people get caught in indecision, do I want to do this, do I want to do that, or they never even take the time to write their dreams down so there’s no reference point. You can sit around all day and say, well I think I’m going to do this today, I think I’m going to do that today – I procrastinate like everybody else. But every once in a while, I have to sit down at my desk and say, ‘Enough. I have to clean up the clutter.’ And that’s basically what you want to do, clean up the clutter.

CM: What comes next for Joe Theismann?

Theismann: Well we have grandchildren. Watching them grow up, spending time with them. My wife and I have a place in Florida to take a little time to reload. We’ve done some remodeling, we’re doing some traveling. And the thing I want to try to do is give back more. I have a website, (joetheismann.com) and on my website I’ve asked people to make a donation to St. Jude if they want me to sign something. All I want to do is try to raise money for the kids. We also live in Memphis where St. Jude is based, and to me it’s unbelievable that no families pay for housing, treatments, anything. The Wounded Warriors is something else I try to support as much as I can.

CM: Was this area (NJ) a major transition for you from life in Minnesota? Or did you find them similar?

Hegseth: It was a major transition. In fact, it’s one of the things I want to change about how I parent my kids. I love everything about how I was raised. I’m grateful for my parents, and my community, my coaches, my teachers, my pastor – the things like that. But, I was utterly unprepared for that transition (from high school to college). Almost comically so – emotionally unprepared. To be away from home, to be on my own, to not be near my girlfriend – and as a result it was a really difficult transition. It had nothing to do with Princeton, or the community, it was a wonderful place and I met the best of friends, but I think I was in a bit of a cocoon and when that cocoon burst, it took me a while to get my footing. But I did, ultimately. Princeton was a very different place, with a very different set of priorities than where I came from and that’s why I got involved with The Princeton Tory, which is the conservative magazine at the college. I became the publisher. It was a big part of the cultural and political debates on campus at that time, of course that was right after 9/11. There was a lot going on.

CM: Did you get involved with the military through ROTC?

Hegseth: I was ROTC at Princeton. I actually joined the spring before 9/11 and then 9/11 was the ultimate validator of the decision to serve. Balancing school, service, summer training, basketball, and The Princeton Tory publication was an exercise in multitasking. The leadership, organizational management, and the toughness that ROTC and the military taught me is one of the most valuable lessons I’ll ever learn. The military officers at ROTC, they were great and they prepared us as well as we could be prepared.

CM: You volunteered to serve in the war zones of Baghdad and Samarra, what led you to that decision?

Hegseth: I’ve written about it a little bit in my book, In The Arena. I came back from Guantanamo Bay, took a brief break, then went back to work at Bear Stearns. I’ll never forget this series of events. I was reading about a suicide bomber in Iraq, the Iraq war was really heating up, and the suicide bomber had killed a bunch of women and children and civilians. I was watching the war coverage and the war was dragging on and not getting better. And I remember just sitting there at my banking desk thinking that I needed to be a part of this. Like I was going to regret it if I didn’t contribute, so I started emailing people I knew were on active duty. One was Captain Dan Hart, he had been my platoon trainer at infantry school, so he had trained me. I emailed him saying by any chance did he need a platoon leader? Turns out he did. But I had to get to the unit within eight weeks to join them and go. And that’s when it started a flurry of bureaucratic maneuvering, if you will, trying to get out of the National Guard unit and transferred specifically to a specific unit deploying to Iraq. We were in Iraq, in Baghdad, for the latter part of 2005 and then in Samarra through the first half of 2006 and that’s when – some folks will remember the Mosque bombing that triggered a lot of the sectarian violence when al-Qaeda blew up the Mosque in February in Samarra. I woke up to that explosion and then that night meeting the city leaders. I was both a platoon leader and a civil military operations officer. Basically I was our unit’s liaison between the local government and tribal leaders. And that turned into a big, strong relationship that led to a lot of intelligence and dismantling, at least in the near term of the insurgency in Samarra.

CM: You received several medals and honors while stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Can you share why you won the medals?

Hegseth: Probably the one that I’m most proud of I can share, it’s hanging on my wall as the first award I ever got in combat, an Army Commendation Medal. I was the first lieutenant. The mission was at midnight on December 9th, 2005 and the award was for exceptional performance as a platoon leader. It was an air assault raid that led to the capture of two high value targets with ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq and effectively marked the end of an insurgency, etc. So it was the first night air assault combat mission. As a platoon leader you don’t really earn the trust of your men until you show them in the field. And I feel like the Army Commendation medal did that. A lot of guys have Army Commendation Medals, it’s not like a silver star or anything like that. But to me it was validation I could do the job that I was there to do, fight alongside my men.

