WEBVTT 00:01.049 --> 00:03.339 To get here . Hey , what's going on A T 00:03.349 --> 00:07.159 A so 00:07.170 --> 00:09.392 real quick , how many of y'all would be 00:09.392 --> 00:11.559 super disappointed if I did not give a 00:11.559 --> 00:14.380 speech ? And I just , well , OK , I 00:14.390 --> 00:16.501 don't , I can't see but some of y'all 00:16.501 --> 00:18.557 remember how many of y'all were here 00:18.557 --> 00:22.120 last year at A T A . I still have 00:22.129 --> 00:25.569 PTSD from last year's A T A when I came 00:25.579 --> 00:28.030 out and my speech wasn't here . So 00:28.040 --> 00:30.318 we're not doing speeches and , and two , 00:30.318 --> 00:32.484 I've been on the road for the last few 00:32.484 --> 00:34.596 days and I've been to three locations 00:34.596 --> 00:36.929 and I figure if it's all right with you , 00:36.929 --> 00:39.040 can we just keep it real for the next 00:39.040 --> 00:41.040 50 minutes ? Is that cool ? I heard 00:41.040 --> 00:43.630 General Minihan likes to keep it real . 00:43.639 --> 00:45.861 So we're just gonna follow that . Hey , 00:45.861 --> 00:47.972 real quick before um I get started as 00:47.972 --> 00:50.083 though . Big . Thank you to everybody 00:50.083 --> 00:52.599 on the A T A team who made this event 00:52.610 --> 00:54.832 possible . Um Big , thank you , General 00:54.832 --> 00:57.400 Everhard , General Minihan , chief , 00:57.740 --> 00:59.851 all the chiefs and commanders who are 00:59.851 --> 01:01.796 here . Um And big thank you to our 01:01.796 --> 01:03.907 civic leaders who are here . Industry 01:03.907 --> 01:06.599 partners , everybody , family members . 01:06.610 --> 01:09.129 Where is the family members . Big 01:09.139 --> 01:12.699 thanks to everybody here . Hey , um If 01:12.709 --> 01:14.765 I can , I want to know who is in the 01:14.765 --> 01:17.042 audience though real quick ? Are there , 01:17.042 --> 01:19.589 is there any guard in here ? Ok . What 01:19.599 --> 01:23.440 about reserve ? That's good . 01:23.730 --> 01:26.279 Ok . Do I have any defenders in here ? 01:28.430 --> 01:31.209 I have a few . Ok , good , good Medics 01:34.519 --> 01:35.559 Maintainers 01:38.919 --> 01:42.540 apps . That was a 01:42.550 --> 01:46.419 sad , whoa , back there . Um 01:46.430 --> 01:48.374 Who am I missing ? Are there cyber 01:48.374 --> 01:51.760 folks in here ? LRS type 01:51.769 --> 01:54.660 folks ? OK . 01:55.610 --> 01:58.410 Who am I missing ? I said medics , I 01:58.419 --> 02:00.930 said air crew ops s air crew . All 02:00.940 --> 02:02.884 right . Hey , how many of y'all if 02:02.884 --> 02:04.884 you've been in the air Force , less 02:04.884 --> 02:06.940 than five years , raise your hands . 02:06.970 --> 02:10.539 Just a few 10 . How about 5 to 15 years 02:10.550 --> 02:12.661 in the Air force ? Raise your hands ? 02:13.380 --> 02:15.240 How about over 15 years ? 02:17.279 --> 02:20.720 Over 20 ? Oh , I forgot what kind of 02:20.729 --> 02:22.279 convention I was at uh 02:24.559 --> 02:28.470 over 25 . OK . 02:28.610 --> 02:32.330 Over 30 . OK . I'm gonna stop counting . 02:32.779 --> 02:34.899 So , so everybody who's been in less 02:34.910 --> 02:36.966 than 15 years , you probably need to 02:36.966 --> 02:39.188 give a hand clap to the over 20 crowd . 02:44.509 --> 02:46.610 So I always appreciate understanding 02:46.619 --> 02:48.786 who's in the audience because I always 02:48.786 --> 02:50.841 think chrono chronologically . And I 02:50.841 --> 02:53.063 think back to when I had an opportunity 02:53.063 --> 02:55.910 to join our United States Air Force and 02:55.919 --> 02:58.086 I tell people all the time I joined it 02:58.086 --> 03:00.308 over 30 years ago , I thought I'll do . 03:00.308 --> 03:02.252 My dad told me somewhere that four 03:02.252 --> 03:04.086 years in the military never hurt 03:04.086 --> 03:06.141 anybody . So I thought I'd join four 03:06.141 --> 03:08.308 quick years , get my G I bill and roll 03:08.308 --> 03:10.086 out about the fouryear mark . I 03:10.086 --> 03:12.252 reenlisted to pay off my Honda Civic . 03:12.252 --> 03:14.363 And then about the eight year mark is 03:14.363 --> 03:16.419 when I really joined our Air Force , 03:16.419 --> 03:18.586 when I really understood what it means 03:18.586 --> 03:20.641 to wear our nation's cloth and , and 03:20.641 --> 03:22.752 how , what an honor it was . And so I 03:22.752 --> 03:24.975 think chronologically , so I'll go back 03:24.975 --> 03:27.086 to some of that and the over 30 crowd 03:27.086 --> 03:29.141 will all understand kind of where my 03:29.141 --> 03:31.141 headspace is . Um And , and I think 03:31.141 --> 03:33.197 this will be helpful for all of us . 03:33.197 --> 03:35.141 But if you've ever heard me talk , 03:35.141 --> 03:37.308 you'll typically hear me talk directly 03:37.308 --> 03:39.141 about competition . Where are we 03:39.141 --> 03:41.197 focused today as a Department of the 03:41.197 --> 03:42.919 Air Force ? And you'll hear me 03:42.919 --> 03:44.752 typically talk about China first 03:44.752 --> 03:46.808 because China is absolutely our most 03:46.808 --> 03:49.860 sophisticated adversary that we have . 03:50.860 --> 03:52.971 But if you want to know what's on the 03:52.971 --> 03:55.027 minds of your senior leaders , and I 03:55.027 --> 03:57.082 understand you had an opportunity to 03:57.082 --> 03:59.304 already hear from General Minahan , you 03:59.304 --> 03:58.800 had an opportunity to hear virtually 03:58.809 --> 04:00.920 from the Secretary of the Air Force . 04:00.929 --> 04:03.050 But what's on our hearts and minds 04:03.059 --> 04:06.960 right now in the Pentagon is absolutely 04:06.970 --> 04:10.259 re optimization . So what does that 04:10.270 --> 04:12.380 really mean ? And what are we really 04:12.389 --> 04:14.111 talking about ? And I know the 04:14.111 --> 04:16.510 secretary kind of alluded to this , but 04:16.519 --> 04:18.929 he sent out a memo back in the first 04:18.940 --> 04:20.884 week of September that went to the 04:20.884 --> 04:23.679 entire force . And if you paid 04:23.690 --> 04:25.634 attention to that memo , you would 04:25.634 --> 04:27.690 understand that he did not mince his 04:27.690 --> 04:31.040 words and it's not lost on me that when 04:31.049 --> 04:33.630 I was tech Sergeant Joe Bass , that I 04:33.640 --> 04:36.489 probably did not read many memos from 04:36.500 --> 04:39.690 the Secretary of the Air Force that I 04:39.700 --> 04:41.649 probably would have said who's a 04:41.660 --> 04:43.771 secretary ? And I probably would have 04:43.771 --> 04:46.359 deleted it . But I'm gonna ask every 04:46.369 --> 04:48.591 single one of you and I'm gonna ask you 04:48.591 --> 04:50.702 to take this back to your teammates . 04:50.702 --> 04:52.758 If you have not read the secretary's 04:52.758 --> 04:54.700 memo dated in the early part of 04:54.709 --> 04:56.709 September , I'm gonna ask you to go 04:56.709 --> 04:58.765 into your deleted folders and I need 04:58.765 --> 05:02.029 you to read it . I'm serious and I need 05:02.040 --> 05:03.984 you to read it . Not just once but 05:03.984 --> 05:06.096 probably two times , maybe even three 05:06.096 --> 05:08.318 times . I've talked to enough audiences 05:08.318 --> 05:10.484 since he penned that memo to know that 05:10.484 --> 05:13.089 the majority of the force just glanced 05:13.100 --> 05:15.869 it over or didn't even read it . But I 05:15.880 --> 05:18.102 need you to really pay attention if you 05:18.102 --> 05:20.179 listen to what the secretary says . 05:21.559 --> 05:23.615 It's a , it's pretty telling when he 05:23.615 --> 05:25.781 says the Department of the Air Force , 05:25.781 --> 05:27.940 both Air and Space Force are not 05:27.950 --> 05:31.059 postured for great power competition . 05:33.459 --> 05:35.920 The Department of the Air Force is not 05:35.929 --> 05:39.320 postured today for great power 05:39.329 --> 05:42.489 competition . And so today , your 05:42.500 --> 05:44.556 Department of the Air Force , senior 05:44.556 --> 05:47.359 leaders across the board are focused on 05:47.369 --> 05:49.890 how do we need to make sure that we are 05:49.899 --> 05:53.559 re optimized to be the Air Force that 05:53.570 --> 05:57.239 our nation is gonna need at any time 05:57.929 --> 06:00.869 anywhere . And so to that end , there's 06:00.880 --> 06:02.991 five lines of efforts . I don't wanna 06:02.991 --> 06:05.200 spend too much time on them , but we 06:05.209 --> 06:08.029 are taking a holistic look at what 06:08.040 --> 06:10.940 we've got to get . After . When General 06:10.950 --> 06:13.117 Brown got in the seat over three years 06:13.117 --> 06:15.061 ago , he rolled out his eight page 06:15.061 --> 06:17.228 strategic approach , accelerate change 06:17.228 --> 06:19.228 or lose . He rolled out four action 06:19.228 --> 06:21.549 orders , ABC and D he made them easy . 