1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,920 This is Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,840 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,560 I am Jim Fausone. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:22,880 I'm the officer of the deck today. 6 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,760 We've got some great programs for you. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,760 I think you'll find very interesting. 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:34,640 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:36,680 or at the web. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:43,120 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,520 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 12 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:55,080 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, 13 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:59,960 something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org. 14 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:04,240 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:13,680 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:19,360 It was established to certify both service-disabled and veteran-owned businesses. 17 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:25,920 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 18 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,360 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 19 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:35,000 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 20 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:48,200 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com. 21 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,240 We want to welcome back to VeteransRadio today. 22 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,600 Brigadier General Retard, Doug Odie Slocum. 23 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,440 General, welcome back to VeteransRadio. 24 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,760 Jim, it's great to be back. How are you doing today? 25 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:06,440 Well, really good. And for those who are wondering, we talked to the general before, 26 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:15,160 in his role as president of the Michigan Air and Space Force Association, AFA, the Michigan chapter. 27 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:18,720 But this time, we're going to focus on something that he just recently did, 28 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:24,240 and that is publish a book called Violent Positivity of Viter's Pilots' Journey, 29 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,200 Leadership Lessons on Caring for People. 30 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:33,000 General, this had to be a labor of love. I think it's 300-plus pages. 31 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:39,680 Yeah, it is. It actually was started off as an idea of the things I used to travel and teach 32 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:44,160 around the military and around some of our allies around the world. 33 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,920 And I found out as I did it, I kind of had to write it the other way around, 34 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:51,560 which was the path of how I got to doing what I was doing. 35 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:57,280 So it's a lot of life lessons that ultimately didn't talk about all the cool things we were able to do, 36 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,320 especially here in the Michigan area, the commander itself, 37 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:02,720 which caring for people, doing good things. 38 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:07,920 Well, I want to give people a little more of your background than we were able to do last time, 39 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:13,760 where we focused on AFA and remind folks that you were a command pilot. 40 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,200 You had over 4,000 flight hours. 41 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:22,480 You've flown aircraft from the F-4, the F-16, the A-10. 42 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:27,280 So you had quite a history of flying, but in doing a little research, 43 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,520 you even refer to yourself as a military brat. Tell us why. 44 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,720 Well, military brat has actually nothing to do with my service. 45 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,960 That means my dad was in the military. 46 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:43,120 So I grew up in that military lifestyle, moving all around different places around the world. 47 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:47,600 And living under that type of culture and everything else. 48 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:53,040 And it's a unique experience. Anybody who has grown up as the dependent of somebody in the military 49 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,080 understands that term of being a military brat. 50 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,560 Yeah, I've had a chance to talk to some folks who are. 51 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,800 And actually, there's a big percentage of people who fit that category, 52 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:11,120 and it's something to be proud of because you had a pretty unusual career before the military, 53 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,360 if you want to call it that, from life experiences. 54 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,280 Because I assume that you went to all different bases. 55 00:04:17,280 --> 00:04:18,640 Did you also go overseas? 56 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,160 We did. Some of the stuff I get to talk about in the book is as a young kid, 57 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,800 being in Germany during the height of the Cold War, when Berlin was a split city. 58 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,120 And we actually traveled by train to Berlin. 59 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:34,880 And we spent some time there. 60 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,600 And I have some very vivid memories of that, standing against the Berlin Wall. 61 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:42,480 We even took a bus trip and went into East Berlin. 62 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:47,520 I actually have some old color slide photos of Brandenburg Gate from the other side. 63 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:52,320 I know it's unique types of experiences you get being a military brat. 64 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,320 Yeah, it's actually an education you were getting. 65 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,880 You didn't even realize it, I suspect, at the time. 66 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:04,480 That you got to see the world. You got to see other cultures, hear other languages, eat other foods. 