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.
We've got some great programs for you.
We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook
site or at the web veteransradio.org where we're on the web 24-7.
You can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.
We post new ones every Tuesday so you can get a new story, a new interview, something
you didn't know before by going to veteransradio.org.
And before we get started we want to thank our sponsors.
Next up we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.
It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses.
You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.
We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.
Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.
You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans.com.
And finally, PuroClean.
PuroClean is the paramedics of property damage.
It provides water damage remediation, flood water removal, fire and smoke damage remediation,
mold removal, biohazard cleanup.
It also has a focus on veteran franchisees.
You can learn more about them by going to puroclean.com.
We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today an Air Force veteran, Cheyenne Roland, who
is also the Chief Operating Officer of Titan Specialized Services.
We're going to talk about her career, her military family a little bit, and Veterans
in Business.
Cheyenne, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Hi, Jim.
Thanks for having me.
Now, how did a nice girl like you who graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2014 with
her Bachelor's of Arts in Audiology and Speech Language Pathology end up as an aircraft maintenance
officer and ended up spending, what is it, about 10 years in the Air Force?
Yes, yeah, almost 10 years.
So I was actually very lucky.
So I went through ROTC during the sequestration, and a lot of opportunities weren't really
provided to us that ROTC previously had and now has again, which is great for those young
cadets.
But my commander in ROTC at the time had pushed the University to allow us to do base visits.
So, I'm getting the Geetheis, which is a reserve base or a guard base, I believe.
There's a lot of bases around the University of Tennessee, and he convinced them to let
us spend our spring break down an Eglin Air Force base.
And my commander, who I'm still in touch with to this day, wanted to expose all of us to
different career fields.
And he took us out into the flight line.
I'm not qualified to fly, I'm far too small, height-wise and terrible eyes.
So I'm looking for another job, and he brought us out into the flight line.
And I was absolutely in love with the environment, the people, just the entire experience of
getting to walk on a flight line and be surrounded by like, just beautiful airplanes and operations.
And it really, I was hooked since then, and I loved my job.
Still love that job.
It was a great time.
Well, I should point out that you just left service less than a year ago as a major and
are in the business world.
But I want to talk a little bit about, you know, your family has a history of service,
which probably led a little bit to the ROTC program and being receptive to a military
career.
Your dad, David White, was in the Navy back in the late 80s, 1989 to 1994 as an electronics
and systems technician.
Your grandfather was a Marine.
So you've got a lot of history.
Oh, I should mention your husband is an Air Force pilot.
So all of that was sort of in the mix as you were thinking about what do I do after graduation?
You had an affinity for the military, it sounds like.
Oh, 100 percent.
And my whole family, you know, served.
So the folks you mentioned, but I also have two of my aunts served as well.
One was a Marine.
My other aunt was in the Navy.
And then also funny enough, my younger, I'm one of five children, two of us entered the
military.
The sister right below me is also in the Air Force and she also went through the ROTC program
at Tennessee and she is currently serving as an aircraft maintenance officer as well.
So her and I have had a unique opportunity to intimately understand the good and the
bad of serving because we've held the same jobs.
Well I was hoping that we would have your father, David White, the Navy veteran on only
so that I could make fun of him to say the only thing you taught your daughter was don't
go to the Navy, go to the Air Force.
100 percent.
He said they take care of you far better and, you know, I have very little interaction with
the Navy so I can neither confirm nor deny.
But I certainly can say that we have quite a few perks compared to other services that
I've seen.
I can hear the Marines now just screaming at the, who does she, you know, those people
in the Air Force.
But I want to come back to sort of really what's it, 30 years ago now.
Your dad gets out of the Navy, he's had an electronics skill set developed while in the
Navy and goes into an interesting field of power systems and uninterruptible power system,
UPS, emergency power issues.
Tell us a little bit about Titan Specialized Services that focuses on that and we're going
to talk about the sister company in a minute.
But explain to people sort of how that transition got made from military experience ultimately
to a very successful business experience.
Right.
So something about Dave that I think is really hard to recreate is he is very engineered-minded
and he is a very, very bright person.
So the Navy kind of gave him the skills and the introduction to something that previously
he didn't know he was really all that interested in.