06:21.559 --> 06:24.380 Airmen bureaucracy , competition design , 06:24.869 --> 06:27.140 the action order that I resonated the 06:27.149 --> 06:30.730 most with , by the way is action order 06:30.739 --> 06:34.109 D for design implementation . And so 06:34.119 --> 06:36.549 essentially Secretary of the Air Force 06:36.559 --> 06:38.559 saying we've got to re optimize for 06:38.559 --> 06:40.892 great power competition . General Brown , 06:40.892 --> 06:42.948 previous chief of staff said we have 06:42.948 --> 06:45.170 got to get after action order D that is 06:45.170 --> 06:48.339 what we're working on today . If we had 06:48.350 --> 06:50.799 a blank sheet of paper and we could re 06:50.809 --> 06:54.519 optimize our force to be the air force 06:54.529 --> 06:56.640 that our nation needs , what might it 06:56.640 --> 06:59.859 look like . And so when I think back to 06:59.869 --> 07:02.420 over 30 years ago , when I joined , 07:03.459 --> 07:06.359 it's such a very different force with 07:06.369 --> 07:09.489 very different challenges . Back 30 07:09.500 --> 07:11.500 years ago , you had to be strong on 07:11.500 --> 07:13.556 four war fighting domains , air land 07:13.556 --> 07:16.850 and sea . Did I say that ? Right ? I 07:16.859 --> 07:19.081 think I missed one . OK . You had to be 07:19.081 --> 07:20.915 strong in air three war fighting 07:20.915 --> 07:23.137 domains . I didn't have coffee today by 07:23.137 --> 07:25.359 the way because I flew . But you had to 07:25.359 --> 07:24.790 be strong in three war fighting domains , 07:24.799 --> 07:27.132 air land and sea had , have strong army , 07:27.132 --> 07:29.132 strong navy , strong Marine Corps , 07:29.132 --> 07:31.559 strong Air Force . And here we are in 07:31.570 --> 07:34.700 2023 almost 2024 . And I'd suggest to 07:34.709 --> 07:37.200 you we've got to be long strong in air 07:37.209 --> 07:41.200 land , sea space , cyber and 07:41.209 --> 07:43.989 information . And I'd also submit to 07:44.000 --> 07:46.000 you that if we lose in any of those 07:46.000 --> 07:49.209 three last war fighting domains , by 07:49.220 --> 07:52.640 the way that we probably lose period , 07:53.630 --> 07:56.309 and we can't even generate air power if 07:56.320 --> 08:00.119 we lose in space , cyber and 08:00.130 --> 08:03.760 information . And so for the past 08:03.769 --> 08:05.769 30 years , while we've been focused 08:05.769 --> 08:07.991 primarily in one A or , and oh , by the 08:07.991 --> 08:10.158 way , we're still focused in that a or 08:10.158 --> 08:12.429 many of your teammates are all deployed 08:12.440 --> 08:14.496 to that a or , and oh , by the way , 08:14.496 --> 08:16.384 we've extended many of our , your 08:16.384 --> 08:18.329 brothers and sisters who are there 08:18.329 --> 08:20.551 right now . And so when you think about 08:20.551 --> 08:22.773 what , what's been going on in the last 08:22.773 --> 08:24.940 30 years ? And why is the Air Force so 08:24.940 --> 08:27.051 focused on ? Why is the Department of 08:27.051 --> 08:27.010 Defense so focused on our most 08:27.019 --> 08:29.019 sophisticated adversaries ? Because 08:29.019 --> 08:31.186 they've been moving out fast and every 08:31.186 --> 08:33.241 one of our airmen serving in today's 08:33.241 --> 08:36.609 military has to understand that they 08:36.619 --> 08:38.563 have to understand and , and , and 08:38.563 --> 08:40.730 every airman and every audience that I 08:40.730 --> 08:42.897 talked to has to understand that China 08:42.897 --> 08:44.786 has absolutely put a stake in the 08:44.786 --> 08:46.786 ground . And they've told us in the 08:46.786 --> 08:49.008 year 2049 they will take their rightful 08:49.008 --> 08:51.080 stand to become the world dominant 08:51.090 --> 08:53.312 power . Every airman needs to know that 08:54.549 --> 08:56.771 if you talk to are there intel folks in 08:56.771 --> 08:57.882 here , by the way , 09:01.229 --> 09:05.119 one person I love it , I'll keep all 09:05.130 --> 09:07.186 this on class open source . I didn't 09:07.186 --> 09:09.669 ask . Are there guardians in here ? No 09:09.679 --> 09:11.957 space , no space , guardians . Hey , I , 09:11.957 --> 09:14.290 I'll keep all this on class open source . 09:14.290 --> 09:16.457 But , but this is , you know , there's 09:16.457 --> 09:18.457 a lot that we can say on class open 09:18.457 --> 09:20.679 source with respect to China . But when 09:20.679 --> 09:22.735 you look at what China's done in the 09:22.735 --> 09:22.479 past , well , let me get back to their 09:22.489 --> 09:24.545 100 year marathon which by the way , 09:24.545 --> 09:26.390 they called their century of 09:26.400 --> 09:29.539 humiliation . If you talk to your one 09:29.549 --> 09:31.493 intel person back here , what your 09:31.493 --> 09:33.716 intel person is probably gonna tell you 09:33.716 --> 09:35.938 is China is actually ahead of time , 15 09:35.938 --> 09:37.938 to 20 years . You know , you do the 09:37.938 --> 09:40.160 math 2020 . I learn that from gentlemen 09:40.160 --> 09:42.216 at hand not to say numbers out there 09:42.216 --> 09:43.382 and so interesting , 09:46.080 --> 09:48.191 you know , I got love for you , sir . 09:48.191 --> 09:50.650 What we learn from each other . But 09:50.659 --> 09:54.049 what I , what I've learned is 09:54.679 --> 09:57.500 it doesn't matter . It's not our jobs 09:57.510 --> 10:00.260 to predict when it's our jobs to be 10:00.270 --> 10:03.940 ready today tomorrow and into the 10:03.950 --> 10:06.006 future . So the Secretary of the Air 10:06.006 --> 10:08.849 Force says we are not prioritized for 10:08.859 --> 10:10.915 great power competition . What do we 10:10.915 --> 10:12.970 have to do ? Let me just let me just 10:12.970 --> 10:15.192 talk a little bit about China , I don't 10:15.192 --> 10:17.359 know if you have an ops intel briefing 10:17.359 --> 10:19.470 in here and certainly most of you are 10:19.470 --> 10:21.692 operators so you get it . But what I'll 10:21.692 --> 10:23.859 tell you is what you need , especially 10:23.859 --> 10:23.479 to the commanders and the chiefs in 10:23.489 --> 10:25.711 here . Don't let it be lost on you that 10:25.711 --> 10:27.822 the majority of your forces never get 10:27.822 --> 10:30.659 an ops intel briefing , never get an 10:31.080 --> 10:33.750 opal briefing . Never understand or 10:33.760 --> 10:35.927 hear somebody say that China has put a 10:35.927 --> 10:38.929 stake in the ground 2049 . And so let 10:38.940 --> 10:40.996 me just talk a little bit about that 10:40.996 --> 10:42.996 piece . If you look at what they've 10:42.996 --> 10:45.218 done in the past 30 years alone and how 10:45.218 --> 10:47.107 they've really gotten after their 10:47.107 --> 10:48.996 strategic objective , which is to 10:48.996 --> 10:51.107 become the world dominant power . And 10:51.107 --> 10:53.329 you look at how they've modernized from 10:53.329 --> 10:52.890 a military perspective . If you look 10:52.900 --> 10:55.104 and see what they've done from a road 10:55.114 --> 10:57.344 initiative and how they've poured into 10:57.445 --> 10:59.945 uh nations across the globe , across 10:59.955 --> 11:02.465 Europe , building railways , building 11:02.474 --> 11:04.945 ports , pouring into other nations , 11:04.955 --> 11:07.724 giving them loans into Africa . In fact , 11:07.734 --> 11:09.734 China believes that Africa is their 11:09.734 --> 11:12.109 second continent . If you've ever 11:12.119 --> 11:14.286 deployed to Djibouti , you know , that 11:14.286 --> 11:16.397 China practically owns Djibouti , you 11:16.397 --> 11:18.563 know , the influence and , and and and 11:18.563 --> 11:20.675 perspective that they're pushing into 11:20.675 --> 11:22.452 South America . So China's been 11:22.452 --> 11:24.750 masterfully getting after their Belt 11:24.760 --> 11:28.700 Road initiative in the last 11:28.750 --> 11:30.750 eight years alone , they've taken a 11:30.750 --> 11:32.806 string of islands in the South China 11:32.806 --> 11:34.694 Sea . They've managed to put them 11:34.694 --> 11:36.917 together , put a runway on at places to 11:36.917 --> 11:39.083 hide munitions , not because they feel 11:39.083 --> 11:41.083 like it , but because they can have 11:41.083 --> 11:43.650 reach capability . If you look at what 11:43.659 --> 11:46.489 they've done by investing into media 11:46.500 --> 11:48.556 outlets across the globe , why would 11:48.556 --> 11:50.909 China invest into media outlets across 11:50.919 --> 11:54.659 the globe to control 11:54.669 --> 11:56.780 information , control the narrative ? 11:56.780 --> 11:59.002 If you look at the influence that China 11:59.002 --> 12:01.450 has even within our own nation in 12:01.460 --> 12:03.669 Hollywood and how we didn't even 12:03.679 --> 12:06.989 release Maverick in time because of the 12:07.000 --> 12:10.109 influence that they have there , China 12:10.119 --> 12:12.719 is absolutely playing the long game . 12:13.190 --> 12:16.309 And again , if they can win in space , 12:16.650 --> 12:20.489 cyber or information , they win . So 12:20.500 --> 12:22.619 here we are not short of challenges . 12:22.630 --> 12:24.890 That is why it is upon every single one 12:24.900 --> 12:27.200 of us to really take seriously . What 12:27.210 --> 12:29.266 does the Department of the Air Force 12:29.266 --> 12:31.266 need to do to make sure that we are 12:31.266 --> 12:33.488 optimized for great power competition ? 12:33.488 --> 12:35.488 And what's that gonna look like ? I 12:35.488 --> 12:37.377 will , what I would say to you is 12:37.377 --> 12:39.488 you're probably gonna see more change 12:39.488 --> 12:41.710 in the next 4 to 6 years than I've seen 12:41.710 --> 12:43.877 in my entire 30 year career . And it's 12:43.877 --> 12:46.099 about time . One of the things that I'm 12:46.099 --> 12:48.266 focused on is your chief master on the 12:48.266 --> 12:50.960 Air Force , is Action order A is all 12:50.969 --> 12:54.250 things airmen . And I have a good time 12:54.260 --> 12:56.482 in the Pentagon focused on those things 12:56.482 --> 12:58.649 because one of the things that I share 12:58.649 --> 13:00.760 with all of our staffs are we are not 13:00.760 --> 13:02.982 going to be able to on board and retain 13:02.982 --> 13:05.149 the talent that we need in today's Air 13:05.149 --> 13:07.204 Force and our future Air Force , the 13:07.204 --> 13:09.500 force of the future with 19 nineties 13:09.510 --> 13:12.750 and two thousands policies . And so 13:12.760 --> 13:14.760 we're taking a look at everything . 13:14.760 --> 13:16.816 It's always interesting to me when I 13:16.816 --> 13:18.927 hear our airmen say , I wonder if , I 13:18.927 --> 13:20.871 wonder if the chief of staff knows 13:20.871 --> 13:23.190 about this . I wonder if Chief Bass 13:23.200 --> 13:25.530 knows about this . The answer is yes , 13:26.380 --> 13:28.780 we absolutely know the challenges with 13:28.789 --> 13:31.059 bah with tuition assistance or whatever 13:31.070 --> 13:33.237 it might be . So there is nothing that 13:33.237 --> 13:35.459 we are not looking at that is important 13:35.459 --> 13:37.514 to you and your families . I promise 13:37.514 --> 13:40.820 you that um with that , I really 13:40.830 --> 13:42.941 actually want to turn the mic over to 13:42.941 --> 13:44.774 you guys so that I can field any 13:44.774 --> 13:46.886 questions and find out what's on your 13:46.886 --> 13:48.997 mind before I do . Um Let me start to 13:48.997 --> 13:51.108 get ready to close it out . I want to 13:51.108 --> 13:53.219 close it out with saying thank you to 13:53.219 --> 13:55.330 each and every one of you . Thank you 13:55.330 --> 13:57.497 for being part of the 1% who serves in 13:57.497 --> 13:59.619 this great nation . Thank you to your 13:59.630 --> 14:01.799 family members , your loved ones who 14:01.809 --> 14:05.309 support you wearing this uniform . I 14:05.320 --> 14:07.153 tell our airmen all the time . I 14:07.153 --> 14:09.431 actually don't care how long you serve . 