All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fossone.
I'm the officer of the deck today.
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We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today Brigadier General, retired Doug Odie Slocum,
who is going to talk to us about the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association.
General, welcome to VeteransRadio.
Okay, it's great to be here, Jim. I look forward to talking with you. How are you doing today?
We're doing great, and this is some new things going on that we want to share with the Veteran Radio audience,
not only here in the state of Michigan, but really this is affiliated with the AFA Air and Space Forces Association nationally.
Tell us a little bit about your career in the military, how many years you served,
and I know that you've had a pretty distinguished career and we don't have time to go through it all,
but I want people to understand from where your enthusiasm for AFA comes from.
Well, sure, and thanks for the opportunity, and no, we're not going to spend a lot of time on this topic,
but I was blessed to spend 35 years in uniform.
One of the greatest things was being able to serve some of the most amazing men and women you'd ever want to meet.
And if there's one part of my career that I would have to say is a highlight,
it's a lot of opportunities to run what I would call caring for people types of programs.
Although I spent my career as a fighter pilot, I also got to be involved with many things associated with safety, suicide prevention, resiliency,
those types of things, and then of course being the commander out at Michigan's hometown air base at Selfridge,
where we were able to implement some real world down-to-earth community-based types of caring for our people programs,
and I'll tell you that's just the highlight.
Well, you certainly had a great run, and I saw somewhere, but I can't find it now, what airframes you flew, why don't you remind us of that?
Okay, well, I started off in the love of my life, I call it the F-4 Phantom, the legacy platform there, that fighter jet.
Then I converted over to the F-16, and I spent most of my career flying that more than 4,000 hours in the different models of the F-16,
and then I got to top it off out at Selfridge being a pilot of the A-10 Warthog with the big bad gun that does all the neat things that it does supporting the ground trips.
We've had more than one program on the A-10s, it seems like every few years they say we're going to get rid of it,
and we have another program about the vital importance of the A-10 to the ground game, but again, we could get all of our time spent on your interesting military career and the different airframes you've flown,
but I want folks to understand that's kind of where your passion comes from for your involvement with the Air and Space Forces Association,
it's hard to get space forces in there, my mind just wants to go into the Air Force Association.
Well, they changed it about a year and a half ago, so it still kind of has a hard time coming out of my mouth too, plus we still use the AFA abbreviation.
So, to add air and space forces in there, just to let everybody know we represent both of those branches of our military now.
Well, and that's something we need to talk about more on what space force is all about, but AFA is really supposed to be the force behind the force.
Tell us about the purpose of AFA.
You know, that is a grand question that I don't think we spend enough time talking about, that essentially after World War II, as the very founders of air power,
the Army Air Corps that was about to become the U.S. Air Force, realized that they needed to have a voice beyond those who are wearing the uniform,
because those that are in uniform are very constrained on what they can say, how they can advocate.
So, Jimmy Doolittle, you know, from the Doolittle raid, General Doolittle, was the one who was actually one of the primary founders of the Air Force Association,
and it was started to be the voice behind the force, the ones that can talk to Congress, that can keep us from reducing our strength for example,
as we did between World War I and World War II, where we pretty much ended up having to start everything over again.
So, the very founders of the Air Force founded the Air Force Association to be that voice, to be that advocate, to go out there, talk to the community, talk to Congress.
Basically, we have three verbs, it's about education, advocacy, and support.
Teaching people about the Air and Space Forces, advocating for things that they need to be able to be that dominant force that they are, and supporting the men and women who do or have worn that uniform.
And General, this is an organization at a national level, who's it open up to? Is it just you, general officer types?
Oh, absolutely not, we're open to the public, you don't even have to have an Air Force affiliation to be part of the Air and Space Forces Association.
Anybody can go to afa.org, you know, the website, there's a membership tab, there's lots of different ways to get involved to join the resources,
just where the think tank of the Air Force, the advocacy arm for the Air Force, there are so many different resources and ways to get engaged at this point, but the key, the first step is that membership, which is easy to do, inexpensive afa.org.
Well, I want to turn our attention to the specific work that you're involved in as president of the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association.
There are afa groups or chapters, whatever you want to call them, all over the world, there's a reported to be a couple of hundred of such afa chapters, and you're in the process of helping build out the Michigan afa organization.
So talk to us a little bit about the Michigan afa.
You bet, you know, like a lot of these advocacy organizations around the country, I think that inherently right now there are some struggles that these organizations are going through.