You know, I think many of us start our military career and we're like, look at our MOS or
AFSC and we're like, what the heck is this?
I've never heard of an electronics HF system technician.
And then you get into that career field and you don't really realize how applicable that
is to so many different things.
So for David when he got out, he originally got a job with a far larger company and he
was very successful because of all the training the Navy had given him.
He had kind of a jack of all trades.
He was able to cross different industry and type of HF systems in that job and it kind
of gave him the spark.
I can do this on my own and I can help people who are in the same boat as I can to be equally
successful.
And so something about TSS, a lot of our employees are veterans and we take pride in kind of
fostering that bridge because not only are a lot of our folks veterans, but we are their
first job after separating.
And having just separated and understanding, it's very critical to me and to us that we
support them and grow and find ways for them to be successful.
Well I want to elaborate on this a little bit because TSS Titan Specialized Services
is in the business of designing, installing and maintaining uninterruptible power systems
and managing commercial construction projects for global organizations in the private and
public sector.
Well we want to welcome to Veterans Radio, we have David White joining us, the Navy veteran,
the founder if you will of Titan Specialized Services.
We were talking to his daughter, Cheyenne Rowland, about her time in the Air Force and
getting out less than a year ago as a major.
And we were asking about, you know, we can read what TSS does in terms of designing,
installing, maintaining uninterruptible power systems, but put some flesh on that for us,
Dave.
What's that mean to the person who doesn't understand maybe power systems?
Well thanks, Jim, for having me.
What I would, the best way to describe what Titan does in both the commercial and government
sectors is we are a critical infrastructure provider.
In other words, we care for critical infrastructures from a data center perspective, a mission
perspective in supporting military, and in numerous environments, medical, banking, insurance,
across many different markets where we support the infrastructure that keeps everything moving
forward.
In other words, the computer that sets in Iraq and that data center, our responsibility and
our team design the systems that keep that equipment running in the event of any outside
influence, in other words, power outages, disasters, you name it.
So that's what we are key to doing, and we employ teams that move globally at a moment's
notice to support those missions and efforts for both commercial and government clients.
Yeah, if you really think about it, we expect our police or fire or hospital or military,
personnel or EMS.
If there's an emergency and there's the power systems down, we still expect 911 to work.
We still expect the ventilators to work at the hospital and the surgical suites to have
lights, and that's what you're really focused on, as I understand it, is TSS makes sure
the lights are on, the power is on.
No, you're exactly right.
So the systems that those first responders rely on, those are the systems that we ensure
our solely operational support that mission.
One of the things I wanted to ask you, Dave, about was, as you've gone through now, it's
30 years since you've been out of the Navy and built this career, was there a, was it
the experience that you got in the military that sort of, and maybe confidence that said,
hey, I can go do this.
I've got a lot of knowledge here.
Yeah, I've had another civilian job, but does it fall back to some of those skills
that you learned in the Navy?
I think a lot of it comes back to that because as you think of it, it's not uncommon in any
branch of the military that a lot of times you're on an island, and irrespective of rank
or position, you're often expected to perform in capacities that you're maybe not used
to or and or trained to perform, but you have to do it just because the mission demands
it.
So it kind of sets a mind frame of, I can achieve anything if given the opportunity and
the information to make it happen.
So kind of at the core of Titan going way back, as you said a long time ago now in the
inception of the company, one day I found myself sitting in my garage going, I'm going to start
this company and I can make it happen.
So a lot of that mindset is instilled in front of the military.
And again, it's not a Navy-specific thing.
I think all branches and all disciplines within those branches that people are challenged
to perform above and beyond the expectation of the command at different instances.
And the true measure of success, whether you're active duty or outside of the military, is
how you respond to those challenges.
Yeah.
Let me go back to Cheyenne for a moment.
You've just separated yourself from the Air Force after 10 years along the way you picked
up a Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership.
So I want to point out that the next question is not to be insulting.
But instead, you're the Chief Operating Officer now at Titan.
What gave you the experience and the confidence to jump into this role and say, I'm going
to help the company grow?
Well, I mean, I think it's two things.
So I think the experience just comes from what I did in the Air Force, education aside,
my last assignment, I basically was the Operations Officer for the largest C-17 base on the
East Coast.
