Speaker 1: Please be advised the following episode contains references to violence
Speaker 1: and may not be suitable for all listeners. This is
Speaker 1: Bets You Should Know, a podcast from My Heart Radio
Speaker 1: celebrating the many who have selflessly put their lives on
Speaker 1: the line to serve their country and the armed forces.
Speaker 1: Every Veterans Day, we as a country honor and commemorate
Speaker 1: the people who fight for our freedom and defend our country.
Speaker 1: And in this four part series, you'll hear from these
Speaker 1: individuals as they share their unique experiences in the military
Speaker 1: and the lessons they learned that carried them into their
Speaker 1: new roles in civilian life. You may know westmore as
Speaker 1: the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the largest anti
Speaker 1: poverty forces in the country and the largest poverty fighting
Speaker 1: organization in New York City. But long before West was
Speaker 1: the CEO of this incredible organization, West was a kid
Speaker 1: struggling to find his way and creating a lot of
Speaker 1: trouble for his mom. Eventually, she sent a thirteen year
Speaker 1: old West off to military school, and despite running away
Speaker 1: from school on five separate occasions, West eventually came to
Speaker 1: appreciate the structure and it became an environment where he
Speaker 1: would grow amateur. Fast forward a few years and West
Speaker 1: is graduating from Valley Forge Military College and later Johns
Speaker 1: Hopkins University. From there, he wanted to serve as a
Speaker 1: captain and paratrooper with the U. S. Armies eighties second
Speaker 1: Airborne Division. After leaving the military, West worked with former
Speaker 1: Secretary of State Condolee's Rise as a White House fellow,
Speaker 1: founded the tech company, wrote a best selling book, and
Speaker 1: hosted a TV show on a national network. West how
Speaker 1: are you, man? I am so good. It's great to
Speaker 1: talk to you. Thanks so much. Good to talk to
Speaker 1: you too. Before we kind of get into the nitty gritty, um,
Speaker 1: you know, you obviously served you have such an important
Speaker 1: job now, uh, CEO of of robin Hood. I actually
Speaker 1: have been to the foundation event a couple of times,
Speaker 1: which is some of the cooler experiences I've ever had
Speaker 1: in my life. Now, before I talk about that for
Speaker 1: a second, tell everyone what what robin Hood does. So.
Speaker 1: Robin Hood is one of the largest poverty fighting organizations
Speaker 1: in the country, and for the past thirty years, robin
Speaker 1: Hood has really used data and analytics and metrics to
Speaker 1: be able to identify and find and fund some of
Speaker 1: the most innovative poverty fighting organizations UH in the City
Speaker 1: of New York, and then also beyond where we have
Speaker 1: allocated over three billion dollars into everything from education to housing,
Speaker 1: to mental health to criminal justice reform. So we're everywhere
Speaker 1: where poverties, either the cause or the consequences, we have
Speaker 1: really built out and funded. I just wanted to start
Speaker 1: off by saying that love what you've done as far
Speaker 1: as your service for our country. UM, talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about because I know you were in the one
Speaker 1: of the airborne divisions. Talk about that for a second
Speaker 1: exactly which one? Yeah, I was in the eighties second
Speaker 1: Airborne Division. So we're how's that out of Fort Bragg,
Speaker 1: North Carolina? And what was that like in the early
Speaker 1: stages when you are going, you know what, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be airborne? Like, who around your close friends or family? Like,
Speaker 1: what in the world did they thing? Because that doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like the safest of all the things. It wasn't
Speaker 1: and it was actually was crazy. Was that you know,
Speaker 1: My first exposure to the military actually happened when I
Speaker 1: was thirteen, and it was at military school. It was
Speaker 1: on the on the fact that you know, I I
Speaker 1: got into a lot of stuff when I was younger,
Speaker 1: to the point that I was kicked out of schools
Speaker 1: and I was young, I felt I felt handcuffed my risk.
Speaker 1: By the time I was eleven years old, and my
Speaker 1: mother had been threatened me to send me away ever
Speaker 1: since I was like eight because of just all all
Speaker 1: the things I was getting into. And finally she kept
Speaker 1: on threatening me. I kept on blowing her off, and
Speaker 1: when I was thirteen, she said to me, she was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not playing these games anymore. And
Speaker 1: she's like, I'm gonna send you away, and I thought
Speaker 1: she was still kidding, And then she told me that
Speaker 1: she was sending me next week, and she told me
Speaker 1: to pack my stuff up and start getting ready. And
Speaker 1: she sent me to a military school in Pennsylvania. And
Speaker 1: I hated it. I mean I hated every minute at place.
