Speaker 1: If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Software Radio Special Operations, military news and straight
Speaker 1: talk with the guys and the community. Hello, look and everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome back to Software Radio, Software Radio on Time, on Target.
Speaker 1: I'm your host this morning, Steve Balstari joining us. We
Speaker 1: have a very special guest, Dargant Major of the Army
Speaker 1: Michael Grinston, is joining us here on the podcast this morning,
Speaker 1: and I just want to let all our listeners know
Speaker 1: we are recording this on Tuesday morning, the n so
Speaker 1: by the time everyone hears this, it will be after
Speaker 1: the inauguration. So the questions that we'll be talking about
Speaker 1: about the upcoming inauguration, they're going to be before the facts.
Speaker 1: So if anyone has any hard permit that you can
Speaker 1: email us and let us know about it. But before
Speaker 1: we get into any of all that, we want to
Speaker 1: welcome the Sergeant Major to our our podcast. Sergeant Major,
Speaker 1: welcome to Software Radio. We are honored to have you
Speaker 1: here with us, and thanks for taking the time. I
Speaker 1: know this is a very busy time for you. Yeah, thanks, Steve,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to the discussion. Sure,
Speaker 1: and as all of us are including all of our
Speaker 1: listeners out there. UM, I just wanted to ask you,
Speaker 1: you know, fill in our listeners, just a little bit
Speaker 1: about your highlights of your military career. I know you've
Speaker 1: been in the military quite a few years now, and
Speaker 1: you know, UH, one doesn't become the sergeant major of
Speaker 1: the Army overnight. It's it's a long process. Yeah. Every
Speaker 1: once in a a while, it feels like people think that,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, like I came in the Army
Speaker 1: yesterday and they hired me to be the start majors
Speaker 1: the Army, so which is not true. But a lot
Speaker 1: of times, I you know, it's funny, but I actually
Speaker 1: have to remind people, you know, I came in the
Speaker 1: Army as a PFC thirty two years ago, so uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I lived in the barracks for seven years. UM,
Speaker 1: went through all the ranks just pretty much, you know,
Speaker 1: like any soldier would do. But some people, you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta remind people that. And you know, if are
Speaker 1: the uh. I joined the Army as an artillery soldiers,
Speaker 1: a cannon crew member, third team Bravo, UH some you know,
Speaker 1: gun bunny wherever you wanna call it. Um, it never
Speaker 1: really changed my ms, but I really enjoyed my career
Speaker 1: and it's been really a lot more diverse than I
Speaker 1: would have thought having only one mos. I mean, uh,
Speaker 1: I went to ranger school in the nine and I
Speaker 1: think that's normally what confuses people with thirteen bravos don't
Speaker 1: normally get to ranger school, and then at some point
Speaker 1: for about ten years they weren't that MS wasn't even
Speaker 1: allowed to go, So I was. I really looked like
Speaker 1: a unicorn at some point where you know, there was
Speaker 1: like maybe ten thirteen bravos in the army that would
Speaker 1: range of qualified. So. Um, But what the other confusing
Speaker 1: thing is is, uh, my first first sargeant job was
Speaker 1: in an infantry unit, so I got I was a
Speaker 1: first sergeant in Italy in the one seventy three and
Speaker 1: the h C second to the final of third. Um
Speaker 1: So people go, oh, he used to be artillery, said
Speaker 1: now I'm still artillery. So but uh, but you know,
Speaker 1: being a you know, uh, having a rifle company in
Speaker 1: the second fible third, in a parachuteftry regiment in the
Speaker 1: once to any third, it's a highlight of my career.
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of that. Um. I learned a lot
Speaker 1: and just kind of fit with you know, my first melody. Um.
Speaker 1: And then I was selected for two infantry brigades so uh,
Speaker 1: I think, and deployed to so two times to a Canistan,
Speaker 1: had a brigade and bomb Holder. Um it was the
Speaker 1: one seventieth intro brigade at A bomb Holder. And then
Speaker 1: I had a fourth brigade of the hundred first as
Speaker 1: a cur he's uh and Fort Kimbell before they inactivated
Speaker 1: the brigade and we again deployed to Afghanistan. So um,
Speaker 1: I just really enjoyed all the jobs have got to
Speaker 1: do throughout my career. But it has been really diverse,
Speaker 1: you know, outside of Italian you know, and most um,
Speaker 1: you know, I select to call these infantry brigades and
Speaker 1: doing all the combat. Five years of combat and most
Speaker 1: of that has all been maneuver and never I think
Speaker 1: it doesn't shield this storm. I was like a you know,
Speaker 1: thirteen brobable want a gun. But then after that most
Speaker 1: of it was he just give a battle space and
Speaker 1: and and for I be free and enjoy. So it's
Speaker 1: been a great career. Um. I really love it. I
Speaker 1: love what I do and I love it when people
Speaker 1: ask me, so, how do you like think, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you like the army? I said, I'm start
Speaker 1: raising the army. I love It's like and then I
Speaker 1: lousy joke and say, you know, hey, everybody should do it,
Speaker 1: and yeah, you know, you know I'm really gonna put
Speaker 1: in for that, and and then uh, the last thing
Speaker 1: is what me, you know what I really like to say.
Speaker 1: So sometimes I say, you know, I'm start major of
Speaker 1: the Army. Um. You know when people sometimes they say, hey,
Speaker 1: where do you work? And I usually say Pentagone, um,
Speaker 1: and they'll go where do you work in the Pentagone
Speaker 1: And I'll just know. It's like I'll try to boy,
Speaker 1: and sometimes I will work for the Chief of Staff
Speaker 1: of the Army, and every once in a while, you know,
Speaker 1: some people figure it out, you know what I do.
