How Lyubim Kogan Helps Veterans Reclaim Life

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County living presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

I love rich people! You're not like a show-up! You're not like a show-up! You're not like a show-up! I'm not like a show-up! I'm not like a show-up! I'm not like a show-up! I'm not like a show-up! 

Rich Bennett 0:27
If you had already lived the life, most people would consider extraordinary. And then chose to walk away from all of it. My guest today didn't just build success. He survived some of the most defining moments in modern history. From being a winter Olympian to living through 9/11, to leading an investment firm through one of the worst financial crisis with zero client losses. Lewbeam Cogan has seen pressure, uncertainty, and survival up close. But what makes his story different is what he did next. Instead of cashing in on that success, he stepped away and went straight into a war zone in Ukraine to help rebuild what had been destroyed. And out of that experience came something even more powerful. A mission. Through wings for heroes, Lewbeam is helping amputee and depth veterans rediscover purpose, confidence, and identity. Not through words, but through flight. I have been looking forward to this. Tho of you listening, you know that I've had a lot of veterans on. I've had real-life prosthetics on, and amputees on. And we talked about the struggles, but also how far they have come. And everything that they're doing now, so this this is a conversation you all just want to sit down, grab your drink, relax, and listen, because you're going to learn a lot. Lewbeam has a going man. 

Lyubim Kogan 2:07
Wow, what an introduction. Thank you, you're. I'm actually I'm really happy to be here. I've been waiting for this for quite a while. So I'm here for you. 

Rich Bennett 2:16
Oh, so have I, man. It's it's big and for those people that don't know you did you immigrate here from Russia or. 

Lyubim Kogan 2:27
I actually I immigrated here back in 92. 

Rich Bennett 2:30
Okay, 

Lyubim Kogan 2:33
Okay. It was one year after Soviet Union broke up. I 

Rich Bennett 2:36
okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 2:36
grew up in the mid 70s during the Cold War, and what I knew about the United States was that, well, you know, a kid, I imagine that Ronald Reagan is sitting in the in the White House, a he has this red button and he can go boom. And we're all done and then they come to the United States and I find out that people who are growing up at the same time thought that the Soviets had the 

Rich Bennett 3:00
button. 

Lyubim Kogan 3:00
same You know, our imagination was the same. We just were looking in the different directions, but when I was five years old, the Afghanistan war started this 

Rich Bennett 3:10
war. 

Lyubim Kogan 3:12
And it lasted till I was in high school. So my first conscious part of life, the war was on the background and the background is not as a battlefield is as a kid perceives and interprets of what's going on around him. So I immigrated to the States in 92, and I got really lucky because you know, I wanted to ski. I was a skier 

Rich Bennett 3:35
Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 3:35
and I got a scholarship to go to the National Sports Academy in like placid. 

Rich Bennett 3:39
Oh, nic. 

Lyubim Kogan 3:40
Yeah. So my, my immigrant and billical court was caught like immediately. And I was thrown into environment. Imagine I come from a third world country and I am I'm going to school with kids whose last name it's on the beer cans that is sold in the United States. And there. 

Rich Bennett 3:58
And wow, 

Lyubim Kogan 3:59
you know, I was the longer I live here, the more I understand, you know, how lucky I was because the probability of that was really close to zero, but it gave me a chance to see real Americans. 

Rich Bennett 4:12
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 4:12
Kids living in boarding school. And then I started skiing and when we ski, we stayed without the skiers. So then I see how families were and you know, it was really different from what I grew up with. And they really embraced it. And I wanted to be, I wanted to become like that, you know, 

Rich Bennett 4:31
Wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 4:31
to me was really important. So I didn't, I didn't hang out with people that spoke my language. I hang out with people whose language I wanted to speak in. 

Rich Bennett 4:40
Right. 

Lyubim Kogan 4:41
I took all English classes. I went to small community college after so I spend one year in sports academy and then I took every English class they had in the little community college until I got accepted to New York University Stern School of Business. And, uh, you know, this is one of the examples where you have to be careful what you wish for, 

Rich Bennett 5:01
uh-huh. 

Lyubim Kogan 5:01
Because I really wanted to ski and I wanted to go to a good business school and when I get to the business school I find out that I'm 300 miles away, from ski jumps, so in order to make it happen, now I have to commute 600 miles every week. 

Oh, I counted, for more than 100 weeks, I commute at 600 miles. 

Rich Bennett 5:29
Wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 5:29
We ski for two or three days a week, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:33
That is nuts! 

Lyubim Kogan 5:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 5:36
So, you in 

Lyubim Kogan 5:36
No, 

Rich Bennett 5:36
it? 

Lyubim Kogan 5:36
no how I did it, but, you know, it's like everybody, all the parents who have kids want to know what it takes, I'm not talented at all. I just really loved it and I decided that I'm gonna go and I don't care what comes up. And that was one of the things that came up. And, um, yeah, and, 

Rich Bennett 5:54
you know, 

Lyubim Kogan 5:55
I took time off from NYU last semester, last year, to try out. And actually, we had really bad weather conditions that the World Cup was in Poland, but we had to go to Slovakia, which means crossing the Tatra Mountains because it was raining on one side and we had to go higher in the mountains. And after one week of, you know, you go, you ski and come back, after a week of that, the national team, they were done. They were finished because they're used to showing up, everything's arranged, everything is, you know, everybody's curious, you're stuff. And I'm commuting 600 miles, so for me, it was like normal. 

And I say that's how I got lucky and then, you know, I came back to NYU and figured out I found out that I was the first in history of the business school, first full-time student to actually go to the Olympics. 

Rich Bennett 6:46
Wow. And what year 

Lyubim Kogan 6:47
was that? '98, Japan. 

Rich Bennett 6:49
Oh, yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 6:52
Yeah. It was the cool one. It was far away. It was a long flight. 

Rich Bennett 6:56
Yeah, but 

Lyubim Kogan 6:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 6:57
good food. 

Lyubim Kogan 6:59
And, you know, they were really hospitable. They, in the Olympic village, in the cafeteria, you can try any kind of food and one of the big part of the cafeteria was traditional. Where you could go in, you can sit down in a traditional Japanese table where your feet go under and you're sitting on the floor, and they were in kimonos, and they're serving you,and  they really, they went way out to, like, really put on the show. It was really, really impressive. But, you know, that was one month of fun that ended, and if any parents have kids who trying out for the Olympics, you know, like, we're talking about 30 years later, still it's still a big deal. 