Speaker 1: I ran away five times in the first four days
Speaker 1: when I first showed up. But it was something where
Speaker 1: the longer I was there, the more I started appreciate
Speaker 1: creating the experience. And so by the time I had
Speaker 1: a mandatory year there, I had to be there one year.
Speaker 1: By the end of the first year, I was actually
Speaker 1: doing pretty well academically and I could play sports because
Speaker 1: it wasn't appropation. And when I had the chance to
Speaker 1: go back to school in Baltimore, my mother she asked
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do, and I said, if it's okay,
Speaker 1: I'd like to stay. And so by the time I
Speaker 1: was seventeen and I was getting ready to finish high school,
Speaker 1: I thought to myself, and you know, at that time,
Speaker 1: I actually had basketball scholarship offers and everything like that,
Speaker 1: but I thought, like, what actually gives me joy and
Speaker 1: what actually makes me it makes me excited about next steps.
Speaker 1: There was only one thing that kept on coming up,
Speaker 1: and that was the chance to lead soldiers because I
Speaker 1: actually really enjoyed it. And and so I made the
Speaker 1: decision at seventeen. In fact, I was too young to
Speaker 1: do it myself. I had to get my mom to
Speaker 1: sign off on it. But at that point it's when
Speaker 1: I decided that I wanted to actually join the army.
Speaker 1: And then pretty early in that experience, I realized that
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a paratrooper. And that's what let
Speaker 1: me down to four break. You know, when I read
Speaker 1: your story, it is so inspiring. You grew up in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and the Bronx. You're raised by a single mom, How
Speaker 1: did that shape your life as to where you are now? Everything? Man?
Speaker 1: You know, I think my little sister said it best
Speaker 1: too when she said, you know, our mother wore sweaters
Speaker 1: so we could wear coats like you know, well, I'll
Speaker 1: never I'll never forget the kind of sacrifices that my
Speaker 1: mom made, that your grandmother made. You know, It's just
Speaker 1: how people were willing to see something in us before
Speaker 1: we saw it in ourselves. How people were willing to
Speaker 1: sacrifice their time here on this planet so we could
Speaker 1: have a better experience on this planet. How it influences
Speaker 1: me now and my work now is it just highlights
Speaker 1: the level of unfairness that we still have because I know,
Speaker 1: I think about it in the case of my mom,
Speaker 1: in the case of my grandparents, who also I spent
Speaker 1: part of my childhood with that These are people who
Speaker 1: were some of the hardest working, most patriotic, most beautiful people,
Speaker 1: and smartest people, most creative people, most entrepreneurial people that
Speaker 1: you'll ever be around. And still I witnessed the sacrifices
Speaker 1: and the pain that they had to endure. And so
Speaker 1: it's one of these things that it just completely reminds
Speaker 1: and it highlights the fact that we still have a
Speaker 1: massively inequitable society that we still have to contend with
Speaker 1: when you have people who are that good and still
Speaker 1: have to work that hard just to keep their head
Speaker 1: above water. And I think it's really the things that
Speaker 1: helps to motivate me even in the work that I do. Now,
Speaker 1: what was it that inspired you to actually grow? Because
Speaker 1: it wasn't like you had a lot of options or
Speaker 1: a lot of people around you that even new options
Speaker 1: were available. So what was it as a kid you
Speaker 1: think that got you to that next step at actually
Speaker 1: being healthy and motivated. I feel like part of the
Speaker 1: thing that happened was I got a chance to actually
Speaker 1: understand that the world was bigger than what was directly
Speaker 1: in front of me. Even as I got put and
Speaker 1: exposed into these different situations and these different circumstances, you
Speaker 1: you realize like wow, like there are actually things outside
Speaker 1: of what I see every day that are real for people.
Speaker 1: And that was that was just very eye opening to me.
Speaker 1: And I think the big thing that I know I
Speaker 1: received from military and military school was people often said
Speaker 1: they're like, well, was it the fact that they woke
Speaker 1: you up early, or they yelled at you, or they
Speaker 1: gave you discipline, and I mean, like all that's really like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they woke up early, Yeah you did push ups and whatever.
Speaker 1: But that wasn't the thing that changed me. I really
Speaker 1: do believe the thing that actually changed my thinking was
Speaker 1: was the introduction of leadership. And that's what they specialized in.
