0:00

Welcome to the Metavec podcast, stories

0:03

of injury,

0:03

rescue, recovery,

0:06

and resiliency. We'll

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find more than that back podcast dot

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com.

0:23

Hello, everybody,

0:23

and welcome to the MetaBank podcast. I'm

0:25

your host, Christian Myers, joined by our other

0:27

host, Dave Gread. Hello, everybody. If

0:30

you don't know, today is September twentieth,

0:32

which is David Reed's a live day.

0:34

Oh, yes. Wanna do a quick shout out. Thanks for

0:36

staying alive. Yeah. That's that's always a

0:38

good I'm glad to be alive. Yeah.

0:41

I'm glad you're still here, man. Thank you. If you ever

0:43

heard Dave's story, you can go back a few episodes roads

0:45

will plug it in, but Dave talks about his story

0:47

little bit more in-depth about what

0:50

happened with his injury and onto

0:52

his recovery as well. go give that one a listen

0:54

if you haven't too. Our guest today is

0:56

Brendan Powers. Oh, boy. Oh, wait.

0:59

There is a price for the show. Oh, there's a price

1:01

for the show. Yeah. Do you wanna fill them in on the price?

1:04

No. No. No. It's gotta be you. If you

1:06

haven't listened to the show before, there is a price. You have

1:08

to share it with a friend or family member. if you get

1:10

something out of today's episode. So even if there's just

1:12

a little tidbit of information, you wanna share with someone,

1:14

make sure you hit that share button, interact with the

1:16

video somehow. Let's get those numbers up.

1:18

It really does help. I had someone come up to airport

1:21

the other day and say he joined the military

1:23

specifically because of this podcast.

1:25

So it helps share, comment below. We love

1:27

hearing what everybody has to say. Which branch did

1:29

it join? Air Force. I

1:32

wonder who inspired him. Yeah. You heard all those five

1:34

star recording. Staking lobster

1:36

stories. Who's our guest today?

1:39

The guest today is Brendan Powers. Welcome,

1:42

Brandon. Thank you. Thanks for being here. He is a

1:44

former marine. Can I say former marine?

1:46

Sure. No. It's you're once a marine,

1:49

always a marine. Right. So why marine list? Yeah. That's

1:51

right, please. So Brent is a former

1:53

marine transition into the army. He's a chief

1:55

warrant officer now, flying

1:57

UH six issues. So my old helicopter

1:59

platform love having another rotor head

2:01

rotor head on board. It's a it's a great aircraft.

2:03

I really love it and I love what I do. Absolutely.

2:05

And and we'll dive into this in a minute, but

2:08

going from truck driving in the marines

2:10

to a pilot, a sixty pilot

2:12

in the army -- Mhmm. -- what a transition that

2:15

is. So let's wind it back a

2:17

little bit and, like,

2:19

how was your journey into

2:21

getting into the military? So

2:23

I come from a a military family.

2:25

Yeah. My three of my grandparents

2:27

served in World War two to include my

2:30

grandmother. She was actually the highest ranking of of

2:32

my three grandparents. No kidding. Yeah. She

2:34

was an officer. She met my grandfather.

2:36

He was a a rater. So

2:39

pre UDT -- Yeah. -- and

2:41

just he was always he

2:43

was a diver. So, you know, we've got his old

2:45

Mark five dive helmet and pretty

2:47

sure his statue limitation is out on that

2:50

acquisition of gear. This

2:52

is tactically acquired

2:54

-- Tactically acquired. -- and then

2:56

my my father served in the navy

2:59

and he had he

3:01

had never really left New York before. And

3:03

so his first duty station was Key West. And his

3:05

second duty station was Aluthra in the Bahamas

3:07

where he met my mother. and then they

3:10

got stationed in Bermuda and

3:12

then Virginia Beach. And he'd

3:14

he'd said during his tenure in the navy,

3:16

the vehicle never invaded the bomb. So

3:19

On his watch. On his watch. Yes.

3:21

And in that Vietnam era veteran,

3:23

but he he never went overseas. So he's just,

3:25

you know, the military send you where they

3:27

send you and you accept the mission and do as best

3:29

as you possibly can. So, you

3:31

know, come from military family after nine

3:34

My my brother and I both looked

3:36

at past to join the military. Mhmm.

3:38

We had civilian careers at that point,

3:40

and I was I was pretty old. I was

3:42

twenty seven when I went to boot camp and I realized

3:45

I was older than my senior drill instructor. I think

3:47

that's a unique question

3:50

to ask too is how nine eleven

3:52

affected you and your family coming from that

3:54

background. Well, my sister

3:56

was actually in the capital that day. Yeah.

3:58

Oh, wow. And, you know, we couldn't

4:00

couldn't get a hold of her for a couple of days or

4:02

not for a couple of hours. Okay. We're finally

4:04

able to speak with her later that afternoon.

4:06

And we knew she was safe. She

4:09

was working for a member to congress at the time,

4:11

and my I remember my father asking her,

4:13

you know, where's where's David? Oh, he's

4:15

here. He's here at the house, you know, because they they nobody

4:18

knew what where to go, what to do. Mhmm.

4:20

And nine eleven was a

4:22

really special not special, but it was

4:24

impactful on our community because president

4:26

Bush was at our local airport

4:28

at the time. Okay. So the

4:30

day before, my my wife and

4:32

daughter had the opportunity to

4:34

to meet the president on on September

4:36

tenth. And there's a great picture

4:38

of my wife and healy's, you know,

4:40

with the president. It's

4:42

really impactful because we

4:45

really saw how much the world changed

4:47

in an instant -- Yeah. -- in a day. In a

4:49

day. Yeah. And

4:51

So it was very very impactful on

4:53

the the Sarasota Bradenton area because,

4:56

you know, we were part of

4:58

history that day. Absolutely. And

5:00

our our local congressman ended up flying

5:02

on the first leg with the president, and he

5:04

did a a retelling of his experience.

5:06

of, you know, what it was like to fly on

5:08

Air Force One when nobody knew what was

5:10

going on. Mhmm. So there's a

5:13

there's a special call to service for

5:15

me and my brother in in thousands and millions

5:17

of other people because of the events of

5:19

that day. Mhmm. Just go and do something.

5:21

Absolutely. And that that

5:24

led me down the path of the first

5:26

thing I wanted to do was I wanted to join the Coast

5:28

Guard because I thought, you know, protect the

5:30

homeland. Mhmm. And

5:32

So that's where I started. Long

5:35

story short, I didn't join the Coast Guard.

5:37

I spoke to the navy, you

5:39

know, I spoke to the army, I spoke to the air force,

5:41

you know, and it was you're too old for this or we

5:43

don't really have a job for you. And I

5:45

ended up in the Marine Corps recruiter's office.

5:47

And you know,

5:49

I I actually signed up to do

5:51

Amtraks. Mhmm. And I didn't

5:53

wanna be a truck driver. And,

5:55

you know, so I one

5:58

day in boot camp, the senior general structure

5:59

calls me in. He's like, hey, Brendan. Guess what?

6:02

Recruit powers. You're gonna

6:04

be a truck driver now. needs to the Marine Corps. We need more

6:06

truck drivers, so you're now at thirty five

6:08

thirty one. And that does that

6:10

does suck. Very green.

6:13

It's just just like you quintessential marine

6:15

corps. You know what you wanna do

6:17

when you go in and then just

6:19

have your whole world shattered. for the

6:21

next four years. Yeah.

6:23

But, you know, I ended up making

6:25

great friends. I I did

6:27

a deployment with great

6:30

people. I learned a lot emotionally

6:32

about myself of challenge, be

6:34

able to challenge myself, to be able to do things

6:36

that I never thought possible. Mhmm. because

6:39

I remember asking my brother when it kinda came

6:41

down to, you know, the

6:43

Marine Corps looks like your paths. Mhmm. And my

6:45

brother had just graduated from

6:48

Paris Island a couple months prior. Okay.

6:50

And, you know, when I asked him, I said, you

6:52

know, what does it what does it take

6:54

to join the Marine Corps? You know, do you think I

6:56

can do it? And his response to me is, you

6:58

know, still powerful these days. It's it's

7:00

you can't describe what it's like

7:02

unless you do it. Unless you've done it, you

7:04

can't really describe it to somebody. So

7:06

you know, I took that as a as a personal

7:09

challenge -- Mhmm. -- to just alright. I'm

7:11

doing this. Let's go. So and

7:13

I've tried to take that in life

7:15

to everything else that I do. and

7:17

that that helps me get to where I am in the army

7:19

now. Yeah. I wanna do that.

7:22

So figure out a plan, execute it.

7:24

don't put those barriers, stop you along the way. Right?

7:26

Absolutely. Absolutely. The yeah.

7:29

The the road to accomplishing your

7:31

dreams is setting goals, I suppose.

7:33

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

7:35

Yeah. The military has a tendency

7:37

to do that. It did really challenge

7:39

you to to push yourself and apply that in

7:41

the civilian sector So what

7:43

did you do before nine eleven?

