WEBVTT 00:00.009 --> 00:02.069 Hello , Flying Tigers . This month's 00:02.079 --> 00:04.301 bridge chat is on belonging . I'm gonna 00:04.301 --> 00:06.301 be sitting here uh today with Chief 00:06.301 --> 00:08.468 Nabo and we're gonna talk through some 00:08.468 --> 00:10.690 of the different things that we see and 00:10.690 --> 00:12.912 find in value in belonging in , in some 00:12.912 --> 00:14.912 of our own uh different experiences 00:14.912 --> 00:16.912 that we've had along the way , just 00:16.912 --> 00:19.135 across the Air Force and across society 00:19.135 --> 00:21.357 in general are having issues with who , 00:21.357 --> 00:23.246 who am I ? How do I fit into this 00:23.246 --> 00:25.357 society ? Yeah , we , we are , we are 00:25.357 --> 00:24.940 doing more and more to treat the 00:24.950 --> 00:26.894 symptoms of loneliness , treat the 00:26.894 --> 00:28.783 symptoms of isolation , treat the 00:28.783 --> 00:31.135 symptoms of not really being able to , 00:31.155 --> 00:33.266 to assimilate into an organization or 00:33.266 --> 00:35.488 not having those skills . I'm not gonna 00:35.488 --> 00:37.322 say the Air Force writ large but 00:37.322 --> 00:39.655 experienced a little bit of a retention . 00:39.655 --> 00:41.822 I'm not gonna say crisis but a problem 00:41.822 --> 00:41.604 and , and maybe it's because I'm a 00:41.615 --> 00:43.615 chief , I get asked these questions 00:43.615 --> 00:45.337 from wing commanders and group 00:45.337 --> 00:45.064 commanders . Why do you , why do you 00:45.075 --> 00:46.964 think this is and all the times I 00:46.964 --> 00:49.174 talked to A LS or F tech or you know , 00:49.185 --> 00:51.407 any large group of airmen and at one of 00:51.407 --> 00:54.270 these kind of on boarding seminars . I 00:54.279 --> 00:56.390 al I always ask , hey , who are you , 00:56.390 --> 00:58.612 where are you from ? Why did you join ? 00:58.612 --> 01:01.279 And 90% I would estimate say they 01:01.290 --> 01:03.346 joined for education . So their plan 01:03.346 --> 01:05.568 was to leave the whole time . So II , a 01:05.568 --> 01:07.568 lot of times I say the , the better 01:07.568 --> 01:09.790 question to ask is why do people stay ? 01:09.790 --> 01:08.900 Why do they get out ? Right . Because 01:08.910 --> 01:11.021 you , you planned on it , right ? And 01:11.021 --> 01:13.188 if that's , that was your goal to come 01:13.188 --> 01:12.730 in and get an education to every 01:12.739 --> 01:14.906 country and go on your way . Awesome . 01:14.906 --> 01:17.072 I'm so happy for you . That's , that's 01:17.072 --> 01:19.295 great that you're able to do that . But 01:19.295 --> 01:21.517 why do people stay a part of that other 01:21.517 --> 01:23.517 than the financial security and all 01:23.517 --> 01:23.160 that , of course is you , you start to 01:23.169 --> 01:25.280 belong to something , right ? And you 01:25.280 --> 01:27.489 see that uh you go to uh MP OY or an 01:27.500 --> 01:29.722 awards ceremony where you , you see the 01:29.722 --> 01:31.944 squadron chants and like you could tell 01:31.944 --> 01:34.222 which tribe uh has an identity , right ? 01:34.222 --> 01:36.444 And is very , very , very proud of it , 01:36.444 --> 01:38.667 right ? And I think that that is one of 01:38.667 --> 01:40.778 the biggest reasons why people choose 01:40.778 --> 01:42.944 to stay because they , they find their 01:42.944 --> 01:42.239 self belonging to something bigger than 01:42.250 --> 01:44.389 themselves m on mul multiple levels , 01:44.400 --> 01:46.511 right ? It's , it's one thing to , to 01:46.511 --> 01:48.567 say , hey , I'm a flying tiger , but 01:48.567 --> 01:50.678 it's another thing to , to say gang . 01:50.678 --> 01:53.069 So rescue was that your generation , 01:53.080 --> 01:55.191 the folks that came in with you , you 01:55.191 --> 01:57.469 know , as a chief . Now you've been in , 01:57.469 --> 02:00.199 what , 2023 years , 23 years did you 02:00.209 --> 02:02.376 come in for the educational benefits ? 