Speaker 1: It was it was this idea that they were going
Speaker 1: to put you in charge of something early, and it
Speaker 1: was very intentional, and it was because they wanted you
Speaker 1: to taste that, they wanted you to feel that, and
Speaker 1: they knew that that feeling was intoxicating, and so you know,
Speaker 1: they'll put you in charge of something small. First of
Speaker 1: put you in charge of a hallway, and they'll tell
Speaker 1: you if the hallway is clean, will congratulate you. If
Speaker 1: the hallway is dirty, then Lord help you. And they
Speaker 1: noticed that the hallway was clean, and they're like, all right, more,
Speaker 1: good job, man. Now you're gonna get promoted. Now you're
Speaker 1: a squad and now you're actually in charge of people.
Speaker 1: And then if you did a good job in that role,
Speaker 1: you got promoted, and then now you're in charge of
Speaker 1: more people, and then more people, and you started actually
Speaker 1: yearning and craving that feeling of being responsible for something,
Speaker 1: for leading, for being in charge of something bigger than yourself.
Speaker 1: And I really think that was part of the thing
Speaker 1: that helped to change my psychology and my thinking was
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to get it at some point.
Speaker 1: It just so happened that it was the military, and
Speaker 1: it was that experience that got to me first. But
Speaker 1: getting through the military it was no simple task. It
Speaker 1: was along and argebous road. For West, however, his military
Speaker 1: education started to have a profound impact on him. He
Speaker 1: started to take academic seriously and it was paying off.
Speaker 1: West thought he would be a career military man, but
Speaker 1: as we know, it was only one chapter of his
Speaker 1: incredible story. Because I think I was in such unchartered waters.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure at that point. I mean I really
Speaker 1: did think that, especially if you if you talk to
Speaker 1: me coming out of high school and even coming out
Speaker 1: of college in any ways, I thought it was gonna
Speaker 1: be a career military officer. I thought I was gonna
Speaker 1: spend thirty years and rise up through the military ranks
Speaker 1: and you know, maybe at some point end up with
Speaker 1: a star on my shoulder or something like that. And
Speaker 1: then I think that it goes back to even when
Speaker 1: I was talking about with exposure, where the more exposure
Speaker 1: I received, the more I started thinking about the things
Speaker 1: that I wanted to do. And you know, I still
Speaker 1: have a deep amount of love and respectnomorration for those
Speaker 1: who do choose to make it a career. Some of
Speaker 1: my deepest friends are people who chose to to get
Speaker 1: a career and are stealing right now and our people
Speaker 1: who actually have figured out a way to get those
Speaker 1: stars on their shoulders. And I think as I started
Speaker 1: going through the process and moving up, I started realizing
Speaker 1: that there were different things that I wanted to contribute,
Speaker 1: There were different things that I wanted to try to
Speaker 1: make realities in my life. And that's when I started,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it was working in finance or starting
Speaker 1: an organization that eventually we uh, you know, we we
Speaker 1: sold are now working in robin Hood. I just feel
Speaker 1: like the increased exposure in the adaptability were all things
Speaker 1: that just really led me into thinking differently about the
Speaker 1: kind of contributions that I wanted to make in the world.
Speaker 1: You served as a captain and paratrooper with the U
Speaker 1: S Armies eighty second airborn, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: What did that job entail for you? And then how
Speaker 1: much of your mind versus just outright strength do you
Speaker 1: have to use in that position? I mean, it is
Speaker 1: It's one of these things where I I thought I
Speaker 1: was walking in prepared because I studied everything about the region.
Speaker 1: I learned about the different tribes, I learned about that terrain,
Speaker 1: I learned about the altitude. We trained up, we did
Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff, and then you land in
Speaker 1: country and you realize how much of that training just
Speaker 1: goes completely out of the window because there's nothing that
Speaker 1: anyone can do that can prepare you for it. It's
Speaker 1: nothing that anyone can do to prepare you for the
Speaker 1: first time that you are in a tick troops in contact,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, in exchange with with with enemy forces.
Speaker 1: There's nothing you can do to prepare you for the
Speaker 1: environment and the smells and the sights and the things
Speaker 1: you hear that that just sit with you. It really
Speaker 1: in the first couple of days that I just realized
Speaker 1: how the thing you have to be comfortable with is
Speaker 1: the fact that every single day is going to be different.
Speaker 1: There's this expression in the Middle Terry where we say
Speaker 1: stay frosty and um, and it kind of means stay cool,
Speaker 1: because don't worry. Everything's gonna change quick. No matter where
Speaker 1: you're where you're at, things will change up real fast.
Speaker 1: And I think that that stay frosty was very much
Speaker 1: the mindset and very much the way we existed and
Speaker 1: lived for our entire deployment. I think at the same time, though,
Speaker 1: it was also the experience where I saw some of
Speaker 1: the most remarkable human beings doing some of the most
Speaker 1: amazing things I've ever seen in my life, some of
Speaker 1: the most courageous things, some of the most fearless things,
Speaker 1: The way people looked out for each other, the way
Speaker 1: people take care of each other, and the most extreme circumstances.
