She Failed Out of College. Then She Flew for the Air Force

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11,133 words · 59:51 runtime

00:00 Growing Up on Long Island

0:03 some people see power from a distance others see it up close a rare few see it from 30 000 feet and still choose to do the hard work on the ground meet Colonel Bernadette maldonado she started in the white Jets flying America's top leaders around the world then she shifted into security forces where responsibility gets real fast and real personal she earned her seat at the strategic table Army War College Navy War College and then took the perspective straight straight into the engine room of democracy on Capitol Hill this isn't a politics episode this is a leadership episode because B has seen power from above and she's here to talk about what the perspectives teach you about trust service and staying grounded when the world gets loud if

0:49 you've ever wondered what service really costs and what it gives back this conversation will stick with you I'm Mike camorra and this is voice for Valor B welcome to voice for Valor thank you thank you before we talk about institutions titles or history how do you define service how do I define service I think it's defining service for me it's more the willingness to sacrifice your time your family sacrifices but it's very rewarding and it's rewarding for everybody not only the patriot patriotism that you may feel to serve but also you know how people it gives back to you as well so it's like a give and take just serve I was fortunate enough to photograph your retirement ceremony and had a chance to meet your family and I just want to

2:02 add into what you described when I think about service I think about the stories you shared of your father and what he did to ensure that his children had the opportunity to succeed in that next generation and so I I think of your father as a servant for you guys do you have anything to add you guys do you have anything to add yeah he really was my close true loved one Martin teacher until I was 14 years old he was my farowitz and I worked as a private server for multiple będziemy he did every CivilWarCott that Alors and so I hear that sharing has a great impact on them and ultimately they are steps further and greater support and wrapper between doors and doors are also really great

2:22 Because I grew up on Long Island, and I know when you say Long Island, people think rich houses and beaches and the Hamptons, and not all of Long Island is like that. We grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, and to some extent, we probably shouldn't have been there. And so my dad did everything he could to make sure that we were outside playing kickball, and then when the lights flickered, they got to come home. He worked two or three jobs. He was a bus driver at one point, livered blueprints at one point, just to make sure we had food on the table, and he worked at the VA hospital. So service to us was already always embedded in there. He worked what we call the swing shift, three to midnight, and then we'd work these other

3:02 jobs in the morning. Just after we had food on the table and clothes on our back, there were lots of things that we couldn't do, some field trips that we couldn't afford, or they had to come up with other things for the children that I couldn't do. He gave everything to us, and I literally mean everything. We can have that life. He wanted us all to go to college. I took a look. It was a little longer. Found out my first semester, and then my dad actually got me a job at the VA hospital. I worked in the medical record area there. I think I was like a GS-4, a GS-5, and that was like first semester. And then I was like, I got to join. I got to do something. And so that's when I found the Air Force.

3:38 I was 19, and I never went back. A lot of our viewers are younger folks, and you're not the first person that said they quote unquote failed out of college that first year out of high school. Is it a maturity thing, or is it an educational thing? Because I feel like our students today are so fearful of failure, right? Everybody gets a trophy. What's going to happen to them if they fail out of that first semester of college? They can do whatever they want. When that happened to me, it was a real setback. I would say that it's both a maturity thing, at least it was for me then, and an educational thing. It was just really interesting that it went that route.

4:20 But then here I am sitting, I've got two master's degrees. I have a bachelor's degree. I think certain people just take a different route. I needed something else. I needed to do something else before I figured out that I wanted to do a formal education as well. Across every chapter of your life, what part of who you are has never changed? My determination? I believe that's probably not changed. I would say I really haven't changed. I won't fail out of anything anymore. But if it happens, I'm going to keep going. I think with me, it's the determination or the grit. It's a buzzword. I don't have that grit to just do anything. I wanted to see the world, and so I joined the Air Force.

5:07 I got to be a flight attendant, and I literally got to go around the world in two and a half weeks and see so many different beautiful countries and cultures. We went everywhere and to places that I wouldn't want to go. But yeah. What age were you when you developed that chip on your shoulder, that resilience, that grit? Do you have a moment in time that you can pin to that experience? I don't have a moment in time. But I would say it's something that my father and my mother instilled in us, just you can do anything. And it's literally that old saying, you can do anything if you put your mind to it. You can do anything if you put your heart into it and your mind and if it's what you

5:48 want. I think that's been since childhood. I remember as a young kid, my parents were divorced and my mom was a nurse, and she was doing multiple different types of nursing jobs. And one of them was like an on-duty job. And she would call nurse for hospice. So you have this phone that back then it was a pager. And so you could get called at a moment's notice and she could be gone for days taking care of this person that's about to die. It allowed me as a kid to be extremely observant about my environment and realize you don't need to be afraid of hard work. Here's this woman who's really struggling to make ends meet. And she's out there gone for, like I said, 42, 72 hours taking care of a dying person.

6:32 And so that's when I realized it's okay to miss a holiday or miss a birthday if you're doing the right thing and you understand what it's all about. So yeah, I'm impressed by that determination because you had 40 years of military service. Is that right? 37 and two. 37 and two days. A lot of our listeners aren't even 37 years old and you've spent all that time serving. As a young woman serving as a flight attendant, literally seeing leadership from above, what did that environment teach you? What did it teach you early about trust and responsibility? It was so interesting to see what happened and the conversations on that plane and really getting done the things that we needed to get done for our national security.