So it's very nice here in Michigan, we've kind of flipped the script a little bit on this whole thing.
We have monthly get togethers, I wouldn't call them necessarily meetings because we don't talk internal business, but this is how we engage with the public, how we engage with our membership,
primarily right now, which a lot of times, well, one, it's always a great meal, whether it's a breakfast or a lunch that we put together.
You gotta have food in there, right?
Oh, you gotta get the food, the coffee, those types of things in there.
But then the networking, you get to meet some of the most amazing people from the state of Michigan in all different aspects, you know, the very diverse from,
you know, political involvement, community leaders, business leaders, veterans, all that.
And in our Sterling Heights location, we have between 80 and 100 people every month that we get together.
And then we dive into different topics, you know, after what happened in the Middle East, we very specifically jumped into, let's talk about Gazel, let's talk about Israel and the Middle East.
Not only did I get an opportunity to kind of frame the discussion, but then we brought in the senior defense attaché from the embassy in Israel.
And then we brought in an Israeli general to come in and talk to us. And this is just one example of current, relevant information that will leave people with a greater understanding of our air and space forces and what's going on in the world when they walked in the door.
This model has been very effective. We continue to grow, create memberships. We're opening new locations, starting down in Ann Arbor.
And we're looking at expanding both west and north here in the state.
And we're going to jump into the virtual. We're going to start doing virtual events every month and then even expanding that possibly into a podcast here in the near future that will allow us to touch more topics, bring in more expertise, and just help people out,
whether they're trying to raise the business or just be part supporters of the men and women that wear the uniform.
Well, it's so important these days to try to get word out and educate the general public about what it is our air and space forces do and what needs they have.
So I think this is a really exciting time to be expanding the footprint, the geographic footprint of Michigan AFA and moving into the virtual world as we've all kind of become so used to zoom or teams or what have you to
attend a program that we might not otherwise be able to drive to. So is that the thinking to reach that larger class that way?
Well, the way people engage nowadays is completely different. Some like in person, some like the virtual, some like a podcast, some through social media.
So we're trying to meet people that the way they communicate. So we're using all of these to be able to reach out and tell the story about our Air and Space Forces Association.
So LinkedIn, certainly Facebook, we're involved there. And like we said, through the virtual options that are coming up here shortly, as well as podcasts, emails, etc.
Communication is the tough one. And that's what we're pushing out there is to get the word out.
We're talking veteran radio listeners to Odie Slocum, who's a retired Brigadier General, spent 35 years in uniform and is president of the Michigan AFA.
You talked about a new location in the Ann Arbor area for your programs at that location. Where is the physical presence of the Michigan AFA in Ann Arbor?
Oh, that's a great question. We've actually got a wonderful partnership with the VFW. So the VFW posts there in Ann Arbor, the wonderful facilities.
We're teaming with them. They open up their doors and let us use that. And then our first meeting we had there, we talked with about Space Force Operations and how to Brigadier General come in, who does just that, went to a space weapons school.
And our second meeting that we have at the end of this month, we're going to bring in a Pearl Harbor survivor, World War II veteran.
How often do you get a chance to meet and talk to living history? And this is the type of stuff that we do and that we're going to bring to the Ann Arbor area.
Well, as you say, the three pillars of the organization are education, advocacy and support. And certainly when you have a chance to hear from somebody from Space Command or a Pearl Harbor survivor, those are the educational pieces.
Talk to us a little bit about the advocacy piece.
Advocacy is getting that voice, especially with our elected representatives. So we've been very effective, in fact, at least in the Stirling Heights location. Every single Michigan federal delegate who's involved at the House Armed Services Committee or the Senate Armed Service Committee has come and talked to us at least once, face to face.
So we've had Senator Peters, we've had Rep Slockin, Representative James, Jack Bergman from up north, he's the retired Marine Three Star now serving in Congress, as well as Lisa McClain.
And these are just examples, but these politicians, they come in and they talk with us. They give us an update of what's going on at the Hill.
And we have the opportunity to relate to them, not only the priorities of what's going on at the national level, but also at the local level.
I mean, how many places do you get to go and engage with, ask questions of, are local politicians that can make a difference?
Well, it's so important not only at the federal level, but at the state level. So few people serve nowadays, or there are many people in state capitals or local government who, you know, I know that base is over there or that post is over there, but I don't really have an idea of what they do.
So is the advocacy also at the local level?