67 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:10,480 I mean, for a kid growing up, it can be hard because you're moving, you make friends, and you move again. 68 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,200 But you also get to experience a lot of things, don't you? 69 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,360 You're exactly right. 70 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,760 When we came back to the States later on, we were at Travis Air Force Base. 71 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,040 And I can remember my dad dragging me out to the flight line one day. 72 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,040 And I didn't want to go. I'm a young kid. 73 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,040 But we were waiting for a plane to land. There were cameras around. 74 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:36,320 A witness finally does transport plane taxis in and it takes a little while and people start getting off. 75 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,960 And there's families around and they're running up and hugging them. 76 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:40,960 At the time, I really didn't want to be there. 77 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:48,000 But what my dad took me to witness was the first stage of Operation Homecoming after the Vietnam War, 78 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,000 when our POWs were returning to the continental United States. 79 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:59,360 And man, what just a little imprint on a young kid and what an impression that can make. 80 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:08,720 And really, for our younger listening audience, Operation Homecoming was just that it was a massive effort 81 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,000 to return prisoners of war from Vietnam. 82 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:18,720 And so I'm sure that left a sort of a deep impression on you about not leaving men behind, 83 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:25,440 even if they had spent years in POW concentration camps all over the world, 84 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,280 but here in particular in Vietnam. So that had to be pretty impactful. 85 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:34,320 Well, it was. And it's part of why I tell that I ended up joining the military. 86 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:40,160 Because a lot of these experiences, whether it was Berlin, Travis, just the two examples that I used there, 87 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,400 that told me that there was good and bad. There was right and wrong. 88 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:51,760 And it was very clear in my brain that I was going to choose to be in the military to uphold the good things. 89 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:54,480 One of the ways you get there, and I want to talk a little bit about this, 90 00:06:54,480 --> 00:07:00,640 because I think it's been somewhat lost in today's generation who think, man, 91 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,680 there's no way I can go to college. You graduated from East Carolina University. 92 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:11,520 But importantly, you went through the ROTC program, the Reserve Officer Training Corps, 93 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:19,520 where you graduated in 1984. But tell us a little bit about the values that you got out of ROTC 94 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:25,920 that stuck with you for your entire career. Well, there's a lot of lessons on many sides. 95 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,000 Obviously, just from a curriculum standpoint, being able to learn about the Air Force, 96 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:36,480 between your sophomore and junior year, you go to a summer camp, which is very impactful. 97 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,960 Kind of like a basic training, if you will, for officer candidates. 98 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:47,040 One of the most meaningful things I ever remember was my very first semester in ROTC, 99 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:54,000 a young captain on active duty in the Air Force, who told me that non-technical degree 100 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,440 candidates will not get pilot scholarships. Basically said, you can't do it. 101 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:04,400 One of the things that I wrote in the very first chapter in my book starts off with the phrase, 102 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,880 you can't do that. And I said, that phrase has been motivated me to do more in my life than 103 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:14,800 anything else. Well, I ended up with a three and a half year non-technical degree pilot 104 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,920 scholarship. I think it was just a handful in the country. But one of my lessons is to never 105 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:25,840 take no for an answer if you know better than that and to be motivated to go around people 106 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,200 that don't have value in life. So now ROTC has some good lessons, but it also gave me some lessons 107 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:36,640 on people and leadership. Well, a lot of dads out there would be saying, hey, don't get your degree 108 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:44,320 in political science. What are you going to use that for? And it was that degree that you got 109 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:50,960 through ROTC at East Carolina University and then went off to pilot training where I think you've 110 00:08:50,960 --> 00:09:00,320 previously discussed the F4 as the love of your life in terms of flying. And you were able to go 111 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:05,840 to F4 basic training at Homestead Air Force Base. You spent eight years on active duty. 112 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:13,200 You've been at a lot of bases in a lot of states in Georgia, for example. Tell us about your 113 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:19,440 early career. Oh, I mean, there's so many things about the early career. I spent about seven and 114 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:24,000 a half years on active duty. But you know, I'm going to go back to what you were talking about 115 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,960 at Homestead. The unique experience is it's actually how I start off the whole book is 116 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:37,120 explaining about my first solo in the F4 Phantom. And we took off and had a handful of sorties, 117 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,040 missions, if you will, in the plane, very inexperienced, but they want you to build confidence. 