7:18 From CODELS to military leadership, we were flying all over the world taking these folks to meetings so they can build that trust with and build those relationships with these other countries and these folks that we need even today for our national security. So I think one of the things that it taught me or I would say inspired me was really, hey, let's finish up our education because I want to do those things. I want to be helping in a different capacity than I am or I was at that moment. Did that experience shape how comfortable you became operating your power later on in life? I believe it did, yes. Because they're human beings just like the rest of us and you get to see them in a different

08:00 The Myth of the Middle-Class Neighborhood

8:03 environment. But again, they would never stop and they had that determination as well. They were always working, even on a plane, sleeping, resting, and then get right back to it. And it was just really impressive to see our leadership in all the capacities doing those things. I like that you brought up their work ethic. And right now we're such a divisive country when it comes to politics. And I try so hard to bring people back to the middle to explain, hey, we're all human beings. We're all in this together. Why are we creating such divisive tribes? There's many Republicans on the Hill that I respect. There's many Democrats on the Hill that I respect. Does that make me a bad person?

8:49 Depending on what TV channel you watch, it does. So, how do you balance that? I just respect everybody's thoughts and try to see it from their point of view. it was just like you had sent me that message. And it's true. You can watch the different trials. I was trying to understand the other person's side and the other person's point of view. And that's what I do. And like you, I respect both sides. I respect other people's thoughts and how they feel about the topics of today. And it's concerning and it's heartbreaking in some way that we're so divisive right now. And I hope someday that we can be less polarized and we can find a way as a country to come back together and meet in that middle.

9:28 Sadly, the algorithms don't want to bring us together. They want us to stay in our tribes because that way you get more likes, you get more focus on that particular TV channel. Don't go to that other channel because you're a traitor if you do. And so we're sucked into this echo chamber where I give the example of being a Seattle Seahawks fan. I will, to the day I die, I'll be a Seattle Seahawks fan because that's where I grew up, the proponents of my life. But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate other players on other teams. So here we've got the Washington Commanders. And I was excited last year to see them do well. That was exciting. It was great.

10:02 I was happy for the city, the community, and the players, but am I a traitor for the Seahawks because I enjoyed watching the Commanders succeed through that season? I don't think so. So that's just my little example of how I think we should all be coming back together. So what drew you into security forces after those early experiences? I actually did security police first. Okay. Back then it was called security police. I always wanted to be two things growing up. I wanted to be a cop and I wanted to be a flight attendant. And I even talked to my dad at one point about being a pilot. And ironically, and he regretted he had a conversation with me about this later on, he said, girls aren't pilots.

10:38 He said, yeah, isn't that, it was just crazy. He said, they're flight attendants. He even got me books from the library on being a flight attendant and that was the only thing the Air Force gave me. It gave me everything I wanted to do. And so I wanted to be a cop and quickly realized I did not want to be a cop, but I did it for quite a while. It was an amazing experience. Yes, I am a Desert Storm veteran. And I was over there in Saudi Arabia with our F-117s. And actually. One of the gentlemen on the Hill, he worked for Oklahoma, Senator Inhofe, and I cannot laser. That was his call, I can't remember. But anyway, he was there when I was there. So we connected like that.

11:15 And I just, it was something I always wanted to do. And when I came off of active duty and then I went to be a flight attendant, when I came off of active duty, it was easy because I had that AFSC because I wanted to go back to school full time. I was trying to go to school at night. I was working two jobs and I was like, okay, let me put one of these things on hold and finish up my education. And so that's when I joined the Guard. And just for some of our listeners that don't understand or viewers, AFSC, Air Force Specialty Code, I believe is what it stands for. Basically, it's like your job, but they have to put it into a little four-digit code to explain what you're doing.

11:48 How did that role change your understanding of responsibility when it becomes physical and immediate, especially in Desert Storm? Are you talking about when I was a cop? Yeah. Yeah. So it's really interesting. I was stationed in Guam first. And I'm sorry, you were saying? I'm just curious. Security forces, here's this young woman that is being entrusted in protecting a base, protecting assets. You mentioned the F-117, an old stealth bomber, if you will, before we developed the B-2. So you're in this environment where it can become physical and a critical decision at a moment's notice. How do you balance that? How many women, first of all, were in the police force at that time?

12:33 There were many. So my first base, I was stationed at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. And we had, it was SAC at the time, Strategic Air Command, where we had a nuclear pile, if you will, as well. But we also had what we called a 15-5. And so if any of the aircraft were coming and they had certain assets on it, we had to get there and make sure we protected it. And I remember there was always one female, at least on shift, in case any females were arrested. There'd be times where there were no females. And so that they would have to call one of us in to go ahead and search a base. And then we'd have to find another female or something. But I do remember sitting in a truck with a gentleman, a technical sergeant or something.

13:14 I was probably an A1C at the time. And I remember him saying to me, I'm really uncomfortable with you being here because I feel like I'm going to have to protect you first before I protect anybody else. And I said, I have the M60 grenade launcher. So I think we're dead. And then I was like 95 pounds, 100 pounds, and I was lugging around this big M60 grenade launcher. So it was definitely a different environment then. It was very rewarding at the same time. And just very physical, like you were saying. We did ruck marches. We had an old chief from Vietnam, and he just had us out there doing all kinds of crazy stuff. And I remember we were on the field for a long time.

13:56 This was out in Guam, and it was totally a four or five day exercise. And I remember I had to shower. And so we had those old shower things set up where you'd be walking by, but you couldn't see anything. And then we all sat down. There was like two or three of us girls, and I had a towel on my head. And he had brought it up after how we acclimated to the environment, where I thought I was going to get in trouble because it was a white towel on my head more in the field. But he was just so impressed with the fact that we all just acclimated to the environment, and we were out there doing our thing. I remember one time being out there, I was so tired, I was like hallucinating because I was just so tired.