7:45

You said you were in the civilian world? So

7:47

I I

7:49

think it's really it's a part of

7:52

the citizenship requirements of

7:54

Florida to be a realtor. Okay. So

7:56

that was a realtor. For a period of time,

7:58

I worked on some campaigns. the

8:00

And III actually

8:03

got to work for a a member of

8:05

congress, and somebody

8:07

didn't like her. and they tried to

8:09

run her over while we were waving signs on the side

8:11

of the road. Sure. And I I it

8:14

was not heroic at all. I kind of like dove

8:16

and fell on top of her ended up getting her out

8:18

of the way. And two days later,

8:20

I got introduced to the first lady of the United

8:23

States. And I joke that it's the best

8:25

introduction one could have. Brandon,

8:27

he's joining the Marine Corps. He saved my life last

8:29

week. So that, you know That is a

8:31

pretty good I'm surprised I didn't give you a job in

8:33

the Secret Service. Well,

8:35

again, I pretty much just tripped and fell on

8:37

top of her knocked her out of the way. Yeah.

8:39

Yeah. You were like, III wasn't actually trying to

8:41

rescue her. I was trying to get out of the way and I just

8:43

tripped and helped. helped her out.

8:46

And it perfectly helped. No. I mean, that's a great

8:48

introduction though. I mean -- Yeah. -- what a what a way

8:50

to do that. So in the Marine

8:52

Corps, as a truck driver.

8:54

What was, like, your day to day? What were you,

8:56

Holland? Was it Troops? Was it We

8:58

did we essentially did convoy

9:00

security. Mhmm. I started off

9:02

in a gun truck. Mhmm. So I was

9:04

driving a a big

9:06

seven ton and, you know, we had a two forty up on

9:08

top and we would load to, like, a little

9:10

bit of cargo, but it was mostly escorting the

9:12

civilian truck drivers. Okay. They

9:14

they got to their bases safely. Mhmm. I

9:16

was in the Alarm and Alarm

9:19

province. Mhmm. So

9:21

start yeah. We're based in t q, but it

9:23

was Felicia, Ramadi, a

9:25

landbar. We went to Taji, to

9:27

Baghdad, a little fobs out all over

9:29

the place to just make sure that they've got

9:31

food and water and generators and fuel and

9:33

everything else. Mhmm. So that was my job I started

9:35

off in a gun truck. I ended up

9:37

getting promoted to our

9:39

platoon leaders driver. Yeah.

9:42

So that ended up making

9:45

couple months later, realized that the

9:47

the car with all the antennas on it

9:49

is a bullet magnet. Yes. So

9:51

we we got shot a couple of times,

9:53

and it was it was always interesting

9:58

how you react under

9:59

fire. you know, some people, you

10:02

know, for for me, I'd like to think

10:04

that I act I did my job because it was

10:06

just, okay, push through. somebody

10:08

else needs to get on comms and make sure that

10:10

they're engaging, you know, with positive ID.

10:12

So but my job during

10:14

that moment was to just get out of

10:16

the kill zone. Sure. Push through. Our tires

10:18

are blown out. And

10:20

my my favorite

10:22

treasure or

10:24

Trophy, if you will, is a I just

10:26

received a care package from home. And I

10:28

have a head and shoulders bottle that I keep in

10:30

my office. because a a bullet went through

10:32

it. And then my wife

10:34

constantly is saying, like, why do we have trash out

10:36

in the office? I'm like, that is a momentum.

10:38

Yeah. That's

10:40

days. That doesn't go anywhere --

10:42

Yeah. -- head and shoulders. That's

10:44

funny. So let me

10:46

tell you that to ask you this is how

10:48

was it being an

10:51

older marine?

10:54

There was a little

10:56

bit of little

10:59

bit of built in maturity -- Mhmm. --

11:01

only because I had I had done some

11:03

things before. Mhmm. I

11:06

have a I have a really good friend of mine. His name

11:08

is Alex, and I was

11:10

ten years older than him. And

11:12

to this day, I still call him

11:14

Double Pop. devil

11:16

pop. devil pop. But,

11:18

you know, having worked in the

11:20

civilian world and and kind of having a little bit

11:22

of customer service background it

11:25

I do believe that it made it a little bit easier

11:27

for me -- Sure. -- to to

11:29

be older because you can kinda

11:32

see through some of the games, but you also

11:34

have the ability to

11:36

just show up on time with the right

11:38

gear. Yeah. You know, I I

11:40

another marine his name was Steven. and

11:42

he he said to me one day, he was like, I'm I'm never gonna be

11:44

a stellar of a marine as you. And I said,

11:47

well, you just have to show up on time with the

11:49

right gear. You apply that lesson to life and

11:51

you're gonna go really far. all you gotta

11:53

do. Right. Place right time. Right. Right. Right.

11:55

Right. Right. Uniform. Yeah. If you start

11:57

executing with that mantra, you're gonna go really far in

11:59

life. Mhmm.

11:59

And that's

12:01

So, you know, maybe it was a little bit

12:03

of mentorship to help the other guys and

12:05

-- Yep. -- maybe it was just a little bit of,

12:07

you know, built in maturity by having a couple

12:09

years on them that it I think it

12:11

it made it easier -- Mhmm. --

12:14

physically not so much. Mhmm. You know, my needs

12:16

started hurting before the other guys. I couldn't

12:18

I'm I'm sure you asked a little bit. Yeah.

12:20

I'm I'm sure you also dealt with a little bit of bullshit.

12:22

Like -- Yeah. -- you know, is is being

12:24

twenty seven years old as a marine and then,

12:26

you know, having to listen to the

12:28

nineteen year old or then --

12:30

Yeah. -- twenty year old. I one

12:32

of the things I did for amplitude was that guys

12:34

were falling asleep while they're driving. So, you

12:36

know, dangerous environment to fall asleep in

12:39

driving the truck. But in a combat

12:41

situation, it's even worse. Yes. You know, you crash,

12:43

now you stop the convoyed everything. So I came

12:45

up with this plan where I would okay.

12:47

What time do we need to roll out the gate? Okay.

12:50

Backtrack everything, and I would basically

12:52

come up with a bedtime for the guys.

12:54

Yeah. This is what time we need to go to bed. She can get eight hours

12:56

of sleep. Extreme baby said it.

12:58

Extreme baby said, yeah. And I was AE3I was a

13:00

Lance corporal. Yeah. It's somehow I was tasked

13:02

with this. And I

13:04

remember my roommate at a time was a

13:06

corporal. And I was about five or

13:08

six years younger than me, and he was like, oh, you can't go

13:10

to bed yet. Bed times at this time. Like,

13:12

well, I want ten hours of sleep, not

13:14

eight. So, you know, that was the

13:16

the BS that you have to deal with

13:18

of no. You know, we we don't need to

13:20

play these games. I'm gonna go I'm gonna get a good

13:22

nice rest ten hours of sleep in the

13:24

military. No. Yeah. Sounds like the air

13:26

force. Very

13:29

similar. Yeah. That's a lot of aviation now.

13:31

That's a joke. Yeah. I was just set

13:33

myself up for crew rest management. Yeah.

13:35

There you go. Yeah. Practicing earlier.

13:37

Practicing earlier. Perfect. Perfect.

13:40

So what was your mission? when

13:42

you were a truck driver overseas in Iraq?

13:44

Like I said, it was Convoy Security.

13:46

Mhmm. Yes. Okay. Just that's right.

13:48

But but Any any hairy

13:50

issues besides a couple gun?

13:52

I mean, couple couple of

13:54

ID's gun skirmishes. a couple of IDs. We

13:56

got hit by an ID. I

13:58

did have a cool guy moment

14:00

where I got to drive through some smoke from

14:02

an explosion. I was like, this is a cool thing I remember

14:05

guys. And

14:07

but it it was a

14:10

nothing that's gonna you know, they're gonna write books

14:12

about, you know. But did you felt

14:14

like you were part of something, I'm sure. Like,

14:16

especially being there after nine

14:18

eleven and just Well, there was a there

14:20

was a moment. There's a this young

14:22

family outside of the gate of Volusia,

14:24

and we used to bring, like, school

14:26

supplies to the to the kids and bring

14:28

candy, and they'd see our truck, and they'd

14:30

recognize myself, and in Melvin. He was

14:32

fired for two meter. We

14:34

really like, we would this kid wanted a

14:36

soccer ball and we somehow figured out the logistics to

14:39

get a soccer ball to him. And

14:41

the day after Saddam

14:43

Hussein was executed -- Mhmm. -- his

14:45

mother who had never come up and spoken to us, she

14:47

just always sat in the background. she came up to

14:49

us and she said, you know, I wanna thank you for

14:52

making my country safer because

14:54

she was afraid that Saddam was gonna come

14:56

back. and that really, you know,

14:59

tugged on the hard strings of,

15:01

you know, we made a difference in this woman's life --

15:03

Yeah. -- by being here. So she

15:05

and she thanked us for the future for her

15:07

kids and, you

15:08

know, I think

15:10

there's no shortage of driving that home,

15:12

you know. there was huge heart and minds

15:14

mission, you know. And a

15:16

lot of the civilians over there just

15:18

straight do not like

15:20

their leadership. you know, and they

15:22

were scared. Yeah. You you

15:24

could tell she, you know, I

15:27

that that moment plays over in

15:29

my head You could tell there was there was

15:31

real emotion in that -- Mhmm. --

15:33

to, you know, just come up and speak

15:35

to us. And how how did that make

15:37

you feel? it felt like I was I was doing the

15:39

right thing. Yeah. No. And I I joined

15:41

the Marine Corps to to help

15:43

people. Mhmm. It's It's not

15:45

often that, you know, marines think about I'm

15:47

helping somebody. They think about, you know, I'm a

15:49

marine. I'm gonna go kill somebody. Kill

15:51

somebody and break things. Yeah. It was the enemy. Yeah.