118 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,360 They want you to go by yourself. It was me and another young lieutenant in the back seat. 119 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:51,440 And right on takeoff, we end up losing an engine. It's one of those eventualities that you prayer 120 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:56,240 prayer for your whole career might not ever see all by Dolly. We got to see it on our first solo. 121 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:02,080 Lucky, lucky you. Good thing we practiced them because now we got to do them. No, I had to do it. 122 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,760 But it was just one of those mini tales. And I said, you know, my experience wasn't necessarily 123 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,680 unique. And there were a lot of people in my generation that went through those similar 124 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:17,440 experiences or trained the same way. You know, it was a wonderful opportunity in my case, 125 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:23,040 which led to 35 years serving in uniform. Well, you did that in the National Guard, 126 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:30,640 you were part of the Arizona Air National Guard and ultimately found yourself as the commander 127 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:36,640 of the Selfridge Air National Guard base in Macomb County, Michigan. Tell us a little bit 128 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:43,440 about that as the, if you will, final assignment. Oh, it was, you couldn't ask for a greater 129 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:49,920 opportunity to end a career. My almost five years that I got to spend at Selfridge and the 130 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:55,520 wonderful men and women of Michigan's hometown air base. There are so many cool things that 131 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,560 happened. And a lot of that I write about, especially at the end of the book with what 132 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:06,400 we were able to do with the initial F 35 effort, the 100th anniversary. But really, when I showed 133 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,880 up, you know, Selfridge was pretty stressed. There was a lot of news about Selfridge shutting down. 134 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:18,320 And I was brought in to help kind of change the culture, change that engagement. And I had already 135 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,720 branded my leadership style by then as what I'd like to call it, the title of the book, 136 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:30,000 violent positivity. So within two years, we were able to turn things around by employing some of 137 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,760 these things I talked about. And next thing you know, this is the award winning best wing in the 138 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:41,280 Air National Guard, all sorts of acclimations for the people working there. It was absolutely 139 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,680 phenomenal. And then we were able to engage with the community and just some great things 140 00:11:45,680 --> 00:11:51,520 ended up happening as a result. Well, I think it's one of those experiences. And I think younger 141 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:56,560 people maybe don't appreciate this. Life's not always a straight line. You get assignments, 142 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:02,400 you get duties, you get jobs, you get bosses, maybe you like them, maybe you don't. But but over the 143 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:08,960 course of three decades plus, you get to see it all and you do develop your own style, which is what 144 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:14,080 you're talking about in your book, violent positivity. Now, I often say now you're not a 145 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:19,680 Marine. So I would often say to a Marine author, what the hell gave you the thought that you could 146 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:26,000 write a book, but you actually had spent a lot of time in service writing training manuals and 147 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:33,680 safety academic lessons and textbooks. So you had a little more, maybe a little more readiness to 148 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:39,680 go ahead and write about your leadership style because of those experiences. And we're back to 149 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,840 maybe that political science degree really worked out pretty well because you wrote a lot more 150 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:49,600 than you would have in a technical field. Did you feel prepared to summarize your life leadership 151 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:57,760 styles because of those experiences? Well, I felt the need that I wanted to. I felt there's 152 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:04,320 really cool stories that we needed to talk about and need to be told. So as part of all that, 153 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,400 I struggled with writing it for a while until I took a little bit of a sabbatical, 154 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:14,320 was able to sit down with just me in a laptop and some time alone to get it started. And it got me 155 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:19,360 down the path of what ended up being a lot more of an autobiography type of a story of how I got 156 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:24,880 there than I ever intended it to be from the beginning. But we've been able to document some 157 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:30,480 great things and it's been a fantastic career. Well, one of those things that you do as you 158 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:36,160 increase in leadership and you talk about in the book is the thousands and thousands of airmen 159 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:42,800 and personnel really from all branches of the military and the homeland security and 160 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:51,520 our partners overseas. I know you worked with a number of countries that sent airmen pilots over. 161 00:13:53,360 --> 00:14:00,880 So it's those experiences that really let you build your leadership style. Talk to us about that 162 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:07,680 a bit and what folks can find in violent positivity which is now out and available 163 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:14,240 for purchase from among other places, Amazon. But walk us through a few of your ideas. 