14:27 But we would also do exercises over in Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Same thing, I remember waking up, I was in a foxhole and fell asleep. It was my turn to sleep. And then I woke up and I had ant bites just all over me. And you said you were 19 years old at the time. I was 19, 20 years old at that time. So if you were to rewind back to high school, would you ever guess that a girl from Long Island has chances to be in Guam, the Philippines? There's so many amazing things that we get to do in the military. Sure, there's a lot of things that suck, but there's so many things that are great.

15:00 Failing Out Freshman Year

15:00 And so you had a chance to see the South Pacific as a young teenager. I can't even imagine when you go home and visit your friends that haven't left Long Island. What were those interactions like? It was really interesting. And in those times, even to call home, you had to go to the MAC terminal and they call a base that calls your family or whatever. So it was very different back then and actually write letters, which my parents, we had just sold my parents home and found some of those letters, which I thought was really interesting as well. Some of them I wrote from when I was deployed to Saudi Arabia the first time, some I wrote when I was in Guam.

15:30 So it was really interesting that my family had saved those. It was interesting. I come, they were all probably going to college and stuff. And then I was like, I did this, but I did it as a different form of education at the time. I remember. Someone making a comment that being uneducated and using the word uneducated as a word or to describe certain people, if you will. And in my mind, it was a different education. I was getting to see the world and getting educated that way. And it was, to me, it was just amazing. It was just absolutely amazing. And then, like I said, there came the time where it was like, okay, now I'm going to do my formal education.

16:01 I am ready. So I think it just takes people time to decide what they want. And the Air Force allowed me to do it all. When I was 19, I was in college. I was going down the traditional route that you described. And if I would have known that there were opportunities to be out there in the Philippines and in Guam as a young person, I probably would have taken that opportunity. That's something, those life lessons that you're learning at that age, I'm sure that made you a much more successful student when you did go to school because you already understood how the real world worked in a way. Yeah, it really did. I remember we had to, in one of my English classes, do somebody else's speech, like just present it.

16:42 And I remember doing it. And it was just, it just felt so good to be able, weren't my words, but to be able to do that and just to have the strength to get up there in front of the class going, yeah, I know I can do this. Because I just got ant bites all over me. Yeah, I was sleeping in the jungle for four days, taking sun showers. You mentioned duty, honor, courage. That's a great transition to duty, honor, country. That's a great transition into some 9-11 stuff. When you were at your, when I was at your retirement service. You spoke in your retirement remarks about the impact of 9-11 and where you were when you realized the country had fundamentally changed.

17:25 Where were you when that, when the country in your mind had fundamentally changed? I was actually driving, I worked at Sprint at the time as a software engineer. I was part-timer at the time and I was driving to work and my family, my brother worked in the city. So I was very concerned trying to get through to him. And then the base called and said, come on down. And so I. Got my, my MOBA bag and went to work and ended up deploying probably about three months after. From where you were in New York, could you see the smoke and the horizon? I'm sorry, I was in Kansas City, my brother was in New York. Okay, so you were in Kansas City. So they called you up and said you were a Missouri National Guardsman at the time?

18:05 Oklahoma. Oklahoma National Guardsman. So Oklahoma, oh, I know. So Oklahoma calls you up and says, we're activating you. We're at war. We didn't know what we had to do. We actually had a mortuary. A team. And so we were on standby to actually go to New York City if we had to. I remember I was on the West Coast. I was in California when this happened as a young second lieutenant. But I remember on television, President Bush giving the public address about what had happened. And I know that they were, we were in the heart of the baseball playoffs. And there was some debate about the New York Yankees and if they were going to play again because we had bodies in the stadium.

18:48 I see. It is. It was heartbreaking. My brother had to walk across the 54th Street Bridge. The trains weren't working. I'm trying again. It was a long journey for him to tell. And your brother, if I remember correctly, was in finance or insurance? He was in some sort of... Yes, an accountant. He was an accountant. Did he have any friends, family, loved ones, coworkers that were, that lost their lives on that terrible day? For those in security roles, 9-11 wasn't just a tragedy. It redefined duty. How did it change the way you viewed responsibility? I think at that time, it was a very interesting time because it, in a very tragic, sad way, reminded everybody about patriotism.

19:37 This country, a lot of people would say, you see memes on social saying things like, I wish I could go back to 9-12. The day after where the country just came together and was one and all these people were joining the military and rejoining or serving. And for me, it was like business as usual. It's like, hey, I've been doing this. I've been serving my country. Now tell me where I need to go next because I'll be there and I'll do it. So for me, it wasn't like a defining, hey, I'm going to serve because I already was. It just was more of, hey, what do you need me to do now? Because I'll do it. And that's what I felt. There was no hesitation whatsoever of me going to get my mobile bag and heading back down to...

20:19 We couldn't fly. And so I had to drive down to Oklahoma City. And it was scary that day because it was just desolate. I was like, I'm in the middle of the road. You saw a plane. You got scared, but it was a military aircraft. And so it was just, it was really interesting. My background, I was a C-17 pilot. I was not a C-17 pilot yet during this time. But when I was in pilot training, my commander was a C-17 pilot during that time. And he was actually airborne when it happened. And all the air traffic controllers were reaching out saying, land now. And he kept thinking, what did I do wrong? Why are you telling me to land? And it was, no, we are clearing the airspace.

20:54 And so he was down south actually supporting the president, who was literally reading the book to the children down south. So not even knowing what was happening, but being ordered to land immediately. Another thing that comes in mind about 9-11 is my brother, my younger brother was going to high school, excuse me, in college in Boston. And so my stepmother was visiting him. And she was scheduled to fly out of Boston on September 12th. And obviously the airport shut down for days. And I always think to myself, granted, it's my stepmother, not my biological mother, but still could have potentially had a loved one. And she was the one on that flight that was brought down.

