98. SFC Walter Flores and Toxic Leadership

Today I talk with Sergeant First Class Walter Flores and his wife Nasreem. SFC Flores was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer and this helped him discover how toxic his leadership in the Army really was.

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98. SFC Walter Flores
===

SFC Walter Flores: [00:00:00] To the point where I was even doubting myself. I was like, maybe I am a third bag. Like it was that she was that committed to her cause. Had me second guessing, am I being an asshole here by not giving her my doctor's name? That's how committed she was to what she was doing to the point where she actually had me doubting myself.

SFC Walter Flores: The

Nasreem Flores: return to work slips were no longer satisfactory. She wanted that not. I'm sorry, she didn't want it to originate from an email from my husband. She wanted it directly from the doctor's office. She wanted to correspond with the actual doctor's office on where my husband was, when his appointments were, and if he was actually there.

Nurse Kelly: Welcome to After Hours with Dr. Sigoloff where he can share ideas and thoughts with you. He gets to the heart of the issue so that you can find the truth. The views and opinions expressed are his and do not represent the U. S. Army, DOD, nor the U. S. government. Dr. Sigoloff was either off duty or [00:01:00] on approved leave, and Dr.

Nurse Kelly: Sigoloff was not in uniform at the time of recording. Now, to Dr. Sigoloff.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Alright, I want to first start off by thanking my Patreon supporters. I have a 20. 20 a month anonymous donor. We have the Plandemic Reprimando tier at 17. 76 with Ty, Charles, Tinfoil, Stanley, Dr. Anna, Frank, Brian, Shell, and Megan. We have a self made 10 level with Kevin and Pat and Bev.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: We have the Refined Not Burned tier at 5 a month with Linda, Emmy, Joe, PJ, Rebecca, Marcus, Elizabeth, Dawn, Jennifer, and Ken. We have Addison Mulder giving 3 a month. We have Frank giving 1. 50 a month. And the Courage is Contagious tier at 1 a month with Amanda, Jay, SpessNasty, Darrell, Susan, BB King, and Rick.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I want to thank all of y'all very much for helping support me in this fight against the DOD and against the government. If you... Can't support me there, please give prayers or consider give, send, go. But I want to introduce my next guest. So Sergeant first class [00:02:00] Walter Flores is a man who's been going through some difficult medical issues now.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I want to, I don't want to steal any thunder from you, so I want to give you and your wife the opportunity to first introduce yourself and just take us down this road of what your journey has been for the last few months or year. Yeah,

SFC Walter Flores: no, absolutely. First of all, me and my wife want to say thank you before we start on anything.

SFC Walter Flores: Thank you for allowing us an opportunity to... Continue to spread the word of what's happened. So from the bottom of the both of our tired hearts We just want to say thank you for this but to continue the Summary, I can start off with and we can just start nitpicking the details Is I was an e7 I am in the active duty e7 and I was Being told through email Text messages and DA form 4856, which are counseling statements by my first line supervisor in E8, Master Sergeant [00:03:00] Eumann.

SFC Walter Flores: She was actively preventing me from seeking and going and scheduling any and all medical services. Simply because I would not give her my redacted information regarding help and the services I am getting.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And to make it clear this information she wanted was your HIPAA information, your private health information that she wanted you to divulge to her.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I keep saying her to really emphasize the importance of this because, do you mind sharing your diagnosis? Sharing this diagnosis with, now that you're speaking out about this, and I want to thank you very much for speaking out about this, but just the problem of you sharing your diagnosis with a female who's in charge of you, who it's none of her damn business, it causes a lot of problems.

SFC Walter Flores: It causes a lot of problems on so many levels but the most important one being the [00:04:00] She is asking for information that nobody should have other than my wife and me best. And here she is literally wanting to speak directly through the doctor via me as the liaison. Regarding, Hey, where are you going?

SFC Walter Flores: Why are you going? And I need a sign. Again, this is all can be supported by documents that I have given to everybody. She, at many occasions, told me to return with a doctor's notes confirming I was there with the date name. And legible name of the doctor, it got to that level of extremes. And again, on a personal level, it was bad on a professional level.

SFC Walter Flores: It was even worse because that caused so much internal chaos within the shop. It wasn't just me who was seeing the attacks. [00:05:00] Other people in the shop were coming up to me. Hey man, we're on your side. We're on your side, bro. What she's doing is dirty. I'm like then why it was Frustrating to say the least it is frustrating and my wife Unfortunately had to hear all about it every single time.

SFC Walter Flores: I came back from work and with her being retired Military, I'm sorry was medically retired my wife being medically retired. She knew All about HIPAA, the medical services, the medical treatment, or lack thereof.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Give us a, if you don't mind sharing your diagnosis and going down that road.

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah, I completely got off topic. I'm sorry about diag Extremely emotional topic. So yeah, I got beer off from time to time. Please brew me back in both of you. So I was diagnosed with testicular cancer once I finally finagled my way into going to an on [00:06:00] posts ultrasound. Normally it takes about three days to hear back from the diagnosis from the appointment.

SFC Walter Flores: The results of the diagnosis, the results of the appointment, I was called within 15 minutes. Leaving the office by the urology department, a completely different department in that hospital within 15 minutes of leaving. The ultrasound is telling me, hey, we normally don't call until after three days from the appointment, but because of what we see and what we know, you have cancer.