15:53

So for somebody to come up and say thank you for

15:55

what you're doing. Really, is

15:57

it drives it home that you're doing the right Sure.

15:59

Yeah. It solidifies that for you. Absolutely. It's

16:01

a good perspective. Mhmm. You know? Yeah.

16:03

Especially come come from a marine mentality to

16:05

have a buddy that

16:07

literally said, yeah. Marines are really good at fucking

16:09

killing the enemy. That's it. They need

16:11

an officer, you know. This is the

16:13

mentality that they they have, you but you

16:15

gotta have it. I'm just gonna have it. But at the end

16:17

of the day, yeah, the the people that you're

16:19

keeping home keeping safe

16:21

at home, is of the

16:23

utmost importance. And that is helping people

16:25

--

16:25

Absolutely. -- you

16:26

know. So you had a moment when you were deployed,

16:28

when you saw some helicopters, Yeah.

16:31

It was February twenty second

16:33

two thousand seven, and I was right

16:35

outside the gates of Ramati.

16:37

Okay. And and these black hawks

16:39

and patches come flying over the

16:41

treetops and I'm sitting there and

16:43

I'm just like, I'm done with being on the

16:45

ground. Mhmm. My I'm stuck in the

16:47

mud, you know. That looks way way more

16:49

cooler and, you know, I watched Top Gun

16:51

as a kid and I gotta figure out how to be a

16:53

pilot. So at some point in my life.

16:55

So I I yeah. So it was on

16:57

that day that I decided I was gonna figure

16:59

out I'm doing this. I'm I'm gonna

17:01

figure out a way to go to flight school. And so

17:03

I started a journey there. And

17:06

little over a year later, I had transferred

17:08

an inner service transfer over to the

17:10

army -- Okay. -- joined my current unit

17:13

as an e four. Mhmm. And it

17:15

was hard going from corporal to specialist. I

17:17

didn't know there was a difference. Yeah.

17:20

I didn't know if one was NCO. So somebody had to

17:22

somebody had square me away real quick with that

17:25

one. End up going to

17:27

Tango School, ended up deploying

17:29

with my unit. And then Church chief school. Right? Church chief. Yeah.

17:31

Sorry. Fifteen tango -- Okay. -- Fort

17:34

Eustace. And So I

17:36

trained up, got went through progression as a

17:38

crew chief, and then deployed.

17:40

And I had heard that they were

17:42

a lot more forgiving with a flight packet

17:44

if you were deployed. Yeah. So I was like, alright.

17:46

Well, let's let's get this done. So we

17:48

pretty much my packet was ready. I

17:51

needed to make sure that I was in Kuwait when

17:53

I slitter across the table.

17:55

Yeah. Yeah. So I I ended up

17:57

doing that whole deployment. I got accepted very

17:59

on air very early into the deployment.

18:01

I got accepted to flight school.

18:04

Awesome. I ended up doing, like, another

18:06

six months in theater, and

18:08

then came home, had my

18:10

leave from the deployment, and

18:12

then just and it ended the day before my report date

18:15

four walks. Okay. Well, I'm rolling

18:17

back just a little bit. Do you think your deployment as

18:19

a crew chief helped get you prepared --

18:21

Absolutely. -- at school? Yeah.

18:24

So anytime you have

18:26

the the opportunity to

18:28

work a specific job, it's going

18:31

to enhance you when you become a a leader or higher

18:33

ranking within that organization. So

18:35

my deployment as a crew chief

18:37

was was very valuable. Mhmm.

18:40

I understood how missions work.

18:42

I understood like all the logistics that

18:44

needs to go into it. And,

18:47

you know, everybody comes

18:49

to flight school unless

18:51

you're street to see everybody comes to flight

18:53

school with Vagatrix.

18:55

Yeah. You know, I I used to do

18:57

this. So therefore, it makes me makes

18:59

this task easier. Exactly. And

19:02

actually, what I found was My

19:04

time in the Marine Corps,

19:06

most helpful for flight school was

19:08

the land map. Mhmm. Being able to

19:10

read a map, and being able to navigate off of that is a

19:12

a skill that I learned in the marine corps and I

19:14

was able to translate that to flight school.

19:17

Mhmm. So because that's that's how

19:19

we navigate. is the

19:21

entire point of aviation

19:23

to support the ground commander. Exactly.

19:25

So we're gonna use the same maps as

19:27

So, you know, people talk about

19:29

being a crew chief helps you, you know,

19:31

understand systems or understand a little

19:33

bit of awareness in the aircraft

19:36

but I honestly, I believe that the the land

19:38

apps was the biggest biggest thing that helped me

19:40

through through our flight school. Interesting. Yeah. I figured

19:42

you would have said, you know, becoming a a

19:44

more skilled technician Right? Is it

19:46

acting as a crew chief? It's gonna get you familiar with

19:48

the systems, how they integrate and operate together,

19:51

especially on sixties because there's such

19:53

complex systems that are all

19:55

correlated. feed into each other. It did help. Yeah.

19:57

It did help. Interesting. You said land now

19:59

though.

19:59

Yeah. There you'd

20:01

just be surprised how many

20:03

people can't read a compass and they got the map upside down and --

20:05

Oh, yeah. -- yeah. III entered

20:08

up the one time we did the land half

20:10

competition in

20:12

in walk school as I made sure that I

20:14

beat a buddy of mine who was a ranger.

20:16

And I ran that course as fast

20:18

as I could. And I purposely

20:20

packed a lunch that I could, like, set out

20:22

and have a nice spread. And -- Yes. -- I probably beat

20:24

him by ten seconds. But I got my lunch

20:26

set up and I must have just been Ranger

20:29

qualified.

20:31

He he was actually an

20:34

instructor every that doesn't mean

20:36

anything. Just kidding. Just

20:38

kidding. know, the camaraderie that happens, you

20:40

know. You gotta you gotta give him shit a little

20:42

bit. But See, Andrew spread out when he arrived

20:44

on the I had it all spread out and

20:46

I was like, hey, Clayton. John, been waiting where you've

20:49

been. And who that's Yeah.

20:51

Me. That time hack is never fun, though,

20:53

and land that. Is it? No. We're

20:55

just sprinting to the next point. In

20:57

the brush. Yeah. It's fun stuff. Yeah.

20:59

But that's that is interesting that that

21:01

helped you so much as a

21:04

crude chief. And so

21:06

what other skills do you think

21:08

you carried over that helped

21:10

you with that? Well, The

21:12

story of my life when it comes to military

21:14

schools that tend to be the oldest.

21:17

Mhmm. I was the oldest in my flight

21:19

school class. And

21:22

that's I

21:24

had my flight instructor. He's he's now

21:26

passed on. His name was mister

21:28

C. And he was kinda he's kinda legendary as an

21:30

instructor at flight school. And

21:32

I struggled so much with

21:34

the academic side of

21:37

it. And he

21:39

and I had a conversation. It was a Friday afternoon

21:42

probably two weeks into primary. Mhmm. You

21:44

know, I'm I'm going to the learning

21:46

center on Sundays. I'm I'm studying.

21:48

I've I've, you know, but for the life of

21:50

me, I can't remember temperature limits on

21:52

the engine. You know? and

21:55

our instructor, he got to the

21:57

point the one day doing doing daily

21:59

questions. And he's like, oh, we're gonna call

22:01

something different today. Mister Powers stand up. Of

22:03

course, he'd been calling on me every day for the last

22:05

two weeks. And as I stood

22:07

up, I just said,

22:09

oh, fuck. And he goes,

22:11

no. The first step in the

22:13

emergency procedure is not that.

22:15

Yeah. Power sit back down. mister

22:17

C ended up speaking to me later that afternoon. He's like,

22:19

you know, something needs to happen. Otherwise, you're

22:21

you're not gonna make it through. The academics have

22:23

just got to you've got to have the

22:25

academics down. And he told me he said

22:27

every Saturday morning, for the rest

22:29

of high school, I'm gonna be sitting at this booth

22:31

at the McDonald's at six

22:33

AM. I'm

22:33

a drink cup of coffee.

22:34

You can come

22:35

or not? So

22:37

every Saturday for almost the rest of

22:39

flight school, I went on that ministry and I

22:41

sat down with and it was, you know, no pressure table

22:43

talk. So in

22:46

in to answer your

22:48

question of what skill helped me

22:51

throughout fight school was

22:53

I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna figure out a way

22:55

to do it. And when resources were presented to

22:57

me, I didn't shun them. It was

23:00

know, I and and I think maybe that was a little

23:02

bit of maturity too because I had to

23:04

admit to myself, either gonna make it or

23:07

you're not. Yeah. And this guy is sitting here and he's telling me

23:09

that he's gonna help me do it.

23:11

But I've gotta show up. You gotta make

23:13

sacrifices. Yeah. And a lot of a lot of

23:15

people that scares him away.

23:17

Mhmm. And you really gotta if if you're

23:19

gonna make a commitment, you gotta follow through

23:21

on that or crash

23:23

and burn. Right? That's the only options. You

23:25

fail or you don't. Absolutely. We

23:27

still do that same thing with our students at

23:30

Kirkland every Saturday morning between

23:32

seven and eleven Saturday

23:34

school. all the instructors would show up or a

23:36

couple of the instructors would show up when you walk the students

23:38

through just additional help. But it's

23:40

required, especially for for entering aviation.

