1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: Past good on Buzz Night on this episode of Taking 2 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: a Walk. This walk is part of the two part 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: series focusing on the Home Base Program. Home Base is 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: a collaboration between the Boston Red Sox and mass General Hospital. 5 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: Retired Brigadier General Jack Hammond is the executive director of 6 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: the Home Based Program. The general has a legendary career 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 1: in the military, among the experiences Commanding General of US 8 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: Forces and Cobble Battalion Commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, his 9 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,559 Speaker 1: leadership skills are unparalleled and his dedication to excellence is 10 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: at the highest level. General Hammond, it's an honor to 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: be taking a walk with you here in Charlestown. Thank you, Ivan. 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: You're one of the most historic parts of the city 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: are at the USS Constitution. We can see the Old 14 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: North Church right across the water in the Bunker Hill 15 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: Monument right to our back. It's an unbelievable place. It 16 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: still evokes so much emotion and memory and passion. And 17 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: as we're taking a walk today, there's some pretty serious 18 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: times that are going on in the world that affect 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: our country. And I would be remiss General if I 20 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: didn't ask your opinion of the crisis with Russia and 21 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: Ukraine and how it affects us, Well, we've kind of 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: boxed ourselves in here a bit. For the past four 23 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,679 Speaker 1: or five years, Putin has been signaling that he's going 24 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 1: to try and rebuild his Soviet Empire, and he's made 25 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: no bones about it. For those that don't know, he's 26 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: a career KGB officer that grew up in the KGB 27 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: and when the Soviet Union fell in nineteen ninety, he 28 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: was horrified and angry and humiliated and that's a bad 29 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: combination for a guy that's pretty much a dictator. And 30 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: you could see over the past last thirty years how 31 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: he is seethed with anger about this, trying to get 32 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: some kind of primacy role for Russia and restore that 33 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: the glory days of what he considers the Soviet Union, 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: and one of their big red line issues is not 35 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: having buffer states around them. And first of all, he 36 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: was completely enraged when this, when those breakaway republics like 37 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: Lithuania and Lafia joined NATO, that to him was treachery. 38 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: And then when you look over at the Ukraine, he 39 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: lost all his buffer states, and going back to the Czars, 40 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: Russia has always wanted those buffer states around them to 41 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: protect Mother Russia. And when they lost those and then 42 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: they flipped and they became part of NATO, that was 43 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: the ultimate. And so you're going to see him right 44 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: now put his cards on the table. And you know, 45 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: we've threatened him with all sorts of sanctions, he's factored 46 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: that all in. That's not going to scare him. So 47 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: the real question is what's going to go on over 48 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: the next few weeks and how far does he go? 49 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: Because he's going to go he's already, I mean, he's 50 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: already hitting it with some and he's already laid claim 51 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: to the Ukraine. But sitting right down the road from them, 52 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: you know, you've got Poland connecting to that, you've got Latvia, Lithuania, 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: and Estonia that are all NATO members. And if he 54 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: touches any one of those, Article five of NATO triggers 55 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: this event that could be another World war. And across 56 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: the water, we've got China waiting with you know, big 57 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: eyes open and trying to see what we do with 58 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: a very strong eye towards Taiwan using the same premise. Right, 59 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: And I know I'm going long here, but I want 60 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: to share one point there's a great book written by 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: a professor of course I took at Harvard Graham Ellison 62 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: called Thucididi's Trap, and he highlights all these major wars 63 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: in the world that have taken place where where they 64 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: were they happened by second order effects, unintentionally where countries 65 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: didn't want to get into war, and a lot of 66 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: times it's a collision point between ascending and descending powers. 67 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: And and you know, one of the most notable, obviously 68 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: is World War One. You know, the you know, the 69 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: assassination of Archiduke Ferdinand. You know who cared what happened 70 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: to some royal member of these you know, some royal 71 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: household family member in Serbia to create a war where 72 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: forty million people died as a result of that one assassination. 73 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: But it happened because the trigger points were all there. 