SFC Walter Flores: We need you to come in immediately for surgery. And I got that phone call on a Monday, no Tuesday, I'm sorry, a Tuesday. And on Friday, I was in the operating table to remove my left testicle. Because it had, the cancer, we discovered after the results of the tests, the removed testicles returned, that the cancer [00:07:00] had consumed 97% of the left testicle and confirmed signs of spread.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Wow. And so while you're dealing with the diagnosis that, no one should have to deal with, that it's, I can't even begin to fathom what that's like to go through that diagnosis. You've got your. Your leaders, breathing down your throat, asking questions that, one, they're not legally allowed to ask, and two, it's just, it's not polite, it's not kind, it's not from a heart of caring, it's, I gotta know, cause I gotta know.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: No, you don't need to know. Did I get any of that wrong?

SFC Walter Flores: Believe it or not, Bess, please, go ahead.

Nasreem Flores: No, you're absolutely correct. It has gotten to the point where Master Sergeant Newman said that sh

Nasreem Flores: I'm sorry. She didn't want it to originate from an email from my husband. She wanted it directly from the doctor's office. She wanted to correspond with the actual doctor's office on where my husband was, when his appointments were, and if [00:08:00] he was actually

SFC Walter Flores: there. To clarify that, she didn't want me to forward the email I received from my doctor to her.

SFC Walter Flores: She wanted the email to be sent directly from the office. After I have given her my redacted information, name, date, time, and location, After I have added her on the Microsoft Outlook calendar, So she doesn't have to finagle through the endless amounts of counseling she's given me, It pops up on her Microsoft Outlook account.

SFC Walter Flores: So she has to do nothing after I spoken with the company first sergeant company commander brigade EO rep submitting a formal complaint. She was still demanding as if she was like, I know what you're doing, but it's not going to work. And it didn't work.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: This is just shocking. [00:09:00] Sorry, I'm just... That someone would do this, and that...

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: How would she ever expect a doctor to communicate to her? She's not a loved one. She's not... She's not the wife. She's not the mother. She's not a child. There is no relation. As a doctor, I would never communicate with the first sergeant.

SFC Walter Flores: Exactly. It's none of her business. Every step of the way. Every step of the way.

SFC Walter Flores: And every counseling session that I was in, I told her, you cannot do this. The remarks in my response portion where you cannot do this, explaining to her what she was asking for is wrong every step of the way. And it only fell on deaf ears, which is why it is now at the level where it is like nobody listened.

SFC Walter Flores: Okay. Now you have no choice but to listen, except now it's just not going to look as good as I was trying to prevent it from looking like by keeping it at the lowest level. Like we were trained as soldiers,[00:10:00] lowest level. We did that and it failed. How can anybody as a leader preach something and then not.

SFC Walter Flores: Utilize it whenever a soldier you have been teaching to reach out to reaches out. It's contradictory, it's counterproductive, it's...

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: It's illegal. And it's reprehensible.

SFC Walter Flores: It's illegal. It's reprehensible. And here we are. And she recommended me for Article 15. She didn't threaten, she recommended for Article 15 after a certain point.

SFC Walter Flores: And I went to the, I went to the company commander Hey, sir, stop. And at this point, like I was essentially, an everyday visitor in his office because of an everyday counseling. So that specific day with the threatening of the counseling, he was just like, all right, I'm done. You're moving.

SFC Walter Flores: You're moving to company. You're working [00:11:00] directly for first sergeant and me.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And, so let me explain a little something for the listener and the viewer who may not have too much military experience. Is, and I want to make this very clear, I'm not insinuating at all that you're a dirtbag. But what happens is, when someone gets targeted, and they get counseled after counseling for stupid, menial things, pretty soon, see they have these big meetings where the company commander and all their staff are in a room and they're like, Oh, Siglof's up there again?

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Siglof's up there again? This is... Four times this month, why is Siglof he must be a dirtbag. Siglof is a dirtbag, and so when you go into the company commander's office, after all these other things have happened behind closed doors, he already thinks, oh, Flores, he's a dirtbag. And so he brought Flores underneath him to keep a close eye on him, because he knows Flores, Flores must be a dirtbag.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Which is not the situation.

SFC Walter Flores: And the reason why I am in complete agreeance with my wife endlessly, to the point where I was even doubting myself, I was like, [00:12:00] maybe I am a third bag it was that, she was that committed to her cause had me second guessing, am I being an asshole here by not giving her my doctor's name?

SFC Walter Flores: That's how committed she was to what she was doing, to the point where she actually had me doubting myself. And sure enough, again, because my wife medically retired, she went through her own nightmare whenever she went in and I'm a completely different, but even better story regarding the army. She was actually the one who corrected.

SFC Walter Flores: Some of my misconceptions regarding medical and medical care, X, Y, and Z. So she has played just as a crucial role in trying to get the word out there. And we're finally glad it did. And here we are.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And Nasreem, tell me your side of all of this as it's going down, as it's happening in real time.

Nasreem Flores: It's really unfortunate.

Nasreem Flores: My husband was previously at three core. And he was already going to these [00:13:00] appointments. He had already established the medical care. And just, unfortunately, they moved him down to 11 SIG. And that's where it all started. There was honestly no reason for it to have begun because it's not like he got transferred over.