Speaker 1: That level of commitment to people, that level of commitment
Speaker 1: to your brothers and sisters who were staying to the
Speaker 1: side of you. That's something that I also know that
Speaker 1: I'll never forget again and and something I always have
Speaker 1: the deepest levels of appreciation for. While people always acknowledge
Speaker 1: the soldiers and the sailors and the airmen and the marines,
Speaker 1: and rightfully so, it's the families who actually have it tougher,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I fully grasped that or appreciated
Speaker 1: that until I saw my family and the fact that
Speaker 1: you you know, when we were overseas deployed, we had
Speaker 1: good days and we had bad days, but we always
Speaker 1: had each other that we leaned on each other. We
Speaker 1: could talk to each other, We had things that were
Speaker 1: unspoken because everyone understood, so you didn't have to go
Speaker 1: into full detail about things because everyone got it. And
Speaker 1: this was something when you're talking about family where they
Speaker 1: were having to process all this on their own, you know,
Speaker 1: at that time. I remember it was relatively early in
Speaker 1: the wars, and you know where maybe you got a
Speaker 1: chance to call home once a month, maybe you got
Speaker 1: a little bit more than that. It was usually very
Speaker 1: quick that you didn't have a lot of time to
Speaker 1: say hi and or whatever, and those this was pre
Speaker 1: skype or whatever, so you didn't get a chance to
Speaker 1: actually see people. And it was a really hard experience
Speaker 1: for us. But I can't even imagine what it must
Speaker 1: have been like also for family who were just watching
Speaker 1: the news and hearing about death tolls and this and
Speaker 1: that and just hoping that they did not receive a
Speaker 1: phone call or hoping that no one in uniform showed
Speaker 1: up at their door. And I think that that level
Speaker 1: of appreciation for, you know, not just what we were
Speaker 1: going through, but what family members back home are going through.
Speaker 1: I think it's something that end up fueling how I
Speaker 1: just think about, you know, the things that we're asking
Speaker 1: people to endure right now as well. So I would
Speaker 1: assume that that it's safe to say you return from
Speaker 1: Afghanistan with a different view of the world. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: and and definitely a different view of the world, a
Speaker 1: different view of warfare, a different view of combat, a
Speaker 1: different view of what the implications are of that of
Speaker 1: that combat, a different level of appreciation for the type
Speaker 1: of challenges that we're asking people to endure. And I
Speaker 1: think it is one of these things where you know,
Speaker 1: we are we are asking people to sacrifice everything, We're
Speaker 1: asking their families to sacrifice everything. And so I came
Speaker 1: back knowing a few things. One is, every time we
Speaker 1: are asking people to do this, we better be clear
Speaker 1: about what we're asking them to do, and we better
Speaker 1: be clear about how we're communicating it to not just them,
Speaker 1: but to the entire country. And the other thing was
Speaker 1: is that we better make sure we're keeping our promises.
Speaker 1: And that was one of the things I think fueled
Speaker 1: my energy and advocacy when I came back home. It
Speaker 1: was on this idea where I felt like we were
Speaker 1: breaking promises. You know, when people signed up to serve,
Speaker 1: they signed up with a commitment that our country would
Speaker 1: support them and their families, not just when they were overseas,
Speaker 1: but when they came back home. And I found when
Speaker 1: we were overseas, we got everything that we wanted as
Speaker 1: soon as we asked for them. But then we were
Speaker 1: coming back home and I had soldiers who were waiting
Speaker 1: nine months to see a doctor, And I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is crazy, because when when when their country asked people
Speaker 1: to raise their hand and volunteer and sign up. These
Speaker 1: are people who didn't tell the country, Okay, well you know,
Speaker 1: hold off, hold off nine months because I'm finishing something up,
Speaker 1: or or give me a little bit of time, or
Speaker 1: not quite now because this isn't the right time in
Speaker 1: my life. These are people who just raise their hands
Speaker 1: and served. And so the frustrating thing for me when
Speaker 1: I came back home was wondering why the same people
Speaker 1: who did not ask the country to wait, why was
Speaker 1: now the country asking them to wait when they came
Speaker 1: home and it was time for them to receive the
Speaker 1: benefits that they rightfully earned. And so that was one
Speaker 1: of the things that I think really fueled my advocacy
Speaker 1: and the work that I wanted to do when I
Speaker 1: came back home to be able to fight for the
Speaker 1: basic earned rights of veterans. The idea of advocacy and
Speaker 1: fighting for the basic earned rights of veterans is an
Speaker 1: idea that West takes very seriously. The notion of thank
Speaker 1: you for your service, What did that mean to you
Speaker 1: then versus what does it mean to you now? And
Speaker 1: how you're trying to help kind of spread that message.