Speaker 1: But sometimes I'll say I'm the sergeant major of the Army,
Speaker 1: and I think what they hear is, oh, you're a
Speaker 1: sergeant in the army, which is really cool too. So um,
Speaker 1: I've got a great job. Bit highly recommended for anybody
Speaker 1: to do that job. But every day I wake up
Speaker 1: and say, I'm really I'm really proud to be in
Speaker 1: the army and to make a difference for all our soldiers.
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Speaker 1: you do? You travel quite a bit. I know with
Speaker 1: the COVID that might have changed a little bit in
Speaker 1: of past year, but I mean as sergery major of
Speaker 1: the Army, you're probably on the road quite a bit
Speaker 1: during the year. Oh yeah, we're yeah, we're usually uh
Speaker 1: gone most of the time. Tried to you know in
Speaker 1: the beginning, were just like, hey, can can I get
Speaker 1: a week at home? You know in the uh but
Speaker 1: COVID did so it down a little bit. And there's
Speaker 1: periods of time when you know, like right now with
Speaker 1: the inauguration and things going on, we're not gonna travel.
Speaker 1: But you know, most of the time we're still out there,
Speaker 1: and um, you know about a week maybe ten days ago,
Speaker 1: we're actually thirteen days ago we're at Forthood. We went
Speaker 1: to Fort Bliss, uh so. And and now even with cover,
Speaker 1: we still do a lot of virtue old meetings to
Speaker 1: do I call virtual battlefield circulation or just getting to
Speaker 1: see the troops where we'll get certain if I can't
Speaker 1: get there because of COVID, we'll we'll pull up a
Speaker 1: VTC of teams call and we'll talk to soldiers out.
Speaker 1: So we're we're doing we're finding new ways to do it,
Speaker 1: but they're still uh, there's still some travel involved in that. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I'm sure there is. I mean, for your job, you're
Speaker 1: always having to get a pulse on what's going on
Speaker 1: with the troops. And that was leads into my next question.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're winding down a bunch of really long
Speaker 1: term combat deployments for the past twenty years. How's the
Speaker 1: Army doing culture wise? I Mean, I know that there
Speaker 1: was a lot of you know, issues that were in
Speaker 1: the news of this and that, and we always have
Speaker 1: the bad news, But how's the army doing overall that
Speaker 1: you feel you know going into Yeah, and well, I
Speaker 1: still think you know we still and have always thought this.
Speaker 1: We still have the greatest army the world has ever seen. UM.
Speaker 1: So that you know, that's how we're doing so UM.
Speaker 1: I would tell anybody that we you know, we are
Speaker 1: harder on ourselves than anybody else and we we will
Speaker 1: always be that way. In our nation expects that of
Speaker 1: us um um. And you know, and you've seen some things.
Speaker 1: We had the Furthood Independent Review where we took a
Speaker 1: really hard look at our culture on one installation, and
Speaker 1: out of that we said that that maybe we do
Speaker 1: need to change some things we looked at. We created
Speaker 1: the People First Task Force where they would take some
Speaker 1: of the recommendations from this independent review of forth hood
Speaker 1: um and see do we have this right in the
Speaker 1: army and do we need to change some of our
Speaker 1: policies with regards to culture when it comes to sexual assault,
Speaker 1: sexual harassment, suicides, racism, extremism. So all that has rolled
Speaker 1: in to it. Uh. But again we're we're extremely hard
Speaker 1: on ourselves because we want to make sure that we
Speaker 1: remain ready for our nation. And one of those big
Speaker 1: things we that I keep talking about is this is
Speaker 1: my squad, is how do we build you know, a
Speaker 1: really deep understanding of those around us. So how do
Speaker 1: you build a cohesive team? And I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: look at and what I did is I looked at
Speaker 1: and look at our special forces. They have really good
Speaker 1: small unit team cohesion. UM. So that's what when I
Speaker 1: say this is my squad, the personal pronoun of ownership
Speaker 1: means a lot to me when you say it's my squad,
Speaker 1: and you can say my squad leader, or even my family.
Speaker 1: That's my daughter, that's my dad. Um. You know, those
Speaker 1: things of ownership are really important. And we're really tried
Speaker 1: to focus in on and getting a culture that builds fit, discipline,
Speaker 1: well trained, cohesive teams that the small unit level. And
Speaker 1: we've always done this, but we're trying, really trying to
Speaker 1: do this in a whole new way where we really
Speaker 1: know the background of the soldiers sitting next to us, UM,
Speaker 1: and that build that rich deep cohesion that you know
Speaker 1: we all strive to be and and we want to
Speaker 1: really focus at the small unit level. And this is
Speaker 1: not about an iftory squad. This is about you know,
Speaker 1: it's like a term of DEARMO, my squad, the people
Speaker 1: I know. Remember I said my family just a second ago,
Speaker 1: is you know like I'm a member of more more
Speaker 1: than one squad. You know, my wife, my kids, that's
Speaker 1: my that's my family squad. But then you know my
Speaker 1: you know, one of my squads in the army, which
Speaker 1: is really cool. You know, I got the Secretary of
Speaker 1: the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the
Speaker 1: Vice to under and the senior warrant is Chief Dick
Speaker 1: and Carter um. And I used the challenge people, I said,
Speaker 1: my squad schooler than your squad. So, uh, I really
Speaker 1: like it. And you know, those people that around you
Speaker 1: that noticed the differences, they know who you are. They
Speaker 1: know when you're tired or you're angry, and they go, man,
Speaker 1: you know you okay, they can check on you. Um.
Speaker 1: So that's really what we're trying to focus on that culture.