23:43

Like, you really have to buckle down. There's a lot of

23:45

information that you have to lock in your head.

23:47

I think I might even still remember temperature

23:49

limits since it's been about four or

23:51

five years since I flown. I think

23:53

I have an a part on Thursday. So I've got a study up

23:55

on the flight home. Oh, there you go. Here we

23:57

go. It's so important though to to put

23:59

the time in, especially if you wanna enter

24:01

anything that's a little bit more advanced than,

24:03

you know, your your typical jobs. Right?

24:05

When you're entering aviation or special

24:07

operations or whatever it is,

24:10

it's require determination, and it's gonna

24:12

require sacrifice. Like, you're gonna have to

24:14

give up your weekends. You're gonna have to give up

24:16

your evenings. you have to fully commit those

24:18

things in order to actually progress on them.

24:20

Yeah. Be successful. Yeah. And

24:22

that's that's what I did because I ended up coming up

24:24

with a routine from my

24:26

school. and it was, you

24:28

know, I would go

24:30

on Thursdays. I would go and I'd buy a twelve pack of

24:32

beer and I'd put it in my fridge.

24:35

so that when I got done studying with mister C

24:37

on Saturday -- Mhmm. -- I could, like, pick up a

24:39

pizza, go home, just sit on the couch,

24:41

and just relax. I'm not gonna study

24:43

for twenty four hours. Yeah. Turn your brain off.

24:45

Turn my brain off. Yeah. And then I'd, you know,

24:47

wake up Sunday morning, I go to church, I'd make my

24:49

public's run, and then it's straight to the learning center.

24:51

Mhmm. So from about, you know,

24:54

o'clock on Saturday afternoon to one o'clock on Sunday afternoon. That's

24:56

the only time I didn't study.

24:59

Yeah. And, you know, I I got a routine where

25:01

I I knew I was gonna

25:03

come home, make dinner. I was gonna I

25:05

had a I had an alarm to go

25:07

to sleep because I know that

25:09

I needed to stop studying. Yeah.

25:11

get a good nice rest, maybe not eight to ten

25:14

hours. Mhmm. But get a

25:16

good nice rest and then wake up ready for the day.

25:18

Mhmm. So, you

25:20

know, their daily questions eventually got easier, the limitations,

25:22

they stuck in my head, and it was just a matter

25:24

of time, buckle down, accomplish a mission, and

25:26

get it done. whether that's in school or

25:28

in theater. Yeah. I think it's important

25:31

to have good mentors in your life

25:33

like that, you know. And and we

25:36

hear so many stories of a lack

25:38

of leadership or support,

25:40

but it's always great to hear that

25:42

there's you know, fellow soldiers out

25:44

there that are willing to give up their

25:46

time to help someone out to the

25:48

next step. That's that

25:51

I've done on on my civilian

25:53

side right now is that, like, if I'm reaching

25:55

out to somebody and just talking to them about

25:57

their current situation and

25:59

I ended up speaking to a brigade commander,

26:02

and he was over in Kuwait right now.

26:04

And he he told me he was like, you know, when

26:06

I get back, we're gonna talk. And

26:08

my point to him was, do me

26:10

a favor now. If there's anybody

26:13

in your brigade who's wanting to go to flight

26:16

school, tell him hit me up, you

26:18

know, because I can help him with the application

26:20

process. I can help him just

26:22

be a sounding board for is this

26:24

the right thing to do? Is that the right thing to

26:26

do? Yeah. because a lot of people will will

26:28

come to me and ask me, you know, I wanna

26:30

go to flight school, what do I do? I'm like, well, you gotta take

26:32

the test first, make sure you can go. Mhmm.

26:34

So that, you know, because that was one of the things

26:36

that was brought me when I started the process.

26:38

Mhmm. It was, don't go asking

26:40

people for letters of recommendation when you don't

26:42

even know if you're qualified to go. Yeah. Mhmm.

26:44

So it's So that's one thing that I try

26:46

to do is tell

26:48

people always try to be a mentor

26:50

to people who want

26:52

to go to Fischool because it's it's a commitment

26:54

just to get in. Yeah. And it's

26:56

a long process and there's there's

26:58

really nobody who's an ex

27:00

Birk who can tell you, you know, if you go find a recruiter, he

27:03

he's never been to flight school. Mhmm. But he's the

27:05

guy who's supposed to guide you through it.

27:07

So I always try to put that out on social

27:09

media if somebody's want to go to fly school and they just need need

27:11

some help and some guidance. Mhmm. You know, I'm not

27:13

a recruiter. I'm I'm not gonna be able

27:16

to say yay or

27:18

nay. but at least be a resource

27:20

for people. Yeah. That's what I try to

27:22

do. What are some of the kind of

27:24

top questions that you're you're finding that

27:26

most people are asking? really

27:29

it's where do I start? Yeah. You

27:31

know? And it's everybody

27:34

everybody wants to be pilot

27:36

until the time to do pilot stuff. Mhmm.

27:39

And it's it is a

27:41

challenge to figure out where to start. You

27:43

know, the army's unique in that. You've got

27:45

warrant officers. And so

27:47

you don't necessarily need a college degree if

27:49

you're a good NCO. you

27:51

can submit a flight packet and,

27:53

you know, you can

27:55

be a ranger qualified

27:58

person. and, you know, step into flight school and

27:59

and do really well. Mhmm. But

28:02

there's also those the street to see applications

28:04

and people that go in

28:06

there. And it's it's just a

28:08

daunting process to get to get through.

28:10

Mhmm. The the biggest question that I

28:12

have is where do I start. Yeah.

28:15

So I always tell them, start with the test.

28:17

Yeah. It was the a fast when I when

28:19

I went, it's it's different now. You know, just

28:21

change the acronyms. But

28:23

take the tests, you know, get a study

28:26

guide. What are what are some of the things on

28:28

this test? Basic

28:30

understanding of airspace Okay.

28:32

Basic understanding of flight controls. You know,

28:34

if I put the cyclic here, which ways the

28:36

helicopter gonna go? Mhmm. If

28:39

I, you know, if it's if the aircraft

28:41

is pointing up, where's the cyclic?

28:43

Yeah. So very it's very

28:45

basic in elementary, but you have to

28:47

understand those concepts. And

28:49

and there's a study guide for this. There's a study

28:51

guide for me. And I remember when I when I did

28:53

when I took the AFAS, there was a section

28:56

it was just personal information. It's like fill out your

28:58

name and address and your phone number and, you

29:00

know, but basic instructions. So

29:02

it's like thirty seconds.

29:04

Go. Yeah. You know? Yeah. How accurate? Can you write

29:07

down information that you should know --

29:09

Mhmm. -- very quickly. So and

29:11

make it legible. Everything's a

29:13

test. I mean, that's very it's very applicable to Aviation,

29:15

though, because sometimes you get a radio call one

29:17

time, you have to remember that information and be able

29:19

to jot it down real quick. IFR

29:22

clearance, man. I still use Craft. Oh, you still

29:24

write it down? Yeah. Craft. Make sure that I get

29:26

everything. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Well,

29:28

now you gotta tell us for us non

29:31

aviation folk. with draft is. Sorry. I don't

29:33

I don't do public, man.

29:35

No. It's your it's your

29:37

basic information. Yeah. It's your call sign. We

29:39

I'm sorry. We're cleared to, what

29:41

radio you're gonna go to, what altitude you're gonna

29:44

go to, what frequency you're gonna talk

29:46

on, and frequency.

29:49

Oh, and transponder. Sorry. Transponder. Yeah. That's

29:51

what transponder code you're gonna put in there. Okay.

29:53

I'm only asking for the audience there.

29:55

I, of course, know this.

29:59

Season. Clarity hours.

30:02

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Clear to this radio

30:04

altitude, the frequency, and the transpond.

30:06

Yeah. Good. Okay. Okay.

30:08

So, yeah, that's gotta be

30:10

this gotta be a lot of information that goes

30:12

down. The academic part I

30:14

hear I hear is very challenging. It is. Yeah. Well, there's more

30:16

more mhionic of devices

30:19

than there are acronyms. to

30:21

help you with all the other apps -- Interesting. -- sort

30:24

of information. Everyone's got their own

30:26

technique, so there will be three different, you know, mnemonic

30:28

devices that you can use for one

30:30

specific thing. So remembering those and

30:32

applying them is just as hard as

30:34

remembering. Yeah. It's just I I remember

30:36

that, you know, for, like, physics. You know, there's,

30:38

like, different ways get a cat here. Yeah. You

30:40

know, but and it now was always

30:42

the most confusing part to me. The most

30:44

confusing part to me is when the army

30:46

changes the acronym. Yeah. You

30:48

know, it was this. Now it's this. I mean,

30:50

like, you know, the a it used to be the a fast. Now

30:52

it's something else. It's kind of it's very

30:54

stereotypical of the military as decide

30:56

to change the name of it because of

30:58

-- Yeah. -- reasons. Yeah. It might help

31:00

someone get a star. I don't know.

31:02

I'll redesign this program.

31:05

Yeah. Maybe. probably Could be yeah.

31:07

Leave your mark on this on this, sir,

31:09

as I suppose. Yeah. As far we change

31:11

uniforms every ten minutes. Yeah.

