1 00:00:08,040 --> 00:00:09,950 [Upbeat music] 2 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:15,130 [Upbeat music} 3 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:25,120 So I've been in 30 4 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,342 years and that's given me a lot of time 5 00:00:27,342 --> 00:00:29,630 on both sides of the fence . So I'll 6 00:00:29,630 --> 00:00:32,900 start first with mentee because that 7 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:34,900 was what I first experienced when I 8 00:00:34,900 --> 00:00:37,180 came in. I was active duty for about 9 00:00:37,180 --> 00:00:39,870 6.5, 7 years . And so I had the 10 00:00:39,870 --> 00:00:42,850 advantage of having those mentors every 11 00:00:42,850 --> 00:00:44,650 day that helped me . And as a 12 00:00:44,650 --> 00:00:46,872 lieutenant and young captain , I really 13 00:00:46,872 --> 00:00:49,094 needed those . And you know , we always 14 00:00:49,094 --> 00:00:51,440 think of mentors as people who are 15 00:00:51,450 --> 00:00:53,506 further up in the chain of command , 16 00:00:53,506 --> 00:00:56,030 maybe , um , those people that outrank 17 00:00:56,030 --> 00:00:58,141 us . But as a young lieutenant , most 18 00:00:58,141 --> 00:01:01,180 of my mentors were NCOs and senior NCOs 19 00:01:01,180 --> 00:01:03,347 and chiefs , particularly in 20 00:01:03,347 --> 00:01:05,569 the aircraft maintenance career field . 21 00:01:05,569 --> 00:01:08,180 As I then progressed in my career , I 22 00:01:08,180 --> 00:01:10,880 made the change over from active duty 23 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,740 to the reserve, and that was when I 24 00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:15,980 finally , I had probably one of the 25 00:01:15,980 --> 00:01:19,410 most instrumental mentors in my career , 26 00:01:19,420 --> 00:01:21,780 the 06 or the group commander . When I 27 00:01:21,780 --> 00:01:23,891 first made that transition , he's the 28 00:01:23,891 --> 00:01:26,220 first person I met, he had just pinned 29 00:01:26,220 --> 00:01:30,100 on colonel and he showed me 30 00:01:30,100 --> 00:01:31,989 not only what it was like to be a 31 00:01:31,989 --> 00:01:34,900 reservist , but he showed me how to 32 00:01:34,900 --> 00:01:38,120 become a better company grade officer , 33 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,610 field grade officer , um , all the way 34 00:01:40,610 --> 00:01:43,460 up until I became an 06 . So I feel 35 00:01:43,460 --> 00:01:46,940 like he's the one that talked to me about 36 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:49,310 professional development . He talked to 37 00:01:49,310 --> 00:01:51,400 me about the skills I needed . He 38 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,200 talked to me about what types of jobs 39 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,200 were out there and what I should be 40 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:57,880 thinking about . He also made 41 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:00,300 connections for me of people that I 42 00:02:00,300 --> 00:02:02,356 wouldn't necessarily run into and he 43 00:02:02,356 --> 00:02:05,510 also advocated for me, um, in ways I 44 00:02:05,510 --> 00:02:07,740 didn't realize . So he was very 45 00:02:07,740 --> 00:02:10,920 instrumental in getting me up into, uh , 46 00:02:10,930 --> 00:02:13,800 the 06 rank and he was instrumental in 47 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,660 getting me a job, a full time job , what 48 00:02:16,670 --> 00:02:19,510 what we call an AGR in the Pentagon . 