Speaker 1: But again, we still have the greatest army in the world. Um,
Speaker 1: and I'm really proud of to be in the army. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And uh, I know I'm kind of biased having in
Speaker 1: the Army myself, so I tend to agree with you
Speaker 1: on that. I you know, uh, we we hear about
Speaker 1: the bad things that you know, make the news, but overall,
Speaker 1: this is uh still the most professional, best run military
Speaker 1: in the world and we prove it every day with
Speaker 1: the guys that are out there. So yeah, but getting
Speaker 1: back to you know, you talked about you visited Fort Hood.
Speaker 1: You think that was just maybe, uh, you know, an
Speaker 1: isolated problem on the base with the leadership that was
Speaker 1: involved there. I mean, or do you say that, you
Speaker 1: know the situation runs deeper than that. It could be.
Speaker 1: You know, there's some issues throughout the military. I know
Speaker 1: it's never perfect because we have you know, it's a
Speaker 1: mirror of our society. We have a melting pot of
Speaker 1: everybody that's you know, in our country. But do you
Speaker 1: think it's it was just an isolated problem there at
Speaker 1: Fort Hood? Yeah? And what we and that's one of
Speaker 1: the reasons we established the People First task forces to
Speaker 1: kind of look at that and say, hey, is this
Speaker 1: something that is an issue for the army. Is this
Speaker 1: a policy that we need to change? So right now,
Speaker 1: I would say this is something we really need to
Speaker 1: look at throughout the army. UM, but I could say
Speaker 1: I kind of you know, said the same thing when
Speaker 1: I was coming in to be the sarbas the Army.
Speaker 1: I said, we need to know our soldiers better. Remember
Speaker 1: I did that that you keep going back to that,
Speaker 1: that ownership is one of those things I thought we
Speaker 1: were lacking through at the army. So some of the
Speaker 1: things I saw in the report are the same things
Speaker 1: I saw, uh probably thirteen fourteen, fifteen months ago as
Speaker 1: I came into the star amazing army is getting to
Speaker 1: know our soldiers and taking care of them no matter what.
Speaker 1: You know, we often say that, you know, we see
Speaker 1: a soldier and they're about to be shot. You know,
Speaker 1: you would do anything for that small group. You would
Speaker 1: literally do anything. I'll die, I go through withering fires
Speaker 1: up on the I D We're gonna do it. To
Speaker 1: take care of each other. Uh, we have to do
Speaker 1: the same thing when it comes to those things that
Speaker 1: really plagued you know, sometimes an army suicide, sexual assault,
Speaker 1: sexual harassment, and racism, extremism. So we gotta be willing
Speaker 1: to take care of our soldiers. And that's what what
Speaker 1: I read in the report were some of the things
Speaker 1: that were missing where we didn't really really wrap our
Speaker 1: arms around our soldiers and not let these things happen
Speaker 1: to them. So I believe this is something we need
Speaker 1: to all look at. I think as an army, we
Speaker 1: need to do better and if there's some policies and
Speaker 1: procedures that we need to do, rown the people first
Speaker 1: ask force is going to help us out. But yes,
Speaker 1: I think this is something we all need to look
Speaker 1: at in every camp posting station in the army. And
Speaker 1: you know, and when you talked about, you know, taking
Speaker 1: care of your soldiers, uh, I always remember what one
Speaker 1: of my sergeant ages used to say about taking care
Speaker 1: of troops, and he was like, you know, we all
Speaker 1: tend to think that before we deploy. You know, we're
Speaker 1: taking care of all of our guys and checking all
Speaker 1: the blocks before we hit the aircraft and go somewhere.
Speaker 1: It starts well well before that. And if you're waiting
Speaker 1: until it's time to deploy, then you're not doing your job.
Speaker 1: It's doing it well before you reach that point and
Speaker 1: taking care of troops. It should be an everyday thing.
Speaker 1: And where we uh, we're preparing to deploy long before
Speaker 1: we ever get that call. Yeah, and this isn't I agree,
Speaker 1: This isn't something you know you just do for troop movement.
Speaker 1: This is how we treat everybody on a routine basis.
Speaker 1: But I do clarify because a lot of times people say,
Speaker 1: you know, take care of the troops, you know, And
Speaker 1: how does that fit with readiness and training. It's the
Speaker 1: same thing. So getting you know, some of the best
Speaker 1: team building events I've had in my army career where
Speaker 1: you know, out in the field and the rain, you know,
Speaker 1: laying in a you know, a mud puddle, and you know,
Speaker 1: I build a very strong cohesive team and some of
Speaker 1: the really difficult, challenging training events I've had. So taking
Speaker 1: care of putting people first doesn't mean we're not gonna
Speaker 1: be ready, you know. In the army, the army is
Speaker 1: about people, um. And if our people are ready and
Speaker 1: they're well trained, discipline fit, um, that means we are
Speaker 1: taking care of them um. But so readiness and taking
Speaker 1: care of people, to me are synonymous. It's not something different.
Speaker 1: It is the same thing. But sometimes people like to say, well,
Speaker 1: if you put people first, you can't be ready. That's
Speaker 1: in the army. I don't think that's true maybe in
Speaker 1: another service, but not for us absolutely. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: going back to the suicide problem in the military is
Speaker 1: still it's still kind of an albatross hanging over us
Speaker 1: as as a country, not just the military. I think
Speaker 1: it's something that you know, is affecting our entire country.
Speaker 1: And do you think part of the reason for that.