21:31 So there's so many pieces to that butterfly effect that have interactions, that we have interactions with that fateful day. A lot of us in the military, we talk about remembering 9-11. Do you think it's more about the grief or about the responsibility? I think it's about both, especially in being from New York. It's about responsibility to your country, responsibility to your family, responsibility to God. And about the grief, we'll be grieving. That will never go away. Grief from both.

22:00 Finding the Air Force

22:01 We'll be grieving that for generations to come. I wanted to transition to education. I know that you mentioned the, as a young person, not making it through that first semester. But from a professional military education standpoint, you attended both the Army War College and the Naval War College. These are both rare and prestigious opportunities. What did strategic education change about how you think? Two totally different schools, two totally different methods. Highly recommend them both. I had one of them. One of the best jobs coming out of both of those. One, coming out of Navy, I went into legislative world. And then two, coming out of the Army War College, I went to A8.

22:51 I'm a personnel, it's a human resource person, right? But I got to see at that level, the strategic level, what we do, what we did as an Air National Guard, to make sure that we're equipped and readiness and got to reach out and strategically place. Certain equipment. And so for me, to be able to go to that school and then actually use in both scenarios and working at different levels, got to see and got to experience and got to use what I learned strategically in both those roles. And for me, it was just hands down rewarding to be able to do that. In the military, we have all these acronyms and these short versions of terms to help us understand the process and this huge bureaucratic system.

23:38 We have. So for our viewers, we have basically A1 through A10. A8, what do you do in that A8 world that the non-military person would be able to understand what you're doing there? Well, I apologize. I keep doing that. So I've only been out for 23 days. So, you know, in A8, what we did specifically was in A8, we went ahead and did the strategic plan for the Air National Guard. We had a section that did that. My section specifically. was strategic basing. So I got to work at that level. As far as what we're going to place and where and compete, the different states compete. The Air Force, the Air National Guard compete for these resources. And it meets a board, the secretary level.

24:23 And so I got to sit in those meetings and fight for what we want. And then we actually got to work with states and territories so they can put their argument forth of, hey, we'd be a really good strategic location. To have this piece of equipment or that piece of equipment. And then looking at the whole map, where are we going to put these things and how we're going to do. An example I can think of for. And also the budgeting pieces. That was huge. An example I can think of for our listeners and our viewers is Michigan was recently given, approved to get the F-35, right? So that was a really big deal. We're fighting for these assets that are coming off the assembly line in Texas.

25:05 And that was a big win for Michigan to be able to replace some old assets with that new F-35. So those are the types of things, the discussions that you're having in A8, is that correct? Correct. And to be able to sit at the table and watch how things work. I remember being in a strategic basing meeting in the Pentagon. Telephone came in from a sector and the meeting stopped. So there's a lot that goes into those decisions. It's not Air National Guard making the decision. There's runway space, weather, just all types of things that go into it. And then the political piece as well. My time in Office of Secretary of Defense for Policy, I worked force development strategy and analysis.

25:46 And that's exactly the same type of thing we would go into. Hey, why does it make sense for an F-35 to be stationed in Colorado, yes or no? So we would look at it and say, okay, there's no training areas for this airplane within a non-refueling distance. So now we have to have air refueling tankers nearby for them to be able to participate in these exercises. Why would that make sense? So we were doing this similar thing that you were doing. And the weather. And the weather is huge. Runway. I do believe they have the runway space there for it. Like Maryland was fighting. They didn't have the runway space when they had the A-10s there forever. It was unfortunate how it turned out for them.

26:27 But they did everything they could to try to get another aircraft in there. So hopefully one day they will again. What comes to mind for me is what you're describing is the difference between tactical thinking and strategical thinking. And that difference of being a critical thinker versus just accepting your orders. So as a young captain or a young enlisted person, you're in this small team. If you're in the army, you're in this platoon of 50 people. And you've got this young lieutenant, chances are, that's telling you what to do. And so you're just saluting smartly and going forth with those orders. You're at that tactical level. To those days. At the strategic level, this is what I try to explain to people on social media of the day.

27:11 The difference is on that strategic level, you want to be surrounded by people that are challenging your thoughts and ideas. You don't want to be surrounded by yes-men that are just saluting smartly and moving on. You want them to question your thought process. Now we are in this world where if you're not a yes-man, you're out of here. And history has proven time and time again that's a very dangerous scenario to be in. The emperor wearing no clothes, a classic story. So if you're just surrounded by a bunch of yes-men and women, it's a dangerous recipe. Strategically, did you find yourself in any situations where you had to use that level of critical thought?

27:50 Where, hey, I'm just a colonel, air quotes, just a colonel. It's obviously a very big deal in the military. But I'm just a colonel here in this meeting with generals, professional staff members. And I have to weigh in my thoughts that perhaps they're not thinking about. Do you have an example that you could share? I think it comes, one of them is I worked in SAF, Secretary of the Air Force Manpower. Personnel and Readiness Office as the advisor to wonderful lady, Ms. Nolte, Ms. Kristi Nolte. And I think one of them was a project that we had. One of the biggest issues was for our international guardsmen to get their orders. And to me, with my software engineer background, like we were doing things by paper.