164 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:22,160 Well, easily. That's great. In all those experiences, one of the things I got really astute 165 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:27,840 at doing is basically observing. And I was able to watch and I watched good leaders and figured 166 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:33,680 out some of those things in these good leaders. So I wanted to mimic the things that I wanted to 167 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:40,080 replicate. So I would seek out that. So I'm mimicking the good, but then at the same time I'd make 168 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:44,960 an opposing list of I wanted to make sure never to do and then making that long list from these 169 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:50,880 same observations. So my leadership style is certainly adapted over the years, but it's been 170 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:56,880 influenced by some amazing leaders, by some incredible experiences. And you talked about 171 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:02,000 traveling abroad is a perfect example. Working with our Allied Air Forces around the world 172 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:08,320 had been a lot of those experiences. And some of them worked in uniform either, whether it was 173 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:15,600 participating in a band for a long time in Arizona or a church that I was actually involved with 174 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:21,440 where I ended up going on a mission trip to Moscow a number of years after the wall had fallen and 175 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:28,640 everything there. So it all adds up over time to hone and shape everybody's individual approach. 176 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:36,240 And this ended up with my leadership style of violent positivity. Give us some maybe examples 177 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:42,800 of that general. I think people hear the word leadership and they go, I'm not a leader. 178 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:51,360 You know, I don't have 4500 men in my wing. But I think you're trying to pass along lessons 179 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:58,000 that have a much broader impact, aren't you? Oh, absolutely. I think some of the most effective 180 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:03,760 leaders I've ever met are people who don't have titles of leadership within an organization. 181 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:09,920 As I say, a leader is anybody at any given time, given the opportunity is able and available 182 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:16,320 to lead. And you never know when that opportunity is going to present itself. But, you know, 183 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,760 once again, from the middle of an organization, anybody can have influence. It takes one person 184 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:27,840 with this approach to positivity and you can be that agent of change within an organization, 185 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,800 impacting the culture. Just like if you hang around people who talk bad, you'd have a tendency to 186 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:39,120 talk negative and all also, well, the opposite's true. People love positivity. They're attracted 187 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:46,880 to people who have that positive outlook. And it is contagious. We can have a pandemic of positivity. 188 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:53,280 Describe your approach as people-centric. Can you tell us what that means? 189 00:16:54,400 --> 00:17:01,680 Well, sure. A number of the projects I got to be involved with in safety was a large part of it, 190 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:06,480 was ensuring that every single person gets home safely every night, whether that was through 191 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:13,280 the Air Force's designated programs or the fact that I had some very cool bosses that let me 192 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:19,360 figure out what those goalposts were. I developed a program for aircraft maintenance that the 193 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:23,840 Air National Guard ended up adopting and then the whole Air Force and a number of Air Forces 194 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:29,680 around the world that talks about the principles of how people plan and prepare and how we 195 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:35,120 communicate with the concept of teamwork, how to make good decisions and these types of things. 196 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:40,640 And then we were able to move the needle on making the organization safer and more efficient. 197 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:46,480 And that's just one example. Another one of my favorite ones I got involved with, and I talk 198 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,720 about this and it's painful to talk about a little bit, are the people that I've known through my 199 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:56,240 life that have committed suicide. And I had the wonderful opportunity to inherit a project and 200 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,720 run with it called the Wingman Project, a national level suicide prevention program. 201 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:06,800 You want to talk about a program of passion because I think there's no higher calling 202 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:09,200 than making sure that people get home safely every night. 203 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:17,440 Well, I think in today's society where there is so much focus and concern on mental health, 204 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:23,680 rightfully so, and almost everybody in life goes through some struggle at one point or another, 205 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:32,960 having an awareness of, hey, is this person heading towards that darkest place where they 206 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:40,960 think their only option is suicide? It's kind of all of our jobs, isn't it, to prevent suicide? 207 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:47,280 Yeah, well, definitely. And the idea is to teach people to understand so they can see the warning 208 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:52,560 signs that they exist. In a lot of cases, they don't. But if we're able to see them, perceive them, 209 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:59,680 then give that real simple, what we call, in this case, the ACE, the Asca care escort model of what 210 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:07,600 to do once you recognize any of these signs. I even was talking to the younger folks across the 211 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:13,040 Air National Guard, and they gave me some great ideas. We were able to build an app that gave 212 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:20,320 resources, gave information, but my favorite feature of all was one step and one tap to be 213 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:27,040 able to get to the nearest mental health provider, part of that escort, ask care escort, get somebody 214 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:33,680 to professional help. Bam, we could do it on an app with just hit this here. They asked for it, 215 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:39,200 we made it happen. And what a great testament to what you're supposed to do as a leader is to 216 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:44,320 listen to people and make things like that that are useful that make an impact happen. 