Speaker 1: And this is just your personal opinion, I mean it's
Speaker 1: I'm I know you're not speaking for the whole military there,
Speaker 1: but um, do you think there's just that stigma in
Speaker 1: people's minds that they were afraid to admit that they
Speaker 1: need some help? And that's part of the reason why
Speaker 1: you know, guys are reaching and women. Uh I say that,
Speaker 1: you know generally, but you know, our our troops. Is
Speaker 1: that part of the reason why you know we're seeing
Speaker 1: these numbers continue? Yeah? I think I think yeah, and
Speaker 1: you hit it. You know, this is not just an
Speaker 1: army issue. This is like you know, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: American society issue. And I think there is some of
Speaker 1: the stigma. You know, Uh, if I ask for help
Speaker 1: that means, you know, I can't do it myself. When
Speaker 1: we build a culture where you know I can do anything,
Speaker 1: I can do it, you know, you know, hey, can
Speaker 1: I do this? I can do that, But you know
Speaker 1: I equate it to you know sometimes well, you know,
Speaker 1: if my my legs hurting, O, man, my legsure is hurting.
Speaker 1: You know, I go to the dock. I go to
Speaker 1: physical therapist and they go, hey, you needed this stretch,
Speaker 1: you needed that, and I'll make your We need to
Speaker 1: look at babor help the same way. Uh. But I
Speaker 1: agree there there are those, and we build this culture
Speaker 1: of you know, these over aggressive you know, highly motivated,
Speaker 1: well trained, you know, I can take care of any
Speaker 1: mission um mentality and then say yes, I need to
Speaker 1: ask for help. So, UM, I think there is And
Speaker 1: you know, but as a senior leader, we keep saying
Speaker 1: it's okay to seek help. Uh, but you're right. Uh
Speaker 1: we we hear. I usually hear this everywhere I go.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, there's still what what we need to
Speaker 1: get away is that your leaders supports you. Um, and
Speaker 1: I think we gotta get away from you know, the
Speaker 1: leaders are gonna hold this against me. Um, we're not.
Speaker 1: We all need to to get a tune up. If
Speaker 1: my leg was hurting, you wouldn't chastise me to go,
Speaker 1: uh see the doctor for my leg hurting. And I
Speaker 1: shouldn't chastise you if I need to go seek some
Speaker 1: favor help. And we gotta get rid of that stigmatism
Speaker 1: that uh, you know we can't do that. It's okay
Speaker 1: to seek graber help and can you clarify something because
Speaker 1: we hear this all the time, but there's never I've
Speaker 1: never seen any uh, I guess confirmation. Is this this
Speaker 1: this stigma that if I ask for help, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: lose my security clearance. And I hear this all the time,
Speaker 1: but I've never seen any actual documentation of that. So
Speaker 1: you know, can I guess, can you put that to beds? Yes,
Speaker 1: put it to bed right now. So yeah, it's you know,
Speaker 1: I hear this all the time, speaking mental health will
Speaker 1: not cause you to lose your security clearance. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just we've got we've pulled all the numbers on
Speaker 1: why people lose their security clearance. Now you know, if
Speaker 1: you have, you know, something very directory, I use drugs
Speaker 1: and I went to seek behavior out, then yeah, you
Speaker 1: might lose security clarers because you went to seek behavior
Speaker 1: eal its because you were something illegal. So but I
Speaker 1: think sometimes those two are put together and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I went to bayor help. Yeah, but there was the
Speaker 1: four other things that happened before you did that, um
Speaker 1: that caused you to lose your security guar It's not
Speaker 1: to bea avor help. So it's a very it's less
Speaker 1: than one percent of all the people that see Babor helped,
Speaker 1: you know, will lose a security clearance. But that's usually
Speaker 1: something pretty extreme. But like I said, it's usually two
Speaker 1: to three things kind of piled on that that kind
Speaker 1: of caused us to, you know, look at these security clients. Okay,
Speaker 1: and you know, um, back when I was in you know,
Speaker 1: around the same time you started. So I'm gonna date
Speaker 1: myself a little bit again there. But you know, we
Speaker 1: always were concerned about the dynamics between n c o
Speaker 1: s and officers. Um, how do you feel that is working?
Speaker 1: You know, and and this era because you know, we're
Speaker 1: we're went through so many changes. Are the n c
Speaker 1: o s and officers? Is that dynamic working better today
Speaker 1: than maybe it did in my time? Yeah? I think
Speaker 1: the officer and into relationship is you know, it's alive
Speaker 1: and well we have you know, you know, I like
Speaker 1: to say this, and it does it This question doesn't
Speaker 1: come on too but I will say we have we
Speaker 1: have the greatest intio corps out of any service in
Speaker 1: any country that I ever seen. And that's that comes
Speaker 1: with the trust of our officers. If our officers didn't
Speaker 1: trust our noncommissioned officers we wouldn't have a great NTIO Corps.
Speaker 1: It just it just wouldn't happen. So we continue to
Speaker 1: have the greatest army because our officers trust said, okay,
Speaker 1: uh in sergeant, you can go do this. If we
Speaker 1: take that away, you know, they would have to do it,
Speaker 1: and then you know, we'd be like a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of other armies, uh in the world. So I still
Speaker 1: think that we that's why we have the greatest army
Speaker 1: in the world, because our n c O s can
Speaker 1: do things that allow our officers to work at the
Speaker 1: really hard stuff. You know, they provide you know, even
Speaker 1: all the way down to the junior level. If I say,
Speaker 1: if you provide me the resources, I will get the
Speaker 1: soldier's train you know. You give me the range, the
Speaker 1: AMMO and the time usually the time as the big one,
Speaker 1: you know, and then you know, the n c O
Speaker 1: will bring in the expertise on how to qualify the
Speaker 1: expert out to zero your weapon, you know, physical little
Speaker 1: fitness you know. Uh. And then that's how great our
Speaker 1: army is is because of those two pieces work together. Um.