28:35 It was so. We still are. Yeah, it was frustrating. And to try to, and I don't know if this is like critical thinking or it's just something. But I, there were some heavy hitters in that room, in the Pentagon. And as one colonel, two colonels, three colonels were like, we need to fix this. And we need to take care of our airmen on the garden. And make sure that they're getting the benefits that they deserve before they deploy and after. And get them very quickly. Because lots of things go into getting the orders. And so we did work very hard to get something called Moanpuck Cop. That the Army was using. It was like first time the Army's doing something. So that was difficult for us to do as well.

29:25 But it took a lot of convincing and critical thinking in the sense of how do we convince these folks that have been here for a while. That this is what we need to do and how to do it. And from getting the money that we needed to get this thing up and running. To trying to get the contract because they made us advertise it. But we knew we wanted this specific. And then it was just this never ending process. And there was a lot of critical thinking going into that. Because we all were like, okay, the process is so difficult. How can we make this a faster process to get it done? And so I was gone out of there for quite a few years. But the system is up and running from what I hear.

30:10 Our time together, we were in the personnel office. I was doing rated management. Taking care of the 3,700 pilots. Whether that was bonuses, retention incentives. You name it. And you were in policy with me as well. So you were working on a lot of these orders issues. You were working on waivers. Is there something, is there a role that you learned about policy from those people? That institutional knowledge that was working in there with us? I think for me the biggest takeaway out of there is we've always done it this way. That is to me a difficult statement. Because I remember, again, lots of processes. Lots of paperwork. And I was like, what is this for?

30:55 And they're like, it just goes in the, what is it for? Who looks at this piece of paper? Okay. I just started tearing up some of the processes there. So as far as policy goes, if it isn't law and it's written down and it doesn't have to do the law. We can change. We can make the process better. If it is a law and it's not working the way it should. We can go ahead and have that change. It's a long process. But we were there doing our jobs then to take care of those airmen out in the field. And we need to do everything we could to try to get that done. And so that's what I learned out of that during that time. And I took that with me everywhere I went. What concerns me is those folks that we had in policy.

31:38 For instance, Miss Wakefield is a perfect example. Decades of institutional knowledge that is now retired. And then we just recently went through this whole Doge fiasco. And so now we started to get rid of people that were new to the world of the political science world. And so I feel like now we've scared that next generation that's going through school right now.

32:00 Flying at 30,000 Feet

32:03 I don't want to study policy or political science of any kind because I could show up and get fired at a moment's notice. I'm not getting recognized for all the work I've put in to get to this particular spot. So then we start losing all these older folks that have all that institutional knowledge. And right now we're not replacing it. You and I are working in these worlds of policy and manpower. We see the problem a decade before it actually happens. What are we going to do with this bathtub of experience that's going to hit us hard? What are your thoughts? My thoughts are definitely different generations. And so I actually wrote a paper on this. It's definitely a different generation when it comes to work, right?

32:43 And I think that the military also needs to start looking at that. Not everybody's a leader. Not everybody's a leader. And I agree with our conversation earlier. That to me has to stop. There are people that are so incredible when it comes to policy and strategy. And they just want to do that. Okay, let them do that and allow them to promote in a different way. And then there's people that want to be leaders and generals and all that. Let's have two different paths for these folks. And to me, you do have to reward. There's people that, in my opinion, don't work as hard as someone that works extremely hard. But yet if these boxes are checked, they still get promoted.

33:22 And it goes the same way. And I do think that even in the civilian sector, they'll do that. They, hey, I'm a hard worker. B, you're not. Mine's getting promoted. I really feel like we need to change the system to work a little bit differently. And I know it's very difficult because, again, the processes and all those things are in place. I didn't do this. And I did work hard and IG complaints and whatever. But I really think that we need to reward. The younger generation more to come in, to join, and somehow do something. Because for the younger generation, it might instant gratification. Everybody gets, like we were talking earlier. Everybody gets a trophy.

34:03 Everybody gets a trophy. But they know. I feel like in the military, everybody gets a trophy. We all get promoted to major, lieutenant colonel, it seems. And it really shouldn't be that way, in my opinion. I think that we should have two different routes. If you want to take the strategic policy route, go ahead and do it. Same thing with finance folks. There's not enough space for everybody to command. And so that's my opinion. One thing I enjoyed about the military, particularly in command, being awarded those opportunities, is it forced me to learn how to communicate and appreciate the younger generation. You're working with all these 19, 20-year-olds. Your time in Guam, your time in the Philippines, that's happening all over again.

34:44 So it allowed me to think of these folks in a completely different mindset than what the media portrays them as. Yes, is it particularly a generation of instant gratification? It is. These cell phones, these algorithms are not doing us any favors. But at the same time, it's also taught me, okay, how do you relate to somebody that isn't a different generation? And so now I see these young video gamers or these things you hear about on TV about, oh, this 26-year-old kid lives in his mom's basement and he's going to amount to nothing. I disagree. We just haven't had to figure out a way to communicate with them and tap their skill set, right? Because chances are that video gamer person probably is pretty skilled at computers.

35:22 And what are we doing right now? We're doing AI. We're doing all these digitally related things. Perhaps there are a lot of opportunities for them that we just haven't tapped into. They are very good at what they do, these young kids, on those computers and playing those video games. And we have the unmanned aircraft. We have so many things out there that they can do. And we just need to figure out a way to tap into it. Yeah, so let's embrace it rather than ostracizing some of these kids that right now are the, the punchline of all of our memes. Let's figure out a way to get them involved in our, you know, workplace. Yeah, I mean, that was, and that would be fantastic because it's all about going back to the serving and the benefits that they,

35:58 if they would understand. When I was 19, I did not understand. I didn't even think about retirement. And I would say two years ago, I started thinking about it, but more, but I was just like, oh, wow, I'm going to retire and I get this pension. And that's pretty good. That's a pretty nice pension. I have to work. Of course, I'm going to work, but just because I can't stay at home. But it's just the benefits that you get out of it. Just the knowing that you served and then the benefits that you get back from it. It's just, to me, so rewarding. And if there's a way to display that to these young kids to get them in and to serve, better way to reach them. I'm so glad you brought up benefits.