Speaker 1: I think what it means is and how I wanted
Speaker 1: to frame it out was I wanted people to understand
Speaker 1: that thank you for your service should should mean more
Speaker 1: than just the ending of a sentence that I want
Speaker 1: to thank you for your service, to actually be the
Speaker 1: beginning of a conversation and not always the end of it.
Speaker 1: Because you'd see people who would say, you know, they
Speaker 1: would say thank you for your service, almost in passing right,
Speaker 1: thank you for your service, and uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: gotta go catch my plane. Thank you for your service
Speaker 1: and I, you know, let me go grab a you know,
Speaker 1: let me buy you a cup of coffee. But there
Speaker 1: wasn't an interest in actually learning more about what people's
Speaker 1: service actually was. And I think it was this level
Speaker 1: of I think it was this level of rustration that
Speaker 1: people actually had and that I think for a lot
Speaker 1: of soldiers had because there wasn't that curiosity to actually
Speaker 1: learn more about it and to learn more about what
Speaker 1: we were actually asking our service people to actually endure.
Speaker 1: And frankly, I think, you know, it's all even with
Speaker 1: my own family, where there wasn't the level of curiosity
Speaker 1: to ask what exactly was your experience? And I think
Speaker 1: part of it was coming from a place of people saying, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to ask the wrong thing,
Speaker 1: I don't want to trigger anything, or I don't want
Speaker 1: to say anything offensive, so therefore I'll ask nothing or
Speaker 1: I'll say nothing. The problem with that was the interpretation
Speaker 1: that we received was it wasn't that you were trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what was the right thing to say.
Speaker 1: The interpretation that we took and interpretation that I took
Speaker 1: was you didn't even care that you're not even curious
Speaker 1: about what was one of the most instrumental and pivotal
Speaker 1: moments of my life, and what impact did it have
Speaker 1: on me? And so I felt like there was always
Speaker 1: this idea that people were talking past each other by
Speaker 1: not talking and so thank you for your service, and
Speaker 1: you know, almost this uh, this very this very mixed
Speaker 1: feeling that people in many veterans have around it. It
Speaker 1: is on this idea of saying, we appreciate the fact
Speaker 1: that people are thinking as for our service, but we
Speaker 1: want them to know what our service actually was. I
Speaker 1: want people to ask me questions. I want people to
Speaker 1: to to be curious. I want people to, you know,
Speaker 1: say hey, even in fear maybe saying something incorrect or whatever.
Speaker 1: And trust me, if you say something incorrect, I'll tell you.
Speaker 1: But I'd rather you at least ask, because I think
Speaker 1: for many soldiers and sailors and AIRMoN and marines, you know,
Speaker 1: we are we're we're we're thankful for an experience that
Speaker 1: made us who we are today. We're all processing what
Speaker 1: that experience was. And I think for many of us,
Speaker 1: myself included, I will process it forever. I don't think
Speaker 1: I'll ever have it fully processed. But that's okay. And
Speaker 1: at least I want people to understand that the the
Speaker 1: the ask that was made of me and the ask
Speaker 1: that was made of many of my other you know,
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, that it was an ask that we
Speaker 1: you know, at least want to be able to share
Speaker 1: and express to people what it was and why it's
Speaker 1: meaningful to dous. What is your one piece of advice
Speaker 1: that we that I that anyone listening to this could
Speaker 1: use as we are talking to events, I think one
Speaker 1: of the main things and one of the most important
Speaker 1: things for people to do is is first remember that
Speaker 1: we still have conflicts that are going on as we speak,
Speaker 1: I mean literally as we're having this conversation. There are
Speaker 1: missions going on. There are people who are overseas right now,
Speaker 1: away from their families and still serving on behalf of
Speaker 1: this country, and Silver Herb still serving on behalf of us.
Speaker 1: And I think for a lot of people there there
Speaker 1: is this thought, because it's not the main thing on
Speaker 1: the news, or it's not the main thing that's on
Speaker 1: the headlines, that somehow these things are over and first
Speaker 1: it's important for people to remember that's not true, even
Speaker 1: though we're not right now in the middle of it
Speaker 1: where we were at the height where we don't have
Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq and tens of
Speaker 1: thousands of troops in Afghanistan like we had at our
Speaker 1: peak and we had at one point. We're still talking
Speaker 1: about only one percent of the population that our veterans
Speaker 1: of Iraq Afghanistan. We're still talking about a a much
Speaker 1: smaller percentage of the population than people realize or recognize.
