OpenVPN - Routing Internet Connection using IPTABLES on Debian VPS
a literal note to self. THE COMMAND YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS..... iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s (vpn ip range) -j SNAT --to-source (insert public ip here) kudos to Evan Enderson from for his reply at https://serverfault.com/questions/161050/openvpn-advanced-setup-masquerade-or-snat-dnat-or-even-proxy but imma post this command here for future reference, which is definitely needed.