14:09.679 --> 14:11.679 I don't care if you just serve four 14:11.679 --> 14:13.735 years , six years , eight years , 28 14:13.735 --> 14:15.901 years , as I mentioned before I signed 14:15.901 --> 14:17.957 up then to just do four . What I ask 14:17.957 --> 14:19.957 every single one of our airmen is I 14:19.957 --> 14:22.099 just ask you to make your service 14:22.109 --> 14:25.520 better , make your career feel better , 14:26.000 --> 14:28.280 make your unit better . I think that's 14:28.289 --> 14:31.000 fair . What I ask our Air force to do 14:31.359 --> 14:34.039 is to make you better so that when you 14:34.049 --> 14:36.160 take this uniform off , because every 14:36.160 --> 14:38.271 single one of us will that you can go 14:38.271 --> 14:40.493 do great things in your hometown . I'll 14:40.493 --> 14:42.520 close it out . Also talking about 14:42.530 --> 14:45.159 taking care of you and taking care of 14:45.169 --> 14:47.710 those around you . Resiliency , which 14:47.719 --> 14:49.552 is something that I know is very 14:49.552 --> 14:51.497 important to each and every one of 14:51.497 --> 14:53.608 these leaders on the front row . Make 14:53.608 --> 14:55.719 sure that you're taking care of you . 14:55.719 --> 14:57.775 For those of you who um enjoy a good 14:57.775 --> 14:59.775 book . A good , a good audible or a 14:59.775 --> 15:01.775 good uh read . If you've never read 15:01.775 --> 15:04.049 Generation Z unfiltered , actually , 15:04.059 --> 15:07.219 how many of y'all have teenagers ? You 15:07.229 --> 15:10.299 need to read Generation Z unfiltered . 15:10.309 --> 15:12.960 That's a pro tip for you . I read it a 15:12.969 --> 15:15.025 few months ago and I came home and I 15:15.025 --> 15:17.358 told my husband Ron , I was like , dude , 15:17.358 --> 15:19.636 like we need to change the way we lead . 15:19.750 --> 15:22.090 We still have a 17 year old at home . 15:22.840 --> 15:25.062 And when you read this book , it really 15:25.062 --> 15:27.173 does t in fact , everybody needs to , 15:27.173 --> 15:29.340 if you are leading a and you need to 15:29.349 --> 15:31.571 understand it because we have to have a 15:31.571 --> 15:33.293 deep appreciation for the five 15:33.293 --> 15:35.460 different generations that are serving 15:35.460 --> 15:37.682 in today's workforce . But when we talk 15:37.682 --> 15:39.793 about generation Z and how it applies 15:39.793 --> 15:39.469 to me when I was talking to my husband , 15:39.590 --> 15:41.701 I said we have to change the way that 15:41.701 --> 15:44.010 we lead even our own kiddo who's still 15:44.020 --> 15:46.559 at home . Because what I learned in 15:46.570 --> 15:49.869 that book is generation Z actually 15:49.880 --> 15:52.599 wants to serve . They just want to 15:52.609 --> 15:55.309 serve in their own way and they just 15:55.320 --> 15:57.619 want a different pathway and they want 15:57.630 --> 16:00.109 flexibility . What I also learned is 16:00.119 --> 16:03.789 generation Z , the 28 years 16:03.799 --> 16:06.809 old has become what we knew was 18 . 16:07.989 --> 16:10.010 Adolescence has extended 16:12.849 --> 16:15.640 kids don't want to drive anymore 16:16.349 --> 16:18.460 seriously . Like they don't wanna get 16:18.460 --> 16:20.238 license and that's not true for 16:20.238 --> 16:22.405 everybody . Right ? My daughter wanted 16:22.405 --> 16:24.627 her license at 16 , but that's not true 16:24.627 --> 16:26.738 for everybody . But by and large kids 16:26.738 --> 16:29.016 don't wanna drive as young as they did . 16:29.219 --> 16:31.869 They don't wanna work as young as they 16:31.880 --> 16:35.789 did . They don't necessarily 16:35.799 --> 16:39.599 experience life as we did . They used 16:39.609 --> 16:41.720 to call us , by the way , I'll figure 16:41.720 --> 16:43.831 out how to tie this into war fighting 16:43.831 --> 16:46.053 at some point . But they used to , they 16:46.053 --> 16:48.109 used to call us helicopter parents . 16:48.109 --> 16:50.276 Y'all remember that they don't call us 16:50.276 --> 16:52.442 helicopter parents anymore . They call 16:52.442 --> 16:54.710 us snowplow parents . What's a snowplow 16:54.719 --> 16:57.859 parent ? It's somebody for the ce folks 16:57.869 --> 17:00.830 in here who just paves the path and 17:00.840 --> 17:03.039 make sure that there's no bumps in the 17:03.049 --> 17:05.420 road and nothing bad happens . Right . 17:05.869 --> 17:08.091 So I go home and I tell my husband like 17:08.091 --> 17:10.150 we , we can't pay , we can't be snow 17:10.160 --> 17:12.382 pla like we've got to make sure that we 17:12.382 --> 17:14.549 change the way we do things . And it's 17:14.549 --> 17:16.660 true . They said they don't even date 17:16.660 --> 17:18.771 until later in life . So it's true in 17:18.771 --> 17:20.882 my household because my daughter , 17 17:20.882 --> 17:23.160 years old just got her first boyfriend . 17:23.160 --> 17:25.382 I had mine at eight . I don't , I don't 17:25.382 --> 17:27.438 know . What's , it's , it's a little 17:27.438 --> 17:29.438 weird for me . So , so she tells us 17:29.839 --> 17:33.040 it's our third month anniversary and I 17:33.050 --> 17:35.272 gotta prepare her for life . I can't be 17:35.272 --> 17:37.383 that snowplow parent . So I said girl 17:37.383 --> 17:39.606 don't get excited . It's not gonna work 17:39.606 --> 17:41.717 out . So , so I'm , I'm preparing her 17:41.717 --> 17:43.883 for life . Here's how I'm gonna tie it 17:43.883 --> 17:46.050 back into resilience in you all . Like 17:46.050 --> 17:48.217 these are the airmen coming in today's 17:48.217 --> 17:50.328 air force , right ? Like I don't need 17:50.328 --> 17:52.819 my kiddo coming in and then you're her 17:52.829 --> 17:55.150 supervisor for the first time in life . 17:55.160 --> 17:58.439 They're experiencing life when you look 17:58.449 --> 18:00.616 at most of the resiliency challenges . 18:00.616 --> 18:03.939 By the way , 90% of um relationship 18:03.949 --> 18:07.150 issues , 90% of them 18:07.199 --> 18:09.800 relationship issues . We have got to 18:09.810 --> 18:11.890 teach people , we have got to teach 18:11.900 --> 18:15.030 each other about how to deal with life . 18:15.079 --> 18:18.270 So with that pro tip generation Z 18:18.280 --> 18:20.224 unfiltered , it will help you be a 18:20.224 --> 18:22.336 better parent . It will help you be a 18:22.336 --> 18:24.447 better wingman and a teammate to each 18:24.447 --> 18:26.949 other . And so with that , um I told 18:26.959 --> 18:29.015 you I wasn't gonna give a speech . I 18:29.015 --> 18:31.070 want to just have some real talk and 18:31.070 --> 18:33.292 now I'm gonna turn the mics over to you 18:33.292 --> 18:35.630 do we have mics in the audience ? We 18:35.640 --> 18:37.807 don't have mics . So I'm gonna turn it 18:37.807 --> 18:39.918 over to you all . What I would say to 18:39.918 --> 18:42.084 you again , to all the folks here at A 18:42.084 --> 18:44.770 T A to the folks that are online to all 18:44.780 --> 18:47.130 of our mobility teammates , to our 18:47.140 --> 18:49.307 guard and reserve by the way , who are 18:49.307 --> 18:52.400 the secret sauce in what we do ? Thank 18:52.410 --> 18:54.354 you for serving . Thanks for being 18:54.354 --> 18:56.577 great teammates . Thanks for making our 18:56.577 --> 18:58.743 air force so great . And with that , I 18:58.743 --> 19:00.688 want to hear what's on your mind . 19:07.729 --> 19:09.896 Sorry , ma'am . We were doing a little 19:09.896 --> 19:11.896 admin there . Uh and , and it's for 19:11.896 --> 19:13.951 what happens next , but we , we're , 19:13.951 --> 19:16.173 we're on good shape . So ma'am , here's 19:16.173 --> 19:18.229 how we're going to do this . Uh I am 19:18.229 --> 19:20.560 getting questions uh through AAA 19:20.569 --> 19:22.739 process and I will go ahead and ask 19:22.750 --> 19:24.917 them . We don't have a whole lot yet , 19:24.969 --> 19:27.449 but if we run out , then I'll ask 19:27.459 --> 19:30.339 members to just come forward . Yes , 19:30.369 --> 19:32.760 ma'am . Oh , yes , ma'am . And , and 19:32.770 --> 19:34.937 more importantly I've learned and so , 19:35.050 --> 19:38.380 uh I know I know how to do it as 19:38.390 --> 19:41.239 well . I , I even found out , I , I 19:41.250 --> 19:43.319 learned a new term crowdsourcing . 19:43.329 --> 19:45.218 There's a sort of a crowdsourcing 19:45.218 --> 19:47.949 function and all of the youngsters and 19:47.969 --> 19:50.280 oldsters can see the questions and they 19:50.290 --> 19:52.599 can if they like it and it pops up to 19:52.609 --> 19:55.089 the top of the list . And so I'm just 19:55.189 --> 19:57.411 gonna , so here's general killer . What 19:57.411 --> 19:59.467 you also need to know is they're not 19:59.467 --> 20:01.467 shy of opinions and they , and they 20:01.467 --> 20:03.300 share them online , so certainly 20:03.300 --> 20:05.411 they're going to share them with us . 20:05.411 --> 20:07.522 Ok . So , ma'am , in order to share , 20:07.522 --> 20:09.633 here's the first question and they're 20:09.633 --> 20:12.880 not shy , ma'am . How are we addressing 20:12.890 --> 20:14.779 the rise in mental health cases ? 20:14.779 --> 20:17.709 Specifically that members remain in el , 20:17.739 --> 20:20.310 remain eligible for deployment Taskings 20:20.560 --> 20:22.910 and reducing the extended wait times 20:22.920 --> 20:25.031 for referrals for most of our medical 20:25.031 --> 20:27.410 groups , which can be attributed to 20:27.420 --> 20:29.930 overworked staff . Yeah , there's a 20:29.939 --> 20:32.217 couple of things that we're looking at . 20:32.229 --> 20:34.550 Um by the way , we started a four and I 20:34.560 --> 20:36.671 think I mentioned this last year if , 20:36.671 --> 20:38.893 if I didn't forgive me , but we started 20:38.893 --> 20:41.004 a fortify the Force Initiative team . 20:41.004 --> 20:43.171 How many of y'all have heard of that ? 