Speaker 1: And I think for that smaller percentage of the population,
Speaker 1: regardless of how you feel about the war, it's important
Speaker 1: that we respect the warriors, you know. And I think
Speaker 1: it's I think it's something that I give a lot
Speaker 1: of credit, a tremendous amount of credit, even to our
Speaker 1: our brothers and sisters from the Vietnam era, because I
Speaker 1: do believe that part of the reason that we have
Speaker 1: received the support and treatment that we've received is because
Speaker 1: of them. Because when they came back, they were spat at,
Speaker 1: and they were called names and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And and I think that that treatment that they received
Speaker 1: was never forgotten by them or by anyone else. And
Speaker 1: the and the horrific thing about the Vietnam War in
Speaker 1: particular was that that was where people were being drafted in.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like people even it wasn't like that was
Speaker 1: all volunteer war people are being called out from their
Speaker 1: you know, their jobs and saying here we need to
Speaker 1: go put on a uniform and serve. And that's how
Speaker 1: they were treated when they came back home. And I
Speaker 1: respect the fact that it was really because of the
Speaker 1: Vietnam Era and those vet's that in many ways they
Speaker 1: have led with a philosophy of never again will we
Speaker 1: have that kind of treatment to these men and women
Speaker 1: and individuals who raise their hand because the country asked
Speaker 1: them to. You can feel whatever you feel about the war.
Speaker 1: I have personal feelings about these wars, but I still
Speaker 1: never conflate my feelings about the war, whether it should
Speaker 1: have happened or how it was executed, with my respect
Speaker 1: for the men and women and the individuals who raise
Speaker 1: their hand because the country asked them to. That is
Speaker 1: important for this country to understand and for our country
Speaker 1: to understand that we can't conflict those two things, you know,
Speaker 1: with you talking about soldiers coming home the different wars,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm always curious and I have a lot
Speaker 1: of friends who has to have served and had to
Speaker 1: reintegrate into society with you in your situation. Did you
Speaker 1: feel like you had to establish a completely new identity
Speaker 1: coming out of the military and out of a war. Mhm,
Speaker 1: I uh, it's it's such a good question. I didn't
Speaker 1: think I needed to, but I did because I was
Speaker 1: a different person. I think that, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: not that everybody comes back damaged, but it's that it's
Speaker 1: impossible for you to come back unchanged. And now part
Speaker 1: of it was this the There was just some basic
Speaker 1: things that had to change, right, I mean, like, for example,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm very public about the fact that
Speaker 1: when I came back, I had a very difficult time
Speaker 1: with lights and I didn't expect that. And even as
Speaker 1: I was speaking with my doctor about it, you know,
Speaker 1: he was he actually added a lot of context to it,
Speaker 1: where he said, you know, you were in a place
Speaker 1: that had light discipline for almost a year, and so
Speaker 1: you should understand that you should and you should give
Speaker 1: your brain a little time to say, how are you
Speaker 1: going to go from a Sadabad or Jelalabad or coast
Speaker 1: and then two weeks later you're in Times Square. Give
Speaker 1: yourself a little bit of permission to know that that
Speaker 1: is going to be a little bit of a trip
Speaker 1: for your brain, and that's going to take a transition
Speaker 1: a place where white lights were faint because of how
Speaker 1: while I was overseived, because how far away you can
Speaker 1: see white lights. So that's why we always use green
Speaker 1: lights and red lights because you could not you can't
Speaker 1: see those from far away. White lights I can see
Speaker 1: from miles away. And so the reason that we've done
Speaker 1: enough white lights was because if you had white lights,
Speaker 1: that means enemy could could just launch indirect fire all
Speaker 1: night long and they know exactly where you are because
Speaker 1: just look for the white lights. And so we didn't
Speaker 1: have white lights, and so to go from that to
Speaker 1: a place where everything is lit up, you can imagine
Speaker 1: how it takes a little bit for your brain to
Speaker 1: process that. I think that part of it was just
Speaker 1: giving myself permission to be able to adapt. Don't punish
Speaker 1: yourself over it. Understand it is completely natural and just
Speaker 1: completely normal, no matter what it is that you're dealing with.
Speaker 1: And then I think it was about the fact that
Speaker 1: it's almost like a you know, a snake shedding of skin.