49 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,850 Um , and once I got into the Pentagon , 50 00:02:21,850 --> 00:02:24,470 he sort of handed me off to someone 51 00:02:24,470 --> 00:02:27,270 else , but I really credit him with 52 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:29,700 helping me navigate not only being a 53 00:02:29,700 --> 00:02:32,630 reservist, but navigate how to be the 54 00:02:32,630 --> 00:02:34,810 best aircraft maintenance logistics 55 00:02:34,810 --> 00:02:35,810 officer I could be. 56 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:51,400 [Upbeat music] 57 00:02:51,410 --> 00:02:53,770 I didn't actively seek him out . So I, 58 00:02:53,780 --> 00:02:56,210 this was more of a traditional...I 59 00:02:56,210 --> 00:02:58,043 worked for him , he was my group 60 00:02:58,043 --> 00:03:00,370 commander and so that was our first 61 00:03:00,370 --> 00:03:03,990 experience and I did , you know , I 62 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,111 feel like I did a really good job for 63 00:03:06,111 --> 00:03:08,520 him, um, and that then allowed him to 64 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,050 go , okay , you've done a good job here , 65 00:03:11,060 --> 00:03:13,227 I think you have these right skills , 66 00:03:13,227 --> 00:03:15,350 then he felt comfortable recommending 67 00:03:15,350 --> 00:03:17,790 me to others or helping me get other 68 00:03:17,790 --> 00:03:19,568 positions . So it was more of a 69 00:03:19,568 --> 00:03:21,990 traditional mentorship than some of the 70 00:03:21,990 --> 00:03:24,660 others where you maybe meet someone , 71 00:03:24,740 --> 00:03:27,680 um , and you form a mentorship . This 72 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,791 was more of the traditional and I was 73 00:03:29,791 --> 00:03:32,460 extremely fortunate to have that first 74 00:03:32,460 --> 00:03:34,682 contact when I came into the reserve of 75 00:03:34,682 --> 00:03:37,030 someone like that . So when I talk 76 00:03:37,030 --> 00:03:38,919 about the reserve specifically in 77 00:03:38,919 --> 00:03:42,130 addition to having that mentor that 06 78 00:03:42,130 --> 00:03:44,920 mentor; I also had mentors that were 79 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,470 also, you know, friends or people who 80 00:03:48,470 --> 00:03:50,692 were near-peers to me. Maybe they were 81 00:03:50,692 --> 00:03:52,803 the same rank or more senior or maybe 82 00:03:52,803 --> 00:03:54,920 one rank ahead of me . They were able 83 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,520 to tell me things like "oh, hey, here's 84 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,576 how you do this or here's how you do 85 00:03:59,576 --> 00:04:01,742 that" because I didn't necessarily want 86 00:04:01,742 --> 00:04:04,660 to ask my mentor everything . Um, I 87 00:04:04,660 --> 00:04:06,771 needed someone else to kind of bounce 88 00:04:06,771 --> 00:04:08,990 some ideas off of and so I was 89 00:04:08,990 --> 00:04:11,930 fortunate to have friends, near-peers, 90 00:04:11,940 --> 00:04:14,050 that I also considered mentors and I 91 00:04:14,050 --> 00:04:16,390 still have those today . I have fellow 92 00:04:16,390 --> 00:04:18,223 general officers and I have some 93 00:04:18,223 --> 00:04:20,168 general officers who, we grew up as 94 00:04:20,168 --> 00:04:22,550 colonels together, who now are two stars 95 00:04:22,550 --> 00:04:25,200 and I look to them for that same type 96 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,800 of mentorship . 97 00:04:31,740 --> 00:04:41,710 [Upbeat music} 98 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,360 I would say that it takes a village to 99 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,560 help people get through their careers 100 00:04:46,570 --> 00:04:48,626 and that you are never in a point in 101 00:04:48,626 --> 00:04:50,640 your career where you can't benefit 102 00:04:50,650 --> 00:04:53,200 from mentoring. Um, even though I've been 103 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,256 in 30 years and I feel like I have a 104 00:04:55,256 --> 00:04:57,478 good grasp of all the things that go on 105 00:04:57,478 --> 00:04:59,644 in our Air Force and, really, in DoD, 106 00:04:59,644 --> 00:05:01,644 there's still a lot of things I 107 00:05:01,644 --> 00:05:04,030 don't know and I can always improve not 108 00:05:04,030 --> 00:05:06,970 only in specific skills but I can 109 00:05:06,970 --> 00:05:09,960 improve as a leader , a communicator . 