Speaker 1: That allows us to do more than any other service
Speaker 1: or any other country that I've seen in the world.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, we can do more because we allow
Speaker 1: our n c as to do that and and and
Speaker 1: that continues to expound. Uh. It's Uh, it was great
Speaker 1: when I first came in the army, and it's just
Speaker 1: as great, if not more than where I'm at right now.
Speaker 1: Our officers allow us, they trust us. Uh. We gotta
Speaker 1: earn that trust every day. Um. And that's another thing
Speaker 1: about my squad is I have to build that trust
Speaker 1: in my squad every day. My person with the Secretary
Speaker 1: in the Chief, I have to they have to trust
Speaker 1: that when I'm going out to check on you know,
Speaker 1: a National Guards been at their checkpoint in d C,
Speaker 1: that I know what I'm doing and I'm going to
Speaker 1: give them honest feedback from what I see, and they
Speaker 1: trust that I'm gonna do that. Well. Uh, if I
Speaker 1: don't have that trust, it's hard to go do any
Speaker 1: of those things. So I think that relationship is there,
Speaker 1: and I see it at all levels, and I'm really
Speaker 1: proud of it. And I think it's gonna continue to
Speaker 1: evan flood. We're gonna see places where that doesn't work
Speaker 1: so well, and then you know, we'll try to do better.
Speaker 1: And but it's usually based off of trust, and I
Speaker 1: think that's still going well. And I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: how the officer and intia relationship works in the United
Speaker 1: States Army. And you know, speaking of I mean you're
Speaker 1: you're obviously dealing with a lot higher you know, interactions
Speaker 1: of the average soldier does, but it all goes back
Speaker 1: and you talked about it being a position of trust.
Speaker 1: And you know, we used to tell I was an
Speaker 1: instructor at the s F School and when guys who
Speaker 1: come through s F A S and they would, you know,
Speaker 1: come through it, always tell them you're you're always being
Speaker 1: assessed and it will never stop from the time you
Speaker 1: enter the army until the time you leave, because you
Speaker 1: know that that level of trust and that assessment continues,
Speaker 1: and as you grow and you get different and higher ranks,
Speaker 1: you'll be looked upon even harder. It doesn't get easier,
Speaker 1: It gets harder as you go on. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: that you can attest to that. Oh yeah, every day
Speaker 1: I get assessed. Um, sometimes in red it I don't know, Twitter,
Speaker 1: you name it, so um some people I think really
Speaker 1: hate me. So uh, you're right, you know, hwer you go,
Speaker 1: you get a lot of assessments of the starve as
Speaker 1: the army, you get a lot of um, some not
Speaker 1: so positive. But you know, I think that that's okay.
Speaker 1: You know, some people say, why do you you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta, you gotta go into this. Um, you gotta
Speaker 1: be willing to do what you think is right, and
Speaker 1: that's not always gonna be you know what people want. Um,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of comes with part of the job
Speaker 1: as some of that criticism. I think that's what makes
Speaker 1: us great. We take the criticism and then maybe I
Speaker 1: need to do something better. Um, maybe one of those
Speaker 1: posts and social media maybe the right, Maybe I need
Speaker 1: to do something there, and we look at those and uh,
Speaker 1: and I have to do my own personal assessment. Um.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I get a lot more feedback and other times.
Speaker 1: But I think that's what's great about the Army. We
Speaker 1: can be critical. We take it and say do I
Speaker 1: need to do better? And if I do, then you know,
Speaker 1: broa do better. And if you don't, you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, take it for what it's worth. But UM,
Speaker 1: I think you're right. You're You're always going to be
Speaker 1: assessed and this time, you know, when you start major army,
Speaker 1: I got a million plus people that are assessed me
Speaker 1: all the time. Maybe, so, Uh, you have to have
Speaker 1: a thick skin at that point. I mean you have
Speaker 1: to be able to take it, you know, constructively, but
Speaker 1: you still have to have kind of a thick skin
Speaker 1: because we know how social media can be. And we'll
Speaker 1: get into that in a few minutes. But let's sorry,
Speaker 1: maybe let's talk about you know what what's upcoming obviously
Speaker 1: tomorrow and again for our listeners out there, we are
Speaker 1: recording this on Tuesday morning, prior to the inauguration. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of rumors out there, and you know,
Speaker 1: by the time everyone here's this, it will be after
Speaker 1: the fact. But it's seems like there's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of preparation in the event that there's a problem tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And can you speak to how well the soldiers are
Speaker 1: have been deployed. We're seeing pictures of them sleeping all
Speaker 1: over the capital. As we all know, soldiers can sleep
Speaker 1: anywhere at any time if they have five minutes. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, can you speak to the preparations that are
Speaker 1: going on in the jobs that the soldiers are doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can tell you I am really proud of our
Speaker 1: National Guard. Um. I couldn't be more proud of how
Speaker 1: that I mean this is I mean, you know, the
Speaker 1: Army National Guard, so our Major John Sampa, you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're constantly going out and assessing our soldiers and
Speaker 1: see how we're doing. Um and he and I talked
Speaker 1: about I said, you know, we just did. You know,
Speaker 1: this is a big mobilization. So you know, if you
Speaker 1: want to look at you know, how to mobilize the Guard,
Speaker 1: this is it. And think about thirteen days ago. You know,
Speaker 1: we did not have twenty five thousand troops and mobilized
Speaker 1: across fifty states in d C. So I'm extremely impressed
Speaker 1: with what our National Guard soldiers have done to do.
Speaker 1: This is no kidding, drop what you're doing and go.
Speaker 1: So a lot of times they may ask for, you know,
Speaker 1: who would like to go do this mission and people
Speaker 1: say I'll go do it, But with you it was
Speaker 1: not hey who would like to go? This is your
Speaker 1: going and you're and we're all going now. So uh,
Speaker 1: I'm really impressed with how the Guard has reacted to this,
Speaker 1: and I'm extremely proud of them, and and they're well prepared.