Speaker 1: And I feel like in many ways that's it's a
Speaker 1: description of how I looked at the way, how the
Speaker 1: way I processed it, and I came back home. It's
Speaker 1: not that I was a different person. I just had
Speaker 1: to shed skin, and so I just moved and maneuver
Speaker 1: differently because that portion and that experience, it informed how
Speaker 1: I navigated the world. It informed how I approached everything
Speaker 1: from that point on. But the reality is I still
Speaker 1: came back changed because of the experience, and that's okay.
Speaker 1: When West came back from Afghanistan, he applied for and
Speaker 1: one the prestigious White House Fellowship. This experience gave West
Speaker 1: an inside look at how policy was made, setting the
Speaker 1: stage for his work at Robin Hood and the incredible
Speaker 1: impact that he's had on million is. I came back
Speaker 1: and had that experience with Secretary Rice right after I
Speaker 1: came back from Afghanistan, which is crazy. And I remember
Speaker 1: I applied for this thing called the White House Fellowship,
Speaker 1: which is a non political, nonpartisan fellowship. But I did
Speaker 1: it right after I came back, while I was in Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: And it's because my deputy brigade commander, who was also
Speaker 1: one of my best friends. He's actually a two star
Speaker 1: general now, which is underpaivable. A guy named Mike Fenzi,
Speaker 1: who I just loving a door and and he was
Speaker 1: a former White House Fellow. And I remember one night
Speaker 1: I came back from a mission and he called me
Speaker 1: in to his office. He was who I was a
Speaker 1: captain at that time. Actually I was a first lieutenant
Speaker 1: at that time. I hadn't even promote. I hadn't been
Speaker 1: promoted yet, and he was a lieutenant colonel. And he said, hey,
Speaker 1: how's it going. I want you to apply for the
Speaker 1: White House Fellowship. I'm I'm, I'm, I'm in month three
Speaker 1: of my deployment and um swamped and frustrated and all
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff. And I said, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I can get my head around all this. And
Speaker 1: he kind of reminded me that he wasn't asking. It's like,
Speaker 1: I want you to apply for the White House Fellowship.
Speaker 1: And his point was, he said, you know, I want
Speaker 1: you to. It's important that they see and understand what
Speaker 1: you're seeing and seeing. He was absolutely right, because I
Speaker 1: end up putting together the application, I ended up getting
Speaker 1: accepted to it. I think I was home for two
Speaker 1: weeks maybe three weeks when I got final word and
Speaker 1: I had my interviews and I got find a word
Speaker 1: that I was selected. But it was an amazing experience
Speaker 1: to have that and have that time working with Secretary
Speaker 1: Rice and Dina Pale and other people who have still
Speaker 1: come become and then still still remained the longtime friends
Speaker 1: and mentors, because you see the disconnect often times between
Speaker 1: how policy is made and how policy is implemented. Because
Speaker 1: I spent this year deployed seeing how policy is implemented,
Speaker 1: seeing what it's like for soldiers on the ground who
Speaker 1: are implementing a war fighting policy, right who were who
Speaker 1: had a war fighting posture, And then I spent the
Speaker 1: next year at the State Department seeing how policy is made.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that was amazing to me
Speaker 1: was watching you know how a you know, you have
Speaker 1: just these these remarkable people, remarkable human beings, are remarkable
Speaker 1: public servants, both the career folks and and and many
Speaker 1: of the political folks who dedicated their life to this
Speaker 1: and too, and to doing the right thing and trying
Speaker 1: to make the right policies. And at the same time
Speaker 1: the amazing disconnect oftentimes between how policy is made and
Speaker 1: then once it works its way down the chain, how
Speaker 1: things can go from Washington all the way down to
Speaker 1: the Eastern province of Afghanistan, and how a whole lot
Speaker 1: can get lost in translation in that process. And that
Speaker 1: was the really interesting dynamic where you realize that so
Speaker 1: much of the things being debated it and discussed and
Speaker 1: and argued about, that once it finally works its way
Speaker 1: down to the environments in which all this has taken place,
Speaker 1: that you see there still is a pretty remarkable disconnect.
Speaker 1: I want to encourage everybody listening to this because we'll
Speaker 1: have a few minutes left, but you can check out
Speaker 1: his West's book Five Days, which is out right now.
Speaker 1: And you know, you have such an impactful job as
Speaker 1: CEO of Robin Hood, And I wonder you know what
Speaker 1: you took from the military that translates into your work
Speaker 1: with Robin Hood. Mm hmm. I think I use the
Speaker 1: things that I learned from the military every day in
Speaker 1: Robin Hood and and and part of it is, you know,
Speaker 1: the basic tenants of organizational management, leadership and all these
Speaker 1: other things that I think we that I think the
Speaker 1: military helped it not just teach me, but but really
Speaker 1: instilled in me and how I view management and leadership.
