Speaker 1: You're listening to Taking Stock with Pim Box and Kathleen
Speaker 1: Hayes on Bloomberg Radio. Managing a more than one hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar budget, dealing with over forty four hundred very
Speaker 1: active members. We're talking about the core of cadets at
Speaker 1: West Point, the US Military Academy. Our next guest is
Speaker 1: Maureen le Buff. General Lebuff is a former brigadier general
Speaker 1: in the US Army. She held a variety of posts
Speaker 1: in the Army, among which she flew U H one helicopters,
Speaker 1: and also presided over the head of the Department of
Speaker 1: Physical Education at West Point until her retirement in two
Speaker 1: thousand four. General Lebuff, thank you very much for being
Speaker 1: with us. Well, thank you, Pam, I appreciate it. Tell
Speaker 1: us about this title called Master of the Sword, what
Speaker 1: does it mean, and just give us a little bit
Speaker 1: of context for how sort of special that is that
Speaker 1: you would have that title. Well, the title Master of
Speaker 1: the Sword is the title that goes with the position
Speaker 1: of the director and head of the Department of Physical
Speaker 1: Education at the United States Military Academy at west Point,
Speaker 1: And the title comes from the fact that West Point
Speaker 1: had the first full time physical educator in higher education
Speaker 1: in our country, and he was a sword master, so
Speaker 1: that's where the title comes from. So when you are
Speaker 1: selected to be the director and head of the Department
Speaker 1: of Physical Education, you are introduced and carried the title
Speaker 1: master the sword. And when I was selected for that
Speaker 1: position in n UM, I was the first woman to
Speaker 1: have that position and the first woman to share a
Speaker 1: department at the United States Military Academy. And at the time,
Speaker 1: West Point was adine years old. Well, congratulations on that, uh,
Speaker 1: And you have done so much in your career in
Speaker 1: the army. You held very staff and leadership positions w
Speaker 1: H one helicopters. Wow. What caught you interested in the military?
Speaker 1: What got you interested in the army? That's a great question, Kathleen.
Speaker 1: I actually I am from a large Irish Catholic family
Speaker 1: in western New York. I grew up about seventy miles
Speaker 1: south of Buffalo and Olean Um. My dad was a
Speaker 1: professor at St. Bonaventure and he also served in the
Speaker 1: Air Force Reserves, and so that was part of my
Speaker 1: life growing up, my dad being in the Air Force Reserve.
Speaker 1: And then my oldest brother. I'm the middle child of
Speaker 1: nine and my oldest brother we called Timer Um did
Speaker 1: Army RROTC at St. Bonaventure and then he was commissioned
Speaker 1: and he served a full career in the army. And
Speaker 1: I think, um, because of my dad and my brother,
Speaker 1: that certainly got my interest. And then I had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to participate in a program for women that were
Speaker 1: you participate in this program and then have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to go on active duty after college. And this was
Speaker 1: before our OTC was available and before West Point was
Speaker 1: open to women. The first women entered in the class
Speaker 1: in in nineteen seventy six, and that's the year I
Speaker 1: graduated from college. Maureen, I beg your pardon, go ahead. No,
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about moments that matter,
Speaker 1: because that was really the topic I believe you're going
Speaker 1: to speak on at the Raymond James Network for Women Advisors.
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if you could tell us a moment
Speaker 1: that mattered for you, and maybe if you can connect
Speaker 1: that with I mean, you had responsibilities, you said at
Speaker 1: West Point over a hundred million dollar budget renovations, and
Speaker 1: you have some very I would imagine exacting uh colleagues. Well,
Speaker 1: I did not oversee over a hundred million dollar budget.
Speaker 1: I wish i'd had that kind of budget and that apartment,
Speaker 1: I beg your pardon, but it's that was the renovation
Speaker 1: of the Raban at that Physical Development Center was over
Speaker 1: a hundred million dollar renovation and there are forty cadets
Speaker 1: who on a daily basis we had to educate, train,
Speaker 1: and inspire because in the in the Department of Physical Education,
Speaker 1: that was our mission because those are the future ground
Speaker 1: combat leaders of our army, so we needed to make
Speaker 1: sure that they were fit and ready to lead their
Speaker 1: soldiers physically into combat. Um. But it's a moment that mattered.
Speaker 1: I will go back to my childhood, um Pim and
Speaker 1: being in that that big family of nine, and there
Speaker 1: were nine of us in eleven years, and I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from each one of my eight brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1: But the story that I want to share with you
Speaker 1: is around my oldest brother, Timer, and I can only
Speaker 1: imagine how daunting it is to be the oldest of
Speaker 1: of nine because you do everything for the first time.
Speaker 1: But I remember when he probably was twelve, and Mom
Speaker 1: and Dad decided he was old enough to watch us
Speaker 1: when they went out, and one evening they went out,
Speaker 1: and of course they had rules, no other friends were
Speaker 1: allowed at the house. We were not allowed to leave
Speaker 1: the house or leave the backyard. And another rule was
Speaker 1: you were not allowed to hit golf balls in the backyard.
Speaker 1: And for good reason, as you can imagine, and Timer
Speaker 1: decided that he'd bring out the five iron and a
Speaker 1: couple of golf balls, and he hit two or three balls,
Speaker 1: and the third one went over the fence, took a
Speaker 1: hard bounce and went right through a neighbor's window, and
Speaker 1: you can imagine the night of us stood there and
Speaker 1: without hesitation time or put the club down, he happed
Speaker 1: over the fence and he knocked down his neighbor's door,
Speaker 1: and he told them that he hit the ball and
Speaker 1: broke their window. And then we waited for Mom and
Speaker 1: Dad to come home, and when they came in, Timer
Speaker 1: told him what he had done. And a few weeks
Speaker 1: later it was his birthday and Dad gave him a
Speaker 1: framed copy of the bill and at the bottom it
Speaker 1: said Dad was right again. But what I learned that
Speaker 1: they watching my brother was he did the right thing
Speaker 1: at the right time, for the right reason. And it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things that you know, you pull
Speaker 1: on during life that sometimes you have to step up
Speaker 1: and it's not easy. That's right, General Marie Labouf. We're
Speaker 1: going to leave it there. We appreciate you taking the
Speaker 1: time for us today. Retired Army Brigadier general. I'm Kathleen Hayes.
Speaker 1: Along with Pim Fox. This is Bloomberg.