Speaker 1: I mean I was at the capital and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I see the soldiers, he said, kit and
Speaker 1: then right next to him was a commander and the
Speaker 1: first sergeant, and they you know, here's my area, this
Speaker 1: is what I'm responsible, here's my duties, here's my task,
Speaker 1: my purpose, and this is what I've been assigned to
Speaker 1: do to the person. Um. So I'm extremely proud of
Speaker 1: how they have mobilized and prepared for this mission. And
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna go out. You're right that you're
Speaker 1: gonna hear about this. You're gonna judge me because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say right now, Uh, the inauguration is going to
Speaker 1: be a nice, peaceful, wonderful event without incident. And I
Speaker 1: will be judged when you hear this. Well that's going
Speaker 1: on records. So uh but yeah, you know, speaking just
Speaker 1: from my own stuff, I don't expect that there's going
Speaker 1: to be an issue there, but you know, we've been
Speaker 1: proven wrong before. But it's good to know that the
Speaker 1: troops are prepared for that. And um, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of what transpired a few weeks ago was um,
Speaker 1: you know, blamed on social media and how things were
Speaker 1: perceived and said on social media. Is with that being said,
Speaker 1: I know the army has rules on social media is
Speaker 1: because of that will will anything subject to change in
Speaker 1: the future. Uh, We're always looking for the rules on
Speaker 1: social media. UM, you know, so we're constantly assessing this. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, our policy is to think, type and post,
Speaker 1: but you know, we're always getting folks that do things
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna go, okay, well, UH what I
Speaker 1: would say is, if you know, if you're doing something
Speaker 1: that's illegal and you're doing that in social media, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that's where you know you will and you
Speaker 1: can get in trouble. So UM, this kind of comes
Speaker 1: up all the time. But we're constantly evaluating how we
Speaker 1: act and this is a new space that we're in.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, I think it's the gone
Speaker 1: of to days that you can type anything you want
Speaker 1: in social media. Um, you know, because like you said,
Speaker 1: we're all being assessed. If you say something that's inappropriate,
Speaker 1: you know, those things will be looked into. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you about some changes that came through a
Speaker 1: basic training uh in the Army Physical Fitness Test. I
Speaker 1: know that those are still ongoing, but do you feel like, uh,
Speaker 1: was there a procedural process that you went through that say, okay,
Speaker 1: we've we've seen something and where our war fighters can
Speaker 1: be better equipped to handle the rigors of combat in
Speaker 1: the future. Yeah, I'll start off with the first, the
Speaker 1: changes in basic training. So you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: people said, oh, you know, we got it was called
Speaker 1: the shark tack. I'm not sure they explained that to me.
Speaker 1: When I was a drill starting, that was called the
Speaker 1: shark attack, So, uh what whatever, we wanna call it
Speaker 1: the shark attack. And they said, hey, we're not doing
Speaker 1: that anymore. We're gonna call it the first hundred yards.
Speaker 1: And so I was like, ah, you know, the army's
Speaker 1: getting saft. We're gonna you know, I don't know, I've
Speaker 1: seen it. You know again on social media you see
Speaker 1: all kinds of count it. Um, nothing could be further
Speaker 1: from the truth. It's much harder than I was a
Speaker 1: drill starting in uh n seven, Um, you know nice.
Speaker 1: So I tell you the way the soldiers for him.
Speaker 1: I mean that that first day is it is tough.
Speaker 1: And anybody that thinks it's it's easy, and you know
Speaker 1: it's much what you went through was much harder. I
Speaker 1: will ask you all come join me and I'll let
Speaker 1: you go through that first hundred yards and see how
Speaker 1: you do. Um, so it is it is not easy.
Speaker 1: I mean it went. I mean it's like you know,
Speaker 1: after about two hours, like okay, if finally they will
Speaker 1: get to their bay, so you know, they may run
Speaker 1: a mile right off the bat. Then they got tasks.
Speaker 1: It's not the drill starting against the the recruits anymore.
Speaker 1: It's the task. So they just give them a series
Speaker 1: of task that builds a team work that remember this
Speaker 1: is my squad. How do I work as a team.
Speaker 1: This is how we do it, and it just you know,
Speaker 1: they don't complete the task, which most of them don't.
Speaker 1: You know, they're gonna get some correct to training. They're
Speaker 1: gonna they got another task and some of those air
Speaker 1: physical tasks that have to run them mile and then
Speaker 1: they keep going. So uh yeah, I encourage anyone if
Speaker 1: you think it's uh, if it's easier, let me know
Speaker 1: and we'll take you out for that first time. I
Speaker 1: remember that first Dave quite well. I think, uh for
Speaker 1: Benning dropped six inches and elevation from all the push
Speaker 1: ups we did, and uh, it's it helps. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's a culture shock, as as we all know,
Speaker 1: coming from you know, the civilian world to the military.
Speaker 1: And that's the best way I think to get the
Speaker 1: soldiers into that military frame of mind. It's no longer
Speaker 1: about individual it's you know, the team comes first, Your
Speaker 1: teammates come second, and individually you come third. And uh,
Speaker 1: that's the way I was always taught, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: it hasn't changed. Yeah, it's still that way. We just
Speaker 1: reinforced teamwork now as opposed to, like I said, the
Speaker 1: stressor in the beginning, when I was really starting, that
Speaker 1: was the stress between the drill starting and the soldier.
Speaker 1: Now it's the stress of the task, uh, and building
Speaker 1: teamwork and the soldier not you know, some other individuals.