36:41 I think right now as a retired military member, my family health care is something like $100 a month. It's so unbelievably affordable. Whereas I know multiple people in our age group, they're paying over $1,000 a month deducted from their checks, depending on where they work. And then if you don't have that full-time employment and you're using COBRA and some of these other medical monthly deductions, you're talking $2,000 a month. So medical is the most common reason for bankruptcy in America. So being a service member, that's one thing that you don't have to worry about anymore. And that's a benefit that as a 19-year-old kid, of course, you're not even thinking about.

37:21 You're thinking, my goodness, I could make so much more money in this particular career. And right now I'm making X. But you're not calculating in some of those benefits that are there for you later on. And so the medical is just wonderful. I was literally at Walter Reed this morning for a medical procedure. That easily could have been a couple thousand dollars. And it was free. So medical, like you said, the retirement benefits, they're things that you don't think about as a young person. But as an older person now, as a 50-year-old. Boy, am I thankful that I stuck it out in service. And you just have to do the 20 years. Yeah. I know it sounds like a lot, but it really is.

38:00 Yeah. Earlier we were talking about young men in the basement and these punchline memes that we've developed about a particular demographic of people. It's also causing so much disinformation out there about what's going on. In your retirement ceremony, you mentioned January 6th, a moment that tested institutions and trusts. As someone with security and legislative experience, how did you process that day? Ironically, that day, it was Walter Reed for a pre-op. I was having back surgery the next day. And my husband was with me. And at the time, my husband was the commander of the Washington, D.C. Air National Guard and the ATAG, the Assistant Adjutant General.

38:44 And I just remember looking at the TV and his phone blowing up. And I was like, you have to go. I have to go. So I didn't get to finish everything because of that. I processed the whole January 6th from a different... First, my heart was broken because the Capitol to me is my favorite building. And anybody that truly knows me knows that. And I think it's the most beautiful building in the United States, probably in the world to me. And I took a lot of folks around that building and showed them all the beautiful paintings of just Dre Hall and everything. And so my heart was broken when I was watching all that, just all that history just being destroyed.

39:26 But for me, that entire experience was from the other side, like the spouse's side. Watching what my husband had to go through and just the hours that he had worked and all the folks that they had to bring in and just trying to do it and trying to coordinate with all these other entities. It was really tough, a very tough time. And I think it was tough for everybody. But again, I got to experience it and see it from a different lens. Watching my husband and everything I had to go through. January 6th to me was very similar to 9-11. These disinformation campaigns that are going on right now. For instance, 9-11. How many disinformation campaigns out there about that it was an inside job or it was fake and there was explosives inside the building and an airplane can never do that sort of thing to make that airplane collapse or make that building collapse?

40:19 And now we have similar conspiracy theories out there, disinformation campaigns about, Oh, it was all about... It was all about love and it's a people's house and they were there to support what was going on. I had a conversation with somebody and I said, Look, I'm not here to argue with you, whether you're Republican or Democrat. My question to you is, if you're involved in an event that is about hope and love, would you defecate on the speaker of the house's desk? That just doesn't seem like the type of thing that I would do if I was there to celebrate hope and love. Or have young staff members locked in closets calling 9-11. Calling family members because they think they're going to die.

41:00 Last time I checked, that's not the type of love that I would think be happening. And so that's just, it's so frustrating to me. And January 6th, I was a group commander and I was in my office and I was tearing up a little bit watching it on television. And I had a immigrant from Cameroon that was part of my unit and I had an immigrant from South America that was part of my unit. And they both happened to be working there that day and they came into my office. And they saw how upset I was. And I just said, I'm so sorry. This is not what we are about. You came here to America. You came and served in the United States military, in the Air Force. The gentleman from Cameroon, he left Cameroon because of the corruption and the violence and people getting killed on the streets.

41:51 And then the woman from South America came for that opportunity to serve and have a family. And I just, I can't get over the fact that we're whitewashing and saying that was just terrible. It's just about a campaign of love. I just, it's truly sad to me. And once again, I'm not trying to blame any sides. Any TV show you watch is going to tell you information completely different. I'm just telling you what I was dealing with when that happened. And I have two people in my office that came to the United States to get away from the things that they were seeing on television. What was harder for you to reconcile? The event itself or what it revealed about division and fragility?

42:39 Tough questions. Yeah, I'm sorry. Just kind of the flashbacks of that day and just... You were in a unique moment. I had no idea that your husband was the person in charge of the D.C. National Guard when all of this is going on. Yeah, and I had to go in for surgery the next day, which was sad too. But we were also in COVID, so there were so many different things going on at the same time. Yeah, I would say a little bit. How do leaders protect institutions without losing the people those institutions serve? Trust. You have to build that trust with whoever it is and build relationships. It's all about trust. Having your team trust you and you trust them. I believe that's the key to life.

43:33 One thing I struggle with after January 6th is that, and once again, this is why I try to tell people, I'm really not a Republican. I'm really not a Democrat. I'm in the middle and trying to get people back to the middle. And so here's my jab at the left, since I just made a jab at the right. My jab to the left is, when the next administration came in, they way overcorrected. They became far too liberal, far too woke. They focused so much on that 1%. I have plenty of friends and loved ones that fall into the LGBTQ community. This is not an attack on them. I've said this to them personally. This is not anything new that I haven't shared with them. But if they're filling less than 1% of the military, shouldn't we be focused on that?