Rich Bennett 7:39
So, yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 7:40
You know, for me, 

Rich Bennett 7:42
it 

Lyubim Kogan 7:43
was it was it was it was worth the sacrifice. Like, I don't know what the college experiences in sense of I was gone every weekend. You know, I don't know what goes on the college on the weekends because I know I never was there. But, I, you know, another dream was to work in the World Trade Center. You know, we're coming up on 25 years. I think it's important to talk about it because 

Rich Bennett 8:10
Oh my god. 

Lyubim Kogan 8:11
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:12
I didn't even realize that it's been god 25 

Lyubim Kogan 8:20
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 8:20
years. You 

Lyubim Kogan 8:20
it 

Rich Bennett 8:20
know, 

Lyubim Kogan 8:21
this year it would be 25 years, 2001, 2026, 

Rich Bennett 8:24
it still it still feels like 

Lyubim Kogan 8:28
too, 

Rich Bennett 8:28
yesterday 

Lyubim Kogan 8:28
right? 

Rich Bennett 8:29
Wow. 

God, I'm sorry. Go ahead. 

Lyubim Kogan 8:33
No, but I'm saying you know that but another dream was to work in the World Trade Center, and I got to live my dream. And I was really lucky on that day. And I think a lot of people were really 

Rich Bennett 8:43
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 8:43
lucky. They, but I think it's it's a really defining and turning point in the American history, you know, it's very different from Pearl Harbor. It's it's. Yeah, there are like for 24 years, I couldn't go back. I just I just didn't have a need, you know, like when they opened up the road, they got in the car and I left we can say almost forever. I came a few times for work, but it was midtown. In last February, I was on the train, I took the wrong train train, and I get this world trade center last stop world trade center. Yea, right. And I'm like, well, I guess, I guess I got to get out and go see and they go up and I look at the memorial. And then you realize, you know, I realize when we talk about PTSD, how it erases time, 

Rich Bennett 9:35
that 

Lyubim Kogan 9:35
like immediately you can be one moment you're fine in the next moment, you are just like in a different space. And that's one of the things that you know, I think that I really on some Level, I feel, like, I-I-I think I-I think-it's an empathy or greater connection to people who experienced loss because I experienced and have seen loss 

Rich Bennett 10:04
yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 10:04
throughout my life. So, you know, um, I just-going out and see-I think the memorial is really great. And I think that, you know, now we have two big holes where we had huge buildings. And what I realized, like, me, and everybody who suffered loss, we have this hole inside. We cannot fill it. But what we can do is-is, um, just to focus on somebody else who has bigger issues. 

Rich Bennett 10:34
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 10:35
And that way, you just not so wrapped up around your own issues and, you know, going deeper in your issues. But I'm saying, like, for anybody who's asking, like, what do veterans experience and what is this thing? It's like, a lot of people live in the bubble 

Rich Bennett 10:51
Mm-hmm. 

Lyubim Kogan 10:52
and they don't really know what's going on outside of the United States and nobody really realizes that, you know, wars almost always start on the east. And they want to go west, you know? 

Rich Bennett 11:05
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 11:05
So, if you think about it, like, if you look where the Sun rises, that's where the wars originate and where it sets, that's where it's coming towards us because Western societies are more, you know, hard work, ethics, long-term frame, you know, got to do the right thing. And east is more older, you know? Let's just, let's just go, you know, do it out. Let's see. 

Rich Bennett 11:29
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 11:30
How much we can take. And the thing is that in between east and west, the war and peace, there is space. And that space is occupied by men and women who put on uniform and said, okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to go and we're going to get in the middle and we're going to make sure that that war does not come into peace. Like, you know, you and I, we can have a conversation. I mean, you in Maryland? 

Rich Bennett 11:57
I'm in Maryland, yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 11:58
Yeah, I'm in Jersey and we know that we're going to finish this conversation. Nothing's going to happen. It's not like that in other parts of the world. 

Rich Bennett 12:04
Right. 

Lyubim Kogan 12:05
Because that war came to that part of the planet. And I think as a society, we have this contract with everybody who is occupying that space and wearing a uniform that you take care of us. So, Rachel and Lobeam can have this conversation and help other people, hopefully, you know, and also kind of get to our dreams, right? And goals. And if anything happens to men and women who are wearing a new uniform in that space and they cannot be in that space and they come back to the society less having less than and leaving something there, then we have a contract or obligation to take care of them. 

Rich Bennett 12:44
Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. 

Lyubim Kogan 12:46
And that's the end of that contract. You know, it's like you went, you didn't ask, you know, you did your job, okay? But there is an obligation that carries. When you finish your job, our obligation doesn't end. But a lot of people don't think like 

Rich Bennett 13:02
that. Yeah. You know what? And that's the thing. That's something I've always told people, when you join the military, it is a lifetime oath. You know, you may say you served four years, six years, 20 years, whatever. But you take that oath for life. And if you, you know, if they want to call you back, be ready. I mean, granted, I'm too old now, 

Lyubim Kogan 13:29
but, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:30
But I could still help out by 

Lyubim Kogan 13:33
exactly 

Rich Bennett 13:34
talking to other veterans, talking to people that are thinking about enlisting. You know, there's so much, and you see it. Yeah, I mean, yourself as veterans are doing everything we can. 

Lyubim Kogan 13:48
You know, this is you know, again, I just make clear. I'm a civilian, right? I'm a civilian. I come after you leave. I clean up the mess. I clean. I take care of people. I take care of permanently disabled veterans. That's what my life mission is. I don't get a salary. I don't have any sponsors. Nobody told me to do this. I was in a position that I could do it. And I just thought, let me try, see how much I can do. Maybe I'll make a point as one guy, because everybody wants to know like, why are you trying to do something that, you know, it's government or system or somebody, you know, like big organization has to do? And I'm saying, look, I try. And I really, like on all our logos, it's a real guy. It's the first guy who we flew. And I, on him, I watched what it takes for somebody to go, I am at home really depressed, you know, getting fat to the point where I get on the horse, it looks like a pony. 

Rich Bennett 14:42
Wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 14:44
That's how he was when he came to becoming a captain of his MPG soccer team. and taking his girlfriend to Germany, to Poland, coming for rehab to Turkey, and not even asking anything from the volunteers because he knows where the taxi and Bazaris and you know what I did was for one and a half year I just kept creating services for what one guy needs. And in our case they didn't do his amputation right the first time. Yeah, so they had to go in second time. New prosthetics, walking again. Then he almost lost his only leg because his muscles got so compressed it was pressing on his sciatic nerve but it gave it started, wings for heroes started physical therapy because we had to keep him for one month or more. See if we can lengthen the muscles and if he respond. And you know for a month he rehabbed with the 12 physical therapy sessions we get the eight swimming sessions and it's one on one you know he's in the pool with the coach one on one with 

with therapist and it's basically you know it's like it's like this. 

