WEBVTT

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Hey , it's me , tech sergeant Chance

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Johnson with 1 40 wing public affairs .

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And today I'm sitting down with the new

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commander of the 1/40 Colonel Jeremiah

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Tucker call sign weed . All right , sir .

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So I thought that we would just start

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with if you wanna talk a little bit

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about your background in the military .

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Um , and where your career is taking

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you over the years . Yeah . Um , first

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of all , I appreciate you allow me to

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be here for this one . And do you mind

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if I drink my tea while I have this

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chat ? Absolutely . I'm gonna drink my

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coffee . So , sounds good . So I always

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like to introduce myself and it kind of

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sounds uh weird , I think for most

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folks when they hear it , but my full

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name is Jeremiah Santiago , Gonzalez

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Tucker . I'm , I'm , I grew up in a

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bicultural home on a day to day basis .

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You know , you'll see Jeremiah Tucker

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on my , on my uh name tag . But the

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culture I grew up in , I play my mom's

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side of the family as well . And uh I

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grew up in two distinctly different ,

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uh , two distinctly different families

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which I think has served me well , uh

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going forward in my career just in life

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in general . So I'm very proud of both

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the Tucker and the Gonzalez side of the

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family . So I always like to introduce

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uh those sides before I introduce

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myself . But uh I grew up in Colorado ,

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uh Parker , uh the Pine , which is uh

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down on the south side of Parker ,

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which is a , you know , it was a two

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lane highway when I grew up out there .

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It's not the monstrosity that Parker is

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today . I went to Ponderosa High school .

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So I'm a local kid . Uh , my dad was in

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this unit . My brother was in this unit

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when I was , uh growing up . So from

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the time I was about six or seven ,

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I've been coming out to Buckley . Uh ,

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even though we had , we were living ,

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uh , we were just moving from New

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Mexico when I was six years old . I was

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out here a lot , uh , with my dad just

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kind of trooping around much smaller

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base back then went to Ponderosa .

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After that , I graduated and I went to

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uh University of Colorado Boulder and ,

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um , started getting into the flying

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thing . Uh , to be perfectly honest , I

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was actually , uh trending towards

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being an agent in the , uh , CIA I

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interviewed there , uh , did not get

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hired . Uh , and not that I wanted to

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be a no kidding agent , but I was still ,

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you know , dabbling like most most

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college students do of what they want

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to do when they grow up . So my dad was

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a fighter pilot . Uh that was something

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I had always wanted to do , but I was

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always interested in that spy side of

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the house . So it was a good experience ,

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uh did not get hired . But uh

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fortunately I was lucky enough to get

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an interview here at uh at Buckley in

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98 and uh was hired to go to pilot

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training . So that's kind of how this

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all started , which is how the Colorado

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Guard in general works is you get hired

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and then you go to pilot training and

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you have to finish strong in your class

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to be able to continue to fly fighters .

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So I was lucky enough and fortunate to

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do that came back here . And uh the

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interesting part of the story uh is

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when you're in F-16 school , the IP S

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and this was pre 9 11 , right ? So the

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instructors , uh they always hit on ,

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hey , you know , we're training you to

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go to combat and I know we're not in

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combat right now . And uh I know 9 11

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now has kind of shaped the world of

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where we are . So everybody looks

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through a 9 11 prism , but think there

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was no real hostility in the world from

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the US perspective , militarily at the

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time when I was going through F-16

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school . But the IP S the instructors

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were constantly hit on , hey , you

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could be in combat as soon as you're

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out of here within , you know , as soon

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as you're mission ready , you could be

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in combat . So we need you guys to have

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that mindset . I'm like , yeah . Yeah .

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Yeah . Whatever . You know , that's

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kind of the way you just , I just want

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to get through 1/16 school and not make

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an idiot of myself and , and graduate

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and do well and go back to Colorado and ,

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and make my family proud . Well , you

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know , uh September 11 and I'm waking

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up at 4 a.m. turning on my TV . Before

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I go fly a sort that day , one of my

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last ones before I graduate and boom ,

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I see the first tower uh on fire and as

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I'm having my coffee , I'm drinking my

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coffee and I'm watching and I hit to

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see the second tower hit and I thought

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it was , I had no idea what was , what

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was actually happening . Like most

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people , I'm guessing no one had , was

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this , uh , you know , I had no clue

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what to think , right ? Uh Within about

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20 minutes , I get a phone call and

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they say , hey , uh Lieutenant Tucker

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at the time , we need you to stay home .

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We're going to 24 7 ops , we're in a

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combat footprint , uh combat posture

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now . And we are gonna be flying caps

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much like we were flying caps all

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around the country at the time where

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all of the airliners started landing ,

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there was no aircraft in the sky . Uh ,

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even Buckley here , we had turned jets

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and started launching to fly . So , uh ,

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lo and behold , my instructors , uh ,

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you know , were prophetic in the way

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they go . Hey , you could be in , in

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combat . No kidding . Almost . Just

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about a year later . Uh , we were

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spinning up to go to , um , Iraq after

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I graduated , uh F-16 school back here .

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So as a lieutenant , uh I was able to

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and I consider myself fortunate as

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definitely shaped my career . I was

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flying in combat as a lieutenant ,

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which is very , uh you know , it

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doesn't happen a lot anymore in our

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modern air force . So I was very proud

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to be that the the pilots here and the

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instructors here have thought well

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enough of me to take me to combat , put

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me in that kind of a scenario which was

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pretty harrowing at the time . So 2003 ,

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uh I got to fly in combat . Uh It was

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very short , there was the uh shock and

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awe night , I was able to be on up

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airborne at night under night vision

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goggles , store in shock and awe . So I

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could see Baghdad , uh which really was ,

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uh you can't create those kind of

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experiences in life again . Um And yeah ,

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pretty interesting , pretty interesting

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time , but we can get into those things

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later on if you want uh subsequently

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four or five combat tours , depending

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on how you wanna , uh , discuss it ,

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depending on where we were at the time .

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And then around 2010 , because I had

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been on a combat , uh , rotation a lot

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and home for a while back overseas a

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lot . Uh , I was ready to do something

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different in my career as a senior

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captain at the time , about to be a

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major and I just wanted to see other

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things out there . So I took a job in

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DC , went and worked at on the staff

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for a little while in GB A three ,

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which is uh current ops , got some

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experience there uh in the DC area ,

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the Pentagon and that sort of thing did

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two years out there and then came back ,

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sat alert . Here was a line IP here in

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uh Colorado for a couple more years .

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And then I applied and was uh picked up

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to do a job down at NORAD North Comm in

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J 33 which is the uh alert side of the

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house for the N A commander . Uh did

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that for two years . Outstanding job .

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It was really a great experience uh

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traveling to all the alert bases that

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we have . Understanding what a four

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star level uh thought process to

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homeland defense looks like . Uh really

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interesting uh idea but helped me

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better understand what we are doing

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when we , when we can , when we talk

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about Homeland Defense of the United

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States and what we're doing and how we

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posture ourselves from uh for outside

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threats and internal threats for that

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matter as well there . And I was lucky

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enough to be the , uh 1 40 Os s

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commander here . It uh in the OPS group .

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Uh So I did that for about 18 months

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just under two years . And because I am

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working for N GB , now , I'm considered

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a stat tour member , career status ,

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stat tour member . I kind of uh am on

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both sides of the house and the title

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10 in DC . And I also work here now as

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a title 32 guardsman . So I kind of

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play both sides if you will working uh

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back and forth between statuses and job

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titles depending on where I am in the

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country . Uh At the end of Os S command ,

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I was actually pulled back to DC . Uh

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while I was here as Os S commander .

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And just prior to that , I was going to

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Du Corbell School of International

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Studies and really got a good sense of

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international security and strategy ,

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uh which really was something very

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interesting to me . So the job that I

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was uh taken or picked up to do in DC

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was N GB eight X , which is the

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strategy side of the house for N GB .

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So I was able to write strategy for N

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GB . Work on long term 30 year looks ,

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you know , 15 to 30 year looks of what

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we're gonna look like as an , as a

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National Guard in the future . But I

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was lucky enough also to sit on some

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strategy writing teams for the active

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duty Air Force . So I worked in the

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Pentagon and , and a lot of the things

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they're working on and was one of the

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initial cadre of what's now Air Force

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futures . It was called a work at the

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time . But now if you hear Air force

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futures , that was the inception phase

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when I was there in DC in the 2016 ,

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2017 phase or time frame 2017 , 2018 .

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Uh from there , I was selected to go to

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Naval War College and residence in

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Newport , Rhode Island , which was uh

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frankly one of the greatest years of my

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life . Um Just a really great

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opportunity to sit with some of the

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smartest uh folks that have been , you

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know , across an array of careers in

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the military from all services ,

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civilian . Uh I even had a CIA agent in

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my uh in my class , which became , he

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became a really good friend . Um and

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just made really good uh long term

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relationships and friendships uh there

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that I still um keep in touch with a

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matter of fact , one of my buddies is

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uh taking command in Germany in July .

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And I'm gonna fly out to see his change

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of command and he came to my chain of

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command uh for w command . So that's

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the kind of relationships I was able to

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build in New , in Newport , which was

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just a fantastic time . Uh in Newport

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in the summer is really a great place

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to see . Uh interesting enough after a

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year there , uh getting a second

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masters and more into the strategy

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realm , which was just something I just

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really enjoy . Uh I was uh selected to

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become the commander of the Test Center ,

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the Air National Guard Air Force

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Reserve Test Center down in Tucson ,

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which is uh when we talk innovation in

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the , in the military writ large or

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especially in the Air Force . I , I

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don't know if , if we collectively know

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what that really means , what

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innovation means . I really saw what

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that means at the test center where

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we're , we're taking some just really

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innovative solutions to problem sets

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that we have across the Air Force . And

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these are , you know , mission related

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problem sets and really able to

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synthesize down uh from conceptual idea

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to delivery of some sort of a

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capability that makes our , our pilots ,

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our operators or whatever it is in that

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mission set , tanker pilots makes them

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more capable against an adversary and

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being able to shrink the timelines

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working with uh you know , very off the

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shelf kind of solutions . Uh It , that

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was just an eye opener to me and it was ,

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it was , um I would say it was daunting ,

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but it was also a little bit

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intimidating to be honest , to be

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working with some of the smartest folks

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that you will ever meet in the Air

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National Guard and the Air Force

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Reserve . These are names that are well

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known across , across the calf , the

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combat Air Force and the , and the um

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mobility Air Force . Just because they ,

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they speak in front of large events ,

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they speak in front of G OS . They ,

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you know , they are the face of these

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capabilities . Yogi Brown , our

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squatter commander right now is one of

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those . He was the F-16 , the CTF the

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task force uh uh lead for F-16 .

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They're one of those very innovative

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guys , but uh very much replicated

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across all the uh mission sets that we

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had there . Uh That was , that was ,

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you know , I keep harping on this . But

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if I can relay anything , it's take the

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opportunity to find other experiences .

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I know uh there's risk in doing that ,

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but each time that I've gone somewhere

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uh and saw something new , it was

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absolutely worth it . It becomes , I

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keep , I , I feel like I'm a broken

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record . I keep saying that was one of

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the greatest experiences of my life .

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It's one of the greatest experiences of

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my life and they were , I I've been

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absolutely fortunate . The military has

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offered me and the Air National Guard

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has afforded me opportunities that ,

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you know , I would have never have

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gotten . Had I not gone out there and

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tried to , uh you know , taken a little

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bit of risk and tried something else .

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So , you know , even to this day , uh ,

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Tucson , uh , my wife and I are looking

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to buy a house , uh , there , uh , and

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moved back eventually , you know , as a

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part time gig , we loved it so much .

11:39.919 --> 11:43.059
So , um , from there , uh , I , I was

11:43.239 --> 11:45.130
on the way to dinner with my wife

11:45.140 --> 11:47.418
calling or driving to dinner one night ,

11:47.419 --> 11:50.270
uh , afternoon and , uh , General

11:50.280 --> 11:52.719
Lowe's , uh , number pops up on my , on

11:52.729 --> 11:56.000
my Bluetooth on my screen and , uh , as

11:56.010 --> 11:58.177
I'm driving along in the 30 seconds or

11:58.177 --> 12:00.590
whatever it takes for you to go from ,

12:00.599 --> 12:02.710
figure out who that is to , what do I

12:02.710 --> 12:04.821
need to say when I answer ? I look at

12:04.821 --> 12:06.821
her and I go , uh , how do you feel

12:06.821 --> 12:09.043
about going to DC for a while ? And she

12:09.043 --> 12:11.155
looks at me and she goes , yeah , I ,

12:11.155 --> 12:13.210
we could do that and I'm like , when

12:13.210 --> 12:12.929
would be a good time for you to do that ?

12:12.940 --> 12:15.051
And she goes , I think we could do it

12:15.051 --> 12:17.218
by November . This was July and I go ,

12:17.218 --> 12:19.384
ok . Sounds good . Pick up the phone .

12:19.384 --> 12:21.607
Hey , sir , how have you been ? Good to

12:21.607 --> 12:23.718
hear from me what's going on ? I go ,

12:23.718 --> 12:26.051
we can be there in November and he goes ,

12:26.051 --> 12:28.273
how did you know what I was gonna say ?

12:28.273 --> 12:30.496
I'm like , well , I , I don't think you

12:30.496 --> 12:30.469
make a lot of habits of just calling

12:30.479 --> 12:32.312
you for no reason . Right . So I

12:32.312 --> 12:34.535
figured it was an invite and you know ,

12:34.535 --> 12:36.535
I was honored that he was even , he

12:36.535 --> 12:38.701
would even consider me to do that . It

12:38.701 --> 12:40.868
was a bit bittersweet because Tucson ,

12:40.868 --> 12:40.239
I felt like there was a lot that I was

12:40.250 --> 12:42.472
working on there . There was a lot that

12:42.472 --> 12:44.710
I was contributing to . But the , the ,

12:44.719 --> 12:46.830
the , the uh commander that took over

12:46.830 --> 12:48.886
for me , uh Colonel Gyro Halverson ,

12:48.886 --> 12:51.090
Jason Halverson uh is an outstanding

12:51.099 --> 12:53.043
commander as well and just a great

12:53.043 --> 12:55.043
borough of mine . So I was happy to

12:55.043 --> 12:57.266
leave it in , in much better hands than

12:57.266 --> 12:59.321
I could have taken it forward . So I

12:59.321 --> 12:58.609
was , I was appreciative of that , that

12:58.619 --> 13:01.640
I had that opportunity . And uh off ,

13:01.650 --> 13:04.119
we , we loaded up the , the , the , the

13:04.130 --> 13:07.280
uh SUV . And , you know , I think we

13:07.289 --> 13:10.530
drove out Halloween night out of Tucson

13:10.539 --> 13:13.260
at 5 a.m. in DC that we were for a year .