And then prior to that, the largest C-17 base on the West Coast.
So experience-wise, I knew that I was capable of leading large teams with large efforts
to make it possible.
Confidence-wise, I think a lot of it came from my parents.
I don't think anybody ever really starts a family company and expects a buck to stop
with them.
My parents have always had that door open for us to come back and work for them.
And they gave me the confidence because I was unsure of how successful I could be.
And they believed in me and said, you can do this.
You've been doing it.
Your experience speaks for itself.
Now, come believe in yourself and come work for us.
And there's another company in the group called Dash Technologies, which we haven't spoken
about, which is a little bit different in terms of its scope of services than Titan's
specialized services.
Go ahead and tell us about Dash, if you will, Dave.
Yeah, so Dash Technologies was created to complement Titan, a specialized services.
And essentially, Dash provides critical infrastructure monitoring of the devices that we install
and maintain.
So all of the systems that support the critical mission, Dash was created to monitor and basically
report on the conditions of that equipment remotely and internally for the actual mission
partner.
Yeah, nowadays, with the internet of everything, you can monitor what's going on.
And that sounds more of what Dash's specialty is, if I've got that right.
That's correct, yeah.
Dave, talk about the importance of being a veteran-owned business and hiring veterans.
So to me, we prefer to hire veterans.
Our company, I would say right now, our staffing level is roughly 85% to 90% prior service.
And for me, it's important.
Number one, as I understand, the guys coming out, where they're at in their life.
And I was kind of there at one point as well, going, what can I really do?
Where do I add value in the private industry?
And the veterans, in my opinion, add more value than, I'd rather hire a veteran that
has no college degree than somebody's got a master's degree in a discipline, because
I know that they've been through the paces, they've performed under, a lot of times, under
stress.
And I know that their results that I get from a veteran are going to exceed most people
that come off of the street, straight out of college.
So, and especially with us working in military environments and government environments across
the DOD.
Having somebody that's a vet, they understand how the military works, they understand the
decorum that takes place when you're working in a military facility, dress codes, being
prompt, being on time, being courteous, respectful of those that you're working for, understanding
the chain of command.
There's so many things that a vet can add to an organization that you don't get just
from hiring somebody straight out of college, that you have to train them in how to act
in those certain environments, how to treat people with respect, understanding the chain
of command.
All of those things come into play.
It's very, very important.
I think that's one of the things that we kind of need to get across to folks is that, what
am I going to get out of service while I'm going to spend these four years or maybe it's
going to be 10 or maybe it's going to be 20.
I'm going to get these sets of experience, but they do translate some in very direct
ways but others in intangible ways.
They really do translate to your civilian career and being successful, don't they, Dave?
Oh, it's intangible what you learn even as you said, Jim, and in a very short period
of time.
A vet coming out understands things that are very, very important to a business owner.
Being on time, performing the job to the specifications or to the requirements that are detailed and
communicated from upper management, understanding the chain of command within, inside of a company
or inside of an organization, it all translates directly into success.
These are things that for most vets, you don't have to retrain them or give them direction
on.
It's just inherent because of the training that they receive in the military.
It's very, very valuable.
One of the things I wanted to ask you, Cheyenne, because today we have such a recruiting problem
and I think part of that is maybe kids don't realize the value of what they're getting
out of those years in the military and how that's going to translate and impact the rest
of their lives, Dave's talking about.
As somebody who recently separated as a female veteran, somebody who rose to the rank of major
in the Air Force, how do you look at the value or explain to people the value in enlisting
and addressing the recruitment issue?
So, Jim, I think the recruitment issue is very, very complicated and I don't think I'll
ever be able to fully pinpoint what is and is not contributing to it.
But I do think if anyone's listening or anyone who's ever curious about joining the military,
I think something that everyone can positively walk away from is when you join the military,
you are introduced to the 1% of America.
And so, usually in the service, that's what we say, we're the 1%.
But that means extreme beneficial exposure to folks who are not like you, to folks who
are different and getting to learn so much about interacting with people and how to interact
appropriately and how to where people's at.
And that's just a soft skill.
And I think when we talk about recruitment and retention, the military can give you so
much of stuff that you cannot get on your own.