20:43.171 --> 20:46.410 So it's a phenomenal team made by 20:46.420 --> 20:50.239 guardians and airmen and family members 20:50.250 --> 20:53.599 and veterans soft community , every , 20:53.609 --> 20:55.831 every kind of community . It's , it's , 20:55.831 --> 20:59.219 it's a team of about over 300 people 20:59.260 --> 21:02.089 that could bring us challenges and 21:02.099 --> 21:05.250 barriers to resiliency and fortifying 21:05.260 --> 21:07.369 the force all the way from the grass 21:07.494 --> 21:09.515 roots level up because what we know 21:09.525 --> 21:11.755 about resiliency and mental health 21:11.765 --> 21:14.114 challenges , et cetera is that programs 21:14.125 --> 21:16.964 don't helps save lives and , and 21:16.974 --> 21:19.905 top-down programs are not always that 21:19.915 --> 21:22.026 helpful . And so we , we started this 21:22.026 --> 21:24.193 fortify the Force Initiative team from 21:24.193 --> 21:26.137 the grassroots up . And one of the 21:26.137 --> 21:28.248 lines of efforts that they're focused 21:28.248 --> 21:30.304 on are what are some of the policies 21:30.304 --> 21:32.589 that are not helpful to any of us and 21:32.599 --> 21:34.543 some of those policies are that we 21:34.543 --> 21:36.210 would have policies that just 21:36.210 --> 21:38.321 automatically cut you out and say you 21:38.321 --> 21:40.939 can't deploy or we have policies where 21:40.949 --> 21:43.020 here's a true story . We had an uh a 21:43.209 --> 21:44.876 senior master sergeant on our 21:44.876 --> 21:46.931 formations who his spouse had passed 21:46.931 --> 21:49.089 away 10 years ago and he went and got 21:49.099 --> 21:51.930 help . And then 10 years later , he 21:51.939 --> 21:54.979 could get an assignment to Florida that 21:54.989 --> 21:57.211 doesn't make a whole lot of sense . And 21:57.211 --> 21:59.211 so these are some of those barriers 21:59.211 --> 22:01.100 that that team has brought to our 22:01.100 --> 22:03.267 attention and we're working with the A 22:03.267 --> 22:05.378 OS of those A fis to help fix some of 22:05.378 --> 22:07.600 those barriers . So the policy piece is 22:07.600 --> 22:09.589 one thing , the other thing is it 22:09.599 --> 22:11.599 relates to the challenges with wait 22:11.599 --> 22:13.710 times and mental health , et cetera . 22:13.710 --> 22:16.119 Um Another memo that we pushed out that 22:16.130 --> 22:18.297 I don't know how many of you guys read 22:18.297 --> 22:20.186 it , but myself and General Brown 22:20.186 --> 22:22.074 pushed out a memo to the field um 22:22.074 --> 22:25.189 entitled Spectrum of resilience . If 22:25.199 --> 22:27.477 you hadn't seen it , just check it out . 22:27.969 --> 22:30.136 And that was something that myself and 22:30.136 --> 22:32.358 General Brown personally , there wasn't 22:32.358 --> 22:34.469 a week that went by that . We did not 22:34.469 --> 22:36.747 talk about the resiliency of the force . 22:37.510 --> 22:39.949 Not a week that went by that we did not 22:39.959 --> 22:42.070 talk about mental health . And a week 22:42.070 --> 22:44.181 that didn't go by that we didn't talk 22:44.181 --> 22:46.126 about suicides . And so for me and 22:46.126 --> 22:48.070 General Brown , we started talking 22:48.070 --> 22:50.800 about why and why is there such a 22:50.810 --> 22:53.239 challenge and how do we help alleviate 22:53.250 --> 22:56.650 some of the pain points with respect to 22:56.760 --> 22:58.871 the lack of mental health providers ? 22:58.871 --> 23:01.093 And so here's just some data points for 23:01.093 --> 23:03.316 everybody and most of you all know this 23:03.316 --> 23:05.609 but , but our nation is , is is at a 23:05.619 --> 23:07.730 shortage of mental health providers , 23:08.160 --> 23:10.449 our nation . And so if our nation is 23:10.459 --> 23:12.515 short mental health providers , that 23:12.515 --> 23:14.459 means the dod is going to be short 23:14.459 --> 23:16.515 mental health providers . That means 23:16.515 --> 23:15.619 the Air Force is going to be short 23:15.630 --> 23:18.430 mental health providers . But what 23:18.439 --> 23:20.550 we've learned , talking to our mental 23:20.550 --> 23:22.829 health providers is that out of every 23:22.839 --> 23:25.689 10 airmen who comes into mental health , 23:26.079 --> 23:29.390 only two of them technically need 23:29.400 --> 23:33.359 clinical mental health support . The 23:33.369 --> 23:35.591 other eight just needs to know somebody 23:35.591 --> 23:39.430 cares . So what we're not short of in 23:39.439 --> 23:42.369 the military is leaders and 23:42.380 --> 23:46.050 supervisors and wingmen . And so we've 23:46.060 --> 23:49.530 got to have some strong NCO development , 23:49.540 --> 23:52.310 strong CGO and FGO development so that 23:52.319 --> 23:54.430 we can get to a place where everybody 23:54.430 --> 23:57.329 feels cared for . And so we rolled out 23:57.339 --> 23:59.339 this spectrum of resilience because 23:59.339 --> 24:01.172 there are more things within the 24:01.172 --> 24:03.619 spectrum than just I'm healthy and I 24:03.630 --> 24:06.770 need to go seek mental health . I am a 24:06.780 --> 24:08.836 huge fan by the way of comprehensive 24:08.836 --> 24:11.550 Airman Fitness . I'm a big fan of the 24:11.560 --> 24:13.727 fact that we have to be focused on our 24:13.727 --> 24:15.729 own resilience by focusing on our 24:15.739 --> 24:18.410 physical fitness , our mental , our 24:18.420 --> 24:22.420 social , our spiritual , if we help 24:22.430 --> 24:24.541 build those things up that might help 24:24.541 --> 24:26.652 alleviate some of the friction points 24:26.652 --> 24:28.829 there . If we tap into our fellow 24:28.839 --> 24:31.061 wingmen and teammates and maybe get off 24:31.061 --> 24:33.283 of our phones sometimes and our devices 24:33.283 --> 24:35.619 and actually have analog face to face 24:35.630 --> 24:37.408 leadership , maybe that'll help 24:37.408 --> 24:39.519 alleviate some of the friction points 24:39.519 --> 24:42.290 where we can't get people in if we'll 24:42.300 --> 24:44.356 tap into the other resources that we 24:44.356 --> 24:46.467 have . So there's lots of things that 24:46.467 --> 24:48.800 we have to get after General Kelly . Um , 24:48.800 --> 24:51.022 and we're identifying what those things 24:51.022 --> 24:53.189 are , um , before we can get to that . 24:53.189 --> 24:55.411 And so , um , if you have ideas , we're 24:55.411 --> 24:57.633 open to hear them , but I think there's 24:57.633 --> 24:59.744 a lot of supporting fires that we can 24:59.744 --> 25:01.911 have , but we are focused on how do we 25:01.911 --> 25:04.022 fix some of the policies and then how 25:04.022 --> 25:06.078 do we do more ? Let me , let me just 25:06.078 --> 25:08.244 add one more thing and we talked about 25:08.244 --> 25:10.411 it at Corona as well . Um , I know the 25:10.411 --> 25:12.633 CFT is focused on it . I'm a big fan of 25:12.633 --> 25:14.800 what we all used to know as Hawks . Do 25:14.800 --> 25:14.770 y'all remember that ? Health and 25:14.780 --> 25:17.319 Wellness Centers all the 30 up . 25:17.329 --> 25:20.300 Remember that , right ? I , I don't , I 25:20.310 --> 25:22.366 don't know , I don't know how we got 25:22.366 --> 25:25.199 away from that . And so we're going to 25:25.209 --> 25:27.431 get back to a model where we have total 25:27.431 --> 25:29.939 force fitness if you will kind of 25:29.949 --> 25:32.500 centers back at our bases . I don't 25:32.510 --> 25:34.566 know what they're going to be called 25:34.566 --> 25:36.843 Wellness Center or something like that , 25:36.843 --> 25:38.954 but we've got to get to a place where 25:38.954 --> 25:41.177 our airmen have a place to go . Whether 25:41.177 --> 25:43.232 you're in Aviano , whether you're at 25:43.232 --> 25:45.399 Scott , whether you're a mcguire , you 25:45.399 --> 25:47.399 have a place to go that has a total 25:47.399 --> 25:49.454 force fitness . And how about we get 25:49.454 --> 25:51.343 left of the situation and we have 25:51.343 --> 25:53.343 exercise physiologists there and we 25:53.343 --> 25:55.454 have other things that build up the , 25:55.454 --> 25:57.399 build up our to the core . That is 25:57.399 --> 25:59.454 where we're gonna go at some point . 25:59.454 --> 26:01.343 Thank you , ma'am . The next most 26:01.343 --> 26:03.454 popular question is Chief Bass . What 26:03.454 --> 26:05.621 are we doing to address the recruiting 26:05.621 --> 26:07.677 and retention issues that are facing 26:07.677 --> 26:09.788 our air force ? Is there anything you 26:09.788 --> 26:11.788 can share uh perhaps about upcoming 26:11.788 --> 26:13.621 changes in things like dress and 26:13.621 --> 26:15.232 appearance or new uniforms ? 26:19.959 --> 26:23.280 I don't know . Thanks for the , thanks 26:23.290 --> 26:25.489 for the question . I don't know , the 26:25.500 --> 26:27.722 dress and appearance in new uniforms is 26:27.722 --> 26:29.949 why people are not coming into the 26:29.959 --> 26:32.920 military or not . But y'all tell me , I 26:32.930 --> 26:35.041 don't necessarily think that's it . I 26:35.041 --> 26:36.930 think that's kind of two separate 26:36.930 --> 26:39.041 questions , but I actually do want to 26:39.041 --> 26:41.041 touch on the recruiting thing , you 26:41.041 --> 26:43.097 know , just again , a data point , I 26:43.097 --> 26:45.208 talked to a lot of leaders across our 26:45.208 --> 26:47.430 nation , whether they're , they're from 26:47.430 --> 26:49.263 industry or whether , you know , 26:49.263 --> 26:52.079 they're CEO S or , or wherever like 26:52.089 --> 26:54.459 recruiting . The recruiting challenges 26:54.469 --> 26:56.191 in our military are recruiting 26:56.191 --> 26:58.079 challenges across the nation . 26:59.030 --> 27:01.630 Everybody is struggling to hire a 27:01.640 --> 27:04.719 workforce . Just know that the 27:04.729 --> 27:06.896 Department of Labor . In fact , called 27:06.896 --> 27:09.189 my office before the school year to ask 27:10.150 --> 27:13.349 how many , um airmen do we have that 27:13.359 --> 27:15.680 have commercial driver's license ? What 27:15.689 --> 27:17.800 they really want to know General Lowe 27:17.800 --> 27:21.369 is how many Gua Guard airmen do we 27:21.380 --> 27:23.630 have with commercial drivers license ? 27:23.640 --> 27:26.180 Why we didn't have enough school bus 27:26.189 --> 27:29.550 drivers ? And so , so the recruiting 27:29.560 --> 27:31.550 challenges really felt across the 27:31.560 --> 27:34.540 nation . I will tell you that today we 27:34.550 --> 27:36.829 are in a really good place and I've got 27:36.839 --> 27:38.950 uh a TC commander looking at me , but 27:38.950 --> 27:40.950 today , we're in a way better place 27:40.950 --> 27:42.950 than we were last year and we think 27:42.950 --> 27:44.950 we're gonna be fine this year . But 27:44.950 --> 27:47.006 here's what I might suggest to you . 