Nasreem Flores: And then he just started going to appointments after appointments because he didn't want to be there. It was something that he had already been doing for an established period of time. And it was, in my opinion, an abuse of power. Then that master sergeant, it was an absolute abuse of her power, because if the commander tells you, you are only authorized the date, the time.

Nasreem Flores: And what was it? The date, time, and location. You're only authorized to date, time, and location. There's no reason for you to ask who the doctor is. How long are you going to be there? What is the reason for your appointment? Cause if I say, Hey, I'm going, because. My neck hurts on my back hurts. I could sit there for the 20 minutes.

Nasreem Flores: It says on the appointment slip, or I [00:14:00] can sit there for an hour because the doctor is behind. You can't give me a, your appointment slip says 20 minutes, and you didn't return. And that was one of the cases that she made. Sergeant First Class left for an appointment at 1130 and didn't come back till 1400.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: So as a doctor, so as a doctor, who runs behind, because I don't think I've ever seen a patient on time, and because I know that I run late, I take the time with every single patient to make sure I address almost every issue that I possibly can. And my patients leave happy, even if they're leaving late. I completely understand that.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: It's not unreasonable to allow the patient, more time, to allow the soldier more time. And to contrast that what things were you missing at work that was so important? I'm sure it was nothing. I say that very facetiously.

Nasreem Flores: My husband didn't even have an actual slot.

Nasreem Flores: When they moved him down to 11 signal, he was not slotted. So he was supposed to take over for a soldier who was currently pregnant, I believe. [00:15:00]

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah. So I ended up moving from three core G six where I was in charge of essentially other divisions worth of. Communication logistics, so two years there and I was stable, which means I'm secure to not PCS or move from Fort Hood and or Cabasos until 2025.

SFC Walter Flores: So that's why I went from three core to 11 with the track record. I had at three core. I went in there with the mentality. Hey. What I have done with, and for three core, I can now do at a smaller level because I spent the past two years at a echelon level. So almost immediately I start implementing improvements, not changes.

SFC Walter Flores: I start implementing improvements. All documented via email that I told her why I was doing what I was doing, even stating this is not in a vindictive or defensive response. This [00:16:00] is in a senior seasoned E 7. These improvements that can be implemented in an already thriving infrastructure. I've never wanted to change it, never wanted to take over anything.

SFC Walter Flores: It was as soon as I got there, she hated me. And again, it's not just me, my peers and co workers who were in the same office with me. I see that. And then that's. It's not, that's not good about it. It's people saw it and I said, okay, I'm not taking this anymore when I've done nothing and to know, and I got cancer along the way.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Have you, and I'm sure you've which point or if you have, at which point did you contact JAG to see, to get them involved?

SFC Walter Flores: I never contacted JAG. What I did, this is the steps of chain of command. I, in chronological order, I sent Master Sergeant Yuma Master Sergeant Yuma an email, a very detailed email, [00:17:00] explaining the trends that I'm noticing.

SFC Walter Flores: This is well before her first counseling statement with me. It was a trend via an email that I sent her, stating the trends that I see her asking of me and only me. Along with a bunch of other what I have noticed. Indirectly, via email, 12 days later was the first counseling. Again, all timestamps, all documented.

SFC Walter Flores: First counseling, direct. Master Sergeant, in the email, I said you were going to do this, because of what you are targeting only me for. Two weeks ago, I sent you this email. Now, you are literally proving what I wrote two weeks ago. And ever since then, everything has literally been going as I have been calling it.

SFC Walter Flores: I tried indirectly with her, directly with her, nothing. I tried first sergeant. He, alright, just let me know whenever she [00:18:00] counsels you. Let me know whenever she counsels you, okay? I went open door policy via first sergeant and the commander. This is the, where it gets real thick. The company commander at the time actually set me and master sergeant human down and told me the captain sergeant Flores, I am giving you a verbal order to give her name, date, time, and location.

SFC Walter Flores: Everything I've been giving her already. A verbal order, which I agreed to. And annotated in the counseling statement. He said only X, Y, and Z less than 12 hours later. She counsels me for not giving her W. After the company commander gave me a direct Gave us. Us. She was there too. She gave me a direct verbal order.

SFC Walter Flores: Hey. This is what you've been giving her is what you are going to continue giving her. Roger that, sir. No issue.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: She asked you for who like which doctor and [00:19:00]

SFC Walter Flores: She wanted me to remove the name of the office, which is essentially had the doctor's names like baylor scott and white has it up as a perfect example, but a more of a personal level with the specific bill Yeah whatever, ear, nose, and throat clinic you don't need to know I'm getting my nostrils enlarged.

SFC Walter Flores: It's comedy, but that's essentially what she was trying to do, but in a little bit more of a serious level because she was preventing an active duty senior NCO from getting medical services and being targeted.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I think you just brought up a great point too. Is you're a senior NCO. You've been around the block.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: You've been in, how long you've been in the army?

SFC Walter Flores: We're going on 18 years this month actually, right? 17 years.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: You've been in for 17 years. Now imagine a private who's going through this same issue and doesn't know their rights and is only just barely not a child anymore. Doesn't know what's right, doesn't know what's wrong, gives all their private hip information, they get spilled all over clinic, all over the command suite.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: This [00:20:00] is the big issue is you're not just standing up for yourself, you're standing up for the younger enlisted who have no clue what right looks like. Because it's their leaders who are leading them wrong.