Speaker 1: The second thing you talked about, and you know, we
Speaker 1: could talk about this in closing, is the you know,
Speaker 1: the Army combat fitness test. UM. Clearly, this is a
Speaker 1: little bit more challenging than I anticipated that we go through. Uh.
Speaker 1: So there's some language in the National Defense Authorization Act
Speaker 1: that we need to do an independent study to look
Speaker 1: at the Army combat fitness tests. We're starting that we've
Speaker 1: already started, so we've assigned the folks to look at it. Um.
Speaker 1: We'll have the final results in December, so we you know,
Speaker 1: we're still hopeful that you know, the Army combat fitness tests,
Speaker 1: unless barrying some new laws will come to fruition in
Speaker 1: mark to two. But there's this is a it's a
Speaker 1: really good test. It builds a total fitness. You know,
Speaker 1: it's six events as opposed to three. It's not just
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't work on one side of the body.
Speaker 1: It's both the front and the back, you know, the
Speaker 1: posterior in the anterior, so that you work those muscles
Speaker 1: that you don't normally use. And the whole goal is
Speaker 1: to make us more fit. So there's no other goal.
Speaker 1: You know, Uh, there's no other reason. It's not to
Speaker 1: be you know, exclusive. It's to be inclusive to make
Speaker 1: sure that we all have a better fitness and and
Speaker 1: when we work on these tests, uh, these events, it
Speaker 1: will make us a more fit army. We still have
Speaker 1: you know, about a year to look at this. We've
Speaker 1: made changes from the beginning, so we're starting to call
Speaker 1: them two point Oh. We've got a proposal for a
Speaker 1: three DOTO that it will be coming out pretty soon.
Speaker 1: Uh So this isn't you know, it's not setting stone
Speaker 1: exactly what it's gonna fike, And neither was the O
Speaker 1: pay eight Army Physical FITNISH tests. It changed over time too,
Speaker 1: so this is no different. But we're still I'm still
Speaker 1: excited to see if we can get this done in
Speaker 1: the next year, so this will be good for Army UM.
Speaker 1: So we're we're still moving it forward as best we
Speaker 1: can with the new Army Combat bit. This test, it's
Speaker 1: quite challenging. I mean, I'm an older guy now, but
Speaker 1: I tried it, and it's not easy. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1: It's especially those uh what do they call those linked
Speaker 1: tuck things there that isn't that's pretty challenging even you know,
Speaker 1: for us older folks. But everybody likes the leg tug.
Speaker 1: Just embrace it, embrace the suck and get over writ.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you embrace it, then you'll get
Speaker 1: better at it. It's like everything else, the more you
Speaker 1: work at it. But yeah, we did do an altimate
Speaker 1: event because a lot of soldiers are struggling with the
Speaker 1: leg tug and how you can do a plank. You
Speaker 1: can do one leg tuck or two minutes of plank. Um.
Speaker 1: I'mnna be honest with you, because I can do a
Speaker 1: leg tuck. I much prefer to get that five seconds
Speaker 1: of one leg tuck as opposed to the two minutes
Speaker 1: of plan plan. But there is an alternate event um
Speaker 1: for the leg tech uh so like in and that's
Speaker 1: version two point out. So the reasonable version didn't have that.
Speaker 1: So that's what I mean. It continues to evolve. Um.
Speaker 1: So our goal is to get this right to make
Speaker 1: us a better fit army. Now. I know we're we're
Speaker 1: running short on time because you're a busy man right now.
Speaker 1: But are there any other issues that are near and
Speaker 1: dear to you right now that you want to you know,
Speaker 1: speak about with what's going on with our military and
Speaker 1: our NCY old car out there and soldiers now, just
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of things, um that we're
Speaker 1: trying to do better with our n c o s
Speaker 1: and our soldiers and the whole army. You know, it's
Speaker 1: this whole you know culture of getting to know yourselves
Speaker 1: and getting to know your people. Um. And it's not
Speaker 1: that we we didn't have a time that wasn't important,
Speaker 1: that was always important, but we just you know, we're
Speaker 1: in you know, twenty years now, uh you know, still
Speaker 1: soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The number may have gone down,
Speaker 1: but they still have soldiers in Iraq and a Khanistan.
Speaker 1: We've done that for twenty years UM. And then we
Speaker 1: still have over a hundred eighty thousand soldiers for deployed
Speaker 1: somewhere outside the US, somewhere across the globe. Uh So
Speaker 1: your army is still busy. But with all that, with
Speaker 1: all that going on, I said, that's what's going on
Speaker 1: in Iraq, Afghanistan. But like you said in the beginning,
Speaker 1: those things that that your army has done in the
Speaker 1: background and this last year have been phenomenal. And you're right,
Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't make the news, maybe doesn't make the news.
Speaker 1: That blood did make the news, and we killed so many,
Speaker 1: but you know, the to reduce those tensions between the
Speaker 1: US and Iran, it's because we have a strong army
Speaker 1: UM sending out the first troops to go to New
Speaker 1: York and Washington State to help with COVID. We're active
Speaker 1: duty soldiers out of our medical treatment facilities. UM. One
Speaker 1: of the highest hurricane seasons we've had in years have
Speaker 1: been your active duty Army and your National Guard soldiers
Speaker 1: making sure that Danley's could be taken care of if
Speaker 1: they just got flooded out of their House. Oh and
Speaker 1: by the way, their forest fires going on and in
Speaker 1: the Western States we have National Guard alerted to go
Speaker 1: do that, all while COVID still going on. So all
Speaker 1: those things, um, that are in the background that we're doing. UM,
Speaker 1: you know it's still there and it may not make
Speaker 1: the news, but I can promise you your army has
Speaker 1: been here. It's been rock steady, it's been solid. We've
Speaker 1: been every task we've been asked to do. We just
Speaker 1: want to I call it head down. You know, we're
Speaker 1: not in it to make any press. We're here to
Speaker 1: to make sure our people are safe and taken care of.