27:47.006 --> 27:49.359 Like recruit . The recruiting challenge 27:49.369 --> 27:53.040 is not the recruiters challenge . The 27:53.050 --> 27:55.780 recruiting challenge is everybody's 27:55.790 --> 27:57.734 challenge . And if you're a senior 27:57.734 --> 27:59.568 leader , you probably need to be 27:59.568 --> 28:01.568 steeped into . What does it mean to 28:01.568 --> 28:03.623 recruit somebody into the military ? 28:03.623 --> 28:05.734 And all of us has a role in this . If 28:05.734 --> 28:07.846 you're a leader and you're serving at 28:07.846 --> 28:10.012 one of our installations , do you know 28:10.012 --> 28:09.869 who your recruiters are ? Do you know 28:09.880 --> 28:12.102 who your junior RT C folks are ? Do you 28:12.102 --> 28:14.213 know who your RT C folks ? Your civil 28:14.213 --> 28:16.949 Air patrol ? Have you been out to a VFW 28:16.959 --> 28:20.020 or an American legion lately ? So that 28:20.030 --> 28:22.459 we can all tackle this challenge that 28:22.469 --> 28:24.580 we have as it relates to recruiting . 28:24.580 --> 28:26.691 We have a lot of internal things that 28:26.691 --> 28:28.858 we're doing and anything that um is an 28:28.858 --> 28:31.080 Air Force policy we are tackling all of 28:31.080 --> 28:33.140 those Air force policies first on , 28:33.150 --> 28:34.983 what are the things that are not 28:34.983 --> 28:37.039 helping us bring some things in ? We 28:37.039 --> 28:39.150 actually had this discussion with the 28:39.150 --> 28:41.150 Secretary of Defense on Monday , in 28:41.150 --> 28:43.206 fact , and what we brought up to his 28:43.206 --> 28:45.372 level of attention are the things that 28:45.372 --> 28:47.594 Os D needs to do when it changes . When 28:47.594 --> 28:49.817 it comes to some of the changes we need 28:49.817 --> 28:52.039 to make . We haven't modernized some of 28:52.039 --> 28:54.150 our sessions policies . If you have a 28:54.150 --> 28:56.372 peanut allergy and we find out about it 28:56.372 --> 28:58.790 before you enlist into the military , 28:58.800 --> 29:01.890 you're probably going to be gone or 29:01.900 --> 29:05.250 we've got to do a long outdated waiver . 29:05.260 --> 29:07.427 That's a dod policy . We're working on 29:07.427 --> 29:09.538 that . If you have asthma , all , all 29:09.538 --> 29:11.649 those things , we're taking a look at 29:11.649 --> 29:11.589 how we can get after those things . I 29:11.599 --> 29:13.710 will tell you , we're also gonna have 29:13.710 --> 29:15.932 to balance the changes that we make the 29:15.932 --> 29:17.821 Air Force challenge the Air Force 29:17.821 --> 29:19.932 policies that we make . We'll have to 29:19.932 --> 29:19.849 balance that with , you know , making 29:19.859 --> 29:22.050 sure that we are supporting a more 29:22.060 --> 29:24.227 modern force that that's applicable to 29:24.227 --> 29:26.369 the 21st century , but not letting go 29:26.380 --> 29:29.329 of our high standards . And so that's 29:29.339 --> 29:31.283 that balance that our team is very 29:31.283 --> 29:33.450 carefully looking at to make sure that 29:33.450 --> 29:35.617 we get right . I'll tell you , we made 29:35.617 --> 29:37.617 a change for instance to the tattoo 29:37.617 --> 29:39.783 policy this past year where we allowed 29:39.783 --> 29:41.930 airmen or recruits to come in if they 29:41.939 --> 29:44.106 had a one inch tattoo on their hand or 29:44.106 --> 29:46.161 if they had a one inch tattoo on the 29:46.161 --> 29:48.383 back of their neck , some of the emails 29:48.383 --> 29:50.606 that you I got , you would have thought 29:50.606 --> 29:52.661 that like the air force was going to 29:52.661 --> 29:54.800 hell in a hand basket . And here's 29:54.810 --> 29:56.810 right . Like , again , this is good 29:56.810 --> 29:58.810 order and discipline . This is like 29:58.810 --> 30:01.032 we've got to some degree , we , we have 30:01.032 --> 30:03.143 to have good order and discipline and 30:03.143 --> 30:05.199 we have to appreciate military image 30:05.199 --> 30:07.199 and we will , we will . But I'm not 30:07.199 --> 30:09.366 recruiting 50 year olds like we've got 30:09.366 --> 30:11.588 to figure out how to modernize things . 30:11.588 --> 30:13.699 I'm sorry , nobody laughed . Ok . But 30:13.699 --> 30:15.643 we've got , we've got to modernize 30:15.643 --> 30:17.643 while not taking away from our high 30:17.643 --> 30:19.699 standards . And those are the things 30:19.699 --> 30:21.421 that I hope that you trust the 30:21.421 --> 30:23.643 institution with . Thanks . Yes , ma'am 30:24.060 --> 30:26.020 chief this morning . Uh Secretary 30:26.030 --> 30:28.459 Kendall had a message for us . Uh And 30:28.469 --> 30:30.770 in that message , uh he mentioned that 30:30.780 --> 30:32.880 F four gen does not apply to the 30:32.890 --> 30:35.770 mobility air forces . I was uh the 30:35.780 --> 30:37.724 crowd is wondering , have you been 30:37.724 --> 30:39.949 given any insights into what that 30:39.959 --> 30:43.040 something unique for uh mobility air 30:43.050 --> 30:45.272 forces might be ? And can you elaborate 30:45.272 --> 30:47.383 on it in any way ? I cannot elaborate 30:47.383 --> 30:49.494 on anything about that ? Um A a and , 30:49.494 --> 30:51.890 and here's why , right ? Like I think 30:51.900 --> 30:54.219 we are still building out what some of 30:54.229 --> 30:56.775 that force presentation like and , and 30:56.785 --> 30:58.896 I don't want to get premature and I'm 30:58.896 --> 31:01.007 not necessarily the best person , but 31:01.007 --> 31:03.118 what I do know is that the folks that 31:03.118 --> 31:05.175 are making those decisions in the 31:05.185 --> 31:07.296 Pentagon are not doing it in a vacuum 31:07.296 --> 31:09.518 and they are absolutely doing it with a 31:09.518 --> 31:11.407 lot of stakeholders within a MC , 31:11.407 --> 31:13.518 within the guard , within the reserve 31:13.518 --> 31:15.685 to make sure that we figure out how do 31:15.685 --> 31:17.685 we present our forces in a way that 31:17.685 --> 31:20.829 makes sense , ma'am with the record low 31:20.839 --> 31:22.450 promotion rates , how can we 31:22.450 --> 31:25.189 incentivize performance in other ways ? 31:25.199 --> 31:27.520 With the ? Yes , ma'am . I'm sorry , 31:27.560 --> 31:30.989 with record low promotion rates , can 31:31.000 --> 31:33.369 we incentivize performance in other 31:33.380 --> 31:35.819 ways ? Um 31:36.729 --> 31:39.130 So a couple of things on , on the 31:39.140 --> 31:42.719 record low , I don't , I I hope we get 31:42.729 --> 31:44.785 out of the phase and this is for the 31:44.785 --> 31:47.007 enlisted force . I hope that we get out 31:47.007 --> 31:49.062 of the phase of record low promotion 31:49.062 --> 31:51.229 rates probably within the next year or 31:51.229 --> 31:53.396 two years . But there were some levers 31:53.396 --> 31:53.300 that levers that we had to pull . And I , 31:53.310 --> 31:55.421 I think it's important that everybody 31:55.421 --> 31:57.532 understands why . And I think I share 31:57.532 --> 31:59.643 this same thing last year a bit , but 31:59.643 --> 32:01.977 we're still in that second year of , of , 32:01.977 --> 32:03.921 of lower promotion rates . But our 32:03.921 --> 32:06.032 enlisted four structure should really 32:06.032 --> 32:08.500 look like a pyramid right from , from 32:08.579 --> 32:11.479 ee one all the way to E nine . But over 32:11.489 --> 32:13.545 the past few years , because we have 32:13.545 --> 32:16.239 record high retention rates , people 32:16.719 --> 32:18.830 don't always believe the hype on what 32:18.830 --> 32:20.941 you see on the information space . We 32:20.941 --> 32:23.420 have record high retention rates . We 32:23.430 --> 32:25.597 don't look like a pyramid anymore . We 32:25.597 --> 32:27.959 look more like a muffin top . And so , 32:27.969 --> 32:31.449 so we have too many E fives , E sixes 32:31.500 --> 32:33.689 and E sevens in our four . And so we 32:33.699 --> 32:35.866 had to address it . And when the A one 32:35.866 --> 32:38.088 team came and brought that to me , what 32:38.088 --> 32:40.310 they sh you know what my first question 32:40.310 --> 32:42.477 is , what if we don't address it ? And 32:42.477 --> 32:44.588 what if we maintain status quo and we 32:44.588 --> 32:46.755 don't change our record high promotion 32:46.755 --> 32:49.300 rates . The answer was , well , chief , 32:49.310 --> 32:51.366 if you keep kicking the can down the 32:51.366 --> 32:53.300 road , then at some point whoever 32:53.310 --> 32:55.366 replaces you or the people who , the 32:55.366 --> 32:57.421 person who replaces that person will 32:57.421 --> 33:00.750 promote zero people . The Air Force 33:00.760 --> 33:02.760 that I came into 30 years ago , you 33:02.760 --> 33:04.760 couldn't even make E five . I don't 33:04.760 --> 33:06.871 know if some of y'all remember that , 33:06.871 --> 33:08.871 no matter how high you tested , you 33:08.871 --> 33:11.199 physically couldn't make E five even if 33:11.209 --> 33:13.319 you got scored hundreds . And so we 33:13.329 --> 33:15.589 never wanted to go to that place . And 33:15.599 --> 33:17.655 so we made some adjustments to those 33:17.655 --> 33:19.766 record lows . By the way , one of the 33:19.766 --> 33:21.766 things that you would hear from our 33:21.766 --> 33:23.877 force by and large , if you asked the 33:23.877 --> 33:25.932 force about two or three years ago , 33:25.932 --> 33:25.819 what some of our biggest challenges 33:25.829 --> 33:27.920 were was that the Air Force doesn't 33:27.930 --> 33:31.359 value experience anymore . That's what 33:31.369 --> 33:33.313 we were hearing . And then when we 33:33.313 --> 33:35.760 pulled a lever to value experience , 33:35.770 --> 33:37.659 everybody said , but not when I'm 33:37.659 --> 33:41.219 testing . So that lever that we pulled 33:41.229 --> 33:43.396 which is why the promotion rates are a 33:43.396 --> 33:45.618 little bit lower . And we did some more 33:45.618 --> 33:47.673 things to value experience by adding 33:47.673 --> 33:49.785 points is really going to get us to a 33:49.785 --> 33:51.673 place where we start to have more 33:51.673 --> 33:54.030 experienced E fives and sixes and 33:54.040 --> 33:56.160 sevens . And so I think that that's 33:56.170 --> 33:57.948 important . Now , as far as the 33:57.948 --> 34:00.059 incentivizing piece , I've never been 34:00.059 --> 34:02.392 the best person to ask for that because , 34:02.410 --> 34:04.709 you know , for me , it gets back to 34:04.719 --> 34:08.100 intrinsic motivation , right ? Like for 34:08.110 --> 34:10.332 me , it's been about , you know , how , 34:10.332 --> 34:12.332 how do you get motivated in the job 34:12.332 --> 34:15.610 that you do um and stay motivated and 34:15.620 --> 34:17.787 it , and you're not looking at outward 34:17.787 --> 34:20.009 things to do that , you know , I just , 34:20.009 --> 34:22.120 I guess I grew up old school where my 34:22.120 --> 34:24.398 mom told me do your job and do it well . 