74 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: And so we what we worry about now is one 75 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: of those trigger points where somebody makes a mistake, somebody 76 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,479 Speaker 1: misinterprets something, and then next thing, you know, it's a 77 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: full blown war and the war escalates. And you can 78 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: see because of the collaboration between China, Iran, North Korea 79 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,240 Speaker 1: and Russia already each of them knows they could never 80 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: beat the US or NATO independently, but if they all 81 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: nipped away, it's like a pack of hyenas going after 82 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: a lion. You know, one on one they'll never win, 83 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:56,039 Speaker 1: but a pack with one lion you never know. My god, 84 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: So do you look at this and think that you know, 85 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: our allies can play a particular role to sort of 86 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: divert this. This has really got to be a collaborative effort, 87 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: doesn't it. Well, so part of this is a daylight 88 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: and a dollar short. For the past five six years, 89 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: they have propped Russia up. Russia, you know, has wanted 90 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: to do this since the nineties, but they were broke 91 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: and they were incapable of doing it. What props Russia 92 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: up is when oil goes over forty dollars a barrel. 93 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: And through the support of Germany, France and all these 94 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: European countries that are at most risk. You know, we're 95 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: not at great risk, they're at the biggest risk, I 96 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: mean neighbors. Right, They've propped over the price of oil 97 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: up to one hundred dollars a bool right now and 98 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: it will rise when this thing kicks off. And so 99 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: you know, all our sanctions in the world don't matter. 100 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: If oil goes to two hundred dollars a barrel, He'll 101 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:48,919 Speaker 1: just make that money up on the other side and 102 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: someone l always buy oil. You know, as we've learned 103 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: Saddam was selling oil. You know, they created all sorts 104 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:55,520 Speaker 1: of ways for it to get out there, so his 105 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: oil will get out there and people will continue to 106 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: buy it. The question is what they do and how 107 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: solid will NATO align to protect themselves right and then 108 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: moving forward, Russia needs to know there's long term economic 109 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: consequences that will put them back in that state of ruin. 110 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: There are other things we could do and we should 111 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: be doing. That include starting to empower the local groups 112 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,159 Speaker 1: that are going to fight back with the right type 113 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: of missiles, weapons and systems so that they can start 114 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: causing some havoc back there. Russia can't sustain this forever, 115 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: and if all of a sudden, over on the Georgian 116 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: border they start getting into some trouble and they have 117 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: to shift troops over there, if you know. I don't 118 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: know the Belarus will do it, but some of the 119 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,400 Speaker 1: other countries we've been working within that part of the world, 120 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,159 Speaker 1: and certainly Latvia and Lithuania. If there's a little stuff 121 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 1: over on the border there. He's got to divert troops. 122 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: He's got most of his troops right now concentrated there 123 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: and it's expensive to keep them there. So he won't 124 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: do this forever. You know, something's going to be happening shortly, 125 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: but the question is how long can he sustain it? 126 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: And then, you know, much like in Afghanistan, he left 127 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: because they couldn't solve the problem and they were bleeding financially. 128 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: In between that and Star Wars, we bankrupted the Soviet Union. 129 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: That's the methodology we probably want to do because we 130 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: want to avoid to shooting war. They are a nuclear power, 131 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: and he's already made that point last week. To remind 132 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: everybody of it. Blessings to our leaders and blessings to 133 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: our troops, and we'll leave it at that right now. 134 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: Then one last thing I'd just like to add. There's 135 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: a lot of political division in this country on which 136 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: side you're on, Democrat, Republican, and it goes back and forth, 137 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: and it's pretty pretty aggressive these days. But I would 138 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: just caution everybody on any of that right now and 139 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: just remind them that when you're on the plane route 140 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: for the pilot. Yeah, I mean maybe this can be, 141 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: you know, an odd byproduct that unifies people. I mean, God, 142 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: I could only hope right because it's not his stakes 143 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: are high. Yeah, the stakes are high. Well, general, let's 144 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: saunt to around Charlestown a little bit and take a walk. 145 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: How do you use take a walk when you are 146 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: you know, maybe in a situation where you're stuck with 147 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,160 Speaker 1: a particular problem where you just need to kind of 148 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: unlock and sort of break out of it. How do 149 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: you use taking a walk to help you? Well, I think, 150 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: no matter what, a nice walk helps you clear your 151 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: head and think of all the opportunities, kind of work 152 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: through some of the challenges. I tell you, over the years, 153 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: my wife and I regularly go for walks and talk 154 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,640 Speaker 1: about issues that are going on with our family members 155 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: or with each other. There's beautiful lake in Wakefield Lake 156 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: Wanta Pot that's a nice three while three mile loop. 157 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: We live up in West newbury Port and there's some 158 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: great trails up there that it's just great to you know, 159 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 1: get get into outdoors, you get back to nature, and 160 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: you have a conversation without all the noise. Yeah. Really, 161 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: I think, especially the last couple of years taken to 162 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: the outdoors as well has been so necessary because people 163 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,839 Speaker 1: have been cooped up right general. I mean, well that's 164 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,079 