02:02.376 --> 02:04.542 I came in to travel . What I wanted to 02:04.542 --> 02:06.542 do is get back to Europe . I took a 02:06.542 --> 02:08.709 trip with my buddies after high school 02:08.709 --> 02:08.490 and wanted to join . It looks like I 02:08.500 --> 02:10.830 was super patriotic because I joined 30 02:10.839 --> 02:13.061 days after 911 . But it was kind of the 02:13.061 --> 02:15.228 plan anyway . But , you know , another 02:15.228 --> 02:17.450 thing this is , doesn't have as much to 02:17.450 --> 02:19.339 do with belonging . But I find um 02:19.339 --> 02:21.283 highly disciplined units have high 02:21.283 --> 02:23.006 morale when you're skilled and 02:23.006 --> 02:25.117 passionate and you follow the and you 02:25.117 --> 02:27.283 follow the rules . For the most part , 02:27.283 --> 02:29.339 you'll , you'll see that high morale 02:29.339 --> 02:31.561 and you're able to take uh constructive 02:31.561 --> 02:33.617 criticism , feedback up and down the 02:33.617 --> 02:35.561 chain and you just see that , that 02:35.561 --> 02:35.350 little organi , you know , that little 02:35.360 --> 02:37.582 uh cell start to form a little friendly 02:37.582 --> 02:39.360 competition kind of breeds that 02:39.360 --> 02:41.527 belongings even within , you know , my 02:41.527 --> 02:43.527 last unit , I had three flights and 02:43.527 --> 02:45.582 there was just a healthy competition 02:45.582 --> 02:45.479 between those folks and they were proud 02:45.490 --> 02:48.009 not only to belong to rescue as a whole , 02:48.020 --> 02:50.669 but to belong to be light . And we're 02:50.679 --> 02:52.790 in , you know , bravo bones and we're 02:52.790 --> 02:54.790 this and then they had their little 02:54.790 --> 02:56.901 guide on , not real guide ons , but , 02:56.901 --> 02:56.020 you know , flight guide ons that they 02:56.029 --> 02:58.029 made and they're , they're proud to 02:58.029 --> 02:59.973 belong to their flight . And I , I 02:59.973 --> 03:01.973 liken it to my kids like what makes 03:01.973 --> 03:01.300 them miserable ? It makes them 03:01.309 --> 03:03.253 miserable that they had to go make 03:03.253 --> 03:05.420 their bed . It makes them miserable to 03:05.420 --> 03:04.490 have to clean up their room . It makes 03:04.500 --> 03:06.611 them miserable to have to put their , 03:06.611 --> 03:08.778 their clothes in the , in the hamper . 03:09.020 --> 03:11.131 It makes them miserable to have to do 03:11.131 --> 03:13.464 their own dishes . It makes a miserable , 03:13.464 --> 03:15.631 but it also is creating a , a sense of 03:15.631 --> 03:17.853 self . Like , who am I as a human ? I'm 03:17.853 --> 03:19.964 not just , uh , an organism that just 03:19.964 --> 03:22.076 kind of meanders through life when we 03:22.076 --> 03:24.131 are not disciplined ourselves , that 03:24.131 --> 03:26.353 means that somebody else has to pick up 03:26.353 --> 03:28.576 the , the slack along the way . And I , 03:28.576 --> 03:27.869 and I know , like I've failed 03:28.479 --> 03:30.701 throughout my career and I knew it when 03:30.701 --> 03:32.701 I failed if there's a task that was 03:32.701 --> 03:34.923 doled out and I didn't pull my weight . 03:34.923 --> 03:36.979 One of my buddies ended up having to 03:36.979 --> 03:39.035 pick that up . And it's , you know , 03:39.035 --> 03:41.035 and it's funny is like , they don't 03:41.035 --> 03:43.201 buddies don't abandon you , they don't 03:43.201 --> 03:45.423 walk away from you and go like , well , 03:45.423 --> 03:44.750 you're , you know , you're worthless to 03:44.759 --> 03:47.037 me instead . It's just like this conti , 03:47.037 --> 03:49.203 it's this level of disappointment that 03:49.203 --> 03:51.315 you feel like . And they go , man , I 03:51.315 --> 03:53.537 can't trust . It's worse . It's worse . 03:53.537 --> 03:55.703 It's worse than someone getting mad at 03:55.703 --> 03:55.610 you . It really is because it's like , 03:55.619 --> 03:57.860 it's , it , we have this need to , to , 03:57.869 --> 04:00.410 to trust each other and when somebody 04:00.419 --> 04:02.752 doesn't trust you as an individual that , 04:02.752 --> 04:04.975 that actually kind of burrows into your 04:04.975 --> 04:07.086 soul . You know , it's like , it , it 04:07.089 --> 04:09.449 almost is consuming . It almost becomes , 04:09.460 --> 04:11.516 I've got to do everything I possibly 04:11.516 --> 04:13.571 can to build that trust back so that 04:13.571 --> 04:15.793 you can trust me . So you can , I'm not 04:15.793 --> 04:18.016 a weight on your mind . The other thing 04:18.016 --> 04:17.779 that you said and I really liked was 04:17.790 --> 04:20.179 the empowerment piece , you know , 04:20.190 --> 04:24.040 being able to push responsibility or 04:24.049 --> 04:26.750 ownership down to the lowest level , uh , 04:26.769 --> 04:29.359 that we