13:13.760 --> 13:15.760
Uh So my last job prior to this was

13:15.760 --> 13:17.816
working in the Pentagon directly for

13:17.816 --> 13:19.871
General Lowe as his uh senior exec ,

13:19.871 --> 13:21.982
senior senior advisor . And uh we can

13:21.982 --> 13:24.619
get into that later . But uh uh the

13:24.630 --> 13:26.852
nice thing about having a job like that

13:26.852 --> 13:29.074
is you learn a lot , but the other part

13:29.074 --> 13:31.186
is , is you kind of get to shape what

13:31.186 --> 13:33.400
your next gig is gonna be . And that

13:33.409 --> 13:35.700
allowed me to put myself in a position

13:35.710 --> 13:38.020
to be in the job that I absolutely

13:38.030 --> 13:40.030
wanted to be . And that's where I'm

13:40.030 --> 13:42.086
sitting right now . Um there is no ,

13:42.460 --> 13:45.030
there is no higher , higher coveted job

13:45.039 --> 13:47.095
than being the wing commander at one

13:47.095 --> 13:49.317
for if it's almost , you have to almost

13:49.317 --> 13:51.372
say it in the hush tone because it ,

13:51.372 --> 13:53.317
what it means out there is uh I am

13:53.317 --> 13:55.483
absolutely um humbled that I'm able to

13:55.483 --> 13:57.483
do it . But this isn't the only job

13:57.483 --> 13:59.706
since the day I got the phone call that

13:59.706 --> 14:01.928
I was hired to be an F-16 fighter pilot

14:01.928 --> 14:01.650
here at Buckley . This is the job I

14:01.659 --> 14:03.770
would set myself up to be in . So the

14:03.770 --> 14:05.881
fact that this come full circle uh is

14:05.881 --> 14:08.048
really just , it's a blessing . Uh And

14:08.048 --> 14:10.270
I'm happy to do that . I guess I should

14:10.270 --> 14:12.215
probably state . Uh I know we went

14:12.215 --> 14:14.381
through my career equally important to

14:14.381 --> 14:16.539
me is my family . So my father is

14:16.549 --> 14:18.605
Richard Tucker . He was uh the group

14:18.605 --> 14:20.827
commander here , the oog and retired uh

14:20.827 --> 14:22.929
06 out of Buckley out of about a 30

14:22.940 --> 14:25.150
year career . My mother is Gonzalez

14:25.159 --> 14:27.590
Tucker . She was a teacher and the

14:27.599 --> 14:29.710
disciplinarian in our house . We call

14:29.710 --> 14:31.821
her the enforcer . Uh She had a big ,

14:31.821 --> 14:34.109
big uh part of raising me and whatnot .

14:34.479 --> 14:36.489
I got two brothers , Carlos . Uh He

14:36.500 --> 14:38.570
lives in uh Madison , Wisconsin . He

14:38.580 --> 14:40.780
was part of this unit and then he was

14:41.020 --> 14:43.900
uh sts for a big part of his career in

14:43.909 --> 14:46.450
the guard , uh was in the Louisville

14:46.460 --> 14:48.238
Guard for a while and now he is

14:48.238 --> 14:50.404
finishing up career as a part timer in

14:50.404 --> 14:52.682
the um Madison , Wisconsin guard up in ,

14:52.682 --> 14:55.016
up in Wisconsin . Uh married , he's got ,

14:55.016 --> 14:56.849
he and his wife own a , a pretty

14:56.849 --> 14:59.200
successful yoga spin class , uh bunch

14:59.210 --> 15:02.690
of spin classes and uh and uh um

15:03.440 --> 15:06.119
uh businesses in the Madison area and a

15:06.130 --> 15:08.297
niece , Cecilia , his daughter there .

15:08.297 --> 15:10.463
And then my younger brother is Diego .

15:10.463 --> 15:12.463
Uh he's a surgeon out in the uh Bay

15:12.463 --> 15:15.750
area . Uh and then uh not finally , but

15:15.989 --> 15:17.822
uh most importantly , my wife is

15:17.822 --> 15:20.045
Christina . Uh and she's vice president

15:20.045 --> 15:22.156
of a tea company , the uh Republic of

15:22.156 --> 15:24.322
Tea . So there's my shameless plug for

15:24.322 --> 15:26.545
the day of , of her company . I've been

15:26.545 --> 15:28.711
racking my brain in the last couple of

15:28.711 --> 15:28.330
days trying to remember which company

15:28.340 --> 15:30.451
it was . Well , I'm drinking it now .

15:30.451 --> 15:32.562
So I put some money where my mouth is

15:32.562 --> 15:34.729
and uh I knew absolutely nothing about

15:34.729 --> 15:34.489
tea until I met her . But now I feel

15:34.500 --> 15:37.729
like I know most than your more , more

15:37.739 --> 15:39.739
than your uh your average tea cause

15:40.590 --> 15:42.960
going all the way back to the beginning

15:42.969 --> 15:45.630
of , of , of our conversation , I

15:45.640 --> 15:47.807
always think about like my life almost

15:47.809 --> 15:50.590
kind of in two segments of pre 9 11 and

15:50.599 --> 15:53.419
post 9 11 . And that like is very ,

15:53.429 --> 15:55.859
very profound for you . Like because I

15:55.869 --> 15:57.869
mean 9 11 , you just hit the ground

15:57.869 --> 15:59.869
running and then your life was just

15:59.869 --> 16:01.980
completely different , moving forward

16:01.980 --> 16:04.147
and it's probably just been a blink of

16:04.147 --> 16:03.960
an eye . It's hard to say what you know ,

16:03.969 --> 16:06.270
what life would been like prior if 9 11

16:06.280 --> 16:08.429
never happened . But , um , I think ,

16:08.440 --> 16:11.179
you know , those occurrences happen for

16:11.190 --> 16:13.412
a reason , although it's a terrible , a

16:13.412 --> 16:15.746
terrible thing that happened . You know ,

16:15.746 --> 16:17.968
it , it shapes certain people's careers

16:17.968 --> 16:20.190
and it was definitely one of those that

16:20.190 --> 16:22.357
shaped mine and , and , you know , put

16:22.357 --> 16:24.523
me into a , allowed me to serve in a ,

16:24.523 --> 16:26.579
in a , in a manner that probably was

16:26.579 --> 16:28.579
much different . You know , we have

16:28.579 --> 16:30.634
literally been sitting alert here at

16:30.634 --> 16:32.690
Buckley 24 7 since 9 11 . Uh , there

16:32.690 --> 16:34.357
was two pilots on and a whole

16:34.357 --> 16:36.357
contingent of air , but some of the

16:36.357 --> 16:38.579
greatest maintainers you'll ever see or

16:38.579 --> 16:40.801
ever meet sitting right across the ramp

16:40.801 --> 16:43.023
right now that are on a posture that we

16:43.023 --> 16:45.190
will continue to do and it may be in ,

16:45.190 --> 16:47.412
in , in perpetuate , who knows how long

16:47.412 --> 16:46.989
that posture is gonna sit . But that is

16:47.000 --> 16:48.679
what we contribute , we still

16:48.690 --> 16:50.690
contribute to this day . And that's

16:50.690 --> 16:52.746
something I did for a lot of times ,

16:52.746 --> 16:54.968
many of nights sleeping on alert , many

16:54.968 --> 16:57.079
of Christmases and Fourth of July and

16:57.079 --> 16:56.469
stuff like that , sitting alert that

16:56.479 --> 16:58.650
our families do . The Colorado Guard

16:58.659 --> 17:00.992
does day in and day out because of 9 11 .

17:01.099 --> 17:03.210
Uh , and that's something we've never

17:03.210 --> 17:05.377
failed at very , very much a source of

17:05.377 --> 17:07.432
pride , uh , for what we do . Yeah .

17:07.432 --> 17:09.321
Yeah . Well , that's one of those

17:09.321 --> 17:11.432
things that I'm not so sure that many

17:11.432 --> 17:13.599
people even in the community know that

17:13.599 --> 17:15.821
and , and that's obviously what our job

17:15.821 --> 17:17.877
is to kind of tell as much as we can

17:17.877 --> 17:19.988
tell . My background in the guard has

17:19.988 --> 17:22.043
mostly been in Greeley and there are

17:22.043 --> 17:24.377
people in Greeley that have lived there ,

17:24.377 --> 17:23.439
their whole lives are like , oh ,

17:23.449 --> 17:25.671
there's a national Guard base here . We

17:25.671 --> 17:27.449
didn't even know that there was

17:27.449 --> 17:29.727
anything here . And so , yeah , that's ,

17:29.727 --> 17:29.689
I mean , that's all very , very

17:29.699 --> 17:31.921
interesting things that , you know , we

17:31.921 --> 17:34.670
can , the organization Colorado in

17:34.680 --> 17:36.689
general just contributes so much to

17:36.780 --> 17:39.002
things like national defense in the way

17:39.002 --> 17:41.058
that you just mentioned . And that's

17:41.058 --> 17:40.949
part of what we do though . Yeah ,

17:40.959 --> 17:43.181
being in the military , we are humble ,

17:43.181 --> 17:45.459
we are humble warriors . And I love to ,

17:45.459 --> 17:48.209
I love to uh categorize this as that is ,

17:48.219 --> 17:50.330
we don't , we don't broadcast what we

17:50.330 --> 17:53.589
do . We , we simply serve a higher

17:53.599 --> 17:55.859
thing for the good of serving , not so

17:55.869 --> 17:57.813
that people acknowledge that we're

17:57.813 --> 17:59.813
serving , right ? And that's what I

17:59.813 --> 18:01.869
really appreciate about every person

18:01.869 --> 18:01.859
that's part of the military ,

18:01.869 --> 18:04.036
particularly the Cohan is just that we

18:04.036 --> 18:06.091
don't have to go out and tell people

18:06.091 --> 18:08.202
what we do . We're just there in case

18:08.202 --> 18:10.091
something happens and then people

18:10.091 --> 18:12.202
recognize it , it speaks for itself .

18:12.202 --> 18:12.040
It absolutely does . And that , that's

18:12.050 --> 18:14.272
where I want it to be is this , we , we

18:14.272 --> 18:16.479
are not , you know , we are there in

18:16.489 --> 18:18.656
case of need and , and defense of this

18:18.660 --> 18:21.099
country and we're there as acting as a

18:21.109 --> 18:23.276
deterrent for us and I feel that if we

18:23.276 --> 18:25.387
are not actively participating day in

18:25.387 --> 18:27.276
and day out , we're doing our job

18:27.276 --> 18:29.498
correctly . So that , that I absolutely

18:29.498 --> 18:31.442
appreciate you . You gave a lot of

18:31.442 --> 18:33.609
background as far as , you know , your

18:33.609 --> 18:35.776
career as a pilot . I , I imagine your

18:35.776 --> 18:37.609
father probably played a part in

18:37.609 --> 18:39.720
influencing you into that . What else

18:39.720 --> 18:41.942
was kind of like your , your motivation

18:41.942 --> 18:44.165
for wanting to become a fighter pilot ?

18:44.189 --> 18:47.890
Uh , a great question , I feel it's

18:47.900 --> 18:51.829
almost um seeing my dad

18:51.839 --> 18:53.895
come home in a flight suit every day

18:53.895 --> 18:55.950
was pretty cool . And going , what ,

18:55.950 --> 18:58.172
what I noticed about when I was growing

18:58.172 --> 19:01.829
up here is , uh obviously this is

19:01.839 --> 19:05.329
Cold War time frame , not pre 9 11 ,

19:05.339 --> 19:07.450
there weren't the kind of deployments

19:07.450 --> 19:09.617
and operational ops tempo that we have

19:09.617 --> 19:12.510
now . But what I do remember is , you

19:12.520 --> 19:15.199
know , in the summers , uh we would go

19:15.209 --> 19:17.431
to Alaska because the unit was going up

19:17.431 --> 19:19.376
to Alaska to do an exercise and he

19:19.376 --> 19:21.598
would take the family or we would go to

19:21.598 --> 19:23.653
Germany for a summer because we were

19:23.653 --> 19:25.876
doing an exercise and over there and my

19:25.876 --> 19:28.098
dad wanted us to be a part , you know ,

19:28.098 --> 19:30.209
be a family , was always a family

19:30.239 --> 19:32.459
oriented type experience . It was part

19:32.469 --> 19:35.530
of my growing up Christmas parties here .

19:35.540 --> 19:37.707
Um You know , Santa coming in on the ,

19:37.707 --> 19:39.929
in the F-16 , which we still do to this

19:39.929 --> 19:42.849
day , that uh tradition , that legacy

19:42.859 --> 19:45.081
was something that I wanted to continue

19:45.081 --> 19:48.400
and be a part of uh throughout plus the

19:48.410 --> 19:50.739
guys that and gals that were part of

19:50.750 --> 19:52.917
the , and , and really , I had a small

19:52.917 --> 19:54.917
perspective , right ? Because I was

19:54.917 --> 19:54.479
hanging out in the OPS group , uh

19:54.489 --> 19:56.600
majority of the time , I didn't get a

19:56.600 --> 19:58.600
lot of experience with the other uh

19:58.600 --> 20:00.933
groups that I have now . But , you know ,

20:00.933 --> 20:03.100
those were the folks that they treated

20:03.100 --> 20:05.433
me like , you know , like part of their ,

20:05.433 --> 20:05.170
like one of their kids , you know , I

20:05.180 --> 20:08.920
would , I was , I was mentored by guys

20:08.930 --> 20:11.097
when I was in high school or college .