CM: What can you share about your time in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Hegseth: Yeah. You know, especially in Iraq, you see sheer humanity. Everything is stripped down to a basic level – human needs, desires, clans, tribes, fighting for your brothers, showing courage, managing fear. All of those things are real. You’re driving down a street that you know is controlled by al-Qaeda, you’re in a Humvee, and you’re blaring nasty messages because you’re trying to provoke them. You’re sort of thinking, OK when’s the RPG going to hit? Ya know. There are moments like that you certainly remember forever. But I’ve learned a lot about human nature, a lot about what you can actually accomplish in war, and how it should be conducted if we want to win. A true love for our country and great appreciation for our country. Love of the other men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line and give up everything because they believe in the freedoms that we have. You start to viscerally respect and understand and appreciate those freedoms. And when you come home you feel empty. You feel it. And it all feels frivolous, and not meaningful, and that is a big thing you have to overcome when you transition back home…finding that sense of purpose and meaning in a world where we’re told to care about a lot of meaningless stuff. It’s actually a real challenge. So I learned radical Islam is a huge threat to humanity and our future. I also learned that there are a lot of good Muslims, and I helped some of them come to this country, so you can believe both at the same time. And you can also believe that America is a force for good but also that America, what we can actually accomplish, it’s more limited than we think. You can’t remake a whole country or society. In Afghanistan, it was like biblical times with AK-47s and cellphones, and we were in the most modern place of all in Kabul. My job was to instruct units coming in about the geopolitical… I was an instructor…American units, International, NATO units, Afghan units would come through and my job, which is supposed to be for a colonel but they gave it to me as a captain, I was in there talking to them about counterinsurgency strategy and the application in different parts of the country. So I got to learn a lot about what we were doing, whether it was good work or not, and quickly came to the belief that what we are attempting to do there is never going to happen. And that’s why, even though I went there saying we had to win, that we have to do this right, and going there after 9/11 was important – I think we need to recalibrate what we can accomplish in the long term.

CM: So where does your desire to be involved in broadcasting come from? Did you study journalism at Princeton?

Hegseth: I did not study journalism. I studied politics. My senior thesis was about presidential speechmaking. I’ve always had a thing for rhetoric. What rhetoric works and why. I never had the thought of being on TV. My first appearance was on Hardball with Chris Matthews (on MSNBC) getting yelled at and cut off like fifty times. I got advice from my buddy, he said lean forward in your chair and don’t let him cut you off. Well I did lean forward, but he cut me off the whole segment. I was totally thrown into the fire from day one. I learned how to handle it, but I always come at television from the perspective of being an advocate. I only do it because I believe in it. I have no desire to be a broadcaster for broadcasting’s sake. I have no desire for my mug to be on TV for the sake of it. I got to be on TV because I was fighting for things that I believed in and then that moved into broader commentary as I think folks recognized that it wasn’t just the military or national security or foreign policy or vets that I could talk about. That I had run for office myself, that I had a background in politics and I’ve been involved in advocacy and I knew people on Capitol Hill, I’d been a part of national PACs and running ads and strategizing with candidates and helping candidates win and things like that. So as more of that was made known, I got a chance to comment on a wider set of issues. That just kind of was what it was for many years. Then FOX & Friends one day asked if I’d ever thought about trying to host. And they gave me a shot. But I think if I was ever asked to just do straight news, or whatever, then I wouldn’t be on TV. But FOX & Friends gives me a chance to be a part of shaping the opinion and the debates of the day. And for that I’m grateful. Obviously, I still have a heart toward all the military national security stuff that I’ve talked about for a long time.

CM: You now live in the hills of Holmdel.  What are your impressions of Monmouth County?

Hegseth: I love Monmouth County. It reminds me – it’s different and it has different impulses because it’s more the culture of New York – but the goodness and the decency is there just like I’m used to in Minnesota. So Monmouth County is a great place and Holmdel is a great place. And we’re excited to be here.

CM: I’m told you chose your daughter’s preschool because the American flag was displayed outside. It that a true story?

Hegseth: It is my significant other’s daughter Kenzie, and it’s Home Away from Home Academy. I don’t know that it’s because there were flags but we did check and they say prayers before their meals, they say the pledge every day, they are very proud and patriotic. And that is a prerequisite for me. We live in an era where they feel it’s okay to not reinforce patriotic and traditional American values. And they don’t have to emphasize civics and history. So when I’m looking at the kinds of places I want my kids, kids under my stead, to go, you better believe that’s what I’m looking for and Home Away from Home is wonderful and they do a great job. So we’ve got two there, Gwen will go there eventually I’m sure, and then we’re closely watching the Holmdel public schools. I think like any parent you have to pay attention to what’s in the curriculum because even the best schools have some of the PC notion that we’ve seen move into education especially in the 21st century. So we’ll be watching.

The Department of Veterans Affairs invites individuals, veterans groups, military personnel, civic organizations, businesses, schools, local media, celebrities and sports stars to participate in a variety of activities at the VA medical centers. The activities and events include special ward visits and valentine distributions; photo opportunities; school essay contests; special recreation activities and Veteran recognition programs. For more information, visit www.volunteer.va.gov/NationalSaluteVeteranPatients.asp.