possibly can because once you 04:29.369 --> 04:31.647 take something on and you own it , you , 04:31.647 --> 04:33.425 you become invested in it , our 04:33.425 --> 04:35.536 commanders set the uh like here's the 04:35.536 --> 04:37.536 direction that we're gonna go , but 04:37.536 --> 04:40.049 they don't tell you how , how to get 04:40.059 --> 04:42.226 there . We don't have to because we've 04:42.226 --> 04:44.226 got , you know , smart young people 04:44.226 --> 04:46.448 who've been in the organization 7 to 10 04:46.448 --> 04:49.510 years that can go , I take your orders 04:49.519 --> 04:51.741 or I can take your vision and I'm gonna 04:51.741 --> 04:53.797 put it into play and I'm gonna build 04:53.797 --> 04:56.019 this community around that . So I , you 04:56.019 --> 04:58.130 know , I like that piece . I like the 04:58.130 --> 04:57.959 empowerment piece . That's , that's , 04:57.970 --> 05:00.220 you know , that's the advice to , to , 05:00.230 --> 05:02.519 to commanders , subordinate commanders 05:02.529 --> 05:05.019 along the way is empower your people as 05:05.029 --> 05:07.307 much as you possibly can delegate down . 05:07.307 --> 05:09.739 Don't , not to the point where you like 05:09.750 --> 05:11.639 smother everybody with overwork . 05:11.639 --> 05:13.861 That's not what I mean . But allow then 05:13.861 --> 05:16.083 the decision space to determine whether 05:16.083 --> 05:18.250 something needs to be done or not . At 05:18.250 --> 05:20.417 first that was a team member , right ? 05:20.417 --> 05:22.583 And then I was a , you know , like a , 05:22.583 --> 05:24.806 a , a person that could be counted on . 05:24.806 --> 05:26.861 And then all of a sudden I'm leading 05:26.861 --> 05:26.559 the team and that's , that's where I 05:26.570 --> 05:28.681 found my own identity . And you and I 05:28.681 --> 05:30.848 found it in my own style of leadership 05:30.848 --> 05:33.014 by taking a piece of , of every person 05:33.014 --> 05:35.014 that I had come in contact with and 05:35.014 --> 05:34.619 learn and say , you know what , I 05:34.630 --> 05:36.852 didn't like the way that guy did that , 05:36.852 --> 05:39.019 I'm not gonna do that , but I love the 05:39.019 --> 05:41.241 way that this , this uh person did that 05:41.241 --> 05:41.130 and I'm gonna take that and I'm gonna 05:41.140 --> 05:43.609 add it to my toolbox and I became , um , 05:44.519 --> 05:46.408 I came into my own as a leader by 05:46.408 --> 05:48.241 taking a piece of that , of , of 05:48.241 --> 05:50.408 everyone that I came in contact with , 05:50.408 --> 05:52.575 whether good or bad . And that's , you 05:52.575 --> 05:54.908 know , I think that's important is like , 05:54.908 --> 05:54.339 it's , you're right , you're not , 05:55.170 --> 05:57.910 you're not losing who you are , you're 05:57.920 --> 05:59.976 actually enriching the enriching the 05:59.976 --> 06:01.976 team with , with who you are with , 06:01.976 --> 06:03.864 with that , with those individual 06:03.864 --> 06:06.031 skills that you have . It doesn't mean 06:06.031 --> 06:07.920 that it has to be , it's not , it 06:07.920 --> 06:07.459 doesn't have to be consuming , it 06:07.470 --> 06:10.119 doesn't have to be overwhelming or , or 06:10.130 --> 06:12.040 anything else . It is just an 06:12.049 --> 06:14.160 enhancement of , of that team because 06:14.160 --> 06:16.216 we talked about , you know , teams , 06:16.216 --> 06:18.493 they , they constantly morph , there's , 06:18.493 --> 06:20.660 there is no , we don't have , we don't 06:20.660 --> 06:22.771 have the same old people in all those 06:22.771 --> 06:22.760 teams . It's like college football 06:22.769 --> 06:24.809 every four years , the team looks 06:24.820 --> 06:27.420 completely different . What you bring 06:27.429 --> 06:29.600 to the team . You're never , you're 06:29.609 --> 06:31.831 never gonna lose that by assimilating . 06:31.831 --> 06:34.160 The team is really , it's a chance to 06:34.170 --> 06:36.337 use it when you become a team . But to 06:36.337 --> 06:38.549 bring your own personal expertise or 06:38.559 --> 06:40.615 life experience or what whatever you 06:40.615 --> 06:43.750 have and incorporate that into the 06:43.760 --> 06:45.970 family , people will love you for it . 06:46.029 --> 06:48.320 Yes . Exactly . Exactly . So you find 06:48.329 --> 06:50.496 targets for tuning in and never forget 06:50.496 --> 06:50.519 targets .