Well, it can be. I mean, I think that blurs the lines between that and education, because it can be both.
You know, all these things can merge together. Our group that we're having, in fact, on this Friday coming up on the 19th, up in the Sterling Heights location, is the one-tenth wing out of Battle Creek.
There's going to come and talk. Their leadership is going to come tell us about their mission sets, about cyber defense, about command and control, about operating the RPAs, or as most people like to call them, the drone operations around the world. That's what they do.
So everybody who attends is going to learn more about the one-tenth wing in Battle Creek, which will give them a familiarity, a little bit of relationships, you know, gives them talking points when they have an opportunity to talk to elected leaders.
All these things are just, they work together in a synergy for what we're trying to do.
In general, let's talk about that last pillar you mentioned. That is the organizational support for those who are serving.
You bet. Okay, well, near and dear to my heart, that can be a variety of things. One is, you know, to make sure that they get the newest, best equipment to what degree that we can.
A lot of that comes through the national efforts, but it can be as simple as support to families, support to the people wearing the uniform, for example, suicide prevention efforts, organizations that help veterans or, you know, connect to their benefits, those types of things.
There are such a variety of options there to help take care of the men and women who take care of us, and that's where we just like to be able to plug in. And once again, it's not just those currently serving, but it's also our veterans and honoring that heritage.
Well, in that area of support, it's so important to have partnerships because everybody's got a little bit different reach in their, you know, Venn diagram covers a little different area. Is Michigan AFA partnering with other organizations in these areas of its pillars that it's working in?
Well, we partner a lot. I mean, that's always been my key to leadership is, you know, the first question I always ask is, well, who can do it with me? Who's on my team? We've joined forces with the other services advocacy organizations. We call ourselves the Michigan Defense Coalition.
So that includes a USA, the Army's advocacy group in DIA, National Defense Industrial Association, and women in defense, as well as the Navy League. So all of these organizations, we cooperate, we communicate, we do events together.
There's a quarterly codelle breakfast that we get a different audience to be able to come in and engage here updates from the Hill, these types of things.
But we also, whether it's the museums, the enlisted heritage house, the organizations out at Selfridge that help men and women that are serving, all of these are partners of ours to some degree or another.
Partnerships make the world go round, Jim. And I just love it. And that's one of the fun things in the job is you get to meet and expand these networks and connect these people with other people.
Absolutely. It's the way you spread your story much further is by telling it to somebody who may have a different set of networks or different people who then pass your information along.
And I think it's important at a time like this where I don't think space is having the problem, but I think the Air Force is having the problem of recruiting and retention.
I know you were recently at a national conference with a FAA. Can you talk about if there's any efforts being thought about at a FAA levels to try to assist with recruiting efforts?
Absolutely. And I just came back from a meeting in D.C. and we had the Honorable Alex Wagner, who I'm going to see if I can get this long title straight here, from Memory, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.
I know that sounds like a large, odd portfolio and it is, but he specifically gave us a talk about recruiting issues and the AFA's initiative to help the Air Force out.
A lot of things are getting in the way of the service of meeting their recruiting goals. There's still some holdover from COVID, the low unemployment and all right now.
A big part of it really is the lack of familiarity. Our community is not aware of what our military does and whether the advantages of a career in the military are participating or volunteering.
So yes, the Air Force Association, our job as we educate people about the military opens up those eyes, gives those opportunities, but we also keep good communications going with the recruiters.
And whenever there's an opportunity, you bet we're going to help let people know what those options are.
We also work with Junior ROTC as well as the ROTC that are growing our future leaders to help them be more effective at doing just that and plugging them into the Air Force Association and these resources.
There are so many ways that we can help and we're doing what we can on that front to the services so that more men and women would be interested in participating in military service.
Well, there's so many opportunities in the military, whether it's your right out of high school or right out of college that you won't get anywhere else the level of responsibility, the opportunity to meet so many different types of people and see what the world's about.
It doesn't, not everybody has to end up as a fighter pilot. There's all kinds of great jobs in the military and I think at times, organizations such as Michigan AFA can help spread the word about whether you're in computers or electronics or a wrench, you know, you want to be wrenching or you want to fly drones or, you know, computer information.
There's just a ton of opportunities. Isn't that the case, General?
You bet. And it's interesting, you know, I kind of was a Cold War baby myself and, you know, people always remember Top Gun and the great recruiting thing that was and everybody wanted to be a fighter pilot.