20:11.097 --> 20:13.374
They would call me up . Hey , Jeremiah ,

20:13.374 --> 20:15.597
let's go hang out or let's , let's talk

20:15.597 --> 20:15.550
about what you wanna do with your

20:15.560 --> 20:17.560
future . I mean , this is something

20:17.560 --> 20:19.359
that we continue to do that is

20:19.369 --> 20:21.880
absolutely different than you will find

20:21.890 --> 20:23.834
in a non-military organization and

20:23.834 --> 20:26.001
particularly a non International Guard

20:26.001 --> 20:29.160
uh organization is um is the family

20:29.170 --> 20:31.280
orientation of how we operate day in

20:31.290 --> 20:33.346
and day out . And that is absolutely

20:33.346 --> 20:35.401
the cornerstone of how I believe and

20:35.401 --> 20:37.623
how I was raised and what my philosophy

20:37.623 --> 20:39.920
is of leadership and how to , how this

20:39.930 --> 20:42.109
organization should be run . And then

20:42.119 --> 20:44.341
ultimately , you know , being a fighter

20:44.341 --> 20:47.810
pilot is , it is a gift . Um It is

20:47.819 --> 20:49.708
something that is uh what I would

20:49.708 --> 20:52.750
consider an elite opportunity . Um

20:52.760 --> 20:55.140
something that is very difficult to

20:55.150 --> 20:57.579
achieve . Uh But once you do the , you

20:57.589 --> 20:59.939
know how you serve your country and

20:59.949 --> 21:01.949
that capacity is just a very uh

21:01.959 --> 21:04.550
honorable thing that's not to take away

21:04.560 --> 21:06.504
from what everybody else does that

21:06.504 --> 21:08.560
wears a uniform regardless of what a

21:08.560 --> 21:10.782
FSC you have within this organization .

21:10.782 --> 21:12.838
Um that all contributes to this , we

21:12.838 --> 21:15.060
all contribute in a different way . But

21:15.060 --> 21:16.949
that was just something that I uh

21:16.949 --> 21:19.282
aspired to be growing up playing soccer ,

21:19.282 --> 21:21.116
uh being in a role that was very

21:21.116 --> 21:22.838
competitive . This is about as

21:22.838 --> 21:25.004
competitive as it gets . So those were

21:25.004 --> 21:27.116
all the things that kind of guided me

21:27.116 --> 21:29.338
towards being an F-16 pilot . And to be

21:29.338 --> 21:31.910
honest , you , you will see um a lot ,

21:31.920 --> 21:34.031
not a lot , but you , you tend to see

21:34.031 --> 21:36.198
some legacy passed down from father to

21:36.198 --> 21:38.364
son because I like to say that it's in

21:38.364 --> 21:40.476
the blood in a way and it is , that's

21:40.476 --> 21:40.420
not to mean that anyone can become a

21:40.430 --> 21:42.430
fighter pilot , trust me if I can ,

21:42.430 --> 21:44.597
anybody can . But you tend to see even

21:44.597 --> 21:46.874
in this unit , especially in this unit ,

21:46.874 --> 21:49.041
the Neff family , the Edwards family ,

21:49.041 --> 21:52.089
the uh uh the crab family , the Tucker

21:52.099 --> 21:54.229
family , uh that you see this passed

21:54.239 --> 21:57.069
down from father to son where uh where

21:57.079 --> 21:59.301
family members have been a part of this

21:59.301 --> 22:01.468
organization , been fighter pilot that

22:01.468 --> 22:03.579
we pass on to the next generation . I

22:03.579 --> 22:05.746
want to do that across all of our uh A

22:05.746 --> 22:07.968
FS CS where we're passing it down . And

22:07.968 --> 22:09.746
it's really , that's , that's a

22:09.746 --> 22:11.968
testament to the guard and , and how uh

22:11.968 --> 22:14.270
this family actually , uh , is , uh ,

22:14.280 --> 22:16.502
it manifests itself because I see a lot

22:16.502 --> 22:18.502
of the same name tags of the people

22:18.502 --> 22:20.780
that I grew up around when I was a kid .

22:20.780 --> 22:22.780
And that really warms my heart that

22:22.780 --> 22:25.002
it's been passed to family , brothers ,

22:25.002 --> 22:27.224
sisters , moms , you know , whatever it

22:27.224 --> 22:29.447
may be , they still want to continue to

22:29.447 --> 22:31.558
serve in this organization . And that

22:31.558 --> 22:31.140
really warms my heart that they want to

22:31.150 --> 22:33.372
contribute . They continue to gravitate

22:33.372 --> 22:35.372
back to this organization . And I'd

22:35.372 --> 22:37.428
like to think that they see the same

22:37.428 --> 22:39.372
things that I saw when I was a kid

22:39.372 --> 22:41.428
growing up that , hey , I'm a valued

22:41.428 --> 22:43.317
member of that organization . I'm

22:43.317 --> 22:42.979
treated like family in that

22:42.989 --> 22:45.100
organization . That's where I want to

22:45.100 --> 22:47.211
be . That's where I want my family to

22:47.211 --> 22:49.045
be . So that , that uh kind of a

22:49.045 --> 22:51.211
roundabout way of answering , but it's

22:51.211 --> 22:53.433
not just , hey , I saw to go and I want

22:53.433 --> 22:52.630
to go be a fighter pilot . There's a

22:52.640 --> 22:54.584
lot more to it . Um And the family

22:54.584 --> 22:56.807
piece of that really has a part to play

22:56.807 --> 22:58.751
in that because ultimately , man ,

22:58.751 --> 23:01.029
we're in the , we're in the , you know ,

23:01.029 --> 23:00.770
we're in the profession of , of combat

23:00.780 --> 23:03.599
arms . We will be in harm's way when we

23:03.609 --> 23:05.720
are , you want your family around you

23:05.720 --> 23:07.609
and you wanna make sure that your

23:07.609 --> 23:09.609
family back home is looked after as

23:09.609 --> 23:11.665
well . So that when we do have to go

23:11.665 --> 23:13.942
down range , we do have to be in those ,

23:13.942 --> 23:16.220
those harrowing um , environments that ,

23:16.220 --> 23:18.331
uh , it's your family that , that got

23:18.331 --> 23:20.276
your back with you . Um , that's ,

23:20.276 --> 23:19.910
that's the beauty of this organization .

23:20.170 --> 23:22.226
But to be real though , like Top Gun

23:22.226 --> 23:24.226
probably did play a little bit of a

23:24.226 --> 23:26.337
part . Right . I mean , I saw , I saw

23:26.337 --> 23:28.579
it when I was , I saw it when I was ,

23:28.589 --> 23:30.867
uh , I think I was like , I don't know ,

23:30.867 --> 23:32.867
10 or something . I don't know , it

23:32.867 --> 23:32.780
came out in 86 . So let's do the math .

23:32.790 --> 23:35.123
12 years old , maybe . I guess I saw it .

23:35.123 --> 23:37.290
I thought it was cool . You know , I ,

23:37.290 --> 23:39.512
I didn't know much about it when you're

23:39.512 --> 23:38.900
12 years old . Flying is pretty cool .

23:38.910 --> 23:41.077
But being in the actual jet and flying

23:41.077 --> 23:43.188
with the toys that we have now , uh ,

23:43.188 --> 23:45.132
the movie cannot just , I will , I

23:45.132 --> 23:47.243
assure you of that . It's pretty cool

23:47.243 --> 23:50.140
that they , what these jets can do as

23:50.150 --> 23:52.372
far as like the family dynamic that you

23:52.372 --> 23:54.430
mentioned . I think that among many

23:54.439 --> 23:56.439
things that distinguish us from our

23:56.439 --> 23:58.661
active duty counterparts , that's a big

23:58.661 --> 24:00.828
part of that too is you probably don't

24:00.828 --> 24:02.828
see that carryover of generation to

24:02.828 --> 24:02.390
generation to generation and active

24:02.400 --> 24:05.040
duty like you do in the guard , it

24:05.050 --> 24:06.772
probably motivates people in a

24:06.772 --> 24:08.772
different way . Knowing that people

24:08.772 --> 24:12.099
that came before them at home are , you

24:12.109 --> 24:14.331
know , they're filling those shoes like

24:14.331 --> 24:17.910
you did . I , I think , um , you know ,

24:17.920 --> 24:20.253
I can't really speak to the active duty .

24:20.253 --> 24:22.309
I have not been in the act of Duty a

24:22.309 --> 24:22.130
lot . I know plenty of names that you

24:22.140 --> 24:24.196
will see similar names in the active

24:24.196 --> 24:26.362
duty brothers and whatnot . I can give

24:26.362 --> 24:28.584
you a perfect example . Our current A T

24:28.584 --> 24:30.696
A , uh , General Fessler , you know ,

24:30.696 --> 24:32.807
his brother was in the active duty as

24:32.807 --> 24:34.862
well . Both of them were just , uh ,

24:34.862 --> 24:36.973
you know , a very outstanding fighter

24:36.973 --> 24:39.084
pilots and both great contributors to

24:39.084 --> 24:39.010
this nation . So you , you see it in

24:39.020 --> 24:41.410
the active duty as well . Uh , and ,

24:41.420 --> 24:43.531
and frankly , I think you kind of see

24:43.531 --> 24:45.698
it in the military writ large a lot is

24:45.698 --> 24:47.420
that is kind of what our , our

24:47.420 --> 24:49.739
wellspring of , of , you know , the new

24:49.750 --> 24:51.750
next generation is , is really from

24:51.750 --> 24:53.972
family members . What I would also like

24:53.972 --> 24:57.099
to do , uh , is to be able to expand

24:57.109 --> 24:59.560
that out to a bigger pool of folks that

24:59.569 --> 25:01.680
maybe don't have a lot of military in

25:01.680 --> 25:03.847
the background , but gravitate towards

25:03.847 --> 25:05.847
it because they see things in there

25:05.847 --> 25:07.736
that they value that the military

25:07.736 --> 25:07.619
values as well and maybe they haven't

25:07.630 --> 25:09.741
had an opportunity to see that , uh ,

25:09.741 --> 25:11.519
because we haven't had a lot of

25:11.519 --> 25:13.463
outreach . He kind of said it that

25:13.463 --> 25:12.949
people don't see us a lot . Well ,

25:12.959 --> 25:14.848
that's , you know , that , that ,

25:14.848 --> 25:16.848
that's a good thing and a bad thing

25:16.848 --> 25:18.959
sometimes , right . So we want to get

25:18.959 --> 25:18.829
that word out there that , you know ,

25:18.839 --> 25:21.140
this is a place where in one of my ,

25:21.150 --> 25:23.317
you know , one of the things I want to

25:23.317 --> 25:25.539
focus on is , this is a place where you

25:25.539 --> 25:27.650
can become whatever it is you want to

25:27.650 --> 25:29.706
be . And we're gonna help you become

25:29.706 --> 25:31.761
the most expert , expert in whatever

25:31.761 --> 25:33.761
that whatever you endeavor to be in

25:33.761 --> 25:35.983
your life , this is the place that will

25:35.983 --> 25:35.359
help you do that and you're gonna be

25:35.369 --> 25:37.147
valued to do that . You will be

25:37.147 --> 25:39.239
afforded the opportunity , which is

25:39.250 --> 25:41.361
what I was offered . You know , I was

25:41.361 --> 25:43.417
afforded the opportunity to become a

25:43.417 --> 25:42.939
fighter pilot and a , and a commander

25:42.949 --> 25:45.060
and a leader . And I wanna be able to

25:45.060 --> 25:47.116
afford that , pay that back to those

25:47.116 --> 25:49.338
folks as well that want to , you know ,

25:49.338 --> 25:51.505
take the oath . We did put the uniform

25:51.505 --> 25:53.671
on and serve in the same capacity that

25:53.671 --> 25:55.560
we do just passing 18 years in my

25:55.560 --> 25:56.949
history with the guard .

25:56.949 --> 25:59.171
Congratulations . Thanks . I , I always

25:59.171 --> 26:01.060
kind of look back and I , I , my

26:01.069 --> 26:03.069
elevator pitches off and like , you

26:03.069 --> 26:05.291
know , you can get as much or as little

26:05.291 --> 26:07.402
out of it as you want . You know , if

26:07.402 --> 26:09.625
it's originally for me , it was a means

26:09.625 --> 26:11.791
to put myself through college and then

26:11.791 --> 26:13.958
it became more and more . And II I can

26:13.958 --> 26:15.902
just see so many ways that you can

26:15.902 --> 26:18.010
utilize it , you know , and I think

26:18.020 --> 26:20.260
that you're an example of when you

26:20.270 --> 26:22.103
utilize it to almost its fullest

26:22.103 --> 26:24.437
potential probably , um , or , you know ,

26:24.437 --> 26:26.492
you could just , you know , serve an

26:26.492 --> 26:28.603
enlistment and , and get your college

26:28.603 --> 26:30.659
out of the way . And that's , that's

26:30.659 --> 26:32.992
good too . And , but , yeah , it's just ,

26:32.992 --> 26:35.214
it's such a wellspring of opportunity .

26:35.214 --> 26:34.949
Absolutely . And there's no negative ,

26:34.959 --> 26:36.959
you know , that I , I don't want to

26:36.959 --> 26:39.181
speak in a pejorative manner that , you

26:39.181 --> 26:41.348
know , if you just want to use this to

26:41.348 --> 26:41.089
get your college degree . Great ,

26:41.099 --> 26:43.210
that's fine . You know , you're still

26:43.210 --> 26:45.432
serving this country in some capacity .

26:45.530 --> 26:47.752
But what I think is is , you know , and

26:47.752 --> 26:50.199
this won't be for everybody . There are

26:50.209 --> 26:52.900
no , you know , absolutes . But I think

26:52.910 --> 26:55.530
most folks see this and go on the kind

26:55.540 --> 26:57.373
of TDY that we just went to , to

26:57.373 --> 26:59.540
Germany and it rapidly , like you just

26:59.540 --> 27:01.540
said , becomes something bigger and

27:01.540 --> 27:03.651
they realize , oh , this is much more

27:03.651 --> 27:05.540
than I thought it was and this is

27:05.540 --> 27:05.530
something I want to continue to do

27:05.540 --> 27:07.818
because I really value being out there .