217 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:51,040 Yeah, I think at times we all think, well, I don't, I shouldn't interfere because I'm not an expert. 218 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:58,080 I don't have a degree in psychology or whatever it might take or counseling. But if you care about 219 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:03,120 people, it's more than that, isn't it? More than the PhD label on you. 220 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,960 Well, and whether it was the safety programs I was involved with or the Wingman project, 221 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:15,360 the whole idea is to empower people to speak up. We want to do that. As I say, sometimes it could 222 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:20,240 be the newest, youngest, least educated person involved in the situation. Maybe they're the 223 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,640 only ones that have that perception, the only ones that are able to see what's happening. 224 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:31,440 And we need them, we absolutely need them to speak up. And it's all about empowering people. 225 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,120 Man, you hit the nail on the head with that one. 226 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:40,960 Is your writing violent positivity? Were there things in going back in time and looking at 227 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:46,240 some of this that even surprised you? Geez, I didn't realize that principle or that idea was 228 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:53,280 planted back then and was working through my career. Oh, absolutely. When I was writing the book, 229 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:59,520 I actually had a revelation of an individual who set such a great example for me in pilot training. 230 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:04,880 And it was in retrospect when I was writing the book that there's this Lieutenant Richard Haynes 231 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,280 who changed my attitude about flying. I don't think I would have made it through pilot training 232 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:16,000 if it wasn't for him. As a result, I ended up contacting him and I tell a little of the story 233 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,440 of how he was able to flip that script from what was a terrible experience. And I realized it really 234 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:27,760 wasn't the experience. It was my instructor. And once I was able to fly with him, wow, it all changed. 235 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:33,520 So just like teachers can with our kids in school, I had a pilot training instructor who showed that 236 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:39,440 this really can be a fun and fantastic and rewarding career. And it set me on a different path. 237 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:45,120 Isn't it surprising how one person can, as you say, flip the script really make 238 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:52,640 you go in a much more positive direction than somebody who is weighing you down? And I think 239 00:21:52,640 --> 00:22:00,720 that's sort of a theme through your book, isn't it? It is. And the whole idea is to empower people 240 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:06,960 to be that positive person that has that influence on people because there are so many great 241 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:13,680 opportunities out there. People seek out, they want good leadership, they crave positivity. 242 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:20,080 And the great thing now is it's so easy to contrast with the rest of society because we're so bombarded 243 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,800 with negativity, especially with social media and everything and the news. When you watch it, 244 00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:31,200 if somebody's saying a good news story or somebody is approaching this from this idea of violent 245 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:38,720 positivity, it's just a wonderful, refreshing and effective way to lead. Well, and I think we all 246 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:45,920 have a responsibility because we're interacting with people daily to express that, to show that. 247 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:52,960 Give some examples of elsewhere in your career where somebody demonstrated that positivity that 248 00:22:52,960 --> 00:23:01,200 just sort of helped move you forward and along. Okay, certainly one of the most effective leaders 249 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:07,520 I can remember is early in my career in Arizona, we had a Wayne Commander and you know, I was there 250 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:13,600 for a few months before I ever had an engagement with him at all. And it was, we were doing an 251 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:18,960 exercise. I can remember was in a tent sitting there eating and all of a sudden the Wayne Commander, 252 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:24,320 now I was, I think a captain at the time, and this Colonel walks up and sits down right across from 253 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:27,920 me. Well, it kind of about freaks me out that you know, the Wayne Commander sitting here and 254 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:33,840 figure I must be in trouble. Right, what did you do wrong? Yeah, exactly. But he looked, he smiled, 255 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:40,160 he knows my first name, that's an important thing. He called me by my name and he looked at me and 256 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:46,000 he basically said, Hey, so what's going on? And he truly wanted to hear my opinions and my thoughts 257 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:50,560 and he engaged with me. And I tell people it probably wasn't more than a few minutes, but to me, 258 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:57,360 it felt like an eternity. But this guy took the time to talk to me and genuinely connect. 259 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:03,120 And it was a couple years later, he ended up with stage four brain cancer and he continued 260 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:09,120 being such a great leader in showing how to pass with grace. So I hold up Colonel Ron 261 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:14,160 Kurt as a perfect example of being such a positive impact for me and thousands of others. 