31:13

So you you I have to ask a question

31:15

of how does it feel going

31:17

from driving a truck to

31:19

first sitting in that cockpit?

31:22

It was it was a dream come

31:25

true. Yeah. It really was. You know,

31:27

that was I remember my nickel ride,

31:29

like it was yesterday. And

31:31

It was really awesome because I've

31:34

flown with friends of mine in their airplanes

31:36

and this was cool, but man,

31:38

air tax seen for that very first day. Almost crashing

31:40

and killing my instructor and my stick buddies.

31:42

How did you almost do that? Everybody

31:44

does that. Yeah. But how? Like, what's what's

31:46

the common error? to the

31:48

ground. Oh, you hit hard? Oh, yeah. Hard impact.

31:51

You don't you're not able to hover

31:53

for a couple of days. Yeah.

31:55

Yeah. It was a, you know, zero

31:57

time to zero total time cannot hover

31:59

--

31:59

Yeah. -- especially in a belt 206 Now they've got

32:02

the Lakota. So there's a little more systems on

32:04

it, but is purely sticking rudder in

32:06

the belt 206 If you're just bouncing all over the

32:08

place, hit, you know, hitting the ground,

32:10

you you can't keep it straight. It's all over the

32:12

place. Yeah. Do you think

32:14

eventually get that hover button? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

32:16

Take the iron side saw. Yeah.

32:19

Thank you. So

32:21

do you think that aviation is going in a direction where

32:23

these systems are just gonna make

32:26

it so easy that almost

32:28

anyone could get behind? I

32:30

So my opinion is that

32:33

sometimes the systems can be a detriment.

32:35

Yeah. We had, you know

32:37

I guess, I fly lima. So we

32:40

we'll bust out the tables and do the calculation

32:42

and, okay, you know, only put x

32:44

amount of gallons in because I gotta carry

32:46

so much weight. Mhmm. and, you know,

32:49

not to dime out the mic guys. I I

32:51

might qualified, but they

32:53

would tell us, we gotta start

32:55

the aircraft and look it up in the computer as to how much cargo we

32:57

can take. Yeah. We're like, just put it on

33:00

ours. We'll get it. Just throw it in the back. Just throw it in the

33:02

back. We'll get it. So you you

33:04

lose those fine skills, and that goes back to what

33:06

I was talking about with Land NAV.

33:08

Yeah. Yes. So people took took

33:10

advantage of fact that I don't need to use this

33:12

anymore. I'm gonna dump it off the iceberg and that

33:14

penguin's gone. Mhmm. So

33:17

retaining the basic skills

33:20

really, I think, is the most important thing when

33:22

it comes to aviation. That's one thing

33:24

that I did on the last deployment was

33:26

III went to the tac ops

33:28

office and I was like, you give me the biggest

33:30

map of our rack that you can. And I did

33:32

my Australian folds and I carried them with

33:34

me and you know, now those

33:36

maps are sitting on the the stand with

33:38

my flight school maps. Mhmm. And,

33:40

you know, the head and shoulders or Right.

33:42

Next to the head and shoulders. Sometimes my wife will

33:44

hide it. But, no,

33:46

I did the whole duct tape cover and everything

33:48

just like just like in flight school

33:50

and and I carried it with me. while

33:52

I was flying because I could I could look down and I'd see

33:54

a convoy or something with a weird flag and I'd I'd

33:56

make a note. Okay. I'm here

33:59

and here's here's what I saw, and then I could

34:01

go back and give accurate reports to tac

34:03

ops where, you know, instead of,

34:05

you know, someone doing a Target store and saying, I

34:07

saw something here. I was like, it was at this point on the

34:10

map where where I saw it and here's my

34:12

notes of what was there.

34:14

So I

34:16

think in aviation, it's vital to,

34:18

you know, retain the

34:21

basics. Mhmm. Because if you dip

34:23

if you're too dependent on

34:26

systems, then you you lose your edge. Yeah.

34:28

And and I mean that is, like,

34:30

on the personal side.

34:34

If you doll the

34:36

senses around a specific skill, you're

34:38

going to lose it. Yep.

34:40

Exactly. I mean, we and we face that every

34:42

day with the growth technology. Right?

34:44

I mean, basic skills like starting

34:46

a fire. How many people could do that?

34:48

You know what I mean? Like, You

34:50

know, so people rely heavily on these systems. And I hear

34:53

that's a big big problem in

34:55

a in a aviation people

34:58

fly with instruments. Mhmm. You know? Well, you

35:01

know, you don't wanna fly without instruments if

35:03

you're in the cloud. Yeah. That's

35:05

helpful. But the

35:08

my mentors, one of my mentors

35:10

named Lanny. And he

35:13

he was on a

35:15

boat to Vietnam. and then I deployed with

35:17

him in in two thousand ten. So Lanny has been around for a

35:20

while and, you know, any of my friends that that watched

35:22

us are gonna know exactly who I'm

35:24

talking about. And

35:26

Lanny was just old school. Yeah.

35:28

You know, you gotta learn the basics before

35:30

you get to use, you know, the

35:32

iPad. Yeah. you gotta show me that you can fly this

35:34

aircraft, navigate with a

35:36

stopwatch -- Mhmm. -- with a stopwatch and

35:38

a compass.

35:40

and get me to where I need to be, plus or minus thirty seconds.

35:42

Until you can do that, all

35:44

this other, you know, newfangled technology,

35:47

you ain't use it. Yeah.

35:49

Mhmm. Well, that the the basics in

35:51

aviation too, that's what gets you killed or

35:53

somebody else killed too. Right? Mhmm. I

35:55

mean, brownout landings It's a very

35:57

basic skill to learn at the end of the day. Right? It's it's

35:59

real

35:59

easy to to

36:01

become masterful at. but

36:04

it's very boring to fly routinely over and over and over. People

36:06

get so caught up in in the

36:08

additional instruments or being complacent with

36:10

just simple things like being able and

36:13

in a cloud. Yeah. Right? You should be able to

36:15

do those things. And nine times out of

36:18

ten, that's that's what's getting more people killed in

36:20

aviation than anything. if you can't navigate

36:22

correctly, you're gonna end up getting someone else

36:24

killed if you can't get to them in time. Right?

36:26

Yeah. And, you know, one of the the

36:28

points that they always told us was go

36:30

around for free. Yep. So,

36:32

you know, if you can't put it on the ground,

36:34

just pick it up, go go

36:36

around, and it's that can

36:38

save your life. And absolutely, they

36:40

can. Yeah. Maybe go rounds aren't always free and high hot

36:42

environments like Afghanistan. I mean,

36:44

you guys are flying around a little bit lighter than

36:46

than we

36:48

were. Yeah. Well, down in Kuwait or I'm sorry. When

36:50

I was in Saudi Arabia, we had we

36:52

didn't we weren't quite as

36:54

heavy. It was really hot, though.

36:57

Yeah. But we were landing at

36:59

these, you know,

37:01

the makeshift positions

37:02

that were set up, and it was serious

37:04

sand and dust. Oh, yeah. That's just landed on the moon. Yep. With

37:06

that dust out there. Yeah. And then add a night

37:09

a night component to that. So

37:11

do it under MBGs, and she gets real

37:13

hairy, real fast. Nobody's even shooting at you

37:15

half the time. Like the is Harry

37:17

just getting on the

37:19

grass? That was in Saudi Arabia. That was that the environment

37:21

was definitely the the biggest retinas as

37:23

it was routinely. Yeah. And

37:26

complacency. So Yeah.

37:28

Yeah. So that's it's

37:30

gotta be interesting. So I have AAA

37:32

question for you is if if

37:35

We thought this whole system of learning how to become

37:37

a pilot. What do you think are some of the

37:39

things that should the skills that should

37:41

be bolstered at? like, should be focused on a little bit more.

37:43

Besides, like, the land map and the basic skills,

37:46

like, what are some

37:48

things that you

37:50

know, could be improved.

37:52

I don't know because

37:55

the the army does a really good

37:57

job of teaching you how fly

37:59

-- Mhmm. -- teaching you the systems. Mhmm. It's

38:02

the the things that make it more

38:04

challenging are, you know, in your

38:06

head. Mhmm. people

38:08

just not want to follow through and commit on it. Mhmm. And

38:10

and then your your typical bureaucracy

38:13

that exists, you know, I

38:15

had AA1 pilot. Tell me, the

38:18

army can take the fun out of anything. Yeah.

38:20

Oh, that's very true. Yeah. I think

38:22

they take the fun out

38:24

of everything. They they really do. You

38:26

know, even flying. Yeah. I'm sure.

38:28

You know, we just we we have our

38:30

challenges with with budgets

38:32

and logistics and whether or not we can

38:34

get parts or -- Yeah. -- if if this

38:36

airfield will fuel you or not

38:38

and whether or not the filter is good. How about like

38:40

mental health support? mental health

38:42

support, it it needs

38:44

to be there. Yeah. There

38:46

is, you know, a lot of

38:48

people that

38:50

just don't wanna do it anymore. Mhmm. And, you know,

38:52

looking back on it, what

38:54

what the army has invested in me,

38:56

when the taxpayer has invested in

39:00

me, is a lot of money -- Mhmm. -- probably more money than I will ever

39:02

make in my lifetime. Mhmm.