27:07.818 --> 27:09.984
Yeah . Yeah . Well , it's hard to , to

27:09.984 --> 27:12.151
get that perspective , you know , from

27:12.151 --> 27:14.262
just speaking for myself again for at

27:14.262 --> 27:16.373
least a decade . I , I was just doing

27:16.373 --> 27:18.262
the DS G thing and putting myself

27:18.262 --> 27:20.429
through school and I didn't , I didn't

27:20.429 --> 27:23.160
really get that , that larger point of

27:23.170 --> 27:25.337
view that you're talking about because

27:25.337 --> 27:27.392
I was just coming in on the weekends

27:27.392 --> 27:29.614
and putting in my time and everything .

27:29.614 --> 27:31.670
But yeah , just going out on those ,

27:31.670 --> 27:31.390
you know , like the German air defender

27:31.400 --> 27:33.456
that we just , we just got back from

27:33.456 --> 27:35.511
like that really makes you feel like

27:35.511 --> 27:37.733
you're contributing to something much ,

27:37.733 --> 27:39.956
much bigger than , than you get on just

27:39.956 --> 27:42.067
your drill weekends . What are , what

27:42.067 --> 27:44.344
are some major goals or milestones now ,

27:44.344 --> 27:46.456
as the commander that you , you would

27:46.456 --> 27:48.511
like to accomplish and why you're in

27:48.511 --> 27:50.511
this seat ? Yeah . Great question .

27:50.511 --> 27:52.678
Very broad . So I'll try to , I'll try

27:52.678 --> 27:54.678
to narrow it a bit if you can , you

27:54.678 --> 27:56.900
know , world peace and all that sort of

27:56.900 --> 27:56.535
thing . Probably not in the realm of

27:56.545 --> 27:58.645
the possible . But , uh , you know ,

27:58.655 --> 28:00.877
our big , our big efforts right now and

28:00.877 --> 28:02.822
ours collectively , this goes from

28:02.822 --> 28:04.822
general and our agent in general to

28:04.822 --> 28:06.877
General Fessler , you know , that we

28:06.877 --> 28:08.877
are lockstep in what our , what our

28:08.877 --> 28:11.530
goals are . And that is um the jets we

28:11.540 --> 28:15.150
currently have are frankly , um

28:15.729 --> 28:17.618
they are some of the most capable

28:17.618 --> 28:20.300
fighters , not F-16s capable fighters

28:20.310 --> 28:23.199
because of all of the uh capabilities

28:23.209 --> 28:25.320
that we've been able to put on them .

28:25.320 --> 28:27.487
And a lot of things I can't talk about

28:27.487 --> 28:29.709
obviously that are internal to the , to

28:29.709 --> 28:31.931
the jet , but because of the air uh the

28:31.931 --> 28:33.876
test center and whatnot that I was

28:33.876 --> 28:33.780
fortunate to be a part of that

28:33.790 --> 28:35.957
expertise and that innovation has made

28:35.957 --> 28:39.130
this jet just an absolute um great a

28:39.140 --> 28:42.030
asset in combat arms if we ever needed

28:42.040 --> 28:44.207
to do it . However , there is a sunset

28:44.207 --> 28:46.373
date for all jets . It does not matter

28:46.373 --> 28:48.262
what they are , you know , F-22 ,

28:48.262 --> 28:50.429
eventually the F-35 will have a sunset

28:50.429 --> 28:52.540
date , but we are rapidly approaching

28:52.540 --> 28:54.762
that and there if indeed we believe and

28:54.762 --> 28:56.910
we want to uh continue to defend the

28:56.920 --> 28:59.142
homeland and preserve the way of life .

28:59.142 --> 29:01.031
We do . We will need follow on uh

29:01.031 --> 29:04.209
fighters in to , to make that happen .

29:04.219 --> 29:06.359
Now , why Colorado ? Uh Well , I can

29:06.369 --> 29:08.359
come up with 1000 reasons but just

29:08.369 --> 29:10.536
geolocation for all of the things that

29:10.536 --> 29:12.599
we have here , like the , you know ,

29:12.609 --> 29:15.119
the base we're on uh no north com

29:15.130 --> 29:17.352
Cheyenne Mountain down to the south and

29:17.352 --> 29:19.352
a whole lot of other assets that we

29:19.352 --> 29:21.574
don't talk about in , in a , in an open

29:21.574 --> 29:23.797
conversation that we defend here . This

29:23.797 --> 29:23.410
is , you know , if you put a dot From

29:23.420 --> 29:25.642
where we are sitting right now and draw

29:25.642 --> 29:28.119
a 550 mile radius , uh We are the only

29:28.130 --> 29:30.520
show in town for defense and we have

29:30.530 --> 29:32.697
adversaries now that it can absolutely

29:32.697 --> 29:35.069
strike to this location . You know ,

29:35.079 --> 29:37.301
they have from home , from their inside

29:37.301 --> 29:39.468
their , their , their border . So , uh

29:39.468 --> 29:41.635
the threat is real . Um If you've read

29:41.635 --> 29:43.412
the National Defense Strategy ,

29:43.412 --> 29:45.635
Homeland is no longer a sanctuary , I ,

29:45.635 --> 29:47.801
I believe that that is absolutely true

29:47.801 --> 29:49.912
and the capability out there that our

29:49.912 --> 29:49.839
adversaries have . So that's one of

29:49.849 --> 29:52.050
them , but just the ability for the

29:52.060 --> 29:54.839
draw that Denver provides and the front

29:54.849 --> 29:57.400
range , uh you know , more over I would

29:57.410 --> 29:59.939
say is , is how many people can come to

29:59.949 --> 30:02.060
have come to Denver and say , I don't

30:02.060 --> 30:04.005
want to live there . I mean , that

30:04.005 --> 30:06.171
place people love living in Colorado .

30:06.171 --> 30:08.393
Uh It's just a great place to be , it's

30:08.393 --> 30:10.505
very attractive for families . And so

30:10.505 --> 30:12.449
we are afforded the opportunity to

30:12.449 --> 30:14.560
recruit highly talented folks to come

30:14.560 --> 30:16.671
here to that are smart enough to work

30:16.671 --> 30:18.838
on the Jets . Uh That , that , that uh

30:18.838 --> 30:20.949
are in the back shops , you know , in

30:20.949 --> 30:22.893
the cyber realm . Um These are all

30:22.893 --> 30:24.893
folks that we , we can , we can tap

30:24.893 --> 30:27.116
into and that expertise uh that we have

30:27.116 --> 30:29.116
access to here in the front range ,

30:29.116 --> 30:31.227
which really puts us in a very strong

30:31.227 --> 30:33.227
posture from that perspective . And

30:33.227 --> 30:35.393
frankly , I think , you know , we do a

30:35.393 --> 30:37.560
very good job of Colorado of retaining

30:37.560 --> 30:39.671
our folks . You know , I think people

30:39.671 --> 30:41.838
are very from what I've seen and , you

30:41.838 --> 30:41.780
know , I've been on the job two months ,

30:41.790 --> 30:43.957
so I will dig deeper . But from what I

30:43.957 --> 30:46.179
see is folks , folks really enjoy being

30:46.179 --> 30:48.179
here and that retention rate really

30:48.179 --> 30:50.401
helps us as well . So when you have the

30:50.401 --> 30:52.568
expertise and the flying cadre that we

30:52.568 --> 30:55.060
do here , some of the most talented

30:55.069 --> 30:57.125
fighter pilots you'll ever meet , uh

30:57.125 --> 30:59.236
some of the most talented crew chiefs

30:59.236 --> 31:01.236
you'll ever meet and support assets

31:01.236 --> 31:03.347
that we have here . That , that makes

31:03.347 --> 31:05.458
this place uh really an attractive uh

31:05.458 --> 31:07.625
location for follow on , for follow on

31:07.625 --> 31:09.402
fighters . And , you know , I'm

31:09.402 --> 31:11.660
agnostic to the platform , uh I'm ready

31:11.670 --> 31:13.920
for whatever that follow on is F-35 .

31:13.930 --> 31:16.152
Seems like the natural progression just

31:16.152 --> 31:18.152
the way that it is designed is very

31:18.152 --> 31:20.800
similar to an F-16 . So that would be

31:20.810 --> 31:23.032
uh fantastic where we can get that . Uh

31:23.032 --> 31:25.254
F-15 EX is the other jet coming off the

31:25.254 --> 31:27.421
line right now . Happy to have that as

31:27.421 --> 31:29.421
well . Whatever the next thing that

31:29.421 --> 31:31.254
gives us longevity into the next

31:31.254 --> 31:33.477
generation is , is perfectly fine and I

31:33.477 --> 31:35.588
know we have uh congressional support

31:35.588 --> 31:37.754
from uh Congressman Crowe who has been

31:37.754 --> 31:39.866
an absolute champion uh on our behalf

31:39.866 --> 31:41.921
that has helped us get their writing

31:41.921 --> 31:44.143
language into the national uh uh the ND

31:44.143 --> 31:46.366
A uh National Defense Authorization Act

31:46.366 --> 31:48.366
uh to help us continue along that ,

31:48.366 --> 31:50.920
that path . So I feel very confident uh

31:50.930 --> 31:53.439
that we will have F-35s uh in the line ,

31:53.449 --> 31:55.505
maybe not in my time frame while I'm

31:55.505 --> 31:57.782
here . This takes a little bit of time .

31:57.782 --> 31:59.893
But as long as we are continuing down

31:59.893 --> 31:59.569
that path , I think we can have an

31:59.579 --> 32:01.690
announcement that we are one of those

32:01.690 --> 32:03.912
bases that will be located . It will be

32:03.912 --> 32:06.079
uh will be getting a follow on fighter

32:06.079 --> 32:05.800
in the , in the next , you know , in

32:05.810 --> 32:08.329
the coming year . So if we can have

32:08.339 --> 32:10.283
that announcement while I'm here ,

32:10.283 --> 32:12.450
fantastic . It's great . Uh I , I feel

32:12.450 --> 32:14.561
like I've played one small part of it

32:14.561 --> 32:14.530
and there's a much bigger piece that's

32:14.540 --> 32:16.484
been played by a lot of , a lot of

32:16.484 --> 32:18.651
folks to make that happen . But I feel

32:18.651 --> 32:20.707
confident that that's gonna happen .

32:20.707 --> 32:22.484
And then the other part is , is

32:22.484 --> 32:22.280
something near and dear to you is the

32:22.290 --> 32:24.650
space side of the house . You know . Um

32:24.859 --> 32:27.081
One of the things I have seen is on the

32:27.081 --> 32:29.489
space side , uh creating the space

32:29.500 --> 32:31.780
National Guard , we have a very good

32:31.790 --> 32:33.846
relationship here of Buckley between

32:33.846 --> 32:37.040
the active component uh here at 4/60

32:37.280 --> 32:40.599
and base base delta four and two .

32:40.709 --> 32:43.130
here , uh the relationship we have

32:43.140 --> 32:45.251
between the guard and the active duty

32:45.251 --> 32:47.251
is really , really good . And as we

32:47.251 --> 32:49.029
start to progress into the next

32:49.029 --> 32:51.140
generation of whatever our space , uh

32:51.140 --> 32:53.307
you know , missile warning systems and

32:53.307 --> 32:55.418
whatnot are , I feel that we're gonna

32:55.418 --> 32:58.739
be very , uh we're gonna be a uh you

32:58.750 --> 33:01.069
know , a , an integral part of , of

33:01.079 --> 33:04.939
whatever that future is now , we will

33:04.949 --> 33:06.727
probably , we will need a space

33:06.727 --> 33:08.727
National Guard to make that as that

33:08.727 --> 33:10.782
happen as well . And whatever hap is

33:10.782 --> 33:12.949
happening in the higher echelons of DC

33:12.949 --> 33:15.116
and the decision making process of why

33:15.116 --> 33:17.116
or why not a space National Guard ,

33:17.116 --> 33:19.282
well , outside of our ability to do to

33:19.282 --> 33:21.449
affect that really other than uh to be

33:21.449 --> 33:23.449
proactive with our senators and our

33:23.449 --> 33:25.616
congressmen and women to help us uh to

33:25.616 --> 33:27.930
reach out from a perspective of , you

33:27.939 --> 33:29.828
know , unity of effort , unity of

33:29.828 --> 33:31.772
command , just like we have an Air

33:31.772 --> 33:33.772
National Guard component of the Air

33:33.772 --> 33:35.995
Force . We should have a space National

33:35.995 --> 33:37.939
Guard component of the Space Force

33:37.939 --> 33:37.229
going forward . It just makes perfect

33:37.239 --> 33:39.839
sense . And I don't think even at the

33:39.849 --> 33:42.000
higher echelons of space force that

33:42.010 --> 33:43.899
they want to give up the absolute

33:43.899 --> 33:46.121
capability and the expertise we have in

33:46.121 --> 33:48.099
the Guard uh by not naming a space

33:48.109 --> 33:49.887
National Guard . So I feel very

33:49.887 --> 33:52.109
confident that that will happen as well

33:52.109 --> 33:54.220
uh to very little effort on my part ,

33:54.220 --> 33:56.331
other than being an advocate for it ,

33:56.331 --> 33:58.498
uh that has really been at our , a tag

33:58.498 --> 34:00.609
tag level and our congressional level

34:00.609 --> 34:02.776
and our , and our senior leadership in

34:02.776 --> 34:05.053
DC that has helped us get that through ,

34:05.053 --> 34:07.276
you know , a constant pressure campaign

34:07.276 --> 34:09.609
that I think has been uh very effective .