SFC Walter Flores: Oh yeah it's like a... It's a double edged sword. I'm trying to fight for one me too. I'm trying to show the lower enlisted soldiers Hey, look, he's sevens are getting it to now.

SFC Walter Flores: We're just focused on you guys, which is fine because you should be But what I need you guys to desperately know is East seniors So I've been getting messages from sergeant major lieutenant colonels. Hey, this is going on with me, too Thank you for speaking up. Like it's not just me. It's not just her whenever she was going through her nightmare.

SFC Walter Flores: This is Something that is only focusing on the lower enlisted, which is fine because they are the less knowledgeable per time and service understandably But that's not to say it's not still going on within the senior ranks and nobody's talking about it I just so happen to [00:21:00] be the guy that spoke up Coincidentally ended up getting cancer which put a little bit of razzle to the dazzle

Nasreem Flores: I think it's unfortunate because a lot of lower enlisted don't know to go to sick call whenever they get Under the weather or injured because a lot of the times the senior enlisted just tell them to suck it up Go to work.

Nasreem Flores: You can go to the doctors later And that's a dangerous game because now you have people who are ignoring their physical needs their physical health And it helps deteriorate them because now soldiers already don't go now. They have to face The consequences of not going and Unfortunately, when they get out, it affects them on the VA side too.

Nasreem Flores: So their physical body's deteriorating, which leads to their mental to deteriorate their work performance, their family life. If we're saying people first, where's the people first here, where is. Go to the doctor. I don't need to hear what it's for. Go focus on your health because you can't [00:22:00] do nothing at work if you're not right here or if you're not right here.

Nasreem Flores: And it's unfortunate that an E 8, among other senior leaders who already knew the situation, they did nothing. They stood by and said, I don't see a problem with it. It's accountability.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I'd say they did worse than did nothing. I'd say they stirred the pot and made the situation much worse than it should have been.

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah. Yeah. Yes, they did. Absolutely. And it's, again, it's just.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I was going to say that in probably the week after I put your episode out, I'm going to put out an episode about Karolina Stancik. And she was told by a registered nurse who was a captain at sick call, do you see how busy it is here?

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Why don't you come back tomorrow with some other time? And it turned out she was having a heart attack in her early twenties. Here at Fort Huachuca, where I'm stationed.

SFC Walter Flores: It is extremely disheartening. Never in my life did I ever imagine I would be [00:23:00] that person who is speaking. Who is speaking from a position of being failed? After doing what was instilled, instructed, and coached for me to institute as well. Only for it to be for nothing. I have cancer that has spread.

SFC Walter Flores: And I tried to tell Master Sergeant Newman, do not do this. I have to ask. I remember speaking with her. This No, go ahead. Go ahead. Keep going. Sorry. I thought you were, I remember. I'm sorry. Yeah. I remember telling Master Sergeant Newman, I remember telling Command Sergeant Major Shower. I remember telling First Sergeant, I remember telling the commander with every sit down, this has the potential.

SFC Walter Flores: To be big all I ask for is that she Gets coached. I didn't want her kicked out. I didn't even want her in [00:24:00] trouble I just wanted her to fix her mindset because that is one toxic two Deadly and who knows how many people she's done this to she used to be a first sergeant before she was the master sergeant three shots She used to be a first sergeant with this mentality, preventing soldiers from going to medical.

SFC Walter Flores: She's as confident with A 7. Imagine how little adversary and euphorical her was whenever a first sergeant came in and said, Nope, you're not going to save her. She endangered her own soldiers, and I am the one who is saying you are not doing the same.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I commend you. That's...

SFC Walter Flores: At least not while I'm in your circle.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: That's a hard stance to take, and I commend you for that. Now, I want to since we're throwing people under the bus, I want to throw your primary care doc, which we don't need to mention the name, but I want to bring it to the attention of everyone that your primary care doc is a dirtbag, because your primary care doc should have been in [00:25:00] communication with your chain of command saying, hey, he has a serious diagnosis.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I'm not allowed to tell you, and that's okay, and you shouldn't be asking. But he has a very serious diagnosis that affects the mission, and basically, he needs to be excused to reach every appointment that he ever needs to get to.

SFC Walter Flores: I'm sorry, I'm laughing while you were talking, I apologize. It wasn't in a disrespectful tone, it was because me having

Nasreem Flores: to talk about this at a great length please. So your previous... Primary care was major

SFC Walter Flores: It was yeah, it was a major and then

Nasreem Flores: and when he had caught wind of what was happening when Command sergeant made i'm sorry when i'm my sergeant human had said that she had spoken to the 11th signal brigade

SFC Walter Flores: Let me pause it.