44:21 That main group? That fills when we're in those personnel offices, right? And we're trying to figure out what our retention and recruiting needs are. If the majority of our recruits are lower middle class, white, Black, Hispanic men and women, why aren't we giving them credence and making sure that we're still focused on them? Because I think a lot of them got scared away because of us just focusing on the 1%. So how do we just get that pendulum back to the middle and create a tent that's welcoming for everyone? To focus on everyone. Just the 1%, but make sure that they're taken care of.

45:00 Lessons in Leadership Under Pressure

45:00 But you have to focus on everyone. And we know it's a level playing ground, right? Like it's never going to be the different types of backgrounds and the different foes. Like leadership, you can't lead one specific way. I'm going to have to treat you differently than I treat this person or lead this person because you have to lead people based on who they are, not have one set way. And you have to treat everyone differently. And you have to take care of everybody. You can't just take care of the 1% or take care of the majority. You have to take care of everybody and you have to figure that out. And I feel at that time, I feel like that's what they were probably trying to do.

45:38 There was different groups out there, right? You had the Black empowerment team, you had the Hispanic empowerment team, the Heat. You had all these different groups and teams that we no longer, where I say we, I'm not in anymore, but that military no longer has. But then I do think we're doing good things. Like it was identified that there's a small portion or a huge portion of Hispanics that don't, because we're white, I'm white, but I'm Hispanic at the same time, right? I'm Aldenano, Puerto Rican, but we're white. And then it's what box do you check? And sometimes you just get to the white box. So it was found that some of the data was inaccurate because there was probably a lot more Hispanics in the military.

46:14 I mean, most of them, again, are white, brown, black Hispanics. They just weren't checking that extra box or whatever. But I do believe that certain cultures have certain things like the shaving. To me, that just got out of control. And I do believe in discipline in the military. I do believe that we have standards that we need to uphold. And at that time, I'm just seeing people with beards that just, you know. And again, I go back to, I think I need to retire now, because those things were really starting to, the lack of discipline. But I don't, I do think that everybody needs to be taken care of. And we just have to figure out a way to balance how we do that.

46:52 Leadership needs to do that. We have to figure out a way to balance how they take care of everybody. You can't just set specific rules and say everybody has to abide by this because you have different groups. From what I understand, if you can't be off your shaving weight right now within a year, like, you have to get out of the military. The black men have a lot of issues with it. It's always been an issue. Ingrown hairs. Yeah, it's always been an issue. And no, don't kick that person out. They could be one of your best pilots or one of your best intel officers. It has, like I said, it just, you need to take care of things a little bit. But you need to take care of everybody.

47:28 You need to build that trust. The other thing that I try to explain to listeners or anybody that's willing to have a conversation with me is I'm not attacking any individual person because I think it's just a lack of awareness. Your father's a perfect example. Oh, women aren't pilots, they're flight attendants. He didn't mean anything by that. He wants the stars for you. At the time, his awareness and understanding of our culture, he thought, oh, women shouldn't be pilots. Women should be flight attendants. I think it's the same thing right now. We have folks out there that are against the LGBTQ community just because of a lack of awareness. I interviewed one of those members who I highly respect.

48:09 It's just an amazing officer and truly respected in uniform, out of uniform, before the transition, after the transition. Wonderful person. She educated me on a lot of my ignorances from my younger days. So once again, this is not a personal attack on any party or person because a lot of the times you're just not aware of what's going on. And so once again, how do we get out of these tribes and come to the middle and just focus on the awareness and getting back together? So that's my soapbox on that. And my soapbox is it goes all the way. It's how we lead in this country. It's how we lead wherever we are and what we're doing and the examples that we're setting.

48:48 So there's something striking about your journey from Air Force being in the white jets at 30,000 feet to Capitol Hill. How did working in legislative affairs change your understanding of power? My understanding of power. There's a lot of that on Capitol Hill for sure. And I'm sure you've seen it as well. It really amazed me how military leadership can go into a meeting there thinking one thing and walk out and it's complete 180 based on whatever was discussed at that meeting. And a lot of the staffers have that as well on Capitol Hill. So it really put in my mind the power of the purse. I worked on the on the appropriation side of things and got to see a lot.

49:54 And let's show me the money kind of thing. Are you referring to lobbying the industry itself? Or what is it when you say fat? Can you describe a little more of what you mean by there's a lot of fat on Capitol Hill? Oh, did I say fat? Oh, no, I didn't mean to say that. There's a lot of... I hope this whole thing gets cut out. I'm going to do this. Sorry. No worries. Let me go back to the... No problem. I'm trying not to say like Congress has all this power, but to say that they do at the same time. So I'm just having a bit of a... How did working in legislative affairs change your understanding of power? Working in legislative affairs changed my understanding of power

50:47 because it's a lot of negotiation, right? Mm-hmm. In the military, we understand there's a structure, there's this chain of command, and where the power is, right? And then going to Capitol Hill with some of this leadership and seeing that that power is not really there. It was really interesting to see that and actually to see some negotiations going on, but really how things are done and how things are told to the military to do. I was fortunate enough to be in legislative affairs as well as you a few years later. And my similar experience is you take these general officers, you take these political appointees from the Pentagon over to Capitol Hill for these briefings,

51:29 and then you start to realize that a lot of it's political theater, and it really comes down to the professional staff members and their relationships with their members and where they lie on the particular argument. Sure, they will listen to what the Department of Defense, Department of War, whatever you want to call it today, they'll listen to that argument, but a lot of that stuff is predetermined. Exactly. And then you have to go back to what legislative liaisons do in the military, and basically it's to educate, right? And so we bring our leadership there to educate Congress. That's what those meetings are supposed to be. I was in an F-35 meeting because that was one of the assets

52:09 that I represented on legislative affairs, and we are over there discussing the F-35 and its cost. A lot of the folks in the room don't realize that one of those professional staff members is a retired Air Force officer and has been in the Senate for over 20 years. As a professional staff member, he knows everything about the Air Force. He knows everything about our air assets, right? And I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. And after the argument of why this particular airplane costs so much money, he finally stopped them and he said, guys, I'm not arguing that the F-35 is not an exquisite weapon system. He says, how do we get it from being an exquisite price?