Speaker 1: a thing I think, you know, once the pandemic hit 165 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,079 Speaker 1: in full force, I've never seen so many people out 166 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: walking again. There's a lot of COVID puppies that are 167 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: out there. So a lot of people got dogs because 168 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: they were home now and they could actually have a dog. 169 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: They didn't have to leave it, you know, sheltered or 170 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: doggy daycare and all that silliness. And so a lot 171 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: of people are out more and taking advantage of living 172 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: in a great place like we do. It's a beautiful 173 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: place and it's nice to see people out getting out 174 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: for sure. So how did you first know at a 175 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 1: point in your life that you were going to spend 176 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: a career in the military. Like many things, and as 177 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: a young person, I didn't know there was no grand plan. Initially, 178 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to serve our country my mind's eye. 179 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: I planned on doing it for three or four years, 180 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: and I looked at all sorts of different options and 181 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: finally I just enlisted in the Mass Guard so I 182 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: could do it on reserve status while I was in college. 183 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: And that was my plan. And by the way, in Massachusetts, 184 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:11,720 Speaker 1: I went to UMass and so they offered one hundred 185 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,199 Speaker 1: percent free tuition, and so it solved my other problem. 186 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: And so that was my plan, was to come in, 187 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: do four years. I go two years after college and 188 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 1: you know, do my part. And once I get in, 189 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: I enjoyed what I did, and I went on active 190 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: duty and made a career of it, and that four 191 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: years turned to twenty in at twenty I stayed in 192 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: for a little longer and it was another eleven. And 193 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: it's amazing how time flies when you are enjoying what 194 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: you do. And who were the people that shaped you 195 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: in terms of leaders, especially either associated obviously with the 196 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: military or outside of the military. So in different phases 197 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: of your life, there's different people, right, I mean, obviously 198 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: someone that's shaped a lot of my life as my wife, Colleen. 199 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: We met as lieutenants and we've been together for thirty 200 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: five years, and so she's taken off a lot of 201 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: the sharp edges and there's probably a lot of grateful 202 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: soldiers for the fact that she's done that over the years. 203 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: But as as an army officer, I was really fortunate 204 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: to have some really good folks early on that got 205 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: involved with me. I'd say one of my company commanders, 206 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: Alex A. Hoopolis, is a great guy. He's one of 207 00:11:25,559 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 1: my first company commanders Vietnam veteran combat infantrymen down, you know, 208 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: with the ninth Infantry Division in Vietnam. And Al was 209 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: just such a great mentor on leading troops and the 210 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,079 Speaker 1: importance of it. And he spent his year in Vietnam 211 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: and the Mekong Delta where it was always raining. I 212 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: mean it was wet, it was monsoon, and it wasn't 213 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: met it was jungle, and when you know, amongst all 214 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,920 Speaker 1: of that, people are shooting at you. And so he 215 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:57,319 Speaker 1: taught me about always keeping a good positive attitude and 216 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: taking care of your soldiers. I had a battalion Andrew 217 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,439 Speaker 1: that was a Green Beret in Vietnam, and he taught 218 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: me a lot about planning and operations so at different points. 219 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: And then obviously I have a very close friend who's 220 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: in retired command sergeant major who I've known since the eighties, 221 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: and he was my command sergeant major in Fallujah in 222 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, and he gave me that other 223 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: perspective of you know, Number one don't have a gift 224 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: full of yourself because you're an officer and you know 225 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: work with the NCOs, but you're still in charge and 226 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: you always got a factor in taking care of people 227 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: when you do stuff. And it kind of led to 228 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,840 Speaker 1: a philosophy that I've adopted for a long time now 229 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: that it's no matter what you try and accomplish, it's 230 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: always about people and stuff. You got to get the 231 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 1: right people and then you've got to give them the 232 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: right stuff to do the job. But in the absence 233 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: even stuff, it all comes down to people. So when 234 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: you commanded in Fallujah, how many people were part of 235 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: your watch well, So it was interesting at that point 236 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: in my career as commander, and before we shipped out, 237 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: we did other missions. So at Post nine to eleven 238 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: and so in my battalion, I had a battalion of soldiers. 