SFC Walter Flores: And I'm going to take a time out because what she said is significantly important. She's put in the counseling statement. I spoke with the 11th signal brigade chief [00:26:00] surgeon, and he. Confirmed. There was no hit.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Let me pause right there for a second because the only one that the primary care and this is as speaking from a primary care doctor who is a major who was a medical director multiple times at multiple different sites.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: The only person I am allowed to speak to is the company commander or the battalion commander or the regimental commander. Only commanders in rare instances. Am I allowed to speak to the first sergeant if there is and that the paperwork is too difficult to do? So I won't do it. I'll just talk to the commander when the commander is available.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And even then, I'm not allowed to spread HIPAA. I'm only allowed to say, this is a serious diagnosis that will affect your mission. Basically, he needs to be pulled out of any mission, essential, anything, because he needs to take care of himself first. Sorry, I'm getting heated over here.

SFC Walter Flores: Yes, that is what I thought.

SFC Walter Flores: No as,

Nasreem Flores: No as you should be. His original PCM did say the same thing, essentially. He said, did the 11th. Signal Brigade surgeon tell [00:27:00] her she was wrong and when we said no, he did not he was equally as appalled but unfortunately, it wasn't the rank that he could have pulled because of the position in which the 11th Signal Brigade surgeon

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: held.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Unfortunately, that's so that's a misunderstanding on that doctor's part because what he can do is he can go put a HIPAA complaint against that other doctor He can put a complaint against his license because rank doesn't really matter so much in the doctoring world. A doctor is a doctor.

SFC Walter Flores: Oh, yeah. With that being said, I guess now that we're mentioning names and I don't even know what they are.

SFC Walter Flores: The major that she's talking about, if he hears this, the major from Houston, hey, thank you so much. Thank you for everything, not everything that you did, but everything that you are. Thank you for being the breath of fresh air. While I was literally figuratively drowning.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And the problem is a lot of doctors, [00:28:00] they think they're in a caste hierarchy.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And they think that they can't say something. And so what I just said was not a dish against him, or a diss against him. It's, he needs... I agree to understand that. So an example that I like to give when I was a resident. So I was a third year resident. Like I am the last man on the totem pole when it comes to doctors.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I was a captain. I was a third year resident. So at least I was in the last year of residency. But there was a lieutenant colonel who wanted to have a patient who had a serious diagnosis that could have seizures at any moment. This is at Fort Benning, wanted him to walk up to the I. C. U. And be admitted directly.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I said, No, sir. I will not allow that because what's going to happen is he'll walk up to the floor. No one will know his name, his allergies, anything about him. He'll start seizing and the nurses won't know what to do because... Who told this guy to come here? He needs to do the appropriate thing going through the ER, just like every other patient that comes in here that's seriously ill.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: You can't go from walking on the street to sitting in an ICU bed. You need to go through the ER to do it appropriately. And that's when I started building that [00:29:00] spine, is me as a lowly third year resident and a captain talking to a lieutenant colonel and said, No, sir, I will not allow you to do that. I will call the patient and tell them to go to the ER if you're not willing to do that.

SFC Walter Flores: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's something that, believe it or not, is a dying art form. And this isn't a stab or a jab or a low blow. It's none of that. This is observational fact. It is something that is now considered going above and beyond what was once considered the bare minimum as a leader.

SFC Walter Flores: And now these are the types of toxic leaders that we have in a place where allegedly they put people first. And they changed the name. No, they just put a new paint job on it. It's already starting to print. And I was literally trying to repaint it on my own. While not even knowing. All

SFC Walter Flores: while still dealing with bringing [00:30:00] my work home and bless her heart. She has been through unfortunately all of it with me. Without any of the recognition or any of the, Hey, he's being treated. No, she has been here for no ounce of payback other than she knows this is just as wrong. And she is with me.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And unfortunately you've been filled at multiple levels. Your first sergeant, your master sergeant, she, the one who's doing this, should have not done this. The company commander should have stopped it. Your next level commander should have stopped it. To where it should go up to post commander quickly, and should have stopped it.

SFC Walter Flores: At every level, it should have stopped. You are 100% correct. But it didn't, which is why I just kept on taking it to the next level. Which, unfortunately, was the public. Never wanted to take a day ever, but [00:31:00] I will

SFC Walter Flores: be good. And then almost immediately there was an investigation, which I never even wanted an investigation. I never, I just wanted her mindset to be fixed. I never wanted her to be removed from the shop, which she is never wanted her to be flagged, which she is because she's under investigation. I never wanted any of this.

SFC Walter Flores: I just wanted to go to. A medical appointment, which to me was something so insignificant of an issue that now has transformed into what is turning into a movement with how many sergeant majors, colonels, E 5s. Hey, thanks for speaking up. This is happening to me too. What should I do? Where do I go? It's a blessing and a curse is what it is.

SFC Walter Flores: It's a blessing because people are finally, [00:32:00] hey, I didn't know they couldn't do this, but I've been giving it to them. And this isn't an attempt to try and disrupt the force, disrupt what they are trying to do. This is an attempt to try and write something people didn't even know was wrong.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Unfortunately, our leadership has gotten so good at breaking laws that they don't even know they're doing it.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I'm going to tie this into what started this podcast is the COVID 19 shot. It's illegal and unlawful under 10 U. S. C. 1107 Alpha to tell any service member to participate in anything that's under EUA, Emergency Use Authorization, which means masks, testing and the shot itself. And I've been trying to help protect soldiers since the start of this.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And, I, you, answer this, don't answer this if you don't want to. I don't want to pressure you at all. But I will say is, there is an association, as part of the DMED data, that I and other whistleblowers came out with, saying that there was an increased rise in testicular cancer following the shot.[00:33:00]