You know, hard skill includes like my husband, he's in the reserve now, but the Air Force
gave him his pilot license effectively.
They basically prepared him to then go to the airlines in his current job.
And he served time, but it is definitely a benefit to be able to have those skills on
the other side.
And I think it's really important that folks realize and understand how outrageous that
is because that's not normal.
Normal people don't get those experiences.
No, you definitely get experiences in the military.
You're not going to get anywhere else.
And they can translate to success down the road.
We're talking to Dave White who's the owner of sort of driving force behind Titan Specialized
Services and Dash Technologies and Cheyenne Rowland who's the Chief Operating Officer
for Titan Specialized Services.
Their website is titan-group.com if you want to know some more about them.
Dave just in a little bit of time that we have left.
Is it important to the growth of your business that you're a veteran-owned business and that
you have such a large contingent of veterans in the workforce?
I think that our success is directly attributed to the employees that we have and the skill
sets that the veterans are brought to Titan and to Dash Technologies has directly contributed
to our success.
And we'll continue to contribute towards success moving forward.
Our ability to position ourselves as a service-disabled veteran-owned small business has been instrumental
in us being able to provide support to VA medical centers across the continental United
States.
It's been instrumental in us working with the DOD overseas and challenging environments
such as Afghanistan when the U.S. was still there all the way into the Marshall Islands
or the Quadrilateral.
So having the experience of the veterans that are used to deploying and those type of environments
maybe not in the same locale but in those environments that add challenges where somebody's
stuck in a situation where they've got to be a problem solver and not a question-asker
or somebody's asking questions but actually solving problems.
Being a veteran in that position and having veterans on our team has been a definite advantage
that we have over most of our competition.
Well we certainly like at Veterans Radio talking to veteran business owners, showing success
that veterans often have in business after they get out.
And we really got both ends of the spectrum here.
Dave's been out of the Navy I should say for 30 years or so and Cheyenne just got out
of the Air Force less than a year ago.
But both of you have had these experiences and now are applying them in the business
world.
It's really great to hear about this success and I know Dave you certainly got to be proud
of the military career that Cheyenne and her sister, she was told me earlier about her
sister have had in the Air Force.
Yeah I'm extremely proud of all of my kids and both daughters that served in the Air
Force, one still in as you said.
I couldn't be prouder of what they've accomplished.
In many regards they've well exceeded me.
I shouldn't say many regards at all regards they've exceeded me.
I've been simply accomplished.
And having them or having Cheyenne on my team and working with Titan has really become the
joy of my life.
I wish it on everybody it would be able to experience what we're experiencing as a family
and as a company and as well within the reach of anybody that's listening.
And especially if you're a veteran don't hold back go for the gold.
It's out there in your reach.
I can hear the Navy recruiters and the Air Force recruiters calling me right now saying
that Dave's got to get the next generation to join the Navy not the Air Force and the
Air Force recruiters are saying of course Cheyenne went in the Air Force and her sister
did.
We're the best service so we will leave that rivalry alone but we really do thank both of
you for the time that you've been able to devote to Veterans Radio today.
Well thank you for the time taking your time to talk to us Jim it's appreciated that we
can get our story out there and I think Cheyenne will say the same.
Yes Jim thank you so much.
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
800-6934800 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.
We again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development
Council, NVBDC.org.
Legal Help for Veterans, a Veterans Disability Law firm with a national practice before the
VA can help you on your claims and your appeals.
It can be reached at LegalHelpforVeterans.com or 1-800-6934800.
And PuroClean, a leader in property emergency services.
It's the paramedics of property damage, providing water damage remediation, flood water removal,
fire and smoke damage remediation, mold and biohazard cleanups.
You can reach them at PuroClean.com or 800-775-7876.
We also want to thank our local sponsors.
This would include the Charles S. Kettles chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America,
that's chapter 310.
VFW, Graf O'Hara Post 423, the American Legion Erwin Preskin Post 46 in Ann Arbor as well.
The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and certainly the National Vietnam Veterans of America Association.
You can be a sponsor by going to veteransradio.org, clicking on the about us and our sponsors
and help us out.
Keep this program alive for the 21 and 22 years.
Keep us going for another 20.
Thank you.