34:09.609 --> 34:11.831
And um thankfully , I'm , I'm glad that

34:11.831 --> 34:11.439
they're advocating for that for us in

34:11.449 --> 34:14.060
Colorado . So , uh I actually fully

34:14.070 --> 34:16.292
expect that we'll have a space National

34:16.292 --> 34:18.070
Guard as well as , as part of a

34:18.070 --> 34:18.060
component of the space force going

34:18.070 --> 34:19.959
forward and we will have the next

34:19.959 --> 34:22.181
iteration of missile warning systems um

34:22.181 --> 34:24.189
in Greeley and moving forward . So

34:24.199 --> 34:26.199
that's kind of where I think we are

34:26.199 --> 34:27.810
from a mission uh capability

34:27.810 --> 34:30.100
perspective . Yeah , I've known for

34:30.110 --> 34:32.443
years , uh Lieutenant Colonel Andy Gold ,

34:32.443 --> 34:34.666
he's the commander of the 1 38 . Yeah ,

34:34.666 --> 34:36.554
he's a great guy . And , um , and

34:36.554 --> 34:38.666
that's something that he's championed

34:38.666 --> 34:40.388
for a long , long time too and

34:40.388 --> 34:40.379
campaigned for . And he's always just

34:40.389 --> 34:42.979
put in very , you know , understandable

34:42.989 --> 34:45.399
terms where the large majority of his ,

34:45.409 --> 34:47.409
his folks are DS GS and their

34:47.419 --> 34:49.197
background all comes from their

34:49.197 --> 34:51.197
civilian or their , their expertise

34:51.197 --> 34:53.308
comes from their civilian backgrounds

34:53.308 --> 34:55.308
by and large of a lot of those guys

34:55.308 --> 34:57.475
being Lockheed Martin . You're right ,

34:57.475 --> 34:59.419
Venus is , the soldier gives us an

34:59.419 --> 35:01.419
expert , gives us an edge . And the

35:01.419 --> 35:03.641
reason being is because I , I know that

35:03.641 --> 35:05.752
there is this thought process that if

35:05.752 --> 35:07.752
we are , we are a large part , um ,

35:07.752 --> 35:09.929
part time force and , and that's by

35:09.939 --> 35:12.106
design , it should be that way . We're

35:12.106 --> 35:14.328
35% full time . I like that . Um I like

35:14.328 --> 35:17.560
that , that ratio 35 full time to 65%

35:17.570 --> 35:20.389
part time . That part time force is ,

35:20.850 --> 35:23.017
you know , it's not like they don't do

35:23.017 --> 35:25.072
anything on the outside when they're

35:25.072 --> 35:27.239
not , you know , they're , they , they

35:27.239 --> 35:29.350
are , they are practicing their skill

35:29.350 --> 35:31.350
set day in and day out for somebody

35:31.350 --> 35:33.461
else out there , whether it be in the

35:33.461 --> 35:35.461
defense industry or it's in the law

35:35.461 --> 35:37.572
enforcement industry or whatever that

35:37.572 --> 35:39.683
is , that provides us an edge because

35:39.683 --> 35:39.159
they are in and out and around the

35:39.169 --> 35:41.580
community , right ? So they know how to

35:41.590 --> 35:43.646
interact with our congressional dele

35:43.646 --> 35:45.312
delegations and our , and our

35:45.312 --> 35:47.646
leadership . And that's , that's , that ,

35:47.646 --> 35:49.868
that is part of uh what makes guardsmen

35:49.868 --> 35:52.399
um , uh an asset to our national

35:52.409 --> 35:53.853
defense . And I'm why I'm

35:53.853 --> 35:55.965
wholeheartedly obviously biased , but

35:55.965 --> 35:58.131
I'm also a zealot when it comes to the

35:58.131 --> 36:00.131
National Guard and how , how much I

36:00.131 --> 36:02.242
believe in this , in the footprint of

36:02.242 --> 36:02.169
what the , uh what the International

36:02.179 --> 36:04.800
Guard provides , uh our community and

36:05.270 --> 36:07.381
you know , these are folks that a lot

36:07.381 --> 36:09.437
of times are taking pay cuts to come

36:09.437 --> 36:11.750
work in the guard on a drill weekend or

36:11.760 --> 36:14.038
to go on . You know , that is devotion .

36:14.038 --> 36:15.927
That's kind , that is the kind of

36:15.927 --> 36:18.219
dedication and sacrifice that really is

36:18.229 --> 36:20.396
somebody that really cares about their

36:20.396 --> 36:22.451
community and what they're doing for

36:22.451 --> 36:24.507
their country . You cannot replicate

36:24.507 --> 36:24.379
that . I mean , that is , that is worth

36:24.389 --> 36:26.500
its weight in gold and I have nothing

36:26.500 --> 36:28.556
but the highest uh respect for folks

36:28.556 --> 36:30.667
that are willing to do that uh day in

36:30.667 --> 36:32.278
and day out . But they get a

36:32.278 --> 36:34.389
perspective of what's going on in the

36:34.389 --> 36:34.159
outside world if we call it the outside

36:34.169 --> 36:36.340
world . But if you want to talk about

36:36.350 --> 36:38.572
just the value proposition of the Guard

36:38.572 --> 36:40.794
in general is , is , you know , their ,

36:40.794 --> 36:43.500
their health care , their things like

36:43.510 --> 36:45.677
that , that we don't have to pay for ,

36:45.677 --> 36:47.621
that isn't a value to the American

36:47.621 --> 36:49.788
taxpayers . So they get a very skilled

36:49.788 --> 36:51.566
member of the community and the

36:51.566 --> 36:53.566
military at pennies on the dollar .

36:53.566 --> 36:55.677
Comparatively speaking to those , you

36:55.677 --> 36:57.843
know , where we have to pay for health

36:57.843 --> 36:57.370
care , day in and day out and , and P

36:57.379 --> 36:59.490
CS uh you know , movements across the

36:59.490 --> 37:01.379
country or overseas and whatnot .

37:01.379 --> 37:03.490
That's the value proposition that you

37:03.490 --> 37:05.101
have of the expertise of the

37:05.101 --> 37:05.100
International Guard and particularly

37:05.110 --> 37:07.409
the language . Very impressive . Well ,

37:07.419 --> 37:09.586
and also , you know , like I said , my

37:09.586 --> 37:11.530
extensive extensive time that I've

37:11.530 --> 37:13.586
spent up at Greeley a lot of the , a

37:13.586 --> 37:15.752
large majority of the people that I've

37:15.752 --> 37:17.919
worked around have made entire careers

37:17.919 --> 37:20.030
out of working there . And I , I just

37:20.030 --> 37:22.590
see , like , as much knowledge that

37:22.600 --> 37:24.767
goes into those systems that they work

37:24.767 --> 37:26.878
on , especially a lot of those legacy

37:26.878 --> 37:28.822
systems , it would , it would seem

37:28.822 --> 37:31.399
difficult for there to be a two or four

37:31.409 --> 37:34.340
year turn turnover and to retrain folks

37:34.350 --> 37:36.461
and instead of having these guys that

37:36.461 --> 37:38.628
are seasoned and have been there for ,

37:38.628 --> 37:40.794
you know , a decade or more working on

37:40.794 --> 37:40.739
this stuff . Yeah , I think you're

37:40.750 --> 37:42.750
optimistic if you're saying that it

37:42.750 --> 37:44.861
would , it would take the active duty

37:44.861 --> 37:46.639
to recapture the same amount of

37:46.639 --> 37:48.694
capability of a space National Guard

37:48.694 --> 37:50.806
doesn't , I would , I would say , you

37:50.806 --> 37:50.510
know , you're looking on the , on the

37:50.520 --> 37:52.742
order of magnitude of a decade or maybe

37:52.742 --> 37:54.964
longer or they may never even get there

37:54.964 --> 37:56.853
depending on how long it takes to

37:56.853 --> 37:56.514
actually recruit these people , folks

37:56.524 --> 37:58.691
train them . I mean , right now we are

37:58.691 --> 38:00.802
doing the school , the Grey is acting

38:00.802 --> 38:02.580
as a schoolhouse for the active

38:02.580 --> 38:04.746
component for a lot of their folks are

38:04.746 --> 38:06.635
just teaching them basic , here's

38:06.635 --> 38:08.746
missile warning systems and whatnot ,

38:08.746 --> 38:10.857
right ? If that all goes away , who's

38:10.857 --> 38:13.080
gonna be training those folks , right ?

38:13.080 --> 38:15.080
That is something they will have to

38:15.080 --> 38:14.754
organically build internally . And I

38:14.764 --> 38:17.324
just , man , that is a huge gap in

38:17.334 --> 38:19.501
National Defense right there by simply

38:19.501 --> 38:21.501
not , not creating a space National

38:21.504 --> 38:23.726
Guard , right ? I I don't know if the ,

38:23.726 --> 38:26.004
if the , if the nation can afford that .

38:26.004 --> 38:29.770
So being this is kind of uh changing

38:29.780 --> 38:32.129
topics a little bit but being in , in ,

38:32.139 --> 38:34.361
in a leadership position for as long as

38:34.361 --> 38:37.379
you've had and that evolving and

38:37.389 --> 38:39.611
changing and being in so many different

38:39.611 --> 38:41.611
units and types of positions , what

38:41.611 --> 38:43.778
would you say your leadership style is

38:44.250 --> 38:46.889
family oriented ? Um

38:48.820 --> 38:50.764
Great question brought again , but

38:50.764 --> 38:52.820
let's , let's try to narrow it if we

38:52.820 --> 38:54.987
can . So I believe , uh whether you're

38:54.987 --> 38:57.042
running a or maybe even how has your

38:57.042 --> 38:59.153
perspective changed from , you know ,

38:59.153 --> 39:01.431
over the years in different milestones ?

39:01.431 --> 39:03.542
Yeah , the word that pops in the mind

39:03.542 --> 39:03.219
constantly is trust , right ? Uh

39:03.229 --> 39:05.285
Whether you're running a fortune 500

39:05.285 --> 39:07.396
company or a military organization or

39:07.396 --> 39:09.507
whatnot or you're part of a Navy seal

39:09.507 --> 39:11.618
team six , it does not matter . Trust

39:11.618 --> 39:13.729
is inherent . If you have trust , you

39:13.729 --> 39:15.951
will have a , you will have a uh uh a ,

39:15.951 --> 39:18.229
a positive and successful organization ,

39:18.229 --> 39:20.229
right ? How well , how do you build

39:20.229 --> 39:22.118
trust ? You know , that's kind of

39:22.118 --> 39:24.285
nebulous , you know . Um but I do know

39:24.285 --> 39:26.451
when you have , if you've ever been in

39:26.451 --> 39:26.270
an organization where you do not feel

39:26.280 --> 39:27.947
like your , your boss or your

39:27.947 --> 39:30.002
supervisor or your buddies have your

39:30.002 --> 39:33.469
back or you feel like uh this is an un

39:33.500 --> 39:35.000
un , you know , I , I feel

39:35.000 --> 39:37.056
uncomfortable in this organization .

39:37.056 --> 39:38.889
You know , people are looking to

39:38.889 --> 39:41.111
crucify me , vice , build me up or make

39:41.111 --> 39:43.333
me successful . That is a lack of trust

39:43.333 --> 39:45.500
and that is very , you can cut through

39:45.500 --> 39:47.556
it a lot of times with a knife , you

39:47.556 --> 39:49.722
can feel it , right ? So I , I don't ,

39:49.722 --> 39:52.056
I , I always use vision first , mission ,

39:52.056 --> 39:54.222
second , right ? So my vision is is we

39:54.222 --> 39:56.500
are a , we are a trusting organization .

39:56.500 --> 39:58.611
We will build and we will build trust

39:58.611 --> 40:00.722
internally with internal and external

40:00.722 --> 40:02.944
uh uh stakeholders . Now , that's fancy

40:02.944 --> 40:05.000
words for saying that uh I will work

40:05.000 --> 40:07.222
every day to endeavor to make sure that

40:07.222 --> 40:09.333
uh folks are taken care of . They are

40:09.333 --> 40:11.556
championed , they are challenged , they

40:11.556 --> 40:13.722
are defended and we will make them the

40:13.722 --> 40:16.010
best version of them . In turn , they

40:16.020 --> 40:18.560
will trust us as an organization that

40:18.570 --> 40:20.681
they , we have their best interest at

40:20.681 --> 40:23.080
heart . Therefore , when I ask that our

40:23.090 --> 40:25.540
folks and , and frankly , we're again ,

40:25.550 --> 40:27.772
we're in the military out . We will ask

40:27.772 --> 40:29.994
our folks to be in harm's way . That is

40:29.994 --> 40:32.217
what we've done . That's what we signed

40:32.217 --> 40:34.439
up to do . You and I took the same oath

40:34.439 --> 40:34.389
that was the oath we took . But what we

40:34.399 --> 40:36.850
also took is that oath is not , it was

40:36.860 --> 40:38.860
a contract that you and I are gonna

40:38.860 --> 40:41.082
take care of each other and it does not

40:41.082 --> 40:43.193
matter where you're in the uniform or

40:43.193 --> 40:45.249
what rank structure you work in . We

40:45.249 --> 40:45.229
have taken an oath that this is not a

40:45.239 --> 40:47.517
transactional relationship . This is a ,

40:47.517 --> 40:49.683
we will defend you with our lives that

40:49.683 --> 40:51.517
is different than working on the

40:51.517 --> 40:53.370
outside . In , in a non-military

40:53.379 --> 40:55.490
organization . Very few organizations

40:55.490 --> 40:57.490
where you ask somebody to put their

40:57.490 --> 40:59.379
life , their well-being and their

40:59.379 --> 41:01.379
family in your hands and for you to

41:01.379 --> 41:03.379
take care of them when I show up to

41:03.379 --> 41:05.268
work every day , that is what I'm

41:05.268 --> 41:07.379
thinking is . How will I take care of

41:07.379 --> 41:09.490
the folks ? All 1616 119 folks , some

41:09.490 --> 41:11.546
of the greatest patriots in Americas

41:11.546 --> 41:13.712
you'll ever meet . How can I take care

41:13.712 --> 41:15.935
of them and how in turn can I help them

41:15.935 --> 41:17.768
take care of those that they are

41:17.768 --> 41:19.990
charged and , and entrusted with taking

41:19.990 --> 41:22.629
care of as well ? So , foundational uh

41:22.639 --> 41:26.189
we are built in a house of trust and

41:26.199 --> 41:28.310
conscience , competence and character

41:28.310 --> 41:30.530
are the mortar and the foundation that

41:30.540 --> 41:32.707
holds that trust together . Now we can

41:32.707 --> 41:34.818
go into what the definitions of those

41:34.818 --> 41:36.651
are . I have my own . But what I

41:36.651 --> 41:38.651
challenge folks to do is when I say

41:38.651 --> 41:40.762
that we are an organization of , of ,

41:40.762 --> 41:42.429
of competence , character and

41:42.439 --> 41:44.772
conscience , what does that mean to you ?