But you hit the nail on the head that that's not the case necessarily anymore. You know, I get an opportunity to talk to everybody, these young folks that want to go to the academies, for example, and about their ambitions.
And there's a lot more diverse goals, especially from this latest generation and the cool thing with the military is pretty much if you could think of it, they do it.
Certainly on the things that you were mentioning there, those different types of career fields, but helping out one young cadet down at the U of M who she wants to be a dentist.
That's her goal and is to work through the Air Force to help get through dental school to be a Air Force dentist.
You know, things that you wouldn't necessarily equate with military service, but sure enough, they're there. There's opportunities. There's benefits.
You know, she's going to get an education. She's going to get a commission. She's going to get this training that whether she stays for a career or not, it's certainly going to benefit her and set her up to have an amazingly fruitful life.
Yeah, you don't even think about all dentists. Wow, that didn't cross my mind, but there's all kinds of medical field opportunities.
And if you stick in for four years or 14 years and get out, you're going to have all that skill set bringing to the civilian marketplace.
So great sort of soft skills developed as well in the military.
Well, and just so I don't forget to mention this as part of all this, we're big advocates for STEM, STEM education.
We have a very robust Teacher of the Year program where we select not only here in the state, but then we have our Teachers of the Year compete nationwide.
Three years ago, our Michigan Teacher of the Year came in second place. This year, we were third nationwide.
We're going to keep plugging at that program until we get our Teacher of the Year here in Michigan up there on the top level at the national stage.
But it does highlight the wonderful educational opportunities that we have here in Michigan and the capabilities.
There's wonderful men and women doing great things.
And part of our job is to put that spotlight out there and highlight some of that so that everybody can see the great stuff going on in Michigan.
Yeah, I guess two of the educational programs that AFA hosts promoting STEM, something Stellar Explorers and CyberPatriot.
I'm not aware of either of those. Maybe you can inform us a little bit.
Oh, absolutely. CyberPatriot. Michigan has been very involved with. We have Ms. Cameron Shoemaker who is on our AFA team.
CyberPatriot is supported by the AFA. And essentially, it's a competition mainly for young adults where they can learn more about cyber and they compete with one another.
So it's encouraging. It's educational. It's inspiring. It does fantastic work.
And then on the Stellar Explorers, that's a very similar that happens with space.
And there's a couple teams here in Michigan, but the Stellar Explorers is one that we're looking to expand more as we go forward.
But as we sit right now, very involved with the CyberPatriot, our toe in the water with the Stellar Explorers, that youth space program, and watching what they do and how they do it.
I'll tell you, it'll give you faith in this new generation that's coming up right now because they have some amazing capabilities, some great brains out there.
And we all know, these old guys all know they're smarter than we are because we ask them to fix our computer or our TV internet connections at times.
So no real surprise that we'd be awestruck by watching these programs.
We're talking to Doug Odie Slocum, who is the president of the Michigan Air and Space Forces Association, retired Brigadier General.
And about all of the interesting things AFA is doing, not only here in the state, but around the country.
Doug, if people want to know more about the Michigan AFA, how do they find out?
You know, that is a great question. Just about joining in the AFA as a whole, the national website has a wealth of resources, and that is simply afa.org.
And you can find all sorts of stuff there. We're on social media, whether it's LinkedIn, Facebook, just Michigan Air and Space Forces Association.
We have our monthly get-togethers. You know, we are more than happy to have anybody in the public, whether you're just interested, wanting to see what we're doing,
or if you're ready to kind of jump in with both feet and get engaged.
As I like to say, AFA is a verb. We go out and we do stuff. It's about action. It's about engagement. It's about getting people involved in different ways.
And there's lots of opportunities. First step, afa.org. I'll get you on your way.
That's great. And I see an email for you as president at mi.presidentatafa.org, if they want to reach out directly to you and find out,
hey, what's coming up this month or what might I be interested in? Doug, we appreciate the time that you've taken today to spend with Veterans Radio,
and tell our listeners about what AFA is doing nationally and here in the state.
Well, fantastic. And I appreciate what you do with our veterans, supporting them, taking care of them.
We owe a huge debt to our wonderful veterans, so a shout out to all those who have served, the families of those that have served,
and certainly those who are serving now. I consider it an honor to have had that opportunity and an honor to talk with you today.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fawson.
It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans,
and you can reach us at 800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web.
You can follow Veterans Radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org.
That's veteransradio.org. And until next time, you are dismissed.
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