Rich Bennett 15:59
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 16:00
And it's all I am I'm watching you know I'm setting up appointments I'm driving him and I am watching what's next and that is how I kept adding services and then we get the deaf guy and when I got a deaf guy The psychological part came right away you know it was clear that we need a psychologist because I couldn't even fly him and again for listeners 

Rich Bennett 16:24
oh. 

Lyubim Kogan 16:25
what I do is I fly powder gliders it's it's like a plastic bag with a bunch of strings and we don't have engine we don't have fuselage it's it's free flight you hanging in the air like this suspended in the air and 

Rich Bennett 16:38
giant kite. 

Lyubim Kogan 16:39
Yeah and you know idea was just if I scare I wanted to scare them to death. I thought I could scare people who lost the limb or two I could scare them to death and it's actually you know it wore but now I have a lot of different things and we get the study approved and I'm saying that by trying to see what I can do alone I got done more than you know charities that have hundreds of millions in the bank are actually doing. you know to me I know I saved one guy's 

Rich Bennett 17:12
Yeah which 

Lyubim Kogan 17:13
life and I really I really believe if you saved one life you saved the whole world that's one thing that I can tell myself to not stop you know because rich this is not glamorous at all I've been away from home for two months I'm lacking in New Jersey because I have family 

Rich Bennett 17:28
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 17:29
but I'm going there are 26 VFW posts here and there are 30 something American legions there are a lot of them and I'm on the beach in Turkey nobody knows about me I can have the best program but if nobody knows about me nothing is going to happen 

Rich Bennett 17:46
right 

Lyubim Kogan 17:47
and basically you know you just go out and you put putting out energy and you know like think the biggest thing that I found here is I think he will be the first American that I'm going and I want to bring him back now and that would be like you know for uh for sponsorship I need a sponsor a sponsor to bring that guy and it nothing goes to us we do it all you know all the volunteer work everything is done on volunteer basis that includes me that includes this psychologist and it doesn't include physical therapist anymore because she already did us all we exhausted all the favors but you know in terms of flying like like for this guy I would take him flying all the time 

Rich Bennett 18:33
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 18:34
I would just put on hours of flying because when you go in the air it's like it's not our element you know rich it's first of all your brain freaks out and things that you going to die and it just blocks everything until it starts coming back and saying okay we didn't die I want to 

Rich Bennett 18:50
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 18:50
see this and then you know the more you go the more experiences and with reflying if we have days when the air you know the earth the sun heats the earth and the heat is released and bubbles that warm air is running up we can fly in it for hours we 

Rich Bennett 19:06
wow 

Lyubim Kogan 19:06
don't need engines we're nothing we can go and like I think for somebody who is like that far a stage four that is the perfect you know perfect veteran for me to take and 

Rich Bennett 19:19
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 19:19
spend the month or two however long he wants to 

Rich Bennett 19:22
so you 

Lyubim Kogan 19:23
need to 

Rich Bennett 19:24
do so you actually fly these veterans to turkey to do everything 

Lyubim Kogan 19:28
yes that's the point about MPTs because immediately 

it becomes even subconscious last night like I lost a leg I lost an armoured and I cannot do certain things 

Rich Bennett 19:45
right right 

Lyubim Kogan 19:45
And I am saying that it's not true because in today's world you can do whatever you want. You just gotta go and see it one time? And somebody has to walk you through. I am that, I'm the guy. I'm the bridge, you know? 

Rich Bennett 19:59
There. 

Lyubim Kogan 19:59
I'm just gonna walk you back, and support you, and guide you in which direction you need to go, uh, until you're well. And you're well when you turn off the phone. It's true story. I get volunteers a messaging calling. We lost number one. He's not replying. He's not saying anything. Where is he? So I drive out to his apartment, and I go, I say, "How are you?" He says, "I'm fine. What's going on?" He says, "I'm learning how to make food, because, you know, at home, mama's baking, mama's, you know, frying." It's all, he said, "I really need to lose weight, and I, he's sitting there cutting, and said, "Listen, the guys are asking if you okay, because you're not replying. Like, they're worried about 

Rich Bennett 20:41
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 20:41
you." So, look, the taxi button is right outside of my house. I go outside, I push the button. I say to guy, "Bazaar, he drives me, I get all the food." I push the button again. I say, "Football field, because he's living to only one football field." And they drive into the football field. He walks home, and he says, "I have 24 hour concierge service." And the way it works is that, "Yeah, we have a messaging group, and when they need something, they message in the group, and somebody picks it up." 

Yeah. And we have, like, I'm an early riser, 

Rich Bennett 21:15
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 21:15
and I have guys who stay late, you know, they watch Moonrise, Moonset. So, you know, when veterans come, they don't want to leave the beach, because it's a quiet peaceful place. And it's really, you know, you need that grounding, you need the water to send. And when you know that people around you are volunteers, and you're safe, they are just, it's the only place they can relax, because some of them cannot even relax. Number two, we had to move behind a huge castle for him to relax. Like the guy on the right shorts, he spent three years in the front. They dropped a grenade from the drone and took off side of his right side of the face. Yeah, they stitches here. 

Rich Bennett 21:56
Oh, 

Lyubim Kogan 21:57
Imagine if there's nothing behind, he feels open and exposed. And the good thing is that all the military service is mandatory in Turkey. So they all serve. And right hand number two, he was a gendarmer. He was military police. 

Rich Bennett 22:17
okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 22:17
And he said, you know what, we're going to move to the beach all the way closest to the castle. A castle is this mountain that they showed you, because that way he'll have his back covered. And I think he'll relax. So we moved from beach 22 to beach one and number two relaxed. No, he knows there is amount and nobody's coming. But before it was like, first of all, he hears things because he's, you know, there's No middle ear. There is 

Rich Bennett 22:43
there, 

Lyubim Kogan 22:43
no balance. It's noise. But like I'm saying, like I'm finding this thing, like if I was a charity sitting in office, fundraising PR. I know, look, I know how to organize a business and I know 

Rich Bennett 22:55
right. 

Lyubim Kogan 22:55
that we need a lot of said pictures and we need a lot of marketing budget and it will come back, right. But it's not the point, you know, I'm just maybe I'm naive in the sense, but like to provide the result like this is my suit, you know, I always wear my hoodies because if I need to drop down and help somebody, I cannot do it in the suit and 

Rich Bennett 23:16
now 

Lyubim Kogan 23:16
dress shoes. And he cannot see how guys suffering if he's standing in a hotel and somebody's complaining, but he can't hear anything and somebody has to shout. And it's all, you know, it becomes like this situation that you really need to step in and say, look, we had a situation. No, look, he can't hear. He is not she's they are not shouting because you know, he cannot hear you. We have to it's like this go through experience and if you're there. 