52:53 Because he knows the game. He knows where all these fees are hidden. He knows how programming works. And so when I say predetermined, the fact that there's a level of knowledge in that building that is heard from the previous general the year before and the previous general the year before. And so you're not telling them anything new. So it's more important to understand what has already been said rather than what you're going to say today. And a lot of the staffers are young too, but they are smart. They are very intelligent. And that was one of the first things I learned about the Hill. And they know their business and they know what they're there to represent.

53:29 And that's an interesting part of it too. And a lot of them are retired military. What responsibility do leaders have to remember difficult moments even when it's uncomfortable? We have a huge responsibility to do. And I would hope whatever that difficulty was that you get through, you take something away from it. Right now, we're going through some politics about Greenland and Canada being the 51st state and a lot of this is hopefully just political rhetoric. But one of the arguments was, why does Norway get to have Greenland? There was no signed agreement. They just happened to plant their flag there a couple hundred years ago or however long it's been. And I thought to myself,

54:19 are you kidding me right now? I'm like, did we have a signed agreement with the Native Americans when we took over the United States? It just seems so odd that we haven't once again gone through political thinking, reading history, understanding how all this stuff works. No, I'd rather just listen to whatever my TikTok feed tells me about why we should take Greenland. We already have complete authority to put any military weapon system we want on Greenland. So why would we need to take Greenland? It just, the political rhetoric is just so painful, particularly now. And like I said, I'm taking a jab at the right.

55:00 From Cockpit to Capitol Hill

55:00 I can take just as many jabs at the left. This is not an attack on one particular administration. This is just an attack on the rhetoric and the algorithms. How do we get people back to the decency of being in the middle? Once again, my soapbox. The question was, what responsibilities do leaders have to remember difficult moments even when it's uncomfortable? And so that was my point of being like, okay, look, I get the argument, the strategic argument of Greenland. I get it. Now we're just bullshitting. I get the argument, right? But why are you not acknowledging where we came from? Well, I can go into answering your question here. So I think in the military, you're talking two different types of leadership.

55:51 In the military, you don't have a choice but to follow whatever orders are, right? We're non-carst and we're, there's no politics, right? In the military. So you just have to, I'm saying, do what you're told, what you do, right? Let's extend, go take Greenland, then what will happen? But I think as leaders in the civilian world, we need to be more responsible about the decisions and put more thought into the decisions that we're making. My personal belief, and I could say this now, at this time and age is that we are far past and we as a country are too good to go in and take somebody else's land. We're past that. That time is over. Everybody has what they have. It's just heart wrenching to see

56:42 what's going on in the Middle East right now. We are above that as Americans and American culture. And I don't think that taking land at this time and age of our country is appropriate. When future generations look back on moments like 9-11 and January 6th, what do you hope they learn about service and responsibility? I hope they learn that it's good to serve. And part of me feels like we have so many, like you were talking earlier, and I know this is just like a crazy way to think because we would never do conscript or whatever in this country. But part of me feels maybe kids should serve for heat when they graduate, after they graduate high school. And women probably

57:25 should need to be signing up now, the draft, once they turn 18. But I feel like it wouldn't be a bad thing because some of these kids out there are like, hey, I like this. I'm going to stay. And then you got the other ones going, okay, I got money for college now. Go to school or do whatever they want to do. A part of me wishes that they can all feel it and understand it because I know I've had talks with my nephews about joining and almost had them there. And then something scared me. I'm not quite sure what it is. Is it the politics of today? Is it the crazy things that are going on in the world right now? I don't know. But I try to explain them. You have those other pieces.

58:01 Yes, you'll have to go out there and fight wars if that's what's going on. However, 80, 90% of the time, it's a job. And you put on a uniform and you go do your job every day and you can live in a normal house like everybody else. And I just think that a lot of people have a different view of what it actually is. It's just a lifestyle. It's a different lifestyle. But it's a great paycheck and great benefits as we talked about earlier. And I just feel like in some way, everybody should experience a little bit of that. And I know parents they cheat. You tell us, especially at the Army, that it's like the kid, it's the parents that are so worried about their child. And rightfully,

58:36 I totally understand why it could be that way. But I do feel like if there was a way to just have these kids experience it. Even if they just do the Guard or Reserve, I try to explain that to them just when we get them on to the next step in the year. Before we close, I want to pause on what Bernadette's story really gives us. It reminds us that perspective matters and that how you see leadership changes depends on where you stand. Bernadette has seen power from the air, understood it through strategy, protected it through service, and engaged it directly on the ground. From flying political leaders around the world to Capitol Hill, from war colleges to readiness centers, her career reflects

59:21 a quiet truth. Leadership isn't about proximity to power, but how responsibly you carry it. That's the heart of Voice for Valor. Not spectacle, not slogans, but people who choose stewardship over comfort and responsibility over convenience. Bernadette, thank you for your service, your steadiness, and your perspective. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Absolutely.