110 00:05:10,110 --> 00:05:12,221 There are various ways in which I can 111 00:05:12,221 --> 00:05:14,388 improve and so I can look to different 112 00:05:14,388 --> 00:05:16,554 people and I can go , okay , well this 113 00:05:16,554 --> 00:05:18,554 individual over here has done these 114 00:05:18,554 --> 00:05:20,666 things in their career , maybe that's 115 00:05:20,666 --> 00:05:22,800 not exactly what I should do , but 116 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,078 there are a couple of things that I go , 117 00:05:25,078 --> 00:05:27,300 wow , I like how they did that , I want 118 00:05:27,300 --> 00:05:29,522 to learn how to do that . So I would 119 00:05:29,522 --> 00:05:32,230 say to anyone out there , you are never; 120 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,560 One , you're never to a foreign rank 121 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,460 and you're never too old to have 122 00:05:37,470 --> 00:05:39,250 mentors . And so I would highly 123 00:05:39,250 --> 00:05:41,306 recommend that. I would also say to 124 00:05:41,306 --> 00:05:43,361 everyone listening that you're never 125 00:05:43,361 --> 00:05:46,270 too young to be a mentor to someone 126 00:05:46,270 --> 00:05:49,070 else . We always think about mentors as 127 00:05:49,070 --> 00:05:50,990 people who are older , maybe more 128 00:05:50,990 --> 00:05:53,830 experienced , but I will tell you that 129 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,380 um high school kids , college kids , 130 00:05:56,380 --> 00:05:58,770 young adults coming in , there's always 131 00:05:58,770 --> 00:06:01,340 someone who's looking up to you and 132 00:06:01,340 --> 00:06:03,420 watching you and thinking , hey , I 133 00:06:03,420 --> 00:06:05,587 love what they did , I want to be able 134 00:06:05,587 --> 00:06:07,780 to do that . Um so you're never too 135 00:06:07,780 --> 00:06:09,160 young to be a mentor. 136 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:27,740 Yes , I've actively been a mentor and 137 00:06:27,750 --> 00:06:30,890 in our particular career field, and as I 138 00:06:30,890 --> 00:06:33,530 mentioned , I'm a reservist , so in all 139 00:06:33,530 --> 00:06:35,697 active duty and also now the civilians 140 00:06:35,697 --> 00:06:37,808 are getting the developmental teams . 141 00:06:37,808 --> 00:06:39,974 So I'm active in our reserve logistics 142 00:06:39,974 --> 00:06:42,860 developmental team and as a GO, I 143 00:06:42,860 --> 00:06:45,880 have 06s that I have been assigned . 144 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,710 So I have those in a very formal 145 00:06:48,710 --> 00:06:50,930 relationship . They don't get a 146 00:06:50,930 --> 00:06:53,097 choice , they're like , oh hey this is 147 00:06:53,097 --> 00:06:55,850 my mentor . So that's one avenue. I have 148 00:06:55,850 --> 00:06:58,770 another avenue of people that I work 149 00:06:58,770 --> 00:07:00,992 with here . So for instance our reserve 150 00:07:00,992 --> 00:07:03,620 advisor , Colonel Jones. While I may not 151 00:07:03,620 --> 00:07:05,850 be actively assigned as his mentor 152 00:07:05,940 --> 00:07:08,700 because he's here , I then, you know , 153 00:07:08,700 --> 00:07:10,930 take it upon myself to mentor him . 154 00:07:10,940 --> 00:07:13,180 Same thing with the other mobilization 155 00:07:13,180 --> 00:07:15,740 assistance that are at the three ALCs. 156 00:07:15,740 --> 00:07:17,830 I may not be their formal 157 00:07:17,830 --> 00:07:19,663 mentor , but I feel like it's my 158 00:07:19,663 --> 00:07:22,200 responsibility to mentor them and then 159 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,200 there's individuals that I have met 160 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,340 throughout my career that I continue to 161 00:07:27,340 --> 00:07:30,220 stay in touch with , give advice to . I 162 00:07:30,220 --> 00:07:33,090 may not be their main mentor , but I'm 163 00:07:33,090 --> 00:07:35,312 someone that they'll check in with 164 00:07:35,312 --> 00:07:37,146 every now and then . And then 165 00:07:37,146 --> 00:07:39,890 sometimes you just meet people and you 166 00:07:39,890 --> 00:07:42,520 connect and you want to stay in touch 167 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,730 with them and provide them assistance 168 00:07:44,730 --> 00:07:45,460 as you can .