You see what they need and it's like now rich, it's it exists and I can scale up, you know, I can bring 20 American veterans there is when they lose a limb, there is a process, right, they get prosthetics, they go through physical therapy, they learn how to walk. They're well, they're done and then it's vacuum. I am after after they don't prosthetics but they still need physical therapy and they need need to be exposed to a lot of different situations to get through them and realize, okay, this is how I do it. So for example, sometimes I forget to order a chair, I forget to order a chair because I know the distance between the gate and, you know, where they're going is short. 

Rich Bennett 24:32
Right! 

Lyubim Kogan 24:34
Well, maybe not, you know, and they can hop and, you know, when they hop without a chair through the airport with everybody and you on time, and you get and used to down, okay, all the people with 2 legs are here and so am I, you know, and we forgot the chair, there was no chair, you know what I mean? 

Rich Bennett 24:51
Yeah! 

Lyubim Kogan 25:04
I was walking, we were going to, it was a big new airport and he said, I know, we have time, we're just gonna walk and they walk with their girls and that's the thing, I do one plus one. Because, yeah, because that way, I save a lot of money on caregivers 

Rich Bennett 25:21
Ye. 

Lyubim Kogan 25:21
and I know that they're always fine, they will tell me, we gotta go, we gotta go, okay. 

Rich Bennett 25:26
Right. 

Lyubim Kogan 25:27
Oh, he needs, guys, guys always have issues with telling what they need, right? It's 

Rich Bennett 25:31
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 25:32
the girls, it's okay, we gotta go now, he's gotta take it off because it's been so many hours and they're not allowed to wear a prosthetic, it's hot. We just need to let the skin breathe like this. But with the guys, he'll go for 10 hours and then at the end, he said, oh man, I am like hurting, really? So what, I'm not supposed to be in this thing for more than four hours, it's like, what the 

Rich Bennett 25:53
fuck? We're bullheaded, that's why. 

Lyubim Kogan 25:58
Yeah, so guys 

Rich Bennett 25:59
have always been bullheaded. 

Lyubim Kogan 26:01
Yeah, so one plus one, you know, I sold it by bringing a caregiver, a family member, a spouse, a girlfriend, a friend, anybody? 

Rich Bennett 26:11
Just do this with women that are veterans as well, or just 

Lyubim Kogan 26:16
You 

Rich Bennett 26:17
men. 

Lyubim Kogan 26:17
know, I had, the only women I had were spouses, 

Rich Bennett 26:21
okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 26:22
And what we found out that they need psychological support more than, 

Rich Bennett 26:27
oh yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 26:28
because you know, a lot of guys self-medicate with alcohol. And then all the shit comes out on the girls, they are handling all that and for them just to sit down and talk to somebody who is a therapist, who is listening, and understanding them. I think for them, it was more of a relief than for the guys because the guys are like, you know, I'm fine. Let's go to physical therapy, okay? Let's go cycling. I don't want to talk about my feelings. 

Rich Bennett 26:58
But, you know, and I have to, God, I have to give, commend you for this because 

doing this with veterans and, and I'm sure you see it. You know, they say it's 22 a day, which is a, you know, 22, when I say 22 a day, meaning that 22 veterans take their own life a day. Yeah, we've always, as veterans, we've always said that numbers not correct. It may be higher, it may be lower. We don't really know. I don't know how the 22 part came about. But, you are out there helping these veterans. And for some strange reason, there aren't a lot of people that will. You can, you people walking down the street, you'll see a homeless veteran sitting on the side of the street and most people will either walk to the other side of the street to avoid him. Or, just walk right past. You know, and one of the things that's one of the, I remember growing up as a kid, my father would always take me to the VFW or the American Legion. And I just loved talking to these veterans here and their stories. And I think, before I even went in the military, that's one reason I, I always would sit down with them. And, anybody listen, if you just do that, talk to a veteran, whether they're homeless or whatever, just even if you just say hi, you could be saving their life. And what you're actually now that mentioned it, 'cause you mentioned volunteers. So how, how can people volunteer to help you? 

Lyubim Kogan 28:42
Well, you know, let's just talk about how people can help first. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Okay, alright. 

Lyubim Kogan 28:47
I learned this from the Red Cross that there are only three ways that we can help. 

Rich Bennett 28:53
You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

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Lyubim Kogan 30:24
First of all we can donate blood. Because there's always shortage no matter where you Maryland, New Jersey, I was in Wisconsin last winter. They were in such shortage that if you can you have to donate blood. The second way you can help is you can volunteer your time. I think if you give your time, it's the biggest thing that you can do because you can make all the money in the world if you have the time, but if you don't have the time over. And I think that for me it was an impact going to my first soup kitchens during Thanksgiving because when you don't go, you don't realize but once you start working with people who are less fortunate than you are, then you realize how really fortunate are, 

Rich Bennett 31:08
yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 31:09
So for example, you know, since being self-funded, I pretty much spend all my resources and then I went to my dad for help and then I went to friends, you know, so we're going in terms of self-funding, it takes a lot. And I know I'm taking a lot, a lot of risk with this thing. But you know, I feel more at peace than ever. More than, you know, I, you know, my claim to fame is that I saw the financial meltdown coming and I actually took all my clients of them out of the market and I started a radio show and I was talking about what I see. It was, we were talking about 2006, 2007. Started a starting radio show was different than starting a podcast. It was again, a lot of risk, but I started doing it and I mean, it's amazing. I think it's amazing what we can get done if we just try, you know, we don't know. And like for this thing, you've seen I've done a lot of things in my life. 

Rich Bennett 32:14
it's, 

Lyubim Kogan 32:14
If it wasn't for Wings for Heroes, I would never put it out there. A lot of my clients didn't know. I had clients. I was a registered investment advisor and I had all clients assets for somewhere with me for 10 years and they didn't know that I went to the Olympics, you know. Yeah. So when I knew that the program exists, now I have to find a way to let the world know. I said, I'm going to go on podcasts, but going on podcasts, man, telling everybody, you know, what you've done before. And it's kind of like bragging, right? But I thought, okay, I wrote this long run on sentence of what I've done and I just started sending it to people and, you know, a year later, we're here. 

Rich Bennett 32:54
I wouldn't say it's bragging. It's, it's building. 

Lyubim Kogan 32:57
That's how it felt to me. I 

Rich Bennett 32:58
I 

Lyubim Kogan 32:58
didn't do 

Rich Bennett 32:59
know. 

Lyubim Kogan 32:59
it for anybody else, you know. 