39:04

And I'm I'm coming up

39:06

on twenty years and I'm gonna

39:08

I'm gonna part ways with the army and,

39:10

you know, move on to my civilian life and and

39:13

and, you know, hopefully, a plea

39:15

not ever have to leave my my family again for a

39:18

year. Yeah. Mhmm. But

39:20

there needs to be some

39:24

understanding and hope that,

39:26

you know, the army is not the only thing going

39:28

on in our lives. Yeah. You

39:30

know, there needs to be

39:32

some accommodation for families and for for wives and children.

39:34

Mhmm. I remember I I wrote

39:36

a post and my my sister

39:38

is much better at writing than I am. So I'd have I'd

39:40

have run it by her

39:42

first to kind of edit it for me and But my point

39:45

was, you know, when when I

39:47

come home from a deployment,

39:49

the Everyone's

39:50

gonna say thank you for your service. Thank you, you know, great job. Welcome home.

39:52

We'd love to have you back. But the

39:54

point of my post was that my

39:57

wife is the one who struggled. You know,

40:00

my wife is the one who had to do everything by

40:02

herself. And, you know,

40:04

I got to go be cool guy and fly

40:06

helicopter around in four or five different countries.

40:08

And, you know, everybody thinks

40:10

that's cool. And it is cool and it's fun, and I

40:12

love that the Army has given me the opportunity to do

40:14

that. But you know, my

40:16

wife is the one people should be thinking.

40:18

Mhmm. So recognition of

40:20

families -- Yeah. -- members who don't

40:22

deploy is just as important, if not more important -- Mhmm. --

40:24

because, you know, she had to maintain a

40:26

house without me. We we're

40:28

a team, you know, we're we're fifty fifty

40:30

on everything.

40:32

and it was, you know, I wasn't taking the trash out anymore.

40:35

She had to she had to, you know, step up

40:37

and do that. Who's gonna mow the lawn? Who's gonna

40:39

fix this? Who's gonna fix that? And

40:41

I had really good friends who good

40:44

friend of mine. Same to Adam. And

40:46

he made a point to

40:48

come and change the AC filters.

40:51

every month. And, you know, to have

40:53

a friend like that, to

40:55

know that those little tiny things are

40:57

gonna taken care of. Yeah. Mhmm. So

40:59

so you don't have to stress while you focus on the mission -- Exactly. -- which reminds me of the

41:02

story of

41:04

comms, because That

41:07

was back in my my Marine Corps days. Okay. And,

41:09

you know, we're we're at a stop, you

41:11

know, refuel. We're a free average

41:13

base we were on. And our

41:17

comms person had told me that she was the

41:19

most important person in the entire

41:21

platoon because without comms, we

41:23

can't communicate and therefore, we

41:25

can't get in and out of gates. We can't talk to our

41:27

air support. If we need help, you

41:30

know, we're we're stuck by

41:32

ourselves. Yeah. And so on the spot, I just I thought of

41:34

it, and I I told her I said,

41:36

you know, your your

41:37

husband and your

41:39

kids are back home.

41:41

If the guy who's processing

41:43

their pay back in Ohio or

41:45

wherever doesn't do his job -- Yeah. -- are you

41:47

gonna be able to focus on comps

41:49

and rapidly send up nine lines

41:52

or do this and really do your job.

41:54

If you're worried about your your kids

41:56

back home, don't have money

41:58

for groceries. Mhmm. Mhmm. And your point is, like, yeah. Yeah. I

41:59

my mind would be occupied by

42:02

that. I said, that guy's mission is just as

42:04

important as our

42:06

mission. Yep. So nobody's the most important. Everybody's job

42:08

is important. And, you

42:10

know, you you talk about, like,

42:12

if if everything's a priority, nothing's a

42:14

priority. Yep. think

42:16

in the military, it is a everybody's

42:18

job is a priority because it's there's

42:20

so many moving parts that have to work

42:22

together. You can't be, like, I'm

42:25

a pilot.

42:26

So pilots don't do that. Yeah. You

42:28

know? Wow. There's some

42:29

washi windshield dude. Mhmm. You know? There's

42:31

nothing worse, you know,

42:33

than know, downrange, staring at

42:36

your family almost going homeless, you

42:38

know, because your paycheck's not taken care

42:40

of. Right?

42:42

I mean, And and you hear all these combat

42:44

oriented MOS's come at

42:46

you with with,

42:48

you know, my jobs better and and

42:51

most important thing known to man. It's not. You know,

42:54

everybody needs each other. It is a cog in the

42:56

machine and everybody needs each

42:58

other to support that one

43:00

true mission of defending this

43:02

nation. Yeah. If there were no cooks

43:04

-- No. -- you're not eating. You're not

43:06

eating that. And we we know

43:08

how soldiers who

43:10

don't eat act. Right? Yeah. Hungry.

43:12

Yeah. Well, we could look look at

43:14

the past. Right?

43:16

Napoleon said, that himself

43:18

that troops should be fed really

43:20

well. Yeah. I'll give you I'll give you one

43:22

last war story. We were

43:24

flying back to our base at TQ,

43:26

not TQ. Taji. And

43:28

I got a call over to SATCOM. Her

43:30

base was being mortared and, you know, you can't

43:32

land here. And I was like, boy, we're gonna bag

43:34

that in some way to know. Yeah. Yeah. I

43:37

had a divert over there. And I was like,

43:39

here's my car go get sandwiches for everybody. Yeah.

43:41

We lucked out. Yeah. Yeah.

43:44

So Man, that that's insane. So your last deployment

43:46

as a pilot was what

43:48

year? Twenty nine twenty nineteen. Twenty

43:50

nineteen. Yeah. And that was

43:53

what what was your mission there?

43:55

So we started off in I

43:57

volunteered to go on the

44:00

last aircraft that was going to strat air or air some

44:02

aircraft over there. So I volunteered to go last.

44:04

So we're like, oh, you're on ad vlog now.

44:06

So I was the the in

44:08

the very first group of of my that ended up

44:11

at Todji. Mhmm. And so

44:13

we landed at Todji. We we

44:15

did our rip with

44:17

the outgoing guys. Mhmm. And

44:20

just set up operations there,

44:22

flew all over

44:24

the fear. we do the the runs to the

44:26

embassy in Baghdad over the

44:28

airport. We go out to, you

44:30

know, all stretches, all the way up

44:32

north, all the

44:34

way out, west. You know, go to the the Spanish

44:36

paces and just bring people

44:38

around basic basic

44:40

logistical support. We

44:42

had to do a a couple of, like, missions where we

44:44

would go drop some guys off in

44:46

the middle of the field. No questions asked. You can

44:48

pick us up in two weeks. Okay. I

44:51

mean, how how did that make you feel? That's great.

44:54

Yeah. Yeah. because we Hey,

44:56

dude. You feel cool. I mean, going from driving

44:58

a truck. like having these

45:00

flashbacks as a marine, you

45:02

know, as a like, you had three

45:04

separate jobs

45:06

in deployments. Yeah. Is is all three of my intents were very different.

45:08

Mhmm. That's interesting. Different different

45:10

mission. And that kind of holistically

45:12

helped understand

45:14

more than just your a o?

45:16

Absolutely. You know, it's understanding the

45:18

guys on the ground. We did a lot

45:20

of work as a medevac escort.

45:23

Mhmm. Okay. We're we would take

45:25

shifts as a CASI vac

45:28

setup,

45:28

you

45:29

know, and helping people the

45:31

guys who, you know, their wedding ring rip off their

45:33

finger to like a dog being shot on a mission, you know.

45:35

There's all all sorts of

45:37

things that you would have your

45:39

standard mission every day.

45:41

of just flying guys around, basic

45:44

logistical support. Here's my manifest.

45:46

Okay. I got everybody to, you

45:48

know, real world wake up in the middle of the night, go

45:50

and execute. Yeah. So,

45:52

really, if you look at my

45:54

deployment my last deployment

45:56

really did two separate missions. Mhmm.

45:59

Working with the MetaVAC guys was was

46:01

great. Being that CASI VAC, you

46:03

know, escort for them was

46:06

great. And then you know, you come off

46:08

shift and you got a day off, then it's back to

46:10

work. Okay? Here's your here's your route.

46:12

Go go fly. Go execute. Pick up these guys.

46:14

Bring them here. So it

46:16

was really I guess she would say I had four

46:18

jobs. I was deployed.

46:20

Yeah. That's

46:22

that's unique. It really is unique. It took you a while to

46:24

figure out what you truly wanted to do, but

46:26

you learned that throughout the military, which

46:28

is great.

46:30

And I think it's a really great lesson for everybody as well as that you're

46:32

never too old -- No. -- to pursue

46:35

your dreams. Absolutely. Yeah.

46:38

So it's just it's just a

46:40

mentality. Yeah. I wanna do

46:42

this. Okay. How do I do

46:44

it? Do which mentors should I

46:46

seek out? you know, that

46:48

help me that can help me down that

46:50

path. Mhmm. So Yeah.

46:52

So so you came

46:54

back home from that mission in twenty nineteen as well or

46:56

is that twenty twenty? It was twenty twenty. Okay. So

46:58

right before the pandemic. Okay. And

47:00

how was Justin done? And how

47:02

was that?

47:03

Well, I was actually

47:05

in strapping down and put a vaccine

47:07

in your way. Well, probably good

47:09

that you got out in time because a

47:11

lot of people got stuck overseas -- Yeah. -- employed for,

47:13

like, six extra months. Well, I actually I came home from

47:15

that deployment straight to the safety course at

47:18

Rutgers. Oh, okay. And so I'm in the

47:20

safety course. and

47:22

they're like, we can condense this down because we're

47:24

either you're either gonna stay here for the rest of

47:26

your life or we can get it. You know,

47:28

we're not all active duty. They're

47:30

my wife would have just said, you know what? You're done with the Army and you're coming home. Yeah.