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And then, they dropped, yeah, they took the entire database down when Senator Ron Johnson wrote a letter to Secretary Austin and said, protect all this information. Don't change anything. About a week after that, all of the data, the entire database was taken down, everything was put back up, and every single number had been changed, and then about a week after that, we went into this Ukrainian war.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Distraction? Perhaps. And then a short time later one of my colleagues Lieutenant Colonel and Doctor Teresa Long, went on the stand to testify, and the... D. O. D. gave her a piece of paper, didn't look official, just looked like a piece of paper with the new cancer rates on it. And it had testicular cancer at a 3% increase.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: If something is causing a 3% that seems low, it's not. A 3% increase in a mostly male force, that should make the entire... U. S. government go, let's take a knee, let's figure this out, what's causing testicular cancer in our war fighting men? [00:34:00] It didn't. They didn't care.

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm sure you've seen more of what I'm about to tell you, I saw, because of your position as a doctor, that I have friends, peers, coworkers that have gotten removed from the military because they refused to take a shot.

SFC Walter Flores: And now they're actually doing it. Trying to fight to come back in since they if I've been please correct me if I'm wrong I'm not up to date with any of this now. They're trying to fight to come back in because they were wrongfully Separated. Oh, you're absolutely right more to it. But some are well,

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: you're absolutely right They were wrongfully removed and I have heard from actually two different people That didn't know each other that service Huachuca as a quote failure to train And the reason they were called a failure to train is because they were not allowed into the schoolhouse here because they didn't have the shot.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: So that's not a failure to train. That's kicking people out for refusing to get the shot, [00:35:00] which it's illegal to tell them to get the shot under 10 U. S. C. 1107 Alpha. And now that Congress has rescinded this alleged mandate, which was illegal from the start, because Congress has rescinded it, that word rescind means to restore as if it never happened.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And so there's many service members who were thrown out. They're trying to get back in to get their... They're paid to get their promotions that they are owed because you're supposed to restore the party as if it never happened.

SFC Walter Flores: And again, without going too deep down that rabbit hole, because I can't even imagine how many. Theories regarding what's going on. They're all out there and I don't have an answer for that will Satisfy anybody any portion of perspective people who wanted a Beautiful feeling. Go get it. Get protected people who are mandated to go get it.

SFC Walter Flores: Hey, [00:36:00] it is a moral dilemma, but a professional mandate. That is where that's where your crossroad is. What do you value more? Neither answer is wrong, right? Some people join the military for money. Some people join for country pride, whatever. People now are, they were forced to, they were forced to confront and pick their moral values over their professional progression.

SFC Walter Flores: And there is no right or wrong answer, it's whatever the soldier values the most. And unfortunately the army made them pick, which again, without going too deep into that rabbit hole, that is. It's a very unfortunate situation, especially for soldiers who raised their right hand knowing they have no control over their body or their future.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And I want to make it clear that I'm not faulting any service member for taking this because they were put in a terrible position where their leadership never should have asked them to take it. Where it was [00:37:00] illegal from the start, where it was harmful from the start, where it never should have been offered, where you should have been able to trust your doctor, your commander your chaplain.

SFC Walter Flores: Agreed. 100% agree. And that's now we're coming back to square one, the trust in your leadership. We just literally went full circle here, doctor. I promise you we did. Now we're going back to the trust in your leadership. Okay. I don't trust master Sergeant Newman because she is preventing me from getting medical help.

SFC Walter Flores: And this wasn't even keep in mind this before the cancer was discovered. This is just me. Hey, neck, back, old people, injuries, right? She was preventing me from seeing. Those services. Now, just imagine if I was a leader. Already sick. How she viewed me already. Now, let's add a little bit of cancer to it. Yeah, the treatment was already toxic.

SFC Walter Flores: Now, if I was already in there with the cancer discovered, it would have probably been worse. No, you can't go. No, you can't go. Show me where you're going. [00:38:00] And all the while, this isn't even considering the mental health of it all. Hang on, we haven't even discussed, doctor, again, I know, I feel like I'm rambling, please feel free to stop me, but we haven't even discussed the mental health portion of it all.

SFC Walter Flores: Cancer, mortality, death, funeral, speaking to your children, seven of them. We have seven children. Wow. Y'all look so young. Ranging from 19, ranging, thank you, appreciate that, but no, it's... A hell of a story. I promise you, but they range from 19 to six. So speaking about death in so many different age levels, cause you can't talk to them like I'm talking to you about death and, so it was difficult.

SFC Walter Flores: Do you want to share some of that? Only to just drive. And I don't want to pressure you. Yeah, absolutely. No, I have no. Cat's out of the bag now, doctor. And I don't mean that in a, oh, man, now they know too much. No, like now, okay. You tried to prevent me from seeing it. Now let's let everybody in on this.

SFC Walter Flores: I have cancer. I have seven kids. [00:39:00] I have an E7 who is about to go, undergo chemotherapy within this month.

SFC Walter Flores: The kids were just as beautiful as I expected them to be. That's not to say there were some dark moments. That's not to say there were any tears. That's not to say there weren't any tough questions or even tougher answers, but it was a family meeting. It was tough. It was tough, but it was approached at the appropriate age level at every level.