Speaker 1: But I think the other thing, and one of the
Speaker 1: other big takeaways that I took that I try to
Speaker 1: incorporate into our work. Robin hood is the importance of proximity.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a there was an uh, General
Speaker 1: Petraeus who used to be out a commander for all operations,
Speaker 1: used to have this expression that I think was actually
Speaker 1: pretty apropoem pretty appropriate, where he said, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't commute to work here, And what he meant
Speaker 1: by that was, if you want to be a FOB
Speaker 1: creature or BOB is an acronym for forward operating base,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of like the base that people are on.
Speaker 1: And Uh, if you just wanted to spend your time
Speaker 1: on the in the green zone or spend your time
Speaker 1: in the FOB with all the creature comforts there, and
Speaker 1: think that you could just go out and run missions
Speaker 1: and leave and come back, you're never going to be
Speaker 1: able to accomplish what it is we set to accomplish,
Speaker 1: because if you aren't connected to the community, if you
Speaker 1: don't understand the communities in which you're serving, if you
Speaker 1: weren't building relationships with those inside the community, you'll never
Speaker 1: be seen as anything except for people who are just
Speaker 1: you know, hiding under guys of being here to save
Speaker 1: people and these faux saviors, and frankly, all the altruism
Speaker 1: that you think that you are bringing to the job,
Speaker 1: your altruism will be viewed as something else in the community.
Speaker 1: And I think it's the same type of approach that
Speaker 1: we bring to the work at robin Hood, where this
Speaker 1: idea is, we don't have the luxury to commute to
Speaker 1: work if you aren't working with the community, if you
Speaker 1: aren't actually working closely and tie with impacted communities. If
Speaker 1: impacted communities don't just have a voice, but if they
Speaker 1: don't have a vote in the way that you're allocating
Speaker 1: your dollars and the way you're thinking about the basic
Speaker 1: resources and the ways you're talking about supporting, then trust me,
Speaker 1: you will be seen as something other than helpful. And
Speaker 1: I think the military really tried to reinforce that. The
Speaker 1: military was one of the first examples that I got
Speaker 1: a real, a real clear understanding at least from that side,
Speaker 1: because you know, up until that point, I felt like
Speaker 1: I was always in communities were where we are the
Speaker 1: recipients of philanthropy, even though we really know that, man,
Speaker 1: but I think the military really was one of the
Speaker 1: first on the ground examples of understanding that if you
Speaker 1: don't change your lens nor your mindset, you don't understand
Speaker 1: that it's not that you're not making progress, you're actually
Speaker 1: moving backwards without even realizing that. And I think that's
Speaker 1: just the type of mentality that I think we try
Speaker 1: to bring to this work. Now. I really appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: You guys can follow West I am Westmore. You can
Speaker 1: also check out five Days, and I would encourage you
Speaker 1: to see what Robin Hood is all about. Really fantastic
Speaker 1: work that you did, that you're doing, and that you
Speaker 1: have in your sides to continue doing so. West. I
Speaker 1: really appreciate the time and hope you have a real
Speaker 1: great rest of the week. Bless you, appreciate you man
Speaker 1: back at you. Thank you. West has led such an
Speaker 1: extraordinary life, and he's only one of millions of US
Speaker 1: veterans here in the United States and abroad, each of
Speaker 1: them with their own unique story. I think we can
Speaker 1: all do our parts board our troops by learning more
Speaker 1: about their experiences. You can learn more about Robin Hood
Speaker 1: by visiting robin Hood dot org or on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Robin Hood n y C. You can find Westmore on
Speaker 1: Twitter at I am Westmore. Thanks for listening to Vets
Speaker 1: you Should Know. Check out our other episodes from more
Speaker 1: great stories from inspiring vets who continue to work selflessly
Speaker 1: and tirelessly in civilian life to make positive change. If
Speaker 1: you like what you heard, please rate and review the podcast.
Speaker 1: We want to hear from you, and don't forget to
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Speaker 1: your podcasts. Vets you Should Know is a special four
Speaker 1: part series podcast from My Heart Radio hosted by me
Speaker 1: Bobby Bones. Our show has written and produced by Molly Sosha,
Speaker 1: Andy Kelly, Ethan fix Cell in partnership with Haley Ericson
Speaker 1: and Garrett Shannon of Banter, Edit, sound design and mixed
Speaker 1: by Matt Stillo and my personal producer and hero is
Speaker 1: Mike d