Speaker 1: And that's no matter what. And in the last year
Speaker 1: COVID still unrest, UM combat operations and Iraq, Afghanistan and
Speaker 1: Syria around the globe. Uh, your army is still there,
Speaker 1: um and we're going to continue to be the steady
Speaker 1: organization in the near future. Outstanding And about the COVID
Speaker 1: um our soldiers is getting a priority of being vaccine
Speaker 1: for this. Yeah, we're still using you know, the guidelines
Speaker 1: from the CDC. So uh, we have a very good
Speaker 1: list on who that goes. But we're still doing the
Speaker 1: same thing. If it's a medical professional those uh still
Speaker 1: at the top of the list. Um, but we you know,
Speaker 1: the army leads. We don't talk about exact numbers of
Speaker 1: has been vaccinated, but you know we are if there
Speaker 1: there are no doses sitting idle, you know, so you know,
Speaker 1: as we get doses, they're out. But we're still using
Speaker 1: some of the CDC guyline guy lives from the sector,
Speaker 1: the d D. But we're you know, we're moving out. Um.
Speaker 1: We're at a very high of injection rate. I think
Speaker 1: we're over seventy percent of the soldiers out there. Um.
Speaker 1: The key is, you know, get vaccinated if you're in
Speaker 1: that party. Um, you know, take the vaccine. We don't
Speaker 1: we don't need as a country. We don't need people
Speaker 1: going oh, I'm not gonna do it because uh, I
Speaker 1: don't think that would be healthy for our country. No, Um,
Speaker 1: and good luck to you. I know that. You know,
Speaker 1: starting tomorrow, you're gonna have a lot new a lot
Speaker 1: more new faces, I should say, in the chain of
Speaker 1: commands so things. I'm sure that will be a challenge
Speaker 1: because now you have to learn all the new uh
Speaker 1: faces and put names to them. All that are that
Speaker 1: are gonna be upcoming. But I have to mention one thing,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty pretty jealous of follow you guys now. The
Speaker 1: new uniforms, the pink and greens were always my favorite.
Speaker 1: My dad fought in World War Two. I've seen the
Speaker 1: pictures of him in his dress uniform and I thought
Speaker 1: those were the sharpest uniforms the Army ever had. And
Speaker 1: how how's the reaction been as that's being changed over? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean everybody you know, he can't. Everybody's like, I
Speaker 1: want them, when do I get mine? State? The reaction
Speaker 1: has been received extremely well. Um, So everybody likes them.
Speaker 1: We're going to make We'll probably make a few little
Speaker 1: toy changes, just like all uniforms we do. But overall
Speaker 1: everybody likes the man public and everybody. I think it's
Speaker 1: a sharp looking uniform and we all like it. Um.
Speaker 1: And I will say, you talked about the leadership changed.
Speaker 1: Now I can't tell you, um two things. Number one, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy has
Speaker 1: been a phenomenal leader, um. And his dedication to serve
Speaker 1: you know as the other secretary and the Secretary has
Speaker 1: been unbelievable. And his support to the soldiers and the
Speaker 1: way he cares for soldiers. No, bun, we'll probably see
Speaker 1: that like I do because you know he's in my squad.
Speaker 1: But his passion um for our soldiers and families has
Speaker 1: been phenomenal. And I couldn't think of a better uh
Speaker 1: person to serve with as the start made in the
Speaker 1: army and served for um than Secretary McCarthy. And and
Speaker 1: I know there'll be changes at the top, um, But
Speaker 1: for the army. What's great about the army We're used
Speaker 1: to that we get a you know, a new commander
Speaker 1: and you know it changes in command all the time,
Speaker 1: you know, so it's um, it's the same thing. Here's
Speaker 1: the standard we're given the army. Uh, those standards change.
Speaker 1: You adapt if you if the standard that change, you
Speaker 1: know again, head down, row you know, and work hard.
Speaker 1: So again we're study. So the changes at the top
Speaker 1: will take that guidance. But for predominantly the most Army
Speaker 1: were used to change. We're always doing some kind of
Speaker 1: change of command at some point. So um, stay true
Speaker 1: to who we are, you know, focusing on those small
Speaker 1: teams that are teams that are well trained, discipline and
Speaker 1: fit at our cohesive teams and I think will be
Speaker 1: just fine. Excellent Sergey Major, we really want to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us here today. I know, with all
Speaker 1: that's going on in Washington and in the world, you're
Speaker 1: a busy man, so we appreciate your insight and you're
Speaker 1: taking the time to speak with us today, you know.
Speaker 1: For all of us here at Suffering in softwra Previdio,
Speaker 1: we thank you. And just a quick note folks, for
Speaker 1: our listeners out there, if you want to get SOFTWAREP
Speaker 1: on your phone, download our free acts, download our free
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Speaker 1: Please describe the SOFTWAREP dot com to get access to
Speaker 1: all our library of e books and our exclusive team
Speaker 1: room forms and content available on Apple and all of
Speaker 1: your Android devices. Sergey Major, thank you very much. We
Speaker 1: wish you all the best and uh you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: we can do this again sometime soon. Sued, thank you, okay,
Speaker 1: And for all of us here at SOFTWAP Radio, we
Speaker 1: want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in,
Speaker 1: thanks for all of our input that we get from
Speaker 1: our articles on there. We want to thank the Sergey
Speaker 1: Major of the Army once again for taking the time
Speaker 1: to join us for all of us here at Software
Speaker 1: and Software Radio. Thanks for listening. We'll be back with
Speaker 1: another podcast real soon. You've been listening to self red
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