SFC Walter Flores: Thank you.

SFC Walter Flores: To give you a bit of an insight, I can go a little bit deeper in terms of what exactly was discussed, but I think that's going a little bit too deep into the weeds. I don't have a problem, but... No,

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: don't share anything that's

SFC Walter Flores: private, just...

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah, it was somber. The cancer itself, the cancer diagnosis was somber and, they just put a little bit of [00:40:00] Master Sargent Human preventing me from getting seen, which potentially could have discovered the testicle with less than 97% cancer, potentially not spreading.

SFC Walter Flores: The what ifs is what kills a lot of people. Yeah,

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: A lot of people. One thing that I discovered a while back at this duty station that I'm at now at Fort Huachuca, is, so our leadership was mostly female. The company commander was female, the hospital commander was female, and if a service member wanted to go, let's say, get a vasectomy.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: So that, that is a permanent contraceptive for males. And let's say he wanted to go do that. He would have to go, and this was hospital policy until I discovered it and said, How much legal problems do you want to get in? You want to fix this before it becomes a huge legal problem. Is, the service member would have to go ask permission from the company commander, not for a procedure, not for a medical appointment, to go get a vasectomy.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: It was on the paperwork. I'm getting a [00:41:00] vasectomy. I would like to have permission to do this. That was changed in about two days when they ran that up the legal poll and they said, yo, thank you Sigiloff. Thank you for telling us that this is a huge problem.

SFC Walter Flores: It's extremely, no, it's extremely upsetting because I think you asked the question in the beginning of this conversation was what if the roles were reversed?

SFC Walter Flores: Let's just say my wife is an E7. She's coming home from work. Angry. Frustrated. Hey this E8, honey, he's asking, I have women appointments to go to and he is asking to see where I'm going to. Let's just assume we have plans for something or something is going on within the family that we are trying to medically address.

SFC Walter Flores: Now we have this original concern. Now we have a concern where a superior is asking my wife about hey, what womanly doctor's offices are you going to and why are you going? Now, again, [00:42:00] same situation, just the sexes are on the different side of the table. Would anybody bat an eye? I don't know, I can only assume.

SFC Walter Flores: Which is why I was not. Unfortunately, surprised whenever all of my cries were on deaf ears, I had to make people listen, but if the tables were reversed, it would not have made a lot of pain. It's disheartening is what it is at the end of the day, just to, it's a pretty much to summarize everything that's going on.

SFC Walter Flores: We're still dealing with the cancer. The kids are doing beautiful. School's about to start for them. I'm currently on leave and will be taking convalescent leave because of the chemo. And here we are just taking it day by day, man.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Good. Nasreem, can you, as much as you want to share and don't share anything more than you don't want to, but if you're able to, wanting to, walk us through when he was diagnosed and then some of the family side of, and please don't share any more than you don't want to.[00:43:00]

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: But as much as you can, give some insight to that for people who aren't in the military and don't have an understanding of. What it's like to have a superior breathing down your neck, as has been happening?

Nasreem Flores: Like I said previously, he had already been going to all of his doctor's appointments. So we knew that something was going on just because of the symptoms that he was feeling. But it was incredibly frustrating to know that he was actually seeking the help after getting nudged by me. So it was me telling him, go to the doctor, go to the doctor, there's something here.

Nasreem Flores: Or another, not only another woman, but another NCO to say, you're not going. It was like a slap in the face. Oh, especially when you're trying to make sure that he's okay. And it, especially if you don't have a mission and you don't have an assignment, you're just a body in the shop. What is the problem?

Nasreem Flores: If you're going to a medical appointment, what is the problem? The fact that you can't have eyes on them. [00:44:00] So it was incredibly frustrating that. We knew things that needed to get done, but it was slow as molasses And if it was done a lot quicker most of the health issues that my husband is probably experiencing Would have been nipped in the bud We would have been able to address the issues that actually needed addressing instead of trying to cure the symptoms Of what went on unaddressed because now because it has spread It's a whole other issue.

Nasreem Flores: Yes. He had the surgery it was removed, but now it's spread. It's no longer just And that is, it's very difficult because now I'm not only at home taking care of seven of the kids, So

Nasreem Flores: I've been driving him to the appointments, and we live about 40 minutes from base, which pulls me away from our family, our kids. So it's... It's unfortunate that it [00:45:00] had to get to this level in order for it to be addressed and fixed

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Are spiritual things important to y'all?

SFC Walter Flores: I'm, sorry

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: are spiritual things important

SFC Walter Flores: Oh, you know that maybe a month ago i'd be like no But with everything that's been going on with me, and of course everything my answer right now is a new yes

Nasreem Flores: yeah, my my spirituality is extremely important to me, but I gotta It's times like this that really make you frustrated and second guess even your own self, your own beliefs, your own foundation, because you start to think, am I wrong?

Nasreem Flores: Have I been looking at this wrong? Have I been leaning on, again, my own understanding and not seeing it for how it is? It has you second guessing yourself and that's not a comfortable feeling

SFC Walter Flores: And[00:46:00]

SFC Walter Flores: this could have all been

SFC Walter Flores: prevented none of This was going to happen the cancer that was going to happen, but the army the master sergeant human I'm, not even going to say the army because a lot of people have been asking me. Hey, are you mad? Are you mad? Are you mad? I'm not mad anymore. I was once enraged. I was once filled with hate.