Rich Bennett 33:00
I know, but what you, 

Lyubim Kogan 33:01
doing 

Rich Bennett 33:01
what you're is you're building your brand. And a lot of people don't realize us because they think the brand is just a Lego and it's not. It's the person that's running it. And people want to know that person. And 

Lyubim Kogan 33:18
and that's why I wrote this 

Rich Bennett 33:19
book, 

Lyubim Kogan 33:20
you know, when everybody asks, they say, I tell me a little bit about yourself. I said, I said, don't hear. And it's, it's a, it's a, it started as a poem and a hundred pages later. I 

Rich Bennett 33:30
as 

Lyubim Kogan 33:30
was going 

Rich Bennett 33:30
really. 

Lyubim Kogan 33:31
Yeah, really. So one of the biggest things that you say, tell me about yourself and you have two minutes. Hey, what would you like to know? 

Rich Bennett 33:42
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 33:42
You know, chronological order works best. My mom. 

Rich Bennett 33:54
God. 

Lyubim Kogan 33:55
He was the best thing that ever happened. 

Rich Bennett 33:58
You know what, and here's the thing, that is true because there are, especially when you go on a radio show, you have limited time. You know, on pie, and there are some podcasts like that where you have a limited time. 

Tell their story to talk about what they're doing, you know, it's 

hard, you're right, two minutes, you can't, there's not a lot, you can 

Lyubim Kogan 34:37
you can, you know, 

Rich Bennett 34:38
do, man, a lot, 

Lyubim Kogan 34:38
you can, you know, you can do, you can get the Q&A section. You tell them Q&A, you were asking me questions. I blah, blah, blah, do you have any questions and somebody and then you go, that's a trick. 

Rich Bennett 34:51
God, actually, the book, because I didn't even know about the book. How could people get a copy of the book? 

Lyubim Kogan 34:59
It's an Amazon. 

Rich Bennett 35:01
Oh, it is. Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 35:03
If type in Wings for Heroes, if you want to order a bulk, it's best from the website and I'll sign all the 

Rich Bennett 35:10
sign copies. 

Lyubim Kogan 35:11
Yeah, and the whole idea is that again, the book and, you know, I do speaking. That's. That's what that's what covers the overhead that that was my goal. 

Rich Bennett 35:21
Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 35:23
Okay. I have some failing so far. I just started but, you know, you know, most difficult thing about publishing this. So again, here is the statue of Liberty. 

Rich Bennett 35:38
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 35:39
here is the soldier carrying out holocaust survivor. Here is Lubin with his paraglider with Manhattan in the background. This is Liberty Park, New Jersey. It took me almost a year to get this shot. 

Rich Bennett 35:56
What? 

Lyubim Kogan 35:56
The cover came before the book. I saw the cover in my mind when I saw the soldier. 

Rich Bennett 36:01
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 36:02
when I saw the statue of Liberty. Here's the bridge, you know, 

Rich Bennett 36:05
wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 36:06
I know what they did. We all know what she represents, but we have a little gap, you know, between East to West, between war and peace, between soldiers and civilians. We have a gap. I'm trying to close the gap. You know what? The biggest thing is rich when these guys come. 

Rich Bennett 36:21
What's that? 

Lyubim Kogan 36:23
they're young, right? 

Rich Bennett 36:25
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 36:25
And they're strong. And their number one is a big guy. I mean, he's a big, big guy. He made the horse look like pointed. 

When we get to the beach, it's all tourists. From all over Europe, there are some few Americans, but Asia, literally, it's from everywhere. 

Rich Bennett 36:48
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 36:48
And you see a young kid without a lag with a huge group of people around him, all wearing logos and everything. It makes war real to everyone. They see what it does. They get up. They people, when they see it's flash, right, or loss of flash. And they see that and they realize that, you know, looking away, is not going to work forever. And Ukrainian war. First of all, it produced more than a hundred thousand amputees in the first three years. 

Rich Bennett 37:27
Jesus. 

Lyubim Kogan 37:29
We, this time we have women and kids. When before when I was growing up, they were men, they were fighting in Afghanistan. Now they're fighting in the middle of Europe. Where the World War II was fought, the ugliest war in history of this planet, that what we got 60 million people 

Rich Bennett 37:47
dead. 

Lyubim Kogan 37:48
Yeah. So that is going on now for ten years. It started in 2014 with an excitation of Crimea. And they parked in the east and they called it terrorist operation. I went back to Ukraine in 2015 to take over a failing infrastructure company again as a civilian and I saw what was going on. So we have a hundred thousand in first three years now with four years. Kids, women, and one of the things I met with a friend, who is a doctor. She's a pediatrician and I said, Look, I want to bring kids. I want to fly kids because one of the best, I'm a professional tandem pilot. I can fly life people. I go to Australia in the summer and for two months, I just fly passengers. 

Rich Bennett 38:37
Oh, nice. 

Lyubim Kogan 38:38
And the best thing is flying kids because kids want to do everything. 

Rich Bennett 38:43
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 38:44
To them, it's like magic there in it and they have like input. It's not like, Dad, can we get McDonald's? Can you change the music? Or can we listen to this? No, they're like, you want to go there? Yeah. Yeah. Can we go there? Yeah. Do you want to do spiral? Yeah. So, like, uh, yeah, I wanna bring them, and I wanna bring an American pediatrician to look at the Ukrainian kids, because I know with number one, when he got his second prosthetic leg, they screwed it up. We screwed up the connection, and he was so frustrated, so I wanna bring a doctor, and I want them, and parents, it would be a parents, and the kid. I want them to be on the beach, and I want them to go flying, so they feel what like flying, it doesn't matter if you don't have flags, you need butt cheeks. You feel everything in your butt cheeks in the body. It's the only sport that levels the playing field. You can fly in the chair, you can fly without legs, and people fly. It's not our element, so we are the same, you know? 

Rich Bennett 39:46
Yeah, I love 

Lyubim Kogan 39:47
And for kids, I think it would be really a life-changing experience, 

Rich Bennett 39:50
it. 

Lyubim Kogan 39:50
and 

Rich Bennett 39:50
Oh. 

Lyubim Kogan 39:50
it would be really, really amazing. Anything 

Rich Bennett 39:53
is if these kids, everything that they saw went through, you know they have anxiety, depression, at the wazoo. 

Lyubim Kogan 40:01
And parents? 

Rich Bennett 40:02
Oh yeah, and the parents too. And this, I mean, this, this is good therapy. It's like you're in the clouds, man. You're 

Lyubim Kogan 40:09
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:10
a bird, you're 

Lyubim Kogan 40:10
bird. 

Rich Bennett 40:11
a 

Lyubim Kogan 40:11
Really? 

Rich Bennett 40:12
It's just, wow, this man, I love this. I love 

Lyubim Kogan 40:18
this. So you should come, you know, when we're doing a study, if you have a chance, just come on. And that's the thing, we're an open source. There is like, I just created it. Imagine this, we fly as long as the sun is up, when the sun sets, all the professional pilots, they land on the beach, and they sit there and watch the sun set. 