47:32

If they had tried to make me stay there. Yeah. So they

47:35

we ended up doing this, like because nobody knew

47:37

what was going on, and we

47:39

had a, like, a one star briefing us every day on this is what's

47:42

going on with the pandemic and this is, you know, we're

47:44

trying to get you guys out of here and we've we've

47:46

shortened the the curriculum a little bit. So it was

47:48

it was nuts. but

47:50

ended up making it home and then, you

47:52

know, back to back to the civilian world.

47:54

Mhmm. And what was next

47:56

in the civilian world for you? Well,

47:58

I I went back to my old job as a realtor. No.

48:01

Sorry. Sorry. A

48:03

long time ago.

48:06

I I had to do it. No. I was a I was a

48:08

business development manager for an aerospace

48:10

manufacturing company. Oh, okay. And, like, that sounds

48:12

really cool, but it's it's just

48:14

paperwork. Yeah. And

48:16

I I wanted to do something different that

48:18

was just more fulfilling. Mhmm. Sure. And that

48:21

that's where I ended up where I am

48:23

now. So I I stepped away

48:25

from that probably a little over a year

48:27

ago and and just started

48:30

pursuing what I'm doing now,

48:32

which is I am a I'm a financial adviser.

48:34

Mhmm. So what I

48:36

do is I just I

48:38

help people figure out what

48:40

they're gonna do with their life.

48:42

Mhmm. You know, let's let's set some

48:44

goals. Let's create a mode a

48:46

roadmap. Mhmm. And then here's how you

48:48

execute it. And it's

48:50

I really like working with transitioning

48:52

veterans -- Mhmm. -- because

48:55

there's so much stuff

48:58

that the military does for you that you

49:00

don't even realize. You know, they they

49:02

help you with your retirement, your medical benefits

49:04

are there, you you know, the something

49:07

like disability. If you go to

49:08

sick call, here's your downslip and you're you're sick

49:11

for a couple of days, go to

49:13

your room and Take take ibuprofen and change your socks. Mhmm.

49:15

You know? Jesus. So but

49:18

in this civilian world, you're not working.

49:20

You're not earning. So there's

49:23

things that you don't realize that you don't have.

49:25

So I like working with transitioning veterans

49:27

to kinda help

49:30

them explain here are things that that the military did for you

49:32

that you now need to do for yourself. Yeah.

49:34

Mhmm. So I try to be

49:36

a a mentor. More than anything, I try to be

49:38

a resource. You

49:40

know, if somebody says Brendan, you

49:42

know, what do you think about this? My my

49:44

guy told me I should do this. Mhmm.

49:47

I'd love to give you a second opinion and

49:49

say your guy is a hundred percent correct.

49:51

Keep doing what you're doing. Or, hey,

49:53

I can help you out

49:55

here. Mhmm. So that's really what it is, is

49:57

just, you know, being a resource,

49:59

being a subject matter expert

50:02

and knowing when you need to seek help

50:04

and and find

50:06

other people. And, you know, a lot of my work partners or were all

50:08

veterans themselves. Some have gone to the

50:10

service academies. Mhmm. You

50:12

know, so if

50:14

I can't help you, I can find somebody who can. Mhmm. That's that's

50:16

my goal in this next chapter

50:18

in my life is just always

50:21

be a resource and know know your limitations and

50:23

when I need to find a

50:25

better resource for you. What do you think

50:27

are some of the biggest obstacles

50:30

that these service members are facing when they get out in a financial

50:32

mindset? Well, it kind of goes

50:34

back to, you know, I

50:36

wanna go to flight school. Where

50:39

do I start? Yeah. You know? And

50:42

and that's where that's where I'm able to

50:44

help -- Mhmm. -- is, okay, let's look at

50:46

what you've done and what you want

50:48

to do. Okay. I'll

50:50

I'll sit with you and take as much

50:52

time as as you want. And

50:54

then I can I can take all that back

50:56

and share with my team and say,

50:58

here's we achieve those goals. Mhmm. Or

51:01

I say to him, this one's off

51:03

the table because it's just not

51:05

possible. So it's it's a little

51:07

bit of a reality check It's also a

51:09

little bit of, hey, man, have you thought of this? You know, have

51:11

you really thought this through? Because I

51:13

was working with a gentleman

51:15

over the weekend, And he

51:17

was like, I I just I know that I want

51:20

his young guy. Just got out of the Marine Corps

51:22

in early twenties. He was like, I

51:24

know that I want to

51:26

retire, but I don't know where to put

51:28

the money. Yeah. I don't know what to do.

51:30

And I, you know, I

51:32

just said to him, like, well, without

51:34

diving into your budget, you know, where's an area where

51:37

you can save some money? It's like, well,

51:39

I I buy lunch every day.

51:42

Okay? Don't buy lunch every day. Yeah. Lunch? You

51:44

know, here's three thousand bucks that you just found.

51:46

So it's little things like that.

51:49

In in every situation is different,

51:51

what's the biggest, like,

51:54

sucky best for most people? Since you're

51:57

just, like, you should cut that off right away. Like, what

51:59

is something that you

51:59

see, like, time

52:01

and time again

52:02

on some of their plans,

52:05

and you're just like, this is not.

52:07

Well, the the biggest thing, I'll I'll answer

52:09

your question in a long form. Okay?

52:11

Most people are don't have

52:13

a plan in life -- Mhmm. --

52:16

because most of the time, because they're too

52:18

embarrassed to admit it. Yeah.

52:20

And that's the biggest sucky

52:22

best. Mhmm. Time is the most

52:24

important thing, you know. East when is the best time

52:26

to start now? Yesterday. Mhmm. When is the

52:28

second best time to start today?

52:30

Mhmm. So

52:32

it that's the biggest suckiness is that people are just embarrassed

52:34

or scared to start. Mhmm. They they don't

52:36

want to lift up that hood and

52:38

see what's going on underneath.

52:41

They're just like, I'm I'm gonna figure

52:43

it out someday. Well, my

52:45

goal is we start today.

52:47

Mhmm. So that's the biggest thing

52:49

is that's that's sucky bus that you're you're looking at. Yeah. Financial

52:51

literacy in the military is kinda hit or

52:54

miss sometimes I feel It really is. You

52:56

know, I've I've got some

52:58

clients who he says

53:00

the the officers do a great job

53:02

because they've they've got some business

53:04

classes that they attend in

53:06

college and the e four private has got a twenty two percent interest loan.

53:08

Yep. And it's and it's true.

53:10

And it it might come from

53:12

bringing and,

53:14

you know, not not having that knowledge instilled it in

53:16

you when you're younger, not attending

53:18

college, like you said, attending those business --

53:20

More access to paycheck for the first

53:22

time in your life.

53:24

That too. you know, that's a big one. You you you have a lot of

53:26

these, you know, privates that are coming back

53:28

and buying, you know, the brand

53:30

new mustangs, these Tacoma's

53:32

and twenty

53:34

five and APR. You know, v six Mustang? Yeah. Yeah.

53:36

You know, turn around. So that's a thing

53:38

too is is, you know,

53:40

how do we educate the public

53:44

before. That's so

53:46

that's the challenge. Mhmm.

53:48

Is,

53:48

you know, in

53:52

in reaching out to

53:54

people, it's

53:54

that's

53:55

a challenge for me -- Mhmm. --

53:57

is sometimes I'll I'll reach out

53:59

to a stranger. and they'll, you know, hey, man,

54:01

if you're selling something go away. I'm like,

54:04

well, I'm also offering

54:05

you help. Yeah. And that's that's

54:06

the way I look at it. is

54:09

I want to I wanna help people.

54:12

Mhmm. It really is my

54:14

job. Yeah. Just

54:16

let's let's do a deep dive let's understand

54:18

this. Let's take away the stigma and the

54:20

embarrassment of not having something in place.

54:22

Yeah. And just, you know, I'm gonna

54:24

help you achieve goals. That's that's my

54:26

job and you know, I I

54:28

wanna help. It really is. I truly

54:30

believe that it is helping people.

54:32

Well, and and at the same time, people would

54:34

need to understand that it is a service

54:36

that pays for its self. Mhmm.

54:38

Right? It is if someone gives me a

54:40

plan, they do it for me, the

54:42

stuff that I should know how

54:44

to do. and say this is what you're gonna save

54:46

here. Why not? Why

54:48

not have

54:48

someone to help you

54:49

do that? Because you in the long run, you're

54:51

gonna be taken care

54:54

of. for us for a nominal fee. Yeah. Right? Yeah. there's

54:56

there's things that we do and we can put

54:58

in place that protect the plan.

55:00

Mhmm. So if we're gonna

55:03

Okay? This is a plan. We're gonna execute

55:05

it. We're gonna make

55:06

sure that this happens. Mhmm. And we're gonna and

55:08

we're gonna do that by putting this in place, and we're gonna

55:11

do this by putting that in place. Mhmm.

55:13

So really look at it as everybody

55:15

is unique. Everybody needs a,

55:17

you know, a guy in their corner who's gonna

55:19

help them execute those missions. Yeah.