SFC Walter Flores: I was once filled with such rage over everything with, of course, the cancer being the final igniter. With time and support and the fact that they're telling us that the chemo will take, hopefully, care of a majority of it, you start to heal and you don't hate anymore because you realize. The mortality of it all.

SFC Walter Flores: You're not nearly here for a long time. Why waste your energy on something that's already happened? I'm not mad. I just want to [00:47:00] not risk any other soldiers who are already losing it.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I think that what I can see, and I don't know if you've seen this yet, but what I can see the good that's coming out of this is, if you would have had cancer and let's say you didn't have all these problems, perhaps you could have been diagnosed earlier, perhaps not.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: But I think You being the leader that you are, you being the backbone of the army, because that's what we call in COs, the backbone of the army, you're standing up and changing lives of people you've never met. And I think you have been designed for a time such as this.

SFC Walter Flores: That's good. That's really good.

SFC Walter Flores: I like that.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: And so no matter what the outcome of I'm inclined to agree. of this cancer diagnosis is, the lasting impact that you will make, not only in your family, but across the entire army, is having people look at themselves in the army and say, Am I... Am I doing this? Am I doing the [00:48:00] wrong thing in this situation?

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Or am I experiencing the wrong thing? Can I stand up with as much courage as Sergeant First Class Flores is? That's what this is. It's showing who you are as a man and who you are as a woman, who you are as a family and how you're so much bigger than the situation.

SFC Walter Flores: Absolutely.

SFC Walter Flores: That was good, right? Wow. That was, that's a fresh perspective. Honestly, that's, I think we've been spending so much time fighting that we just forgot to just, Hey man, we're on the same team, dude. Let's work together on this instead of. Individually, and yeah. Thank you for that.

SFC Walter Flores: Honestly, we needed to hear that.

SFC Walter Flores: And

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: it's hard to see that when you're in the middle of it. I've, in my own fight not nearly as, as somber and as scary as what you're going through.

SFC Walter Flores: The fog of war, is insane, man. You don't know, when you're going straight [00:49:00] right up or down, all you know is that you're moving, you're thinking forward.

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah, thank you.

SFC Walter Flores: But, you've already mentioned that you've been...

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Many people have reached out to you and contacted you and said, Hey, I'm going through the same thing. What's the next step? You were made for a time such as this. And your wife to give you the support that you need to push through

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: this.

SFC Walter Flores: I think that is what is the spiritual underlying out of all of this. Like you could not have worded it better. She went through her hell exiting the army because of her toxic leadership, which in doing that, she is assisting me through my hell, which in doing that, I am now. Assisting everybody through that.

SFC Walter Flores: I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. And you're not wrong. Hopefully we can just continue helping each other. Help each other.[00:50:00]

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I want to thank you for your stance. For your courage that you're showing your wife. You're showing your family. And your family coming up and holding your arms up. In, in the biblical sense of that, when I think it was the Israelites were at war, and I'm forgetting at the moment, I can't remember if it was Moses or if it was Joshua, but every time they raised their arms up, They'd win the fight.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Every time they lower their arms, they start losing the fight. And so men came up beside him and held his arms up for him when he couldn't do it anymore. And I want to be that for you as your wife has been. I want to help encourage you and to keep this fight no matter what happens in the future.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: To show this bravery to your children that, if you're blessed With a normal long lifetime that they'll say wow dad was really great here, or if God forbid The lifetime isn't what we would expect That you leave them with the courage that look how strong your father was

SFC Walter Flores: [00:51:00] That's good you got a talent for this because normally I'm the one that's doing the motivating. I just want to, I feel, I really feel like I want to run five miles as soon as I hang up with you because of what you just, how you just hype me up. I'm never on the receiving end is what I'm trying to say and holy hell, it feels amazing.

SFC Walter Flores: Thank you for that.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Thank you

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: for your stand. Is there anything else you want to leave us with?

SFC Walter Flores: Thank you so much.

SFC Walter Flores: Yeah. To anybody who may listen, may agree or may disagree with what I, we are trying to change. It's okay. It's okay to disagree. It's okay to agree. It's okay to not care. It is not okay to ask somebody who needs help. If they come to you with their problem, congratulations, as a [00:52:00] leader it is now your problem.

SFC Walter Flores: Help each other and pay it forward. That's the message

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: I have. Wow. yea, is it's hard to be a leader. Like it's hard to become a leader, but it's hard when you are a leader because people, if you do your leadership correctly, they come to you because they trust you. They come to you because they know you've been through this problem.

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Yes, absolutely. They know you can help them. They know that you're going to care. And that's what's... The great and terrible thing about being a leader. Exactly. And I want to thank you for being such, such the leader you are.

SFC Walter Flores: Absolutely. Thank you so much once again for having us and allowing us an opportunity to continue spreading the word, honestly. And we're we're trying and we're not going to stop. This isn't until the phase runs out. No, this is until I no longer have breath.

SFC Walter Flores: Thank

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: you. God bless you.

SFC Walter Flores: Thank you so much.[00:53:00]

Dr. Sam Sigoloff: Just a reminder for everyone out there, the duty uniform of the day, the full armor of God, lets all make courage more contagious than fear.

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