239 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: There were a thousand soldiers in my battalion, and right 240 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: after nine to eleven we had homeland security missions. We 241 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: were given to secure reservoirs, bridges, all these installations and 242 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: critical infrastructure. And then after two weeks that mission ended, 243 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: we were ordered to secure seven US airports. If you 244 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: remember back then there was no such thing as TSA. 245 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: We had to go in to oversee the security at 246 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: the airports, working in hand in glove with the State police, 247 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,640 Speaker 1: and we did that for nine months, and as that 248 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: mission wound down, we received orders for Afghanistan, and so 249 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: in June of two thousand and two we received orders 250 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: to report in July to ship out. We got ready, 251 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,719 Speaker 1: we shipped over to Afghanistan, and then the missions got 252 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: all tangled up because everything was tangled up in the 253 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 1: early stages. That was the second rotation in Afghanistan. Halfway 254 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: through that I received orders to reform upon return for 255 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: the invasion in Iraq, and so they kept my headquarters, 256 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: but I picked up new units, and as we entered 257 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: into Iraq, I moved up into the northern part of 258 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,479 Speaker 1: the Sunni Triangle into the Ballad region with a battalion 259 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: of two infantry companies, two military police companies, and we 260 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: had roughly seven hundred troops. After thirty forty days, I 261 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: was told to split my headquarters and form a second 262 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: battalion one hundred miles away in Fallujah, and they gave 263 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: me additional units. I had a military police company, I 264 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: had psychological operations teams, I had counterintelligence teams because the 265 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: mission was direct action mission to take down the insurgency 266 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: in that area as a counter terrorism kind of group. 267 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: So I had two different battalions probably all told, probably 268 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: a back to two thousand again, but split between one 269 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: hundred miles. It's difficult, you know, to try and keep 270 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: track of that. And as you get senior, you take 271 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: charge and lead you know, larger formations of soldiers. So 272 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: when you think of leadership lessons that you learned during 273 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: those particular periods, what is transferable from those lessons to 274 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: the leaders of today, no matter what they're leading. Well, 275 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: I think everything starts at the beginning, right, and what 276 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: the US Army does, and so if you put in perspective, 277 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: the military provides us the best opportunity to look at leadership. 278 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: So people go to medical school to become doctors. People 279 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: go to trade school to become plumbers and electricians. They 280 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,000 Speaker 1: go to aviation school to learn how to fly and 281 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: become pilots. Right, there is no school in civilian life 282 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: that trains you to become a leader. There's nothing. You know. 283 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: You may say business school. I've looked at the curriculum 284 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: I got gone to it. They have maybe a class 285 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: out of the curriculum and one one three credit class 286 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: doesn't make a leader. You know, you can answer questions. 287 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: The US Army in particular grows leaders. That's what we do. 288 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: And I think through all ROTC, West Point and OCS 289 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: and all that stuff, we grow somewhere in the neighborhood 290 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: of fifty thousand new, brand new leaders every year and 291 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: we've trained them all through college. Right, it's a pretty 292 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: strong curriculum. At the same time, we are in a 293 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: leadership development program for people that are already in at 294 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: different points in their Korea. Four hundred thousand leaders are 295 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: going through leader development training constantly. So every year we'd 296 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: train in twenty thousand and thirty forty thousand new ones, 297 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: but there's always four hundred thousand that are somewhere in 298 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: progress of leader development. And there's really three components that 299 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 1: I see. You know. One of them is training. You 300 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: actually have to have formal training. You don't just to 301 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: night somebody and tap them on the shoulders street times 302 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: and say you're now a lord. You got to go 303 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: through a process and learn right. Then there's also mentorship. 304 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: You've got to have folks like I named a few 305 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: of the folks that were mentors for me at different 306 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: points in my career. And then experience. You got to 307 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: have those jobs that are building blocked to give you 308 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,479 Speaker 1: the on the ground experience to be prepared for that 309 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: next job. And so the military does a very good 310 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: job of giving you all three so that as you rise, 311 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 1: and by the way, if you fail, they kind of 312 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: move you over to the side. And you may stay 313 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: in the army, but you may not be in a 314 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: command position anymore. You may be established because it's just 315 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 1: not your thing. And that doesn't mean you're bad or good, 316 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: it just means that's not your skill set. You may 317 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 1: be an amazing guy on lining up artillery pieces or 318 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:39,679 Speaker 1: you know, public affairs or personnel or logistics. You may 319 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: be a logistics excellence guy, but you just don't have 320 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: those leadership skills to command at that next higher level. 321 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: And so there's a process to find works and find 322 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: your skills and leverage them in a different way. You 323 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: just don't see that in the private sector. And what 324 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: you do see, however, though, is failure right now in 325 00:17:58,080 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: the private sector, and I've seen that in the last 326 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 1: day since I've been out. There's a void of leadership, 327 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: not avoid to people in leadership positions, and that's a problem. 