Rich Bennett 40:37
They are all 

Lyubim Kogan 40:37
All of them are veterans because service is mandatory, so I'm just, you know, I'm just putting one plus one. If I bring a veteran, a you have veterans, and they're together, and they're looking at the sunset, that's the community that you miss 

Rich Bennett 40:49
veterans. Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 40:49
when you leave the military. 

Rich Bennett 40:52
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 40:52
And they are always there, and they want to help, and they want to be productive, and they want to do something, and they're all super, all super excited. So it's like, I can bring, I can, you know, I can, of course, there is a limit to people, but like, if I needed to bring 10, 15 people tomorrow, I think we can do it, you know, we can do it. I did it one time. I did it second, three, four times, and then I developed the infrastructure. So, you know, I need help with scaling it up, and we were talking about this thing when we started. Yeah. I already made what you told me to do. I'm not asking for the nations. I'm asking you to sponsor, you know, your logo will be here. You will fly above millions of people, and the gliders that will fly for the study, they will fly for two or three seasons. One will go to the US. One will stay in Turkey. One go to Austria and mine. I fly mine everywhere. So you're looking at the billboard on the turn pipe. Nobody looks at the billboard, but when you see a glider, everybody looks at it. So Ridge, if you can find me, help me find a sponsor, a person who wants to advertise, and I want to take this guy stage four, I want to take him with me, you know, I'm going back in April, I want to bring him with me. 

Rich Bennett 42:11
We're somebody that's listening. Well, two things, a business has a listening that wants to sponsor. How did they get in touch with you? And a veteran that wants to take part in this. How did they get in touch with you? 

Lyubim Kogan 42:23
Wingsforheroes. org contact button. 

Rich Bennett 42:26
That's easy. 

Lyubim Kogan 42:29
It all goes to me. The phone number on there, it goes to me. It doesn't matter where you email, text, message, you will get to me. I am really social media. If you send me a message on Facebook, you may get it back in six months, 

Rich Bennett 42:42
right? 

Lyubim Kogan 42:44
I somehow set up that my Instagram automatically posts on my Facebook, but I never go to Facebook, and I have like shows that send me something from June. And I find it and I say, man, this is like the worst place, 

Rich Bennett 42:59
Because 

Lyubim Kogan 43:00
one place I don't look so. 

Rich Bennett 43:02
You do check email, don't you? Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 43:06
Everything. Everything except Facebook comes to the phone. So it's, 

Rich Bennett 43:13
oh, 

Lyubim Kogan 43:14
yeah, if there's a veteran who is listening, you know, you guys, I know I will scale it up. It will take me, it will take me some time. But in any case, I'll find the way. 

Rich Bennett 43:26
Where would you like to see Wings for Heroes in five years from now? 

Lyubim Kogan 43:31
I will give you baby steps, you know, one of my next things is obviously to do this study. And again, 

Rich Bennett 43:36
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 43:36
this study will be huge. It will be six weeks of flying for veterans. So the crew that is gathering were way over 20 people and we have research team coming from Austria from University of Winsbrook. We have film crew coming, we have local volunteers and we're going to go to different sites. So it would be, it would be a movie, you know. And I really, six weeks is long enough to break the, all the, 

Rich Bennett 44:03
yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 44:03
stuff and I think we'll get into a lot of adventures that, the person who will go through it. They have, I just feel, I knew what it made me feel my first flight and I'm thinking if I put somebody through six weeks, like on a level of DNA, they will, they have to change. You cannot be the same after you do this for six weeks. Oh, so the study is number one 

Rich Bennett 44:26
two, 

Lyubim Kogan 44:26
and number 

Rich Bennett 44:27
okay, 

Lyubim Kogan 44:27
I need the permanent place, just an apartment where I can house people that they can just like number one. He needed to stay, if I find somebody, I just want to say, okay, all we need is a plane ticket and we're going and you have a place, 

Rich Bennett 44:40
right. 

Lyubim Kogan 44:40
And we starting physical therapy and we have time to find the money or found it, whatever, but it has to be ongoing. So I need to find an apartment or find funding to have an apartment and I need to find, uh, to do the veteran study for six weeks. Those are two projects for one year and once it's going, then I have something of scientific research 

Rich Bennett 45:04
yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 45:04
and I will have at that time a year of what happens when somebody, when there is a place to go, you know, 

Rich Bennett 45:12
right. Have you? 

Lyubim Kogan 45:13
I create a place where whoever, veterans who needs to recover, they need, they can come. And again, it's lottery. I understand 

Rich Bennett 45:20
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 45:20
while we're small, it's just one guy or two guys or girls. 

Rich Bennett 45:25
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 45:26
yeah. You know, that's really important to because women veterans, one of my favorite people is Senator Duckworth. She is, you know, she's a double MPT from from Iraq, a helicopter pilot. Now she is a senator, but it's a huge example to all of us how far you can go. An Asian woman, double MPT, a senator for Illinois. That's what is possible. The thing is that what you learn from what I learned from MPT is, first of all, it's like, don't ever piti us. There's no piti there. They hate it. 

Rich Bennett 46:03
yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 46:03
Well, I give them a lot of crap. You know, I really, this, this time, so hard on them. Sometimes I feel bad, but, you know, they want it. And then you learn that all my issues are mostly psychological, you know, like I can jump up and I can, I have a counter here. And if I need to, I can leap over this counter and run out of this house, jump out the window, you know, and some guys, they cannot even get up and walk because they don't have knees. You know, and when you don't have knees, your life changes completely. 

Rich Bennett 46:38
And it's amazing what they're doing with these prosthetics nowadays. 

Lyubim Kogan 46:43
Yeah, that's a cool thing, you know, I know. So it's a cool thing that you brought it up because the number one, he needed the first they get like a really basic Preste, 

Rich Bennett 46:53
right. 

Lyubim Kogan 46:53
When they don't have a knee, there is an advanced one. And the advanced one costs $75, 000. And a kid who volunteered at 20 and lost his leg was denied prosthetic leg that costs $75, 000 and he's big, but quiet, you know. 

Rich Bennett 47:12
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 47:13
I said, man, look, you got to, you got to start flapping your gums. You cannot just stand there. We know you are hero and you can take it. We can see how tough you are, but you just got to start talking. And when he was rehabbing for a month, he had an interview, and it was a governmental interview, and he tells me, you know, he finished this is to be like, I'm sitting there and there, just starting closing their folders in the middle. We didn't even talk. They're just closing folders. And he's like, they're denying me again. And he's like, excuse me, I volunteered at 20. The draft age was 25. So he didn't have to go. They sent him, he started flying drones and he felt that he's hiding behind civilian. So he kept writing, transfer me. I want to be in a soul brigade. I want to be a soul brigade. I want to be in a soul brigade. They transfer him within first few months. The ratio is 13 to one. They're outnumbered. Yeah. His 

Rich Bennett 48:08
Damn. 