262 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:21,120 Now, what I want to know, does this Colonel know your real name, your call sign, and how did you 263 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:26,960 get the call sign? I was going to answer your question by saying I'm not sure I was being called 264 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:33,200 Odie at that time. Because Odie, you know, we watch top gun, you got Maverick and Goose and 265 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:39,600 Iceman and these types of call signs. Well, when I started in the Arizona Guard, they put me in 266 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:45,840 charge of the briefing rooms, which is about akin to being a janitor. Clean up after people, 267 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:51,840 posting publications, everything that nobody wants to do. And I did it for years. And it was a young 268 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:56,320 lady in the command post one day, she said, You're just like Garfield's little dog, Odie, you get 269 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:02,240 kicked around and you don't ever complain about it. And she said, Yes. And just like that, guess 270 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,600 what call sign you had a call sign. But really, there's a there's a lesson there because the 271 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:14,160 lesson is sometimes you have to do the unpleasant tasks on your way to the more interesting, 272 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:20,080 more challenging things. And while everybody knows you as Doug, Slocum or Odie, Slocum, 273 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:25,680 I just learned that you've that I think your first name, your given name is John D. Slocum. 274 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:31,680 Well, yeah, you can yell that down the hall and I won't turn around because nobody calls me that. 275 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:37,440 Yeah, exactly. So it, you know, that's part of what you get in the military is you tend to know 276 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:43,760 guys by a lot of slang names that maybe maybe isn't the one their mother gave them. 277 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:49,840 Oh, correct. We always knew each other by call signs. And I can remember being informal things 278 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:53,920 overseas and you're in this big meeting and you look and you say, And I'm with, and you can't 279 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,640 remember what their real name is. So you wanted to say, you know, like Cobra or something like that. 280 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:06,960 And you're like, um, um, yeah, I got a little bit tough. So who did you write violent positivity 281 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:13,760 of fighters pilot journey leadership lessons on caring for people in Ford? Who was the audience 282 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:20,000 you're trying to reach here? You know, it really is much broader than you would probably want to 283 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:25,040 guess by the title and the cover and all the books. Anybody who's interested in caring for people, 284 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,920 there are lessons in there. Yes, there are leadership lessons, but it really goes all the 285 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:37,200 way it can permeate from an individual to an entire organization. It outlines ways to get to 286 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,360 some wonderful outcomes, raising the bar of excellence and just changing the culture within 287 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:47,920 an organization. And once again, it goes all back to that power of one person there. 288 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:56,240 So, Odie, if folks want to know more about the book, how to get it or more about what you're up to, 289 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,440 what's a good way for them to connect with it? Well, the easiest way is just the title of the 290 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:07,040 book, which is violent positivity and ad dot com. We have a website up there that has more 291 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:12,240 information. There's a how you can click the order to book or whatever. We have book signings, events. 292 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:17,760 I've made a whole short series of video stories from the book. All those are going to be available 293 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:24,240 on violent positivity dot com. Well, we really appreciate just spending some more time with 294 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:30,960 Veterans Radio today to talk about leadership, to talk about your lessons in life and passing 295 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:38,800 those on to others. We really hope you have just tremendous success on this general. And as I say, 296 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:44,000 Veterans Radio is thankful for your time. Well, I thank you for your support. It's always great 297 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,800 to talk and our wonderful veterans out there for all of you. Thank you for your service, 298 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:54,400 what you do. This country owes you a debt. And we should be doing everything we can to take care 299 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,960 of our wonderful veterans. So, Jim, thank you for taking that cause on and being a champion. 300 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:05,200 Oh, we're glad to do it. We're glad to talk to military brats and guys go through ROTC and 301 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:12,880 has such wonderful careers. Great. It's great to share the lesson and it's always good to talk with you. 302 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:19,680 And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim Fausone. It's been a 303 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:25,200 pleasure to be your host. I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can 304 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:34,880 reach us at 800-693-4800 or legalhelpforveterans.com on the web. You can follow Veterans Radio on 305 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:42,560 Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows by visiting us at veteransradio.org. 306 00:28:42,560 --> 00:29:06,720 That's veteransradio.org. And until next time, you are dismissed. We again want to thank our 307 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:15,360 national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development Council, NVBDC.org, VA Ann Arbor 308 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:22,160 Health Care System, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Charles S. Kells Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 309 00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:33,600 VFW Graf O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor. 310 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:40,480 We appreciate all your support. You can go to veteransradio.net, click on the sponsor level, 311 00:29:40,480 --> 00:30:04,480 and continue to support keeping Veterans Radio on the air. And until next time, you are dismissed.