328 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:10,399 Speaker 1: So when you have that misalignment where you have all 329 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: these people in charge, you got a problem. In stable, 330 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: consistent times, you can muscle through it with enough people. 331 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,960 Speaker 1: During a crisis is when you see mishap, Right, no 332 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: matter what it is, anytime there's a crisis somewhere, if 333 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,719 Speaker 1: a leader fails, it's highly visible because the impact can 334 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: be catastrophic. Right. What happens when volatile and an instability 335 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: becomes enduring, which it has since twenty twenty, Now you've 336 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,120 Speaker 1: got a real problem. And so what we're looking at 337 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: in this country is we've got a situation where we 338 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,879 Speaker 1: have an enduring time of persistent change and instability right 339 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: that we're facing because every week change we don't even 340 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: know when omicron's here. It's not we can go out, 341 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: we can't go out. We can go back to work, 342 00:18:58,040 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: we can't go back to work. We're going to have 343 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: a higher force. I'm not going to have a hybrid force. 344 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 1: So you're going to have people leading organizations that really 345 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: don't know where they're going because they're not sure what 346 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:13,160 Speaker 1: their stability is. And when it's unstable, that's when leadership 347 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: matters most, and if you don't have people that are 348 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: qualified and good leaders, solid leaders, that it's much more 349 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 1: notice when you see the catastrophic effect of all these 350 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: businesses that went under in twenty twenty and twenty twenty 351 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,159 Speaker 1: one because they didn't see it coming. And shame on 352 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 1: you because you know it was telegraphed nine months before 353 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: it came. And that's on the government in the private 354 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: sector because the government failed. You know, we had plans 355 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: in place on homeland security to have enough ventilators. There's 356 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: a list of catastrophic crises that you deal with in 357 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: homeland security. One of them is a pandemic. Back in 358 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, I was on Governor Romney's Homeland 359 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,199 Speaker 1: Security Advisory Group as an army officer, and they had 360 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,439 Speaker 1: people from the state police, they had people from Mema, 361 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: they had people from the hospitals, fire, you know, everybody. 362 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,919 Speaker 1: When they got to the pandemic, that's a shoulder shrug. 363 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: They had plans for everything too. They didn't have plans for, 364 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: and they didn't develop solid plans for were cyber and pandemic. 365 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: Cyber just as elusive for people. And it's really not 366 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: that hard, but it's one of those things that law 367 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: enforcement doesn't look at because they think it's techi and 368 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: techie people aren't in the business of enforcing it. So 369 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:26,919 Speaker 1: it's a void and it's still something that we're very 370 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: vulnerable for when it looked at the pandemic, unlike every 371 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:34,959 Speaker 1: other catastrophic man made of natural disaster, those are focal points. 372 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: So if there's a hurricane, if there's a flood, if 373 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: there's a tornado, if there's a winter storm, you can 374 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: bring resources from the United States out of the affected 375 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: area into the area. You can draw on the full 376 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,719 Speaker 1: FEMA resources to help solve the problem, like we did 377 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: in Katrina. You know what I mean. The National Guard 378 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: brought six hundred thousand troops and in five days phenomenal 379 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: or whatever, the number was three hundred thousand troops. Crazy, 380 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,919 Speaker 1: crazy number, but in five days, because they were unaffected. 381 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: A pandemic simultaneously wipes out the country. And the problem 382 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: was the preparatory things to do, to have PPE on hand, 383 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: to have ventilators on hand. That was all identified back 384 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:12,880 Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven and eight, but it became 385 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: a budget thing where they said it's not really going 386 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 1: to happen, let's use that money for something else, So 387 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 1: the money was given to them. That's the other sin. 388 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: All the states got money for the federal government to 389 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: buy all that, And so if you don't do what 390 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: you're supposed to do, you face a price. But as 391 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: I mentioned a minute ago, the root of it all 392 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: starts with, you know, the individual leader, and that's rooted 393 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,919 Speaker 1: in strong values. And the army has a set of 394 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,000 Speaker 1: core values that every member subscribes to. It's the Army 395 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: values loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity, and personal courage. Nothing 396 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: crazy there. But if you ingrain that and everybody's thinking 397 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: and everybody looks that way, it can provide you with 398 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,439 Speaker 1: both an individual, well calibrated, moral, compassful leaders and then 399 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: a guiding north star for the organization. So everybody's going 400 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: to act and be in the same way that your 401 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: organization has decided. And if you have that, everybody becomes 402 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: mission oriented the way you want them. And that's step one, 403 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,679 Speaker 1: and then you build on that to all the other aspects. 