41:44.772 --> 41:46.883
And can we find common ground of what

41:46.883 --> 41:49.050
those definitions are ? And now we are

41:49.050 --> 41:51.272
working towards the same to the same um

41:51.272 --> 41:54.280
uh end state and the same goal . Notice ,

41:54.290 --> 41:56.401
I didn't say anything about mission .

41:56.401 --> 41:58.459
The mission will change the mission

41:58.469 --> 42:00.469
changes , what we do and what we're

42:00.469 --> 42:02.191
asked to do as a military will

42:02.191 --> 42:04.358
constantly evolve and change . That is

42:04.358 --> 42:06.590
the nature of security . What will not

42:06.600 --> 42:08.979
change though is how we take care of

42:08.989 --> 42:10.989
folks , how people are valued in an

42:10.989 --> 42:13.719
organization , they will be flexible

42:13.870 --> 42:15.981
with whatever you ask them to do . If

42:15.981 --> 42:18.037
they know that you will take care of

42:18.037 --> 42:20.092
them , whatever it is they're asking

42:20.092 --> 42:22.314
them to do . So that is how I , that is

42:22.314 --> 42:24.481
my leadership style . That is how I go

42:24.481 --> 42:26.481
forward every day is , is how can I

42:26.481 --> 42:28.481
teach you to trust me and how can I

42:28.481 --> 42:30.860
earn your trust or how can I trust you

42:30.870 --> 42:32.981
and how can I in turn earn your trust

42:32.981 --> 42:35.229
and go on and in , in doing that , we

42:35.239 --> 42:37.295
will all have the same goal and that

42:37.295 --> 42:39.295
same ends day , right ? And I think

42:39.295 --> 42:41.517
that that's a , that's a very essential

42:41.517 --> 42:43.461
component of that is , is trust is

42:43.461 --> 42:45.683
earned , right ? You know , a leader is

42:45.683 --> 42:47.795
not if I , if I easily lost , sorry ,

42:47.795 --> 42:49.850
sorry to interrupt you . But I think

42:49.850 --> 42:52.072
the point is , yes , it is , it is very

42:52.072 --> 42:54.469
hard to earn trust . But once you have

42:54.479 --> 42:56.646
it , it is something you never want to

42:56.646 --> 42:58.535
lose because you , you've been in

42:58.535 --> 43:00.090
situations , you've been in

43:00.090 --> 43:02.312
organizations where there was a lack of

43:02.312 --> 43:04.479
trust and you never want to go back to

43:04.479 --> 43:06.535
the police , right ? Iii I say it to

43:06.535 --> 43:08.646
folks all the time and I'm not afraid

43:08.646 --> 43:08.129
to say it is this , there has been

43:08.139 --> 43:10.306
times even in this organization when I

43:10.306 --> 43:12.361
was younger , when I had a hard time

43:12.361 --> 43:14.417
driving to work , I would show up in

43:14.417 --> 43:16.528
the , in the , uh , parking lot and I

43:16.528 --> 43:18.750
didn't want to go to work that will not

43:18.750 --> 43:21.028
happen on my watch . Everybody will it .

43:21.028 --> 43:23.250
Now things go on in people's family and

43:23.250 --> 43:25.472
what not . I get that but it will be an

43:25.472 --> 43:25.300
environment where you want to show up

43:25.310 --> 43:28.699
every day where you , where you are not

43:28.709 --> 43:30.598
speeding because I don't want you

43:30.598 --> 43:32.487
speeding , but I want you to look

43:32.487 --> 43:34.709
forward to whatever it is we're doing ,

43:34.709 --> 43:36.709
going to German air defense , going

43:36.709 --> 43:38.765
turning jets , whatever it is you're

43:38.765 --> 43:40.820
doing , I want you to be happy about

43:40.820 --> 43:43.042
showing up today every day , uh , to be

43:43.042 --> 43:42.959
at work so that you're not in the

43:43.110 --> 43:45.277
situation that I was in . Uh , man , I

43:45.277 --> 43:47.499
don't want anyone to ever feel that way

43:47.499 --> 43:49.610
that I did at one point and I don't .

43:49.610 --> 43:51.721
Yeah . Which is great . Right . I was

43:51.721 --> 43:53.721
actually having a conversation very

43:53.721 --> 43:53.679
similar to that yesterday with a good

43:53.689 --> 43:55.750
friend of mine . And what makes me

43:55.760 --> 43:58.159
satisfied , you know , the , the years

43:58.169 --> 44:00.280
that I've been working full time with

44:00.280 --> 44:02.979
the guard is there's never a day that I

44:02.989 --> 44:05.045
dread going to work . Just like with

44:05.045 --> 44:07.211
what you're saying . I'm never there .

44:07.211 --> 44:09.378
It used to be a time like when I was ,

44:09.378 --> 44:11.378
you know , working , you know , low

44:11.378 --> 44:13.211
skilled type jobs and I was very

44:13.211 --> 44:15.322
expendable , disposable and every day

44:15.322 --> 44:15.290
it was just like , oh , help me get

44:15.300 --> 44:17.411
through the day , help me get through

44:17.411 --> 44:17.310
the week I just need to get through the

44:17.320 --> 44:19.487
weekend . And I , I can't remember the

44:19.487 --> 44:21.542
last time like that , I've driven to

44:21.542 --> 44:23.598
work and I've had that feeling where

44:23.598 --> 44:23.530
I've had the Sunday blues where I'm

44:23.540 --> 44:25.318
like , oh , I got to go to work

44:25.318 --> 44:27.820
tomorrow . So I think that , that in

44:27.959 --> 44:30.189
creating that environment where people

44:30.199 --> 44:33.570
do feel valued and listened to and I

44:33.669 --> 44:35.669
think that that is essential , just

44:35.669 --> 44:37.725
like you're saying , well , what you

44:37.725 --> 44:39.558
said is important so well said ,

44:39.558 --> 44:41.725
probably better , you know , much more

44:41.725 --> 44:44.002
eloquent than me when it comes to that .

44:44.002 --> 44:43.649
But the word you said right there is

44:43.659 --> 44:46.020
expendable . So that is an operative

44:46.030 --> 44:48.030
word in my mind . Uh I use the word

44:48.030 --> 44:50.459
commodity , but we are not expendable .

44:50.469 --> 44:53.439
Disposable . Yeah , interchangeable my

44:53.449 --> 44:55.782
point . Those words are interchangeable ,

44:55.782 --> 44:57.838
right ? When you , when you took the

44:57.838 --> 45:00.005
oath that I did , when we all took the

45:00.005 --> 44:59.820
collective oath , you know , we have

44:59.830 --> 45:02.330
now signed up to literally offer our

45:02.340 --> 45:04.520
lives in defense of this country that

45:04.530 --> 45:06.729
cannot be overstated , that is valued

45:06.739 --> 45:08.906
in my book . And I will treat you that

45:08.906 --> 45:10.906
you are . If you're willing to make

45:10.906 --> 45:13.072
that sacrifice , the same one , I am ,

45:13.072 --> 45:15.295
I have no , no option but to value your

45:15.295 --> 45:17.128
willingness to sacrifice for our

45:17.128 --> 45:19.350
country . That is truly sacrificing for

45:19.350 --> 45:21.683
something greater than yourself , right ?

45:21.683 --> 45:23.683
Which I know we will all we are all

45:23.683 --> 45:25.850
willing to do commodities , you know ,

45:25.850 --> 45:28.040
the the value of a commodity uh ebbs

45:28.050 --> 45:30.161
and flows , you know , you know , you

45:30.161 --> 45:32.328
gasoline is one , you know , um orange

45:32.328 --> 45:34.439
juice , whatever you want , pick your

45:34.439 --> 45:36.606
commodity of choice . But the value is

45:36.606 --> 45:38.772
based on market forces your value . To

45:38.772 --> 45:40.939
me . The value of every coag member to

45:40.939 --> 45:43.106
me is not , does not ebb and flow . It

45:43.106 --> 45:45.439
is on a constant high . It is always at ,

45:45.439 --> 45:47.606
at a high level . And you said it very

45:47.606 --> 45:49.772
well is , you know , in the military ,

45:49.772 --> 45:51.772
I think we have this , we have this

45:51.772 --> 45:53.939
persona that we have to be hard at all

45:53.939 --> 45:53.899
times . You know , we're tough , we can

45:53.909 --> 45:57.600
take anything . Um , frankly , that may

45:57.610 --> 45:59.666
be true in times there will be times

45:59.666 --> 46:01.777
that we have to do that in conflict .

46:01.777 --> 46:03.666
But on day in and day out basis ,

46:03.666 --> 46:03.610
people just want just what everybody

46:03.620 --> 46:05.676
else wants , they want to be heard ,

46:05.676 --> 46:07.787
they want to feel valued of what they

46:07.787 --> 46:09.787
do for the job that they're doing .

46:09.787 --> 46:09.300
They want to be recognized . These are

46:09.310 --> 46:11.477
very simple things for us to do and we

46:11.477 --> 46:13.754
should be doing them . And it actually ,

46:13.754 --> 46:15.810
it provides me a great deal of pride

46:15.810 --> 46:18.032
when I can offer that to folks . Uh I ,

46:18.032 --> 46:20.169
it fills me up . It , it build , I

46:20.179 --> 46:22.123
build off of it . I , I really , I

46:22.123 --> 46:24.800
really enjoy it and I hope folks that

46:24.810 --> 46:26.810
are in a leadership or a supervisor

46:26.810 --> 46:28.977
will do it as well . It doesn't matter

46:28.977 --> 46:30.810
if you're doing that just in the

46:30.810 --> 46:33.088
military or in the , in general . Well ,

46:33.088 --> 46:35.143
and it's important that we do create

46:35.143 --> 46:35.010
and foster that environment of

46:35.020 --> 46:37.020
inclusiveness too so that people do

46:37.020 --> 46:40.179
feel that they , they have equal value

46:40.189 --> 46:43.489
as everybody else . Yeah . Um You know ,

46:43.500 --> 46:45.639
and just another anecdote to go along

46:45.649 --> 46:47.871
with that . Um I mean , I had mentioned

46:47.871 --> 46:50.169
that my original intention years ago

46:50.179 --> 46:52.290
joining the Guard was like , this was

46:52.290 --> 46:54.179
my ticket to get my education and

46:54.179 --> 46:56.457
whatnot and my leadership at that time .

46:56.457 --> 46:59.389
All great guys well intended . Um But I

46:59.399 --> 47:02.530
think that they , you know , there was

47:02.540 --> 47:04.707
a lot of stagnation just because these

47:04.707 --> 47:06.762
guys were guys that have been in the

47:06.762 --> 47:08.669
job for , you know , almost like

47:08.679 --> 47:11.669
Vietnam era and maybe even kind of

47:11.679 --> 47:13.790
looked at me like , well , this guy's

47:13.790 --> 47:15.846
just trying to get through college ,

47:15.846 --> 47:15.510
you know , so he just , you know ,

47:15.520 --> 47:17.929
let's just , he's gonna come in , we'll

47:17.939 --> 47:20.389
have him mop the floor , take out trash

47:20.399 --> 47:23.040
whatever and , you know , it was kind

47:23.050 --> 47:25.217
of reciprocal where it was like , oh ,

47:25.217 --> 47:27.217
well , once I get through college ,

47:27.217 --> 47:29.161
like I really , you know , there's

47:29.161 --> 47:28.800
nothing really motivating me to stay

47:28.810 --> 47:31.959
here . Um I can say that the leadership

47:31.969 --> 47:35.699
that I've had or that has been replace

47:35.709 --> 47:37.876
those guys within the last five or six

47:37.876 --> 47:40.042
years complete , you know , 100 and 80

47:40.042 --> 47:42.265
degree turnaround where that stagnation

47:42.419 --> 47:45.409
is completely gone . Um And there is

47:45.419 --> 47:48.909
very much a genuine concern of making

47:48.919 --> 47:50.975
sure that everybody's taking care of

47:50.975 --> 47:53.141
everybody's feels valued and has worth

47:53.141 --> 47:56.820
and is this guy can contribute this be

47:56.830 --> 47:58.941
based off of this skill set and these

47:58.941 --> 48:01.108
aptitudes and the type of person he is

48:01.108 --> 48:03.330
instead of just one size fits all . And

48:03.330 --> 48:05.497
it , it is created an environment of ,

48:05.497 --> 48:07.608
you know , you want to be there , you

48:07.608 --> 48:09.774
look forward to being there and it's ,

48:09.774 --> 48:11.886
it's just night and day . So , well ,

48:11.886 --> 48:13.997
what you just said is important to me

48:13.997 --> 48:16.163
because you are living proof of that .

