Hi , my name is Newton Chatter and I'm
with DL A public affairs and this is
the DL A rep . This is your opportunity
to get to know DL A people and DL A
programs on a more personal level today .
My special guest is Chief Master
Sergeant Al Dyer . Hi , Chief , how are
you today ? I'm great . Thank you for
having me today . So for everybody ,
tell us your official title here at DL
A . So I'm the command senior listed
leader for the defense agency . And my
role in here is to be the eyes and ears
for the director . And the other thing
is I want us to be ready . Uh Readiness
is always at the top of my thoughts
for those of us who don't know at your
level , at your rank . When you know ,
you have to go to another assignment .
Do you apply to other
assignments ? I got nominated from the
Air Force to interview for this
position and there were four other
candidates , one from each of the other
services to include myself as well .
And I actually did get an interview
from Admiral Schobert . A couple days
later , she called me and said , hey ,
I wanna hire you to come be my teammate
at DL A . So how long have you served
in the Air Force so far ? I'm at 27
years right now and looked like just
yesterday I joined , I remember raising
my right hand and here I am 27 years
later . Still serving . Where did you
grow up ? And what were you like as a
child ? So , I hail from Memphis ,
Tennessee , home of the blues home of
barbecue as a child . I was into a lot
of different things . I was really into
sports , uh really into music . What
were your aspirations as a child ? Did
you know you wanted to join the
military ? And how did you happened to
join ? So as a child , um believe it or
not , I wanted to be an architect . But
a year before I graduated , my brother
joined the Air Force and I remember
hearing his stories while he was in ,
he was stationed overseas at the time .
I remember hearing all the things that
he was , you know , enjoying about the
Air Force . Uh So as time started to
come around for me to make a decision ,
I actually uh got in touch with a
recruiter . Uh Tars Snyder still
remember his name . And uh we started
having some dialogue about what it
would be like to be in the organization .
Um So then , you know , things start to
progress along the way and then
eventually I um signed up , tell me
about your father , did your father
serve in the military and , and tell me
about that . Uh So my father , he
actually was drafted and actually did
not finish high school . So we actually
end up getting drafted , going to
Germany and finish his high school
degree there . Um serve some time in
Vietnam . And then eventually after his
service , he came back home , his time
in the in the army was uh a lot
different . You can imagine it was late
sixties or early seventies is when he
joined in and then being drafted , not
being a volunteer . It was a little bit
different for him . Uh He rarely talked
about his experiences and , and being
in the army . Um but he would always
say , I wish my experience in the
army was that of what you experienced
in the Air Force . He must have been
really proud of you as you started to
grow in your career before he passed in
2019 . I remember going to his house
and there is a bio uh what we
have that tells you about your entire
career . He actually had it in a frame .
So when everybody uh come over to the
house , they could see that bio of me .
And it was really , really sobering to
hear , to see that . Who have been some
of your mentors ? My dad , he was a
great mentor . I've had several ,
several supervisors um both good and
bad that kind of mentor me and , and I
think that's important to know because
some people can mentor you and them not
know it in a negative way and you turn
it around and make it positive without
naming a name . Can you , can you share
something where it was a negative
experience that you have spun into a
positive experience ? Yeah . So my very
first uh supervisor uh and , and I tell
people it wasn't a bad supervisor , it
was just absent . So I was kind of left
out to do things on my own . And
eventually , um I got to the point
where I was taking my , what we call
our career development course . And I
remember flunking that test when I tell
you flunking it was bombed , but it
really woke me up to realize that some
of this I gotta do on my own . I have
to make sure I'm doing this to better
myself . Is there a story or two you
can share that's really stuck with you .
You know , when you were overseas in a
deployment ? I remember um I had uh
one organization that I was a part of
and this deployment where uh first
encounter , I met this airman and
inside my office , I always have a
Tennessee flag and I remember him
coming in and him making an immediate
comment on my flag saying , oh ,
your team , you know , is not as good
as they used to be . And , you know ,
they gotta do better . And I remember
the look on my face thinking , wow , is
this our introduction ? I remember
getting so upset at myself thinking
like , why he is , you know , why is he
introducing himself like this ? And I
went TDY and I remember getting a phone
call from my wing commander boss at the
time and he says , um just wanna let
you know sad news that airman . So and
so has cancer stage four
and is pretty aggressive . So he's in
the hospital right now . And before I
could get back , my boss told me that
they're sending him home to South
Carolina because the cancer got that
aggressive . And about a
week later he passed . And I
remember thinking my only
encounter that I had with him was that
of a negative one . And I remember
thinking I would never let my
admiration of my team be bigger than
somebody's life . So every time I
have any encounter with somebody , it's
always , this could be my last , not ,
this is my first , but this could be my
last . And I want them to remember it
in a great way . And I wanna remember
it in a great way . What advice do you
give to young people who are thinking
about joining the military , any of the
services ? And is there any
special or specific advice you
give to young African American
males or females about , you know ,
joining the workforce or joining the
military ? I think the biggest thing I
always tell people is , uh , know who
you are as a person first , you got to
learn who you are . As for the young ,
you know , African American males and
females out there . I know some of them
come from difficult places but coming
to the military or coming to the , the
institutions that we serve as servants
of the American public just realize
it's bigger than you and being
part of something so special will bring
out the best in your . But it doesn't
come without trials , it doesn't come
without some heartaches and pains . And
I always use this term pull as you
climb as you continue to , you know ,
get success , pull somebody . What do
you do for fun ? I am a gym rat . I
love to get out and work out . I work
out every single day . So believe it or
not working out is pretty fun for me .
I love music . And do you have , do you
have kids ? I got two beautiful kids .
I got my son Christian who is uh 24 and
my daughter Cassidy who is 19 . What is
your message to team DL A ? My message
to team DL A is I'm here to learn , I'm
here to learn from everyone in the
organization . So now for just some
fun questions and this is , this is
just answering one word , answer , two
word answer , introvert or extrovert ,
extrovert , favorite sports . Team
Tennessee volunteers , favorite sport .
I love to watch football . I love to
play basketball . What are the top
three songs that you listen to on your
playlist ? So I listen to John Coltrane .
My favorite things is probably one I
listen to quite a bit . I listened to
William Murphy Everlasting Love
and maybe another one
is Run D MC Walk this way .
Thank you so much for being my guest
today on the DL A rap and I wanna thank
all of you for joining us today until
next time . Have a great day .