Lyubim Kogan 48:10
commander goes down. He's the closest guy to the commander. He says he's within arms reach, and he said the pain was just like he said he felt bad. He was squealing like a pig like everybody could. 

Rich Bennett 48:19
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 48:20
now that's what he was worried about. Okay. So, he says if I'm lucky, I get 15 years on this one leg, bu it will probably be 10. And 

Rich Bennett 48:31
yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 48:31
oh, by the way, right now, I'm rehabbing in Turkey for one month. I play UMPT soccer. I'm on the team. 

Rich Bennett 48:38
Oh, wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 48:39
And I think that I deserve this more than anybody else and he's telling me, I'm looking at the camera and I see sweat dripping, but he said, "I just got going and they couldn't stop." He just let it all out and he says they're opening the folders. He got approved for $75, 000 prostitute. 

Rich Bennett 48:59
Because he spoke up 

Lyubim Kogan 49:01
Exactly because, you know, he got in front and met somebody who told him, look, we know what you can do, but you just got to speak up for yourself 

Rich Bennett 49:09
there. 

Lyubim Kogan 49:09
because nobody's going to notice that. 

Rich Bennett 49:11
Yeah, these, these things are amazing now and well, I told you, 

Lyubim Kogan 49:17
Yeah, now, and now our youngest volunteer was five years old. She said, 

Rich Bennett 49:22
oh 

Lyubim Kogan 49:23
when he 

Rich Bennett 49:23
wow. 

Lyubim Kogan 49:23
gets his prosthetic leg, he can run, he can run, he can jump, and swim just like us. 

Rich Bennett 49:30
Yeah, if it wasn't, some of these things are bionic now. 

Lyubim Kogan 49:33
We are. They have AI chips. They can jump on the wet rock and hold the weight. 

Rich Bennett 49:38
It's 

Lyubim Kogan 49:38
Our 

Rich Bennett 49:38
amazing. 

Lyubim Kogan 49:38
knees, you know when we jump on the wet rock and it goes, 

Rich Bennett 49:41
yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 49:42
they actually hold 

Rich Bennett 49:43
it, 

Lyubim Kogan 49:44
even 300 pounds. 

Rich Bennett 49:45
It's just, it's, it's, it's amazing. It's amazing. And I've seen, I've seen the work that, you know, these companies are doing and, because I remember, got a long time ago. It was the wooden lake. I don't know 

Lyubim Kogan 50:05
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:05
if it's actually wood, but 

Lyubim Kogan 50:06
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:06
it was that's what 

Lyubim Kogan 50:07
yeah, it 

Rich Bennett 50:07
it was, 

Lyubim Kogan 50:07
was a stick. 

Rich Bennett 50:08
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 50:09
it was a stick. 

Rich Bennett 50:09
And now, you know, you're seeing these things, like I'm thinking like with the arms, the fingers are actually moving in there. Holy. 

Lyubim Kogan 50:19
If you have the money, they can replace the lot of body 

Rich Bennett 50:21
Oh, yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 50:22
parts. 

Rich Bennett 50:23
one thing I haven't seen yet, my, my brother had lost his eye. 

Lyubim Kogan 50:28
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:29
it's funny because back then, the $6 million man was a big show. He said, Oh, yeah, I'm going to give bionic bionic eye, which there was no such thing. Uh, I'd, I'd like to see if there is one now. Since he passed, I really haven't paid attention, but I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, look what they're doing with 

Lyubim Kogan 50:48
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:48
people that are 

Lyubim Kogan 50:50
deaf, 

Rich Bennett 50:50
yeah, they're coming up devices where they can actually 

Lyubim Kogan 50:54
hear 

Rich Bennett 50:54
here. Crystal clearing, you're not getting that high pitch sound from the hearing 

Lyubim Kogan 50:59
Mm 

Rich Bennett 50:59
aids. 

Lyubim Kogan 51:00
hmm. 

Rich Bennett 51:00
Hey, this stuff is, it's 

Lyubim Kogan 51:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 51:02
amazing. 

Lyubim Kogan 51:03
Yeah, makes you want to live longer, huh? 

Rich Bennett 51:05
Yeah, yeah. What? 

Yeah, it gives you energy, it gives you the meaning and one of the things you know, I found out like, um, I just get up because I have to, I have this feeling of response. Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 51:23
yeah. It gives you the meaning and one of the things you know, I found out like, um, I just get up because I have to, I have this feeling of responsibility that, you know, last week I went to Denver, we had really crazy whether it was like one day was 80 the next day, it was negative and win. And 

Rich Bennett 51:43
I 

Lyubim Kogan 51:44
had to, you know, I had to be in a lot of places just in a few days and you better is getting empty and I'm like, I just need to few days to recharge. It's like 5 a. m. 4 30, okay, I got to, I got to get up and I get up and I know what you mean when you're saying that you because you create space, you know, for people like me and. 

Rich Bennett 52:04
I love it. 

Lyubim Kogan 52:05
People who serve who can come on your platform and just talk about it and you know, like, I know I don't know how I'm close to the end of the financial or but then I just need one sponsor and then we're done. I just find one guy who says I want name of my company on your glider and I want them, I will fly them over millions of people millions of people will see 

Rich Bennett 52:25
that. Yeah, that'll be awesome. 

Lyubim Kogan 52:28
That will be awesome. 

Rich Bennett 52:29
So are you actually filming any of this that you've been doing not podcast, 

Lyubim Kogan 52:34
you know, we. They're 

Rich Bennett 52:36
helping the people and everything like for 

Lyubim Kogan 52:37
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 52:38
docking. 

Lyubim Kogan 52:38
we filming everything and. 

Rich Bennett 52:40
Good. 

Lyubim Kogan 52:40
One bottleneck. We have a bottleneck and I am the bottleneck because I do everything and if you go on our Instagram, Wingsforheroes Instagram. It's there are videos on it. I make videos and I actually made more videos of rehab because I created many series. I wanted people to see exactly what we do. 

Rich Bennett 53:00
Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:01
So on the Instagram, you can see you can see the actual 

Rich Bennett 53:05
Good. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:05
work. 