48:16.163 --> 48:16.020
What , what differentiates this

48:16.030 --> 48:18.239
military in general , but really the

48:18.250 --> 48:20.472
Air force in general is , is our NCO of

48:20.472 --> 48:22.472
which is what you are , right ? You

48:22.472 --> 48:25.479
meet uh militaries , which I have of ,

48:25.820 --> 48:28.169
you know , other militaries , Europe

48:28.179 --> 48:30.512
and South America , whatever , what you ,

48:30.512 --> 48:32.290
what , you know is the distinct

48:32.290 --> 48:34.290
difference on how their en enlisted

48:34.290 --> 48:36.401
cadre are treated as opposed to their

48:36.401 --> 48:39.100
officer cadre , uh our NC OS , they run

48:39.110 --> 48:41.277
the show . Let's be perfectly honest ,

48:41.277 --> 48:43.332
right ? Um They are the leadership ,

48:43.332 --> 48:45.610
the linchpin between senior leadership ,

48:45.610 --> 48:47.721
you know , at the wing level and your

48:47.721 --> 48:49.721
youngest airmen , guardsmen . Um So

48:49.721 --> 48:51.666
they are the linchpin of success ,

48:51.666 --> 48:53.888
right ? So how goes our NCO COP or ? So

48:53.888 --> 48:55.999
goes our organization writ large . Uh

48:55.999 --> 48:58.550
And that is why I'm very uh we're a

48:58.560 --> 49:02.550
very um uh you know , uh

49:03.320 --> 49:05.929
focused , I would say on the

49:05.939 --> 49:08.106
development of our NCO cop and to make

49:08.106 --> 49:10.272
sure that , you know , tech sergeant ,

49:10.272 --> 49:12.550
potentially next to be master sergeant ,

49:12.550 --> 49:14.883
you know , chance Johnson , uh you know ,

49:14.883 --> 49:17.106
you guys take that forward and build up

49:17.106 --> 49:20.229
our next uh our next cadre of young

49:20.239 --> 49:22.679
folks . It's not me . I will provide

49:22.689 --> 49:24.911
you the tools to do it . I will support

49:24.911 --> 49:27.022
you in doing that . But our NCO cadre

49:27.022 --> 49:29.659
is , is absolutely uh that is , uh it's

49:29.669 --> 49:31.979
irreplaceable if we're going to be a

49:31.989 --> 49:34.045
successful organization , successful

49:34.045 --> 49:36.378
military and international guard . Yeah .

49:36.378 --> 49:38.211
Well , and I think um chief host

49:38.211 --> 49:40.489
implemented a , a program about a year

49:40.500 --> 49:42.611
ago that I think has really addressed

49:42.611 --> 49:44.389
that . I think he called it the

49:44.389 --> 49:47.179
Breaking the Cycle um conference . And

49:47.189 --> 49:49.300
I , I attended the first one . It was

49:49.300 --> 49:51.133
at the , at Fort Carson , at the

49:51.133 --> 49:52.967
training center there and it was

49:52.967 --> 49:55.245
exactly that it was all tech sergeants ,

49:55.245 --> 49:57.467
all these sixes . And just about like ,

49:57.467 --> 49:59.780
how do we , how do we kind of break up

49:59.790 --> 50:02.290
the , the monotony of what's done up

50:02.300 --> 50:04.929
until this point ? You know , and , and ,

50:04.939 --> 50:07.750
and motivate you guys to want to

50:07.760 --> 50:10.139
develop into stronger leaders and in

50:10.149 --> 50:12.038
turn , develop the people who are

50:12.038 --> 50:14.770
coming up underneath you . So our job

50:14.780 --> 50:16.836
is to make the next one of us better

50:16.836 --> 50:18.947
than we are . That is that is what we

50:18.947 --> 50:21.239
do to serve our country , defend our ,

50:21.250 --> 50:23.919
the citizenry of Colorado and to build

50:23.929 --> 50:26.207
the next cadre better than what we are .

50:26.207 --> 50:28.318
You know , we will prolong this , you

50:28.318 --> 50:30.485
know , we , we are celebrating our 100

50:30.485 --> 50:30.469
year anniversary right now . I'd like

50:30.479 --> 50:32.646
to see in 200 years that we're still a

50:32.646 --> 50:34.812
kang still flying , whatever the ninth

50:34.812 --> 50:36.590
generation of fighter it is and

50:36.590 --> 50:38.701
whatever the 12th generation of space

50:38.701 --> 50:40.923
assets that we have . I , I want to see

50:40.923 --> 50:40.689
that and that's how we get to those

50:40.699 --> 50:43.409
places . I uh put out a call for

50:43.419 --> 50:45.739
questions . Uh This shouldn't be good .

50:45.750 --> 50:48.540
Yeah , since we , since I , I uh let

50:48.550 --> 50:50.661
people on , on social media know that

50:50.661 --> 50:52.772
we're gonna be talking this morning .

50:52.772 --> 50:54.994
This is from , uh Mark Kaiser . This is

50:54.994 --> 50:57.272
kind of a multipart question . He says ,

50:57.272 --> 50:59.328
um , what was the largest setback in

50:59.328 --> 51:01.760
his career in my career ? Right . Oh ,

51:01.949 --> 51:04.840
largest setback . Cause a lot of them

51:05.479 --> 51:07.479
just kind of thinking broadly about

51:07.479 --> 51:09.646
things like setbacks . He , he follows

51:09.646 --> 51:11.646
that up with , how did you overcome

51:11.646 --> 51:13.701
that setback ? So how do you just in

51:13.701 --> 51:15.757
general when you're encountered with

51:15.757 --> 51:15.620
those obstacles ? How do you , how do

51:15.629 --> 51:17.685
you face them ? Yeah , I think I , I

51:17.685 --> 51:19.851
think I kind of talked to you a little

51:19.851 --> 51:19.689
bit , you know , we , we think of what

51:19.699 --> 51:21.755
was one instance in your career that

51:21.755 --> 51:23.810
was a setback that you really had to

51:23.810 --> 51:25.977
learn from and what not . I think mine

51:25.977 --> 51:27.921
was and I kind of disgust it . The

51:27.921 --> 51:29.977
setback for me was a little bit of a

51:29.977 --> 51:32.199
disillusionment that uh from growing up

51:32.199 --> 51:34.255
in this organization , uh seeing the

51:34.255 --> 51:36.421
family mentality , seeing how it was .

51:36.421 --> 51:38.310
And then getting to having been a

51:38.310 --> 51:40.310
combat veteran and you know , a , a

51:40.310 --> 51:42.750
steely eyed fighter pilot , trench

51:42.760 --> 51:44.982
warfare kind of uh kind of pilot when I

51:44.982 --> 51:47.149
was a captain and whatnot and having ,

51:47.149 --> 51:49.260
being in an organization at the time

51:49.270 --> 51:51.270
that I wasn't really , you know , I

51:51.270 --> 51:53.381
didn't feel great about showing up to

51:53.381 --> 51:53.110
work every day because I was kind of

51:53.120 --> 51:55.231
treated like a second class citizen ,

51:55.231 --> 51:58.000
uh , at , at some , from some folks .

51:58.010 --> 52:00.409
So I just didn't dig that at all . And

52:00.659 --> 52:02.715
so that was one of those things that

52:02.715 --> 52:04.770
was a setback personally for me that

52:04.770 --> 52:06.770
I'm like , you know , I'm a , I'm a

52:06.770 --> 52:09.103
combat veteran . I've served my country ,

52:09.103 --> 52:08.540
I've been in harm's way . I've , I've

52:08.550 --> 52:10.606
done some things for my country that

52:10.606 --> 52:13.830
not many people do . Um , you know , I

52:13.840 --> 52:16.007
feel like I should be , uh , treated a

52:16.007 --> 52:18.173
little bit different . How did I , how

52:18.173 --> 52:20.340
did I change that ? What did I do ? Uh

52:20.340 --> 52:22.562
Well , I didn't quit . I didn't give up

52:22.562 --> 52:24.673
and I would encourage folks not to do

52:24.673 --> 52:26.840
that . I so sought out other options .

52:26.840 --> 52:28.951
And one of those options was to go to

52:28.951 --> 52:32.000
DC , um , to try my hand at , at the

52:32.010 --> 52:34.232
staff world which , you know , is , can

52:34.232 --> 52:36.729
be good or bad , I guess . But it

52:36.739 --> 52:39.580
opened a door and AAA different

52:39.590 --> 52:42.350
perspective and aperture that I would

52:42.360 --> 52:44.471
not have had had , I just stayed here

52:44.471 --> 52:46.471
mired in my own , you know , my own

52:46.471 --> 52:48.580
self pity or , or frustration or

52:48.590 --> 52:51.310
whatever that was . So that is what ,

52:51.320 --> 52:53.620
you know , it , you know , it's , it

52:53.629 --> 52:55.962
ain't going , it's not going , you know ,

52:55.962 --> 52:58.129
with the , the adage of it's not going

52:58.129 --> 52:57.120
your way right now . What are you gonna

52:57.129 --> 52:59.240
do about it ? You know , you're gonna

52:59.240 --> 52:59.020
quit , you're gonna cry . What are you

52:59.030 --> 53:01.850
gonna do ? Now ? It , it , you , you ,

53:01.860 --> 53:04.790
you find something else that um you may

53:04.800 --> 53:06.856
be a little bit of risk walking away

53:06.856 --> 53:08.967
from Colorado is tough . You know , a

53:08.967 --> 53:11.078
lot of times you , you leave Colorado

53:11.078 --> 53:12.911
and you can't come back or not .

53:12.911 --> 53:15.022
Something else happens or whatnot and

53:15.022 --> 53:14.969
this door closes for you . So I was , I

53:14.979 --> 53:17.780
was taking that risk . Uh But that was

53:17.790 --> 53:19.979
something that opened my uh aperture

53:19.989 --> 53:22.156
allowed me to go to a place like Naval

53:22.156 --> 53:24.211
War College and allowed me to become

53:24.211 --> 53:26.322
the A TC commander . And ultimately ,

53:26.322 --> 53:26.040
it allowed me to become the wing

53:26.050 --> 53:28.260
commander , the finest organization in

53:28.270 --> 53:30.603
the , in the , in the Guard and frankly ,

53:30.603 --> 53:33.739
the Air Force . Um So that is , is kind

53:33.750 --> 53:35.806
of what I would say . I wouldn't , I

53:35.806 --> 53:37.972
would not say it was like one distinct

53:37.972 --> 53:40.028
thing that I did that happened to me

53:40.028 --> 53:41.861
that was negative , that somehow

53:41.861 --> 53:43.917
changed my perspective . It was , it

53:43.917 --> 53:46.028
was a whole , it was a list of things

53:46.028 --> 53:48.139
and just an environment at the time .

53:48.139 --> 53:50.306
But having said that what I would like

53:50.306 --> 53:52.472
to encourage folks to do is seek other

53:52.472 --> 53:54.750
opportunities . There will always be a ,

53:54.750 --> 53:57.028
a home at the , if you're on our books ,

53:57.028 --> 53:56.659
once a coag member , you're always a

53:56.669 --> 53:58.929
coag member . If there's other things

53:58.939 --> 54:00.995
you want to go do that kind of , you

54:00.995 --> 54:03.106
know , builds your skill set , builds

54:03.106 --> 54:05.383
your knowledge base , whatever that is ,

54:05.489 --> 54:07.545
I encourage and I will help folks do

54:07.545 --> 54:09.767
that and provide them an opportunity to

54:09.767 --> 54:11.822
come back here and whatever capacity

54:11.822 --> 54:13.822
that may be part time , full time ,

54:13.822 --> 54:15.878
whatever it is , but the perspective

54:15.878 --> 54:18.100
and what that , how we , how we grow as

54:18.100 --> 54:20.322
an organization and , and as a from our

54:20.322 --> 54:22.489
folks going and doing other things and

54:22.489 --> 54:24.656
then bringing that knowledge base back

54:24.656 --> 54:26.711
to us and that experience back to us

54:26.711 --> 54:28.267
only helps our uh helps our

54:28.267 --> 54:30.211
organization and frankly helps our

54:30.211 --> 54:32.211
people in general . Ok . And when I

54:32.211 --> 54:34.322
hear that , I just , I hear don't get

54:34.322 --> 54:36.600
in a comfort zone . If you're in a rut ,

54:36.600 --> 54:38.822
don't stay in that comfort zone . We're

54:38.822 --> 54:38.715
in the military . Uh If you're in a

54:38.725 --> 54:40.503
comfort zone , there's probably

54:40.503 --> 54:42.534
something wrong , right ? Uh You

54:42.544 --> 54:46.500
probably need to seek out . Uh I

54:46.510 --> 54:48.843
assume that we have joined the military ,

54:48.843 --> 54:51.260
all of us have a , you know , a need

54:51.270 --> 54:53.270
for something else for some sort of

54:53.270 --> 54:55.326
experience , for some sort of risk ,

54:55.326 --> 54:57.326
for some sort of adventure . Uh You

54:57.326 --> 54:59.548
know . Yeah , it starts out as I need ,

54:59.548 --> 55:01.492
I need to pay for school , but you

55:01.492 --> 55:03.714
start to see all of the opportunities ,

55:03.714 --> 55:05.770
all the things that the military can

55:05.770 --> 55:07.992
provide you and the can provide you and

55:07.992 --> 55:07.949
you start going out . I , I'd like to

55:07.959 --> 55:10.181
experience other things . I want to get

55:10.181 --> 55:12.237
smarter on that . Oh , I didn't know

55:12.237 --> 55:12.070
that existed . I'd like to try to do

55:12.080 --> 55:14.080
something like that . So , yeah , I

55:14.080 --> 55:15.858
want that as an opportunity for

55:15.858 --> 55:18.191
everybody . And again , that's what cha ,

55:18.191 --> 55:20.191
when you're challenging your mind ,

55:20.191 --> 55:22.136
when you're challenging yourself ,

55:22.136 --> 55:21.610
that's where growth comes from . That's

55:21.620 --> 55:23.676
where the organization gets better .

55:23.676 --> 55:26.790
Yeah , he ends his question by asking ,

55:27.330 --> 55:29.441
is there something about your natural

55:29.441 --> 55:31.879
character or mindset that you've

55:31.889 --> 55:34.600
adopted to help with this ? Um ,

55:36.030 --> 55:38.252
my natural , well , first of all , uh ,

55:38.252 --> 55:42.030
type a personality by by definition as

55:42.040 --> 55:44.409
a fighter pilot . So , but I've learned

55:44.419 --> 55:46.586
to have to had to learn how to control

55:46.586 --> 55:48.586
that . Um My competitive nature has

55:48.586 --> 55:50.697
gotten a little bit less . So as I've

55:50.697 --> 55:53.360
gotten older , but um humility , uh I

55:53.370 --> 55:55.314
think one of the biggest character

55:55.314 --> 55:58.110
flaws is hubris , so hum humility and

55:58.120 --> 56:01.879
everything we do um providing an

56:01.889 --> 56:03.833
environment where other people are

56:03.833 --> 56:06.030
recognized . Uh That is something I

56:06.040 --> 56:08.389
endeavor to do . I frankly , I

56:08.399 --> 56:10.566
appreciate you giving me the podcast ,

56:10.566 --> 56:12.732
but , you know , being overtly talking

56:12.732 --> 56:14.788
by myself , this is something that's

56:14.788 --> 56:16.566
very uncomfortable for me to be

56:16.566 --> 56:18.788
perfectly honest . So I'm outside of my

56:18.788 --> 56:18.239
comfort zone as we as we are right now .