404 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: Are you surprised the lack of scenario planning and leadership, 405 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: you know for crisis that still exists. It's stunning. And again, 406 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: you know, in the military, we're always doing contingency planning. 407 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: We had plans for what we did in Iraq back 408 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: in the eighties because we knew Southwest Asia was a 409 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: hotspot because of Iran. We knew Iran Iraq that area 410 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: was a hot spot. So every hot spot in the world, 411 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,360 Speaker 1: there are Army contingency plans in place. There's unit assignments 412 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: that this is what we're going to need for package, 413 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: and then when it stops getting closer, they take those 414 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: out and then they you know, they source them better 415 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: and they really take a hard look, but they've already 416 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 1: looked at it once and they've already come up with 417 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: some initial plans. And there's groups of people that always 418 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: are looking at those same for homeland security. But in 419 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: the private sector, they get caught up in the day 420 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,479 Speaker 1: to day. They're worried about making mission this week, and 421 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: it's very short sighted versus that longer approach, and that's 422 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: immature leadership, you know, if you look at what your 423 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: needs on more long term. And that's why we don't 424 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: have good leaders because it's an investment in time, talent, 425 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,360 Speaker 1: and treasure. Everybody wants the immediate fix, so they'll say 426 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,160 Speaker 1: we'll send so and so to the business schal at Harvard. Well, 427 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,959 Speaker 1: guess what happens when they come back. Half of them 428 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,640 Speaker 1: then use that and go to another job because they've 429 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: now got a Harvard MBA ad or Stanford or Yale 430 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 1: MBA right, and so they don't make that long term investment. 431 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: They try and make it to the end. And the 432 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:36,919 Speaker 1: second thing they'll do is they'll try and buy a leader. 433 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 1: So and so has a great track record, offer them 434 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: a crazy salary. Guess how long he stays until someone 435 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: makes a Biggert salary offer. They're not committed to your course, 436 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,120 Speaker 1: and so they don't want to do the hard work 437 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: of growing leaders within their organization over time because it's 438 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: hard work. And frankly, you know, unfortunately we as a 439 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: country have an attention span of a three year old 440 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: on Mountain Dew General, let's talk about the hard work 441 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: that you and your team is involved with. It's so 442 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:09,120 Speaker 1: critical With home Base. We touched base at the beginning 443 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 1: of the pandemic because home Base and many other organizations 444 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: were obviously going to be challenged through the pandemic. How 445 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: are things going now at home Base and let's talk 446 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: about how people can be more aware of helping our troops. 447 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,680 Speaker 1: So you know, you touched upon a lot of key 448 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,679 Speaker 1: points just prior to the pandemic, and so it looked like, 449 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: prior to the pandemic, we were making some headway with 450 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: some of the mental health challenges that our veterans were facing. 451 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: Between the pandemic, two years of hibernation and isolation, which 452 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: is the worst thing for anybody with a mental health issue, 453 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: and then you combine that with the really catastrophic withdrawal 454 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,919 Speaker 1: from Afghanistan. Politics aside, you're going to do it, do it, 455 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,200 Speaker 1: but the way they did it was just horrific, and 456 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 1: as we saw the after effect of the humanitarian crisis. 457 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 1: But for the warriors that participated there, it caused them 458 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: to question the value of their service. For the military 459 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: family members that lost soldiers, it caused them to question 460 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: the sacrifice that they made. And then you know, as 461 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 1: we looked at it at home base, we had veterans 462 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: that were actively in care getting calls and texts from 463 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:31,160 Speaker 1: Afghan civilians pleading for their life. So picture, if you're 464 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: going through a two week program to solve your post 465 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: traumatic stress issues and you're getting a call from a 466 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,639 Speaker 1: frank telling you the Nazis of banging on duas and 467 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: I'm next, and you can't do anything to help them. 468 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: How does that help you? As far as the moral 469 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: injuries you've sustained, it's reigniting them. And so those guys 470 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,920 Speaker 1: were actively in care. We had folks that had gone 471 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: through care and got to a good place and they 472 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: got those calls and it ripped the scab off and 473 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,479 Speaker 1: they were now reinjured. And then we saw a lot 474 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,679 Speaker 1: of folks that were doing fine. It was kind of 475 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: below the water line and this was that straw that 476 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: broke the camel's back and then they needed help. And 477 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:09,959 Speaker 1: so we've seen an unprecedented call for care from across 478 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: the veteran community. At the same time, we've seen a 479 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:16,640 Speaker 1: twenty percent growth in veteran suicides since twenty twenty, and 480 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: so the challenges the needs have grown. At the same time, 481 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,119 Speaker 1: the ability to connect with them has never been worse, because, 482 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: as you know, the VA is a government entity, and 483 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: getting in contact with a government entity during the crisis 484 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:35,399 Speaker 1: has not been easy. And frankly, you know, the too big, 485 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: the too bureaucratic to really effectively deal with this. They 486 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 1: don't have a standard of care across the entire via system. 