34:24.398 --> 34:26.453 And so I would say , you know , that 34:26.453 --> 34:28.509 might be something that we need to , 34:28.509 --> 34:30.620 you know , every one of us internally 34:30.620 --> 34:30.080 needs to think about . The other thing 34:30.090 --> 34:32.389 that I will say though as it comes to 34:32.399 --> 34:34.510 people operations and I started to um 34:34.510 --> 34:36.510 talk about it earlier where there's 34:36.510 --> 34:38.732 nothing that we're not going to look at 34:38.732 --> 34:40.788 when it comes to people . And if you 34:40.788 --> 34:42.899 look at the re optimization loes that 34:42.899 --> 34:44.899 the secretaries pushed out . One of 34:44.899 --> 34:47.066 those loes is people and in the people 34:47.066 --> 34:49.121 space , one of the things that we're 34:49.121 --> 34:51.121 looking at and it kind of ties back 34:51.121 --> 34:53.343 into that Gen Z book that I was telling 34:53.343 --> 34:55.510 you about is we have to have different 34:55.510 --> 34:57.732 ways to incentivize people to come into 34:57.732 --> 34:59.510 the military and to stay in the 34:59.510 --> 35:01.455 military . And that's about talent 35:01.455 --> 35:03.677 management . And so one of those things 35:03.677 --> 35:05.788 that we're looking at is how do we re 35:05.788 --> 35:07.899 retain our technical expertise in our 35:07.899 --> 35:10.709 military . And so we , three years ago , 35:10.719 --> 35:12.830 for instance , we might not have been 35:12.830 --> 35:14.719 talking about things like warrant 35:14.719 --> 35:17.052 officer . We are talking about them now . 35:21.580 --> 35:23.959 It doesn't mean that we're going that 35:23.969 --> 35:25.247 in the way , but we're 35:28.030 --> 35:31.040 long pause , but I see y'all back there . 35:31.050 --> 35:33.383 Here's what , here's what I'll tell you . 35:33.383 --> 35:35.328 I think it absolutely has a lot of 35:35.328 --> 35:37.550 merit for us to very much consider that 35:37.550 --> 35:39.772 because it's another pathway to be able 35:39.772 --> 35:41.661 to retain talent and it's a model 35:41.661 --> 35:43.717 that's already out there . But we've 35:43.717 --> 35:45.939 got to do a smart , every decision that 35:45.939 --> 35:48.050 we make has 2nd and 3rd order impacts 35:48.050 --> 35:50.161 and we've got to do that . But I will 35:50.161 --> 35:49.989 assure you that we're looking at ways 35:50.000 --> 35:51.722 on how we retain our technical 35:51.722 --> 35:53.944 expertise for the cyber folks in here . 35:53.944 --> 35:56.000 We are pushing very hard for a cyber 35:56.000 --> 35:59.500 pay . Um It's 2023 almost 2024 in 35:59.520 --> 36:01.870 the same way that we have aviation pay 36:01.879 --> 36:03.935 and jump pay . We need a cyber pay . 36:04.169 --> 36:06.391 And so those are some of the things the 36:06.391 --> 36:08.447 cyber people should have been like , 36:08.447 --> 36:10.669 yes , like those are some of the things 36:10.669 --> 36:12.836 we're looking at . I have no idea what 36:12.836 --> 36:12.270 the question was , sir . I'm sorry , 36:13.419 --> 36:15.530 you answered . It is hard because you 36:18.679 --> 36:20.735 and I , and if you would rather stay 36:20.735 --> 36:23.068 over in the shade , you can , because I , 36:23.068 --> 36:25.235 I , and I'll speak up , can you ? It's 36:25.235 --> 36:27.457 still , it's still , it's still getting 36:27.457 --> 36:29.623 you . I'm sorry , ma'am . Ok . Uh , so 36:29.623 --> 36:31.846 chief , this is a little bit related to 36:31.846 --> 36:34.068 what you just said . Uh , and , uh , so 36:34.068 --> 36:36.399 I , I hesitate to repeat the first part 36:36.409 --> 36:38.465 of the question because I think it's 36:38.465 --> 36:39.965 redundant . But , uh , the 36:39.965 --> 36:42.020 questionnaire said , I just saw that 36:42.020 --> 36:43.742 the Air Force raises its , its 36:43.742 --> 36:45.949 enlistment age to 42 . Can you also 36:45.959 --> 36:48.810 raise or can we also raise high year , 36:48.820 --> 36:51.729 10 year limits for those who want to 36:51.739 --> 36:54.899 keep serving ? Absolutely . And in fact , 36:54.909 --> 36:57.131 that's , that is one of the things that 36:57.131 --> 36:58.909 we're looking at is what is the 36:58.909 --> 37:00.798 appropriate hyt for those who are 37:00.798 --> 37:02.965 serving now , just , you know , I said 37:02.965 --> 37:04.798 we were gonna have real talk . I 37:04.798 --> 37:06.965 probably shouldn't as much , but we're 37:06.965 --> 37:09.131 family look like . So when y'all think 37:09.131 --> 37:11.353 you read about stuff and find out about 37:11.353 --> 37:13.840 stuff online , uh , me too . So , so 37:13.850 --> 37:16.510 here I am . And somebody sends me a 37:16.520 --> 37:18.742 link and it says the Air force raised , 37:18.742 --> 37:21.300 raised its limits to 42 . I said we did 37:21.310 --> 37:23.850 it . So anyway , just it's not just you . 37:24.100 --> 37:26.322 Um , but then somebody said that was in 37:26.322 --> 37:28.378 one of the emails that we sent you , 37:28.378 --> 37:30.544 you know what I mean ? Keep them brief 37:30.544 --> 37:32.600 people keep them brief . So , so the 37:32.600 --> 37:34.711 answer is yes , we are looking at all 37:34.711 --> 37:37.610 things , everything people related . 37:37.620 --> 37:40.350 What is the hyt , what's the age limit ? 37:40.360 --> 37:42.360 But we're being very thoughtful and 37:42.360 --> 37:44.582 what is the cause and effect if we , if 37:44.582 --> 37:46.638 we raise those things ? I absolutely 37:46.638 --> 37:48.979 think we need to . Yeah , Chief . The 37:48.989 --> 37:51.070 next question is when uh this 37:51.080 --> 37:53.280 particular individual uh enlisted 20 37:53.290 --> 37:55.479 years ago tuition assistance was a max 37:55.489 --> 37:59.040 of $250 a credit hour tuition costs 37:59.050 --> 38:01.050 have increased over the years . Yet 38:01.050 --> 38:03.161 tuition assistance limits have stayed 38:03.161 --> 38:05.530 in place . Uh Is there anything that we 38:05.540 --> 38:07.762 can do to address that discrepancy ? So 38:07.762 --> 38:09.873 some of the things that we're looking 38:09.873 --> 38:11.762 at when it comes to T A is really 38:11.762 --> 38:13.596 working with the schools and the 38:13.596 --> 38:15.949 universities . Um In fact , we've got 38:15.959 --> 38:17.848 people that are calling and , and 38:17.848 --> 38:20.015 spending time with the universities to 38:20.015 --> 38:22.181 try to get them to lower some of their 38:22.181 --> 38:24.181 uh what they're charging for credit 38:24.181 --> 38:26.181 hours for the military member . The 38:26.181 --> 38:28.292 challenge that we have is if we raise 38:28.292 --> 38:30.403 our T A limits , there's an assertion 38:30.403 --> 38:32.403 that then the schools are also then 38:32.403 --> 38:34.459 going to raise their limit . When we 38:34.459 --> 38:36.681 compare how much the Air Force gives in 38:36.681 --> 38:38.550 T A at all and all the costs and 38:38.560 --> 38:40.590 education and by credit hour , et 38:40.600 --> 38:42.544 cetera with the other services , I 38:42.544 --> 38:45.620 still think that our policies with T A 38:45.629 --> 38:49.070 are probably better than any other 38:49.080 --> 38:51.136 service in the dod , right ? Like it 38:51.136 --> 38:53.358 could always be better . But , but that 38:53.358 --> 38:55.413 is at this time , not , not anything 38:55.413 --> 38:57.413 that we're looking at because if we 38:57.413 --> 38:59.580 raise those costs , that cost is going 38:59.580 --> 39:01.747 to come from somewhere and somewhere , 39:01.747 --> 39:03.747 then we're gonna have to figure out 39:03.747 --> 39:05.802 what are we lowing ? And at the same 39:05.802 --> 39:08.024 time , we just raised our costs and how 39:08.024 --> 39:10.191 much we're pushing out for Air Force . 39:10.191 --> 39:12.191 Cool . Which is a good thing that's 39:12.191 --> 39:14.080 going directly to our airmen with 39:14.080 --> 39:15.913 licensing and certification . So 39:15.913 --> 39:18.247 something we'll have to give and for us , 39:18.247 --> 39:20.469 I think we think it's appropriate but , 39:20.469 --> 39:22.636 but I will reach back out to the A ONE 39:22.636 --> 39:24.858 D team to find out um where we are with 39:24.858 --> 39:24.370 the discussions with some of those 39:24.379 --> 39:26.600 universities , ma'am . I'm going to 39:26.610 --> 39:28.860 paraphrase this next question . It's 39:28.870 --> 39:30.770 regarding uh the potential of a 39:30.780 --> 39:33.070 government shutdown . Uh And the 39:33.080 --> 39:35.247 questionnaire is wondering if military 39:35.247 --> 39:37.413 leaders are engaged on Capitol Hill to 39:37.413 --> 39:39.669 try to ensure that there is no loss of 39:39.679 --> 39:42.370 military pay during the shutdown . But 39:42.379 --> 39:44.379 if that is unsuccessful , are there 39:44.389 --> 39:46.445 other things we are doing to look at 39:46.445 --> 39:48.056 mitigating the impact on our 39:48.056 --> 39:50.111 individuals if there is a government 39:50.111 --> 39:54.110 shutdown , 100% so very engaged 39:54.120 --> 39:56.429 on Capitol Hill and on all fronts , 39:56.439 --> 39:58.383 right ? This is , this is really a 39:58.383 --> 40:00.550 whole of nation . In fact , you know , 40:00.550 --> 40:02.550 the when , when you look at um even 40:02.550 --> 40:05.060 this past week , how much um our 40:05.070 --> 40:07.126 secretary and our chief of staff has 40:07.126 --> 40:09.348 been engaged with our elected officials 40:09.348 --> 40:11.626 on the hill with a whole lot of things , 40:11.626 --> 