55:21

So that's that's the way I look at it.

55:23

Yeah. And III think people just need

55:26

to be able to ask for

55:28

help. Yeah. I I really think

55:30

that's that's the hard first step for

55:32

most people and accept it. Yeah. Yeah.

55:34

If finances can be a touchy subject for a

55:36

lot of people and they might they might

55:38

come at it and, well, if I'm asking for help, I

55:40

might get judged. Mhmm. Right? That that could be

55:42

a subconscious thought, and I think it is for a lot of

55:44

people who are not necessarily

55:46

financially literate. So, like,

55:48

bringing that up, like, I I know if I if I

55:50

brought my finances to you, you're not gonna judge

55:52

me about it. You're just going to assist me.

55:54

Mhmm. Right? And that's that's something that I

55:56

think people need to realize is when you're

55:58

asking professionals for help in these

56:00

arenas, they've seen much worse than

56:02

you would. I guarantee they've seen much worse. Oh, yeah. You have

56:04

nothing to be embarrassed about? In fact,

56:06

like, I feel like most people

56:08

general run of the mill are probably gonna

56:10

be decent. and it there's

56:12

nothing to be embarrassed about. Just Yeah.

56:14

I really love it when I talk to

56:16

a young guy who's twenty four

56:18

and he's like, I've got this in place, this in place, this in place. And I just I

56:21

I gotta figure out a way to squeeze out

56:23

x. Mhmm. I was like, Man,

56:25

you've done thousand percent more than ninety percent of

56:28

the population in their forties.

56:30

Mhmm. We're our own worst critics at

56:32

the end of the day, aren't we? We're always

56:34

beating yourself. ourselves up.

56:37

You know, it's true? It's true.

56:39

Yeah. And and don't be afraid to ask for help,

56:41

especially especially when it comes to finances

56:43

and I mean, things are so up and down right now

56:45

that it's really important to game shit squared away. And

56:47

it's just getting worse. Yeah. So, like, you know, one

56:49

of the reasons why we brought you on today is to

56:51

talk about this and to showcase

56:54

that this I know that our audience

56:56

will have a question, and that'll be

56:58

like, well, I I can't afford a

57:00

financial planner. Right? And that's not the

57:02

case either. No. There there is

57:04

services that could provide help

57:06

in all facets.

57:08

Right? Absolutely. you know, so I think

57:10

that's a big stigma too is like, well, I

57:12

can't afford a CPA or I can't afford a

57:14

financial planner. Yeah. I don't think you need

57:16

anything that that in-depth unless you're running a major business or you're making major

57:18

investments. Like And

57:20

and that's where I go to if I

57:22

can't help you, I'm gonna find somebody who can

57:24

Exactly. So

57:26

the first step is just asking for help. It's just asking for

57:29

help. You know, if just

57:31

what? Where do mr

57:34

I start? Exactly. Where do I start? And

57:36

it's going back to it,

57:38

it's go back to it is get

57:40

get

57:40

the stigma out

57:41

of the way. and over

57:43

the embarrassment and just

57:46

do it. Mhmm. You know? It's you

57:48

know, I I look at things in my life and

57:50

it's like, be a lot

57:52

easier to go modal on than deal with all these

57:54

bills. Yeah. You know? But I

57:56

gotta get it done. Get it done. Then I'll go

57:58

modal on. then I can rely. First

57:59

step is the hardest. Absolutely.

58:02

Just first step is the hardest. You know?

58:04

Done. You know. And building

58:06

a a disciplined schedule in

58:08

your life is something that helps you just just get started. You know?

58:10

Yeah. If you start the

58:13

so

58:13

my boss, for lack

58:15

of a better term, He's

58:17

a senior partner in the in the firm. He just he has

58:19

he's really focused on the miracle morning. And

58:21

it's if you start

58:23

your day right, the

58:25

same way every single day. You have a great day.

58:28

Mhmm. So whether it's

58:30

whether it's praying, whether it's going

58:32

for a run, exercise, sizing. Making your bed

58:34

in the morning. Making your bed in the morning. Whatever

58:36

it is -- Yeah. -- design it for yourself.

58:38

Mhmm. You have your miracle morning,

58:40

and then the day's gonna be great after that. Those small wins in beginning

58:42

of the day set you up for success. Small

58:44

wins. That's that's the key to it.

58:47

Well, Brenda, where can people find you if they do wanna reach out

58:49

for some financial literacy? So I'm on

58:52

LinkedIn. Okay. Brendan Powers.

58:54

And that's really the really the

58:57

only area where I have a social media presence -- Okay. --

58:59

just because I, you know, I keep

59:01

it fresh. Yeah. And

59:04

then I I also have

59:06

a a charity that I wanted to to mention

59:08

because it's it's impactful. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

59:11

So we work with a group

59:13

called k nines for heroes. Mhmm.

59:15

And they my office

59:17

does an annual fundraiser for them, but

59:19

they, you know, need funds all the time. And

59:21

what they do is they raise PTSD

59:23

dogs for about half the cost of

59:25

what the VA pays. Wow. So it's private charity. It's based in my

59:27

local area. And

59:31

like I said, it's just it's

59:33

great connecting veterans with them. Mhmm.

59:36

I've had people reach out to

59:38

me and or in

59:40

different, you know, chat groups. And then I say,

59:42

hey, does anybody know where I can you know, the the

59:44

VA is telling me I gotta do this or gotta do that, and

59:46

I can push them that way -- Okay. -- and say,

59:48

here's a great organization that's local. It seems, you

59:50

know, they'll they'll help you they'll

59:53

help anybody. Nationwide. Nationwide.

59:56

Nationwide. Okay. But being

59:58

able to have that resource in

1:00:00

our backyard -- Mhmm. -- is really important

1:00:02

to me, and it's important that that we

1:00:04

supported as well. We're doing a I

1:00:06

think we're doing a fundraiser in October. And

1:00:09

it's just it's great, you

1:00:11

know, because I've I've called people

1:00:13

up and earlier point is you

1:00:15

gotta start with the ask. Mhmm. And but

1:00:18

when I explained to them, the

1:00:20

organization and

1:00:22

what they do and how they're able to help so many people. It's like,

1:00:24

absolutely. Mhmm. Here's a check. What what can

1:00:26

I do to help? Like, when people learn more

1:00:28

and more about the charity about canine heroes,

1:00:31

and what they're doing in their mission. So

1:00:34

many people are able to come together and

1:00:36

help them and everybody loves dogs.

1:00:38

These these PTS dogs

1:00:40

are incredible. by the way, that the

1:00:42

training that they go through. If you're struggling with,

1:00:44

like, a nightmare or something like that, these

1:00:46

dogs will wake you up in the middle of the

1:00:48

night and you know, comfort

1:00:50

you. I think it's very, very

1:00:52

unique. It is. It is. It's and it's a

1:00:54

great organization, and I

1:00:56

love seeing you know, the veterans with their dogs and their their head

1:00:58

now and just making that

1:01:00

connection is is very important to

1:01:02

me because it's

1:01:04

going back to every everything that we said

1:01:06

before is I want to be a resource. Yeah.

1:01:08

Yeah. And

1:01:10

if it's If it's not

1:01:12

in this arena, then I'll be a resource over

1:01:14

here. Mhmm. And if it's not there, it'll be a resource

1:01:16

over there. So, you know, if

1:01:18

you if you need a dog and you need an

1:01:20

introduction to a great organization, I can help

1:01:22

you. If you're not sure where to start

1:01:24

with, you know, getting your

1:01:26

life together, and just having a

1:01:28

plan, I can help you

1:01:30

there. And I'll also say it too,

1:01:32

if you're thinking about going to flight school and

1:01:34

you just need to talk

1:01:36

to somebody, I can I can talk, you know, I can help

1:01:38

you because I wanna

1:01:40

see, you know, I'm at the

1:01:42

point in my

1:01:44

career where the next group is

1:01:46

coming in. Mhmm. Yeah.

1:01:48

I'm I'm not the oldest, but

1:01:50

I think I'm the second oldest in my company

1:01:52

at this But, you know, I'm I'm getting there.

1:01:54

Once you hit twenty, it's like, okay.

1:01:56

You know, it's time to pass that to work.

1:01:58

Sure. So

1:02:00

I wanna see great people make their way

1:02:02

to Fort Rucker and learn

1:02:04

the new aircraft and to continue the

1:02:06

excellence that Army

1:02:08

Aviation has provided to

1:02:10

me. Well, good thing, Top Gun came out

1:02:12

and raised Yeah.

1:02:14

It bumped up Navy recruiting just a little

1:02:16

bit last year. I think it's got

1:02:18

back down, but I'm still waiting on firebirds

1:02:20

too. Got you. Yeah. I think we're all we're all waiting on that.

1:02:22

Well, it's been amazing having you

1:02:24

as a guest on the show.

1:02:27

thank you so much for your incredible service

1:02:30

in just a multitude

1:02:32

of different areas and the work that you're

1:02:34

continuing to do

1:02:36

to help veterans and transitioning service members out

1:02:38

of the military. Thank you so much for having me.

1:02:40

And, you know, I love you guys podcast. It's

1:02:42

great, and

1:02:44

hopefully we can do it again sometime in the future. Thanks for being on, brother. Yeah. Thank

1:02:46

you very much. This has been the Metabolic Podcast

1:02:48

ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much

1:02:52

for listening. see

1:02:56

it.