56:18.250 --> 56:20.639
I would prefer talking about the , the

56:20.649 --> 56:22.427
greatness of other folks in our

56:22.427 --> 56:24.649
organization , frankly , as a commander

56:24.649 --> 56:26.705
or as a supervisor , that's what you

56:26.705 --> 56:28.705
you seek out to do is is to somehow

56:28.705 --> 56:31.284
find ways to highlight the actions and

56:31.294 --> 56:33.350
the successes of the folks that work

56:33.350 --> 56:35.405
with you and for you uh by trying to

56:35.405 --> 56:37.461
find a way that you , you know , you

56:37.461 --> 56:39.294
can uh glorify yourself and your

56:39.294 --> 56:41.016
actions and whatnot , which is

56:41.016 --> 56:43.016
something II I really shy away from

56:43.016 --> 56:45.016
doing . Yeah . And I , I always say

56:45.016 --> 56:47.183
that humility is my favorite character

56:47.183 --> 56:46.879
trait . And I think it's also the

56:46.889 --> 56:49.669
hardest to achieve . And I think our ,

56:49.879 --> 56:51.935
you know , social media doesn't lend

56:51.935 --> 56:54.157
itself sometimes to have social media .

56:54.157 --> 56:56.101
I don't have a Facebook account of

56:56.101 --> 56:58.379
Instagram . I'm sure it's hard to be a ,

56:58.379 --> 57:00.490
be humble when you're a fighter pilot

57:00.490 --> 57:02.490
though too . That's , I , I've been

57:02.490 --> 57:04.768
accused of that a lot of times , right ?

57:04.768 --> 57:06.990
Arrogance and whatnot . I think there's

57:06.990 --> 57:06.219
a fine line to the untrained eye . I

57:06.229 --> 57:08.118
think there's a fine line between

57:08.118 --> 57:10.173
arrogance and confidence and I think

57:10.173 --> 57:12.173
those that are arrogant usually get

57:12.173 --> 57:14.285
either self uh self eliminated , self

57:14.285 --> 57:16.173
eliminate or they get uh they get

57:16.173 --> 57:18.285
weeded out because nobody wants to be

57:18.285 --> 57:20.618
around somebody that's arrogant , right ?

57:20.618 --> 57:20.030
Uh But somebody that is confident when

57:20.040 --> 57:22.318
you look at them and you know , you go ,

57:22.318 --> 57:25.350
I know that no matter what is going on ,

57:25.360 --> 57:27.830
you know , mass chaos around us , that

57:27.840 --> 57:30.340
person or those people will have what

57:30.350 --> 57:32.517
it takes to be confident in their , in

57:32.517 --> 57:34.461
their um in their capabilities and

57:34.461 --> 57:36.350
their abilities to get us through

57:36.350 --> 57:38.461
whatever that action is . And I think

57:38.461 --> 57:41.389
that is a very , um a very important

57:41.399 --> 57:44.189
trait as , as military leaders is that

57:44.199 --> 57:46.366
we have to , when , when mass chaos is

57:46.366 --> 57:48.421
going on around you , you have to be

57:48.421 --> 57:50.366
able to synthesize down to what is

57:50.366 --> 57:52.477
important . How do I take care of the

57:52.477 --> 57:54.643
folks that are around me and how do we

57:54.643 --> 57:56.421
get through this uh to the next

57:56.421 --> 57:58.255
whatever it is we're doing right

57:58.255 --> 58:00.088
without freaking out over , over

58:00.088 --> 58:02.310
certain things . So I think what we say

58:02.310 --> 58:01.989
in the jet is , is your jet could be on

58:02.000 --> 58:04.222
fire , but you always try to sound cool

58:04.222 --> 58:06.500
on the radio no matter what's going on .

58:06.500 --> 58:08.667
Was there anything else that you wanna

58:08.667 --> 58:10.778
add , sir ? Hm . What I'd like to put

58:10.778 --> 58:13.709
out there is , first of all , uh uh

58:14.689 --> 58:16.840
again , this is a family , right ? Uh

58:16.850 --> 58:18.961
I'm a member of the family . Yeah , I

58:18.961 --> 58:21.379
mean , I'm charged with the future and

58:21.389 --> 58:23.667
the , and the , the forward , you know ,

58:23.667 --> 58:25.722
the forward action of this , of this

58:25.722 --> 58:27.889
wing , but we are in this together . I

58:27.889 --> 58:30.111
value what people have to tell me and ,

58:30.111 --> 58:32.278
and if you are considering moving to a

58:32.278 --> 58:34.500
different , uh , national Guard base or

58:34.500 --> 58:36.667
moving to the Reserves or whatever , I

58:36.667 --> 58:38.833
want to talk to you before you leave .

58:38.833 --> 58:41.056
Um , if you are having troubles in your

58:41.056 --> 58:40.620
organization , I want to talk to you .

58:40.629 --> 58:42.962
I wanna hear what you have to say . Now ,

58:42.962 --> 58:45.018
I would prefer you went through your

58:45.018 --> 58:47.185
chain of command . We have that in the

58:47.185 --> 58:49.240
military . We're very disciplined in

58:49.240 --> 58:51.407
that and we should be , but again , uh

58:51.407 --> 58:53.518
as a coag member , this is for life ,

58:53.518 --> 58:53.419
right ? 20 years . It's not like the

58:53.429 --> 58:55.596
active duty where you do a three years

58:55.596 --> 58:57.818
and then your P CS into the next gig we

58:57.818 --> 58:59.985
are in this for life . So we , we need

58:59.985 --> 59:02.207
to know each other and know what people

59:02.207 --> 59:04.373
want to do , uh , and how they want to

59:04.373 --> 59:04.080
get to where they are gonna be and

59:04.090 --> 59:06.146
that's my job to help them do that .

59:06.146 --> 59:08.368
But I also want to is , uh , you'll see

59:08.368 --> 59:10.479
me in drills . Uh , just like Colonel

59:10.479 --> 59:12.534
Suther did prior prior to me is , is

59:12.534 --> 59:14.757
we're gonna have where we sit down with

59:14.757 --> 59:16.923
a cadre of folks and talk about topics

59:16.923 --> 59:18.979
that are important to them . Send me

59:18.979 --> 59:21.146
your topics , bring me ahead of time ,

59:21.146 --> 59:20.530
what you guys wanna talk about and

59:20.540 --> 59:22.762
let's talk about that . I'll open it up

59:22.762 --> 59:24.873
or you ask the question , whatever it

59:24.873 --> 59:27.040
may be . But I would like to see folks

59:27.040 --> 59:26.889
on a drill weekend . Now , I know you

59:26.899 --> 59:29.066
got to get training done and whatnot .

59:29.066 --> 59:31.232
But I'd like to see folks , you know ,

59:31.232 --> 59:34.290
shuffle in and go , hey , um , this is

59:34.300 --> 59:36.411
what I'd like to talk about . This is

59:36.411 --> 59:38.633
important . This is what I'm hearing at

59:38.633 --> 59:40.744
my level . And let's , let's bring it

59:40.744 --> 59:42.744
out of the open , I believe in pure

59:42.744 --> 59:44.967
transparency , uh uh in , in how we run

59:44.967 --> 59:47.022
as an organization . Otherwise , how

59:47.022 --> 59:49.133
else are you gonna be heard ? Right .

59:49.133 --> 59:51.300
So , I , I never want to hear somebody

59:51.300 --> 59:53.411
say , well , I've just never listened

59:53.411 --> 59:55.411
to , well , OK , then that , that's

59:55.411 --> 59:57.744
gonna crush my soul . Uh , you're gonna ,

59:57.744 --> 59:57.600
you're gonna be listened to if you have ,

59:57.610 --> 59:59.777
if you have something that you want to

59:59.777 --> 01:00:01.943
talk about . All right . So that's the

01:00:01.943 --> 01:00:01.840
big , that's one big thing . And then

01:00:02.510 --> 01:00:04.732
at the end of the day , um , trust is a

01:00:04.732 --> 01:00:06.954
big thing . Family is a big thing , but

01:00:06.954 --> 01:00:09.177
we are in the profession of arms . Um ,

01:00:09.177 --> 01:00:11.399
when it's time to go down range , which

01:00:11.399 --> 01:00:13.510
is what we're gonna do here . Uh Next

01:00:13.510 --> 01:00:15.288
year , I need to focus , I need

01:00:15.288 --> 01:00:17.177
everyone's focus to do that . I'm

01:00:17.177 --> 01:00:19.399
focused on it and that is what we owe .

01:00:19.399 --> 01:00:21.699
Um Frankly , our , our , our community ,

01:00:21.709 --> 01:00:23.765
the American public , the taxpayer ,

01:00:23.765 --> 01:00:25.931
all of the folks that have come before

01:00:25.931 --> 01:00:28.153
us that have worn a patch , we owe that

01:00:28.153 --> 01:00:30.376
to them to be absolute professionals in

01:00:30.376 --> 01:00:32.760
what we do going down range . Uh And I

01:00:32.770 --> 01:00:35.850
have no doubt that we will um just from

01:00:35.860 --> 01:00:37.971
German Air defender that small amount

01:00:37.971 --> 01:00:39.860
of time , three weeks , it was an

01:00:39.860 --> 01:00:41.971
absolute success . People had a great

01:00:41.971 --> 01:00:44.082
time and everybody was professional .

01:00:44.082 --> 01:00:46.416
It was , it was well documented . I , I ,

01:00:46.416 --> 01:00:48.638
you know , I got to talk to the General

01:00:48.638 --> 01:00:50.916
to the dang general Lowe and he's like ,

01:00:50.916 --> 01:00:52.971
he was very impressed by everybody's

01:00:52.971 --> 01:00:55.138
actions . So I , I have nothing but uh

01:00:55.510 --> 01:00:58.389
I brag on this organization constantly ,

01:00:58.399 --> 01:01:00.080
I brag on everybody in this

01:01:00.090 --> 01:01:02.312
organization constantly and continue to

01:01:02.312 --> 01:01:04.034
allow me to do that . Uh And I

01:01:04.034 --> 01:01:06.389
appreciate it . And then we are as uh

01:01:06.399 --> 01:01:08.520
we are strong or as weak as the trust

01:01:08.530 --> 01:01:11.310
that we build uh together . Uh I have

01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:13.376
no doubt that we're going to be very

01:01:13.376 --> 01:01:14.987
strong and a very successful

01:01:14.987 --> 01:01:17.098
organization because it's easy for me

01:01:17.098 --> 01:01:19.376
to trust anyone that's wearing a patch .

01:01:19.376 --> 01:01:21.542
And I will endeavor daily to earn that

01:01:21.542 --> 01:01:23.653
trust and kind by every action that I

01:01:23.653 --> 01:01:25.487
take in , in , in the , in my uh

01:01:25.487 --> 01:01:27.542
willingness to defend and support uh

01:01:27.542 --> 01:01:29.764
every member of this and their family .

01:01:29.764 --> 01:01:31.653
Cool . Well , I know your time is

01:01:31.653 --> 01:01:33.876
valuable , sir . So I really appreciate

01:01:33.876 --> 01:01:33.459
you carving out the time to sit down

01:01:33.469 --> 01:01:35.580
with me today and is there any way we

01:01:35.580 --> 01:01:37.691
might be able to do this on a regular

01:01:37.691 --> 01:01:39.858
basis ? Maybe we talk about a topic or

01:01:39.858 --> 01:01:41.913
some from time to time , you're very

01:01:41.913 --> 01:01:43.969
casual . Very , it's a very , it's a

01:01:43.969 --> 01:01:46.136
very good environment here . So yeah ,

01:01:46.136 --> 01:01:48.302
it's , you know , I try to make it a a

01:01:48.302 --> 01:01:50.525
free flowing kind of formal or informal

01:01:50.525 --> 01:01:52.691
discussion . So yeah , I mean , I know

01:01:52.691 --> 01:01:54.525
you spoke about humility and not

01:01:54.525 --> 01:01:56.691
wanting to talk about yourself . But I

01:01:56.691 --> 01:01:56.590
mean , the this this is not only for

01:01:56.600 --> 01:01:58.949
our , our folks internally but you know ,

01:01:58.959 --> 01:02:01.181
the community at large , I'm sure wants

01:02:01.181 --> 01:02:03.237
to know about who's running the show

01:02:03.237 --> 01:02:03.209
here . So , yeah , and if you know , if

01:02:03.219 --> 01:02:05.449
there's a way to , to get community

01:02:05.459 --> 01:02:07.580
involvement , that's one of my big uh

01:02:07.879 --> 01:02:10.020
what I really wanna help is get it ,

01:02:10.030 --> 01:02:12.909
get you um enmeshed in our community .

01:02:12.919 --> 01:02:14.752
I know , we already are , but to

01:02:14.752 --> 01:02:16.586
continue that guy forward and if

01:02:16.586 --> 01:02:18.697
there's questions for the community ,

01:02:18.697 --> 01:02:17.659
they want to know about what's going on

01:02:17.669 --> 01:02:19.725
behind the , the fence here . I know

01:02:19.725 --> 01:02:21.725
it's a little bit intimidating that

01:02:21.725 --> 01:02:21.699
there's a fence with a bunch of guards

01:02:21.709 --> 01:02:23.987
there . We can never get through there .

01:02:23.987 --> 01:02:26.153
You know , if this is the format which

01:02:26.153 --> 01:02:28.209
we , we use to kind of get that word

01:02:28.209 --> 01:02:30.265
out there . I'm happy to do that and

01:02:30.265 --> 01:02:32.431
maybe we talked about maybe one of the

01:02:32.431 --> 01:02:34.431
topics if informally here , we're ,

01:02:34.431 --> 01:02:36.431
we're just talking about the Yeah .

01:02:36.431 --> 01:02:38.487
Yeah . Any time . Cool . All right .

01:02:38.487 --> 01:02:40.030
Thanks again , sir . Chance . Fantastic .