Rich Bennett 53:05
Okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:06
I have a lot of videos that I need to do and I need to do flying videos, 

Rich Bennett 53:10
Good. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:10
you know, because 

Rich Bennett 53:11
Yes. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:11
we're flying, you know and I just I just. I want to finish you know we did this one month physical therapy rehab and I want people to see how it looks like how it's done because you know like I do it all 

Rich Bennett 53:24
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 53:25
and I'm saying it I do it all because that's how it has to be done. It's easy if you I say rich say all of you me doing such a great thing here is check you know here is you can I found you and then I go start hiring people it will not be the same result if you if I'm there watching you know. So not only I'm saving financially but I see when the guy cannot connect his thing or when they're suffering but if something is uncomfortable I can fix it right away. 

Rich Bennett 53:56
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 53:56
you know I just fix it and we never have to go through it. 

Rich Bennett 54:00
And 

that's and with some of these amputee's sometimes where they call it phantom pain. 

Lyubim Kogan 54:11
Oh, man, this is this is such it's whoa, real. I was you know, I The second book for wings for heroes 

Rich Bennett 54:21
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 54:21
will be about our number one. 

Rich Bennett 54:23
okay. 

Lyubim Kogan 54:24
One of the things he told me when he was in the hospital when his mom came, she sat on the bed on the side where the leg was amputated there was no leg. He said he was screaming from 

Rich Bennett 54:38
pain thought she was sitting on it. 

Lyubim Kogan 54:40
Yeah. He he he felt like 

Rich Bennett 54:42
Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 54:42
she sat on it but there was nothing there and he said it was real it was so painful. He said if pain and freak out like how could it be he knows there is no leg like he saw that. 

Rich Bennett 54:55
Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 54:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:56
it's a real thing. 

Lyubim Kogan 54:57
Yeah. And these phantom pains they to them they play some crazy tricks on them is that psychologically is really hard. And physically too. 

Rich Bennett 55:07
And wings for heroes will help them to you know just to relieve. 

Lyubim Kogan 55:12
Get distracted. I'll scare them to death. So for a little period of time. Don't forget it's true 

Rich Bennett 55:18
and it's going to be an experience that they'll keep talking about for years and years 

Lyubim Kogan 55:23
Oh they do there is the 

Rich Bennett 55:24
and years. 

Lyubim Kogan 55:24
line 

Rich Bennett 55:24
Oh 

Lyubim Kogan 55:25
is 

Rich Bennett 55:25
yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 55:25
huge. One comes and then he's I have a hundred ready. When? 

Rich Bennett 55:29
That is awesome. That is awesome. Well, Lupin before I get to my last question. Is there anything you would like to add? 

Lyubim Kogan 55:42
I would say that I think we are different than we're an open source organization. Like just go online. Look and then contact me and come if you can or support if you can you can pick one veteran you can sponsor your own veteran. We don't really have to. I don't have a pool or a line or whatever if you know 

Rich Bennett 56:04
yeah 

Lyubim Kogan 56:04
somebody needs help now and you want to send them. I have a place you know. 

Rich Bennett 56:12
And purchase the book people wings for heroes the origin in search of humanity and you know what I'm going to say leave a for review after you do. When you go to the website wings for heroes and it's the number four dot org. Purchase a hoodie or t-shirt. You know help we got to help you even get this thing rolling big time. All right. So here's the tricky question for you pick a number between one and five. 

Lyubim Kogan 56:46
Three. 

Rich Bennett 56:47
Three. All right. Now. Oh, I mean, there's block three. 

Lyubim Kogan 56:52
It's right in between right. 

Rich Bennett 56:54
Yeah, there is now. Pick now 

Lyubim Kogan 56:56
Now pick it now 

Rich Bennett 56:56
pick it. between 41 and 60. 

Yeah, 

Lyubim Kogan 57:01
55. 55. 

Rich Bennett 57:04
All right. 

Oh. 

Okay. This is a good question. What is a question you wish more people would ask themselves? 

Lyubim Kogan 57:24
Is this all I can do. 

Rich Bennett 57:29
Yes. No, I mean, I'm not saying yes today. 

Lyubim Kogan 57:33
Good one, right? 

Rich Bennett 57:33
Question. 

Lyubim Kogan 57:33
Is this 

Rich Bennett 57:34
That is yeah, that is awesome. That's that was a great is because my first thought was I know he's going to say something like what can I do to help or something like but yeah, I like that. 

Lyubim Kogan 57:46
exactly? 

Rich Bennett 57:46
Is this no, is this all I can do that's and that's the perfect question because yeah, everybody will say, w, what can I do to help, but when they're done, they never say, is this all I can do. Yeah. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:00
And we say, what else can I say it's not about talking, you know, what is this all I can do. 

Rich Bennett 58:05
And you can always do more. You can always do more. Lou beam, I want to thank you so much, man. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:11
thank you, 

Rich Bennett 58:12
It's 

Lyubim Kogan 58:12
Ric. Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 58:12
And if you ever come down to Maryland and talk to any of the legions or VFWs here, hit me up. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:18
Can I come visit 

Rich Bennett 58:19
you. Yeah, well, hey, we'll go 

Lyubim Kogan 58:20
I am 

Rich Bennett 58:20
out. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:21
just 

Rich Bennett 58:22
we'll go out. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:22
We'll be 

Rich Bennett 58:23
we'll go out and get some crabs or something, 

Lyubim Kogan 58:26
man. Okay. 

Rich Bennett 58:26
Maryland steam crabs, you can't beat them. You like seafood, right? 

Lyubim Kogan 58:30
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 58:30
Oh, yeah. You can't beat them. Lou beam, thanks a lot, 

Lyubim Kogan 58:34
Thank 

Rich Bennett 58:34
man. 

Lyubim Kogan 58:34
you, Rich. I hope this was helpful and valuable for some listeners and I really hope you know if you guys just hit the contact button on our site. If you need help and if you're looking for a place or for people that understand you, the wings number four heroes that work contact button. 

Rich Bennett 58:53
After conversations like this, it's hard not to sit back and think about perspective. Because Lubyne's story isn't just about survival. It's about purpose after survival. It's about realizing that even after unimaginable loss, trauma or hardship, there's still more life left live, more impact left to make, and more people left to help. And what really stayed with me during this conversation was something he said near the end. Is this all I can do? That's a question all of us should probably ask ourselves a little more often. Whether it's supporting veterans, helping someone struggle in silence, volunteering your time, or simply reaching out to another human being. Maybe we're capable of more than we think. I want to thank Lubyne for coming on and sharing not just his story, but his heart and his mission through wings for heroes. And if this episode moved you, inspired you, or made you think differently about resilience, service, or healing, please share it with someone else. Because conversations like this deserve to be heard. To more, support the mission, sponsor a veteran, or connect with wings for heroes, just head to the links in the showroom. And as always, thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the show. And thank you for being part of these conversations that remind us what humanity really look.