40:13.737 government shutdown is absolutely one 40:13.737 --> 40:15.903 of those things . Um Even for myself , 40:15.903 --> 40:18.189 my engagement , the last go around and 40:18.199 --> 40:21.120 making sure that we talk to members um 40:21.129 --> 40:23.296 that actually have a vote to make sure 40:23.296 --> 40:25.129 that they understand this , that 40:25.129 --> 40:27.073 engagement is happening across the 40:27.073 --> 40:29.296 board to include a lot of our vs OS who 40:29.296 --> 40:31.462 are actively engaged in supporting and 40:31.462 --> 40:33.518 representing every single one of you 40:33.518 --> 40:35.629 when it comes to mitigations . Um You 40:35.629 --> 40:37.740 know , we'll push some of the talking 40:37.740 --> 40:39.962 points that , that , that we pushed out 40:39.962 --> 40:42.129 to all of the command teams as well as 40:42.129 --> 40:44.296 through social media . Um And I'm sure 40:44.296 --> 40:46.296 we'll have resources like financial 40:46.296 --> 40:48.462 institutions that are doing their part 40:48.462 --> 40:50.462 to try to be able to make sure that 40:50.462 --> 40:52.685 they can help when it comes to um being 40:52.685 --> 40:54.462 able to like , uh you know , uh 40:54.462 --> 40:57.209 compensate what your military pay might 40:57.219 --> 41:00.639 be with a zero cost loan , those things 41:00.649 --> 41:02.538 will happen , our Air Force Eight 41:02.538 --> 41:04.870 Society will be there . Um But I think 41:04.879 --> 41:06.935 one thing that I might ask your help 41:06.935 --> 41:09.046 with for you and , and , and for your 41:09.046 --> 41:12.199 wingman is um I remember our , most of 41:12.209 --> 41:14.550 our parents always reminding us to save 41:14.560 --> 41:17.560 for a rainy day , right ? I think it's 41:17.570 --> 41:19.514 important for all of us if , if we 41:19.514 --> 41:21.848 haven't talked to our fellow airmen and , 41:21.848 --> 41:23.959 and make sure that they have like six 41:23.959 --> 41:26.189 months worth of monthly costs , right ? 41:26.199 --> 41:28.310 Saved up in a place . Right . That it 41:28.310 --> 41:30.477 doesn't excuse the fact that we should 41:30.477 --> 41:32.643 never have a government shutdown , but 41:32.643 --> 41:34.588 that's uncontrollable . And that's 41:34.588 --> 41:36.699 something that we can't control . But 41:36.699 --> 41:38.810 what we can control is our ability to 41:38.810 --> 41:40.977 protect ourselves and have discussions 41:40.977 --> 41:43.199 with all of our wingmen . And so what I 41:43.199 --> 41:43.159 would ask is that all of our 41:43.169 --> 41:44.780 supervisors are having those 41:44.780 --> 41:47.110 discussions on , are you good if you're 41:47.120 --> 41:49.287 not , then how do we help ? And you've 41:49.287 --> 41:51.231 got first line supervisors there , 41:51.231 --> 41:53.342 you've got first sergeants , you have 41:53.342 --> 41:55.453 lots of resources . We don't want any 41:55.453 --> 41:57.635 airmen and their families to um suffer 41:57.645 --> 41:59.867 in silence and not get the help and the 41:59.867 --> 42:01.923 support that they need . And there's 42:01.923 --> 42:04.034 many of those resources out there and 42:04.034 --> 42:06.034 chief this next question is , is uh 42:06.034 --> 42:09.000 related . Uh And that is , and it just 42:09.010 --> 42:11.232 moved on me . I'm sorry , there we go . 42:11.232 --> 42:13.260 Uh uh Can you share with us any 42:13.270 --> 42:15.492 initiatives that are being looked at by 42:15.492 --> 42:17.530 the Air Force to help families uh 42:17.540 --> 42:20.050 obtain more affordable childcare ? 42:23.030 --> 42:25.290 So here's one of the things um that I'd 42:25.300 --> 42:27.469 like y'all to know back in September , 42:27.479 --> 42:29.701 your Air Force pushed the Department of 42:29.701 --> 42:32.129 Defense to have a childcare summit . 42:32.810 --> 42:36.270 Your Air Force did because we're not OK 42:36.280 --> 42:38.469 with the status quo when it comes to 42:38.479 --> 42:40.600 childcare today and just for a data 42:40.610 --> 42:43.320 point , um we have about 18 to 42:43.330 --> 42:46.889 20% . Um We have the ability to cover 42:46.899 --> 42:49.439 down on about 18 to 20% of childcare 42:49.449 --> 42:52.169 across the force . And that's really 42:52.179 --> 42:55.159 because the modern military family has 42:55.169 --> 42:58.699 evolved a lot in the past 30 years , 42:59.199 --> 43:01.421 you have more single parents , you have 43:01.421 --> 43:03.477 more dual working parents , you have 43:03.477 --> 43:05.770 more dual military parents . And so 43:05.780 --> 43:08.010 here we are with a very different 43:08.020 --> 43:10.242 situation on all of our installations . 43:10.242 --> 43:12.464 Some of our installations have a hiring 43:12.464 --> 43:14.464 problem . Some of our installations 43:14.464 --> 43:16.687 don't have a hiring problem . They have 43:16.687 --> 43:16.489 a space problem and some of our 43:16.500 --> 43:18.939 installations have both . And so this 43:18.949 --> 43:21.116 is where every one of our installation 43:21.116 --> 43:23.227 command teams is working very hard to 43:23.227 --> 43:25.338 figure out ways to get after whatever 43:25.338 --> 43:27.560 their issue might look like . And we've 43:27.560 --> 43:29.727 pushed out a lot of incentives to help 43:29.727 --> 43:31.949 incentivize hiring and , and push it to 43:31.949 --> 43:34.005 the lowest level . One of the things 43:34.005 --> 43:36.171 that the Air Force did specifically is 43:36.171 --> 43:36.159 in order to get more childcare 43:36.169 --> 43:39.419 providers , we're offering 100% free 43:39.429 --> 43:41.939 for your first child for your child if 43:41.949 --> 43:43.949 you can , if you become a childcare 43:43.949 --> 43:46.171 provider . And so you've got a child in 43:46.171 --> 43:48.282 the CDC , you're working there , that 43:48.282 --> 43:50.810 child's free , the Air Force . Um Also 43:50.820 --> 43:52.876 added some more benefits where we're 43:52.876 --> 43:55.199 also providing 25% for your additional 43:55.209 --> 43:57.376 Children if you'll come be a childcare 43:57.376 --> 43:59.542 provider , I've seen where some of our 43:59.542 --> 44:01.320 bases are for FCC providers are 44:01.320 --> 44:03.729 providing bigger houses on base or an 44:03.739 --> 44:05.961 additional bedroom on base to encourage 44:05.961 --> 44:07.906 being an FCC provider . So lots of 44:07.906 --> 44:09.961 money are going toward incentives to 44:09.961 --> 44:12.017 try to increase Childcare . And that 44:12.017 --> 44:14.239 Childcare summit that the Department of 44:14.239 --> 44:16.350 Defense hosted is actually looking at 44:16.350 --> 44:18.628 how we might be able to get after this . 44:18.628 --> 44:20.517 But especially , and as I look at 44:20.517 --> 44:22.628 community partners by reaching out to 44:22.628 --> 44:24.850 the communities and fi figuring out how 44:24.850 --> 44:27.072 we can um help get after some solutions 44:27.072 --> 44:29.072 together with working with boys and 44:29.072 --> 44:31.183 girls clubs and , and all those other 44:31.183 --> 44:33.406 things , Chief , we've got time for one 44:33.406 --> 44:35.517 more question if you please , ma'am , 44:35.517 --> 44:37.989 as you look back , pardon me ? As you 44:38.000 --> 44:40.222 look back on your career , can you talk 44:40.229 --> 44:42.659 about a significant struggle that you 44:42.669 --> 44:46.280 had to overcome or to ? And the lessons 44:46.290 --> 44:49.020 that you took from overcoming those 44:49.030 --> 44:52.120 struggles ? How much time do we have , 44:52.590 --> 44:54.812 ma'am ? We've got , we've got time . So 44:54.812 --> 44:57.090 you just take as much time as you want . 44:57.090 --> 44:59.312 OK , I've got two . I've got two . I've 44:59.312 --> 45:01.368 got , there's a lot , but , but I've 45:01.368 --> 45:03.423 got two and here's what I've learned 45:03.423 --> 45:05.590 that with every struggle or with every 45:05.590 --> 45:07.939 challenge , it's part of character 45:07.949 --> 45:11.429 building and with every challenge comes 45:11.439 --> 45:14.939 opportunities . So personally , um one 45:14.949 --> 45:17.171 of the struggles that I had to learn to 45:17.171 --> 45:19.338 overcome was making sure that I didn't 45:19.338 --> 45:21.505 get in my own way , right ? Especially 45:21.505 --> 45:24.280 as a female leader . I did not , I grew 45:24.290 --> 45:26.290 up , right ? I joined the Air Force 45:26.290 --> 45:28.401 over 30 years ago . So I didn't see a 45:28.401 --> 45:30.489 lot of female leaders , especially 45:30.500 --> 45:32.722 female chiefs . It wasn't until I was a 45:32.722 --> 45:34.722 tech sergeant that I found my first 45:34.722 --> 45:36.611 female chief and I was down range 45:36.611 --> 45:38.667 somewhere and I went up to her and I 45:38.667 --> 45:40.833 said I am so inspired by you . I don't 45:40.833 --> 45:40.300 even know why she might not even been 45:40.310 --> 45:43.290 that great . But I was like , I'm , I'm 45:43.300 --> 45:45.689 just inspired by you because I finally 45:45.699 --> 45:48.209 saw . And so so I never , for me 45:48.219 --> 45:50.330 personally , I never , when I thought 45:50.330 --> 45:52.330 about strong leadership , I thought 45:52.330 --> 45:54.669 about people like my army husband who's , 45:54.679 --> 45:56.850 who's , you know , pretty strong and , 45:56.860 --> 45:59.969 and domineering . And when I learned to 45:59.979 --> 46:02.909 that strength comes in different forms 46:02.919 --> 46:06.000 as long as you're competent , credible 46:06.209 --> 46:09.729 and committed , like any of us can be a 46:09.739 --> 46:11.961 great leader . And so when I got out of 46:11.961 --> 46:14.017 my own way and realized that I was a 46:14.017 --> 46:16.128 bad in my own , right , then life was 46:16.128 --> 46:18.295 good . And so that was my first lesson 46:18.295 --> 46:20.295 that I had to learn is to make sure 46:20.295 --> 46:22.628 that I'm not the reason why um you know , 46:22.628 --> 46:24.517 that my own self limiting beliefs 46:24.517 --> 46:26.739 weren't keeping me from going as far as 46:26.739 --> 46:28.590 I could go . Um Here's another 46:28.600 --> 46:30.767 challenge that probably all of us deal 46:30.767 --> 46:32.822 with . But here's a challenge that I 46:32.822 --> 46:34.656 dealt with since sitting in this 46:34.656 --> 46:37.270 position , specifically learning how to 46:37.280 --> 46:40.750 navigate the information age . Y'all 46:40.760 --> 46:42.704 know what I'm talking about . Like 46:42.704 --> 46:44.860 learning how to navigate this social 46:44.870 --> 46:46.739 media age . I'm gonna talk about 46:46.750 --> 46:48.917 information age and I'll try to tie it 46:48.917 --> 46:50.750 back to that question real quick 46:50.750 --> 46:52.861 because I think it's , it's important 46:52.861 --> 46:52.820 Right . You know , I talk about war 46:52.830 --> 46:55.909 fighting domain information . Um , like 46:55.919 --> 46:57.752 all of us have to understand and 46:57.752 --> 46:59.752 appreciate that the information age 46:59.752 --> 47:01.919 isn't going anywhere whether you're on 47:01.919 --> 47:03.863 social media or not . Right . Like 47:03.863 --> 47:05.697 that's , it's a thing . And so I 47:05.697 --> 47:08.260 learned coming into this position how 47:08.270 --> 47:10.969 we've got to be very careful about what 47:10.979 --> 47:14.219 our eyes see and what we hear in this , 47:14.229 --> 47:16.860 in this information age . In fact , um , 47:18.219 --> 47:20.729 I was probably a novice in the 47:20.739 --> 47:22.739 information age . I didn't , I know 47:22.750 --> 47:24.972 y'all think the chief master in the Air 47:24.972 --> 47:27.194 Force um is online all day . It's not , 47:27.194 --> 47:30.370 it's my pas um But if it's ever a clap 47:30.379 --> 47:32.909 back , it is me just so , you know , um 47:33.239 --> 47:36.320 but it's typically my pas and I'll 47:36.330 --> 47:38.497 never forget they were like , gee when 47:38.497 --> 47:40.441 I first got in the seat , you have 47:40.441 --> 47:43.330 trolls on your site . I was like trolls . 47:45.060 --> 47:47.116 What's a , what's a troll ? Like , I 47:47.116 --> 47:49.227 didn't know . Right . And he's like , 47:49.227 --> 47:51.330 you got swarms of them and I'm like 47:51.340 --> 47:54.449 swarms . Like , don't these people have 47:54.459 --> 47:56.626 jobs and , and , and oh , by the way , 47:56.626 --> 47:58.792 he said they're all intel to the intel 47:58.792 --> 48:00.903 person back there . And I said , oh , 48:00.903 --> 48:02.959 that checks . So , no , I'm joking . 48:02.959 --> 48:06.229 Hey , but , but we've had to learn how 48:06.239 --> 48:09.040 to deal with this information age and I 48:09.050 --> 48:10.994 don't know that we've done it that 48:10.994 --> 48:13.217 great as a military , but we're getting 48:13.217 --> 48:15.328 there and we're getting better . I've 48:15.328 --> 48:17.439 been pushing really hard to make sure 48:17.439 --> 48:17.399 that people understand this information . 48:17.409 --> 48:19.520 We're age that we're in , in fact , I 48:19.520 --> 48:21.409 wrote an article in the A U press 48:21.409 --> 48:23.353 called a New Kind of War because I 48:23.353 --> 48:25.076 think that it's important that 48:25.076 --> 48:27.298 everybody understands that , that if we 48:27.298 --> 48:29.409 lose an information , we could lose , 48:29.979 --> 48:32.580 he who gets the information out first 48:32.590 --> 48:35.709 will typically win whether it's truth 48:35.719 --> 48:39.479 or not . And so I've had to 48:39.489 --> 48:41.229 learn how to navigate in this 48:41.239 --> 48:44.129 information age . And hopefully even 48:44.139 --> 48:46.306 through our team , what we've tried to 48:46.306 --> 48:48.500 teach is that social media can be a 48:48.510 --> 48:52.290 great tool . We have to be focused on 48:52.300 --> 48:54.133 truth . We have to be focused on 48:54.133 --> 48:56.356 flattening cons , we have to be focused 48:56.356 --> 48:58.979 on the good . Um Hey , let me just talk 48:58.989 --> 49:01.100 about one thing . My kids hate when I 49:01.100 --> 49:03.045 talk about this , but I think it's 49:03.045 --> 49:05.045 important to talk about tiktok . Um 49:05.045 --> 49:07.045 None of y'all do it because this is 49:07.045 --> 49:09.800 kind of the over 20 crowd but , but the 49:09.810 --> 49:12.179 under 20 crowd , I'm gonna quit saying 49:12.189 --> 49:14.411 that Joe because none of y'all actually 49:14.411 --> 49:16.578 ever like that anymore . But , but the 49:16.578 --> 49:19.040 the under like your Children , my 49:19.050 --> 49:21.540 Children who are on tiktok all the time , 49:21.610 --> 49:23.554 like it's really important that we 49:23.554 --> 49:25.777 understand this informa information age 49:25.777 --> 49:27.943 that we're in , we need to know that , 49:27.943 --> 49:30.110 right ? Like most of us know that OK , 49:30.110 --> 49:32.443 trying to create a tiktok , no big deal . 49:32.443 --> 49:34.443 What most people don't know is that 49:34.443 --> 49:36.610 China created tiktok . But the version 49:36.610 --> 49:38.832 of Tik Tok that is used and employed in 49:38.832 --> 49:40.666 China is very different than the 49:40.666 --> 49:42.610 version of tiktok that is employed 49:42.610 --> 49:45.139 throughout the rest of the world . What 49:45.149 --> 49:47.093 most people also don't know is the 49:47.093 --> 49:48.927 version that Russia uses is very 49:48.927 --> 49:52.580 different too . And so the version of 49:52.590 --> 49:54.820 Tik Tok that is employed in China that 49:54.830 --> 49:57.399 they use is very focused on education . 49:57.409 --> 49:59.520 It's very focused on stem , it's very 49:59.520 --> 50:01.687 focused on making a good human being . 50:02.590 --> 50:04.800 The version of tiktok that the rest of 50:04.810 --> 50:08.209 the world uses is really like hot 50:08.219 --> 50:11.719 garbage . It's cat videos , 50:12.629 --> 50:14.351 it's things that just keep you 50:14.351 --> 50:16.351 mindlessly scrolling . Why does all 50:16.351 --> 50:18.407 this matter ? Why would I be talking 50:18.407 --> 50:20.407 about this because it's back to the 50:20.407 --> 50:24.399 long game , right ? China put a stick 50:24.409 --> 50:27.699 in the ground 2049 long game . They did 50:27.709 --> 50:29.639 a study on Chinese Children and 50:29.649 --> 50:31.705 American Children . And what do they 50:31.705 --> 50:33.871 want to be when they grow up ? Chinese 50:33.871 --> 50:35.593 Children wanna be astronauts , 50:36.169 --> 50:38.919 scientists ? What do American Children 50:38.929 --> 50:42.250 wanna be ? Social media 50:42.260 --> 50:44.760 influencers ? So if you think about the 50:44.770 --> 50:48.000 long game , what does that mean ? And , 50:48.010 --> 50:50.066 and , and some of us used to laugh . 50:50.370 --> 50:53.830 It's actually not funny . What is that 50:53.840 --> 50:56.409 gonna mean in 10 years from now ? And 50:56.419 --> 50:58.860 so we've got to be focused on the long 50:58.870 --> 51:00.981 game y'all as I close it up . General 51:00.981 --> 51:02.926 Kelly , thank you so much . What I 51:02.926 --> 51:04.759 would say is that's probably the 51:04.759 --> 51:06.926 biggest challenge that I've dealt with 51:06.926 --> 51:09.037 is how do we navigate this and how do 51:09.037 --> 51:11.203 we get the Department of Defense to be 51:11.203 --> 51:13.370 a little bit more proactive and how we 51:13.370 --> 51:13.159 navigate this because this is 51:13.169 --> 51:15.959 absolutely gonna be a challenge that 51:15.969 --> 51:18.250 our nation has to deal with when it 51:18.260 --> 51:20.949 comes to our strategic competitors . 51:22.239 --> 51:24.350 And so bringing it back to what I was 51:24.350 --> 51:26.461 talking about earlier , like the only 51:26.461 --> 51:28.628 way that we're going to continue to be 51:28.628 --> 51:30.795 able to be our best , especially as an 51:30.795 --> 51:32.961 air force is we need a whole of nation 51:32.961 --> 51:35.239 approach , a whole of society approach . 51:35.239 --> 51:37.295 And so what I will share with you is 51:37.295 --> 51:39.628 your senior leaders know that very well , 51:39.628 --> 51:41.929 your senior leaders are very engaged 51:41.939 --> 51:43.717 with from a whole of government 51:43.717 --> 51:45.828 perspective by talking with leaders , 51:45.828 --> 51:47.939 our elected leaders , by reaching out 51:47.939 --> 51:50.050 to our community partners to leverage 51:50.050 --> 51:52.050 our connections and our commitments 51:52.050 --> 51:54.620 with them to talk to industry leaders 51:54.629 --> 51:56.851 to make sure that they understand their 51:56.851 --> 51:59.080 role as well , talking to school 51:59.090 --> 52:01.201 systems , to figure out how do we get 52:01.201 --> 52:03.034 left so that we can grow . Fifth 52:03.034 --> 52:05.610 graders who are smart and ready to 52:05.620 --> 52:07.929 tackle all the challenges and 52:07.939 --> 52:10.161 opportunities that are gonna come their 52:10.161 --> 52:12.217 way . If you need a really good book 52:12.217 --> 52:14.272 that speaks on whole of nation , I'd 52:14.272 --> 52:16.328 offer uh The Kill Chain by Christian 52:16.328 --> 52:18.439 Bros . One of the first books that we 52:18.439 --> 52:20.495 put on my in on our reading list , a 52:20.495 --> 52:22.495 great book to talk about that , but 52:22.495 --> 52:24.828 it'll take a whole of nation until then . 52:25.000 --> 52:28.060 Thank you for being the airman 52:28.850 --> 52:31.409 and the leaders and the human beings 52:31.419 --> 52:34.149 that you are to make this air force so 52:34.159 --> 52:37.590 great as we look to make changes and re 52:37.600 --> 52:39.822 optimize our force . I'm gonna ask your 52:39.822 --> 52:42.709 help in this . I'm gonna ask your help 52:42.719 --> 52:44.663 in figuring out how can we , we re 52:44.669 --> 52:47.500 optimize at the squadron level at the 52:47.510 --> 52:50.219 flight level . How can we make our air 52:50.229 --> 52:52.285 force better so that we can continue 52:52.285 --> 52:54.340 being the air force our nation needs 52:54.340 --> 52:56.909 when called upon today tomorrow or any 52:56.919 --> 52:59.669 time ? Thank you to our mobility team 52:59.679 --> 53:01.735 for every single thing that you do . 53:01.810 --> 53:05.070 You are in the fight today , you'll be 53:05.080 --> 53:07.429 in the fight tomorrow , make sure that 53:07.439 --> 53:09.383 you take care of yourselves and on 53:09.383 --> 53:11.629 behalf of General Alvin who wishes that 53:11.639 --> 53:13.861 he could be here , we salute you and we 53:13.861 --> 53:16.083 thank you for what you do . Thank you . 53:18.969 --> 53:20.129 She can stay happy .