487 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,880 Speaker 1: Every VA system is separate and autonomous. That's no way 488 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: to run us a network system, so they don't function effectively. 489 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: There are some excellent clinicians and excellent VA hospitals, not 490 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: all of them, though, because there's no standard of care 491 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: across the system that they apply, and so we see 492 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: a lot of folks that are dissatisfied with that at 493 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: home Base, and we do our best and what we're 494 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,000 Speaker 1: able to do, and we're not perfect. Nobody is, and 495 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 1: anybody claims that, as you know, a little bit of narcissistic, 496 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: egotistical problems there. But we're able to leverage the deepest 497 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: resources of some of the best hospital and medical capabilities 498 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: in the world. That's why home Base is successful. And 499 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: good enough is never good enough. We're always looking to 500 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: identify new and improved ways to develop new clinical solutions 501 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,719 Speaker 1: for problems that are ancient. If you look at PTSD, 502 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,399 Speaker 1: that goes back to the dawn of time, when two 503 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: guys with clubs are whacking each other, right, one of 504 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,880 Speaker 1: them gets his head split open, one of them gets 505 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: a concussion. That's TBI and PTSD. That goes back to 506 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: then you look at the Romans, the Gladiator is the 507 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: Civil War, World War One, trauma, trauma, trauma, right traumatic 508 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: brain injury, especially with the invention of gunpowder, when we 509 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: saw that the concussive effect and the banging around effect, 510 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,280 Speaker 1: and so as we came into this new twenty first century, 511 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: we were able to apply a lot of knowledge and 512 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: a lot of experience, whether it's from the NFL and 513 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: the concussion world there, whether it's from the number one 514 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 1: Department of Psychiatry MGH that has six hundred clinicians that 515 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: all have different specialties and harnessing some of those to 516 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: come up with these plans and developing breakthrough models of care, 517 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,400 Speaker 1: which in our case is that fourteen day program we've 518 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: talked about where you're able to hit the pause button 519 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: in life and just focus on getting better for two weeks, 520 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: and we have you from sundown to sunset, sun up 521 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: to sundown, and we're able to compress two years of 522 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,520 Speaker 1: therapy into fourteen days. And I'll go back to our 523 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: Mountain dew three year old. That's everybody, conclude. Our veterans, 524 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: they want to get better now. They're looking for that 525 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: quick fix. If you go to traditional outpatient care, it 526 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: could be a year, it'll certainly be fifteen weeks, eighteen weeks, 527 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,520 Speaker 1: and going to see a clinician once a week for 528 00:28:55,680 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: three four five months is not only untenable because you 529 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: can't get that time off of work. It's hard, and 530 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: it's an injury of avoidance where you don't want to 531 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: talk about it, and so you're trying to keep it down. 532 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:10,479 Speaker 1: You don't talk about it. They talk about World War two. 533 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: Guys don't talk about because theyn't want talk about the 534 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: worst time in their life. You know, it's the best 535 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: and worst, but catastrophical, they lost friends. They have to 536 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: talk about it, and so putting everything aside, putting them 537 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: in a bubble and working on it for two weeks, morning, 538 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: noon and night. We get to it, and we have 539 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: incredible results. And we have amazing partners at UCLA, Emory 540 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: and Rush that partnered with us and do the same thing. 541 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:33,640 Speaker 1: And over five years, we've got five years of data 542 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: from four academic medical centers to prove how this works. 543 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: Oddly enough, the government hasn't picked up on the program 544 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: and started doing it themselves, so we'll keep doing it. 545 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: We've developed the nation's first program for the families of 546 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: our fallen. It's the only program in the country where 547 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: these catastrophically injured family members who are sitting at the 548 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: kitchen table when the veteran pulled the trigger in front 549 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: of the kids, more injured than any veteran I've ever met, 550 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,600 Speaker 1: had nowhere to go for specialized care. We created a 551 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: program for him. We created a special program at the 552 00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: request of Naval Special Warfare for our Special Operations Team 553 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: members for comprehensive brain health and injury treatment. And that's 554 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: been alive and running, and we see Navy Seals, Green Berets, 555 00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: Delta Force members because we're the only game in town 556 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: with the level of care that's required and accessible. And 557 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: then most recently, what we're looking to do is build 558 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: capabilitying capacity and areas that don't have access to care, 559 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: and so we look at communities of color where they 560 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: don't have good psychiatric care and we're working with community 561 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: health centers. Last week I was in Arizona meeting with 562 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 1: leaders in Arizona from both the government. The governor asked 563 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: us to meet with them and he wants to help 564 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: build some capability that we're capable of doing, and the 565 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:52,640 Speaker 1: tribal nations in Navajo Apache and hoping nation, because these 566 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: veterans come back from war after serving this government and 567 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,600 Speaker 1: country and they live in abject poverty on the reservations 568 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: with no access to mental health care. It's a sad 569 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: state of affairs. But we're finding different solutions by looking 570 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: at it, getting the right people in the room again, 571 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 1: right people write stuff. And we did it in Florida 572 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 1: already in Southwest Florida, partnering with great communities down there 573 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: to build clinical capability to handle and care for their veterans, 574 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: and they want to do it, and so we're there. 575 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: So lastly, general, are there days that you you lose 576 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: hope when you walk in to lead your team? And 577 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,320 Speaker 1: if so, how do you get past that moment of 578 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: that feeling? Yeah, so that hope is not I get frustrated, 579 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,480 Speaker 1: but hope is something that I value too much. We 580 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: always talk about the fact that optimism is a combat multiplier. 581 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: And I told you about my friend alex A. Hoopolis 582 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: and I asked him how did he get through rainy day, 583 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: shot at every day and he explained to me, you 584 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 1: just got You can do hard time or easy time. 585 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: And that's the truth. You can look at it like 586 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: this is pretty good. Well, you can say this is awful, 587 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: how do you want to spend your day? Taught me 588 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: that lesson, so that stuck with me and I've follow 589 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: up my entire life. But hope is another thing. When 590 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: someone loses hope, that's how we lose twenty two veterans 591 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: a day they've lost hope for a day without pain. 592 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: I never lose hope. I get frustrated, and then I 593 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: try and find a solution, and I'm blessed with the 594 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,760 Speaker 1: ability to have a lot of access to resources to 595 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,800 Speaker 1: try and marshal those resources to try and solve those problems, 596 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: you know, And when I hit the wall and the fact, 597 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: you know, I keep talking to the government about trying 598 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: to help support the funding. What we do. You know, 599 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: we have to raise thirty million dollars each year. We've 600 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: raised one hundred and thirty million dollars to care for 601 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: wounded veterans and wounded families. We have never saved a 602 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: penny from the federal government in reimbursement or grant money 603 00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: to do any of this, and we've asked every year 604 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: for twelve years. So that's frustrating. But I won't lose 605 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: hope because I know those good people that want to 606 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: do it, they just can't figure out how, and so 607 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: we try and figure out how. Well, thank you for 608 00:32:54,120 --> 00:33:00,000 Speaker 1: your work, your service. Since this is a global podcast, 609 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: give a little shout out to the home Base podcast 610 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,080 Speaker 1: that you guys have worked so hard at and done 611 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: so much great work on So Doctor Ron Hirschberg who 612 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: is a physical medicine rehab dock at mass General and 613 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: Spaulding Rehab. He works in the intensive care unit. He 614 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: works brain injury stuff with the New England Patriots. Ron 615 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 1: committed to this course because as we know, it's such 616 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: a great medium to get to people. We created home 617 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: Home Based Nation to support the work we do and 618 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 1: to get the word out on what's available for care 619 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: and tell the stories of amazing Americans that have overcome 620 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: great challenges in life and adversity after war, or those 621 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: who have committed themselves as part of a member of 622 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: the grateful nation to support those people. And some of 623 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: the stories are amazing. We've had incredible people come in, 624 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,240 Speaker 1: whether it's you know guys like Shaggy who is a 625 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,960 Speaker 1: Marine Corps veteran from Desert Storm and the household name 626 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: and music Spike Lee after he did a movie, had 627 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: a big focus on black veterans and some of the 628 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: issues they go through. Bob Woodruff for ABC an amazing, 629 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: amazing guy, Sebastian Younger who wrote this phenomenal story called Tribes, 630 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,359 Speaker 1: which really goes well beyond the military to the fact 631 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:20,920 Speaker 1: that we're all mammals and we do like to be 632 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,960 Speaker 1: around other people. But Ron's been able to pull a 633 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:24,960 Speaker 1: great thing together, and I encourage anybody to go to 634 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,239 Speaker 1: a home base nation, same thing it's in all their 635 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,719 Speaker 1: usual places, and learn a little bit more about what 636 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: we do. Well, thank you for all that you do. 637 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this Taking a Walk podcast general. 638 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 1: It's been an honor and I can't thank you enough. Well, thanks, Buz, 639 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: and I appreciate what you're doing, our opportunity to tell 640 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: our story a little bit. Taking a Walk with Buzznight 641 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 642 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:51,919 Speaker 1: your podcasts.