WEBVTT 00:00.189 --> 00:02.022 Good day Flying Tigers , Colonel 00:02.022 --> 00:03.967 Gaddafi here talking today with uh 00:03.967 --> 00:05.911 Chief Walthall . Things that we're 00:05.911 --> 00:08.133 gonna be talking about today is healthy 00:08.133 --> 00:10.245 practices and then also preparing the 00:10.245 --> 00:12.356 the human weapon system . If you will 00:12.356 --> 00:14.529 uh for , for combat you and I as 00:14.539 --> 00:16.610 military members , we get a lot of 00:16.620 --> 00:20.409 support . We have our peers that have 00:20.420 --> 00:22.476 our , our mentors that have deployed 00:22.476 --> 00:24.698 before us . We've , we've , we can talk 00:24.698 --> 00:26.809 to somebody I can look to you , Chief 00:26.809 --> 00:28.809 and Go . Chief does not seem overly 00:28.809 --> 00:30.959 concerned . He seems very calm . He 00:30.969 --> 00:33.136 seems like he's , he's , he's clicking 00:33.136 --> 00:35.302 through checklist to get ready to go . 00:35.302 --> 00:37.525 Uh But if I just follow his example , I 00:37.525 --> 00:39.580 feel like everything's gonna be ok . 00:39.580 --> 00:41.802 How do we also prepare our families for 00:41.802 --> 00:43.358 that as well ? And for that 00:43.358 --> 00:45.358 reintegration piece ? And how do we 00:45.358 --> 00:47.580 build back into a family need back into 00:47.580 --> 00:49.525 that , into that dough if you will 00:49.525 --> 00:51.636 without alienating each other without 00:51.636 --> 00:53.959 uh causing extra stress , keeping your 00:53.970 --> 00:55.914 spouse involved in the process and 00:55.914 --> 00:58.137 communicating kind of what's going on , 00:58.137 --> 00:59.970 kind of not keeping everything , 00:59.970 --> 01:02.137 holding it too close to the chest . Um 01:02.137 --> 01:04.248 And just realizing , hey , you know , 01:04.248 --> 01:03.669 there's certain things you can't talk 01:03.680 --> 01:05.791 about too , with operational security 01:05.791 --> 01:07.958 and things like that . But , but hey , 01:07.958 --> 01:10.069 this is what's going on , this is how 01:10.069 --> 01:09.489 we're gonna communicate . You know , 01:09.500 --> 01:11.556 this is the resource I have down the 01:11.556 --> 01:13.722 range should be like , hey , I'm gonna 01:13.722 --> 01:15.778 be able to facetime you every day or 01:15.778 --> 01:15.180 I'm gonna have access to a computer or 01:15.190 --> 01:17.357 I'm gonna have access to a phone to be 01:17.357 --> 01:19.468 able to talk to you . And I would say 01:19.468 --> 01:21.801 this for any member if you're deploying , 01:21.801 --> 01:21.190 if you have access to a phone or 01:21.199 --> 01:23.366 anything like that and you have time , 01:23.366 --> 01:25.532 call your spouse every day , call your 01:25.532 --> 01:27.588 kids every day , facetime them , you 01:27.588 --> 01:26.889 can , because I know it was important 01:26.900 --> 01:28.900 for me when I deployed . You know , 01:28.900 --> 01:31.233 you're , you're going 100% all the time . 01:31.233 --> 01:30.720 And like you said too , I , I always 01:30.730 --> 01:32.563 kinda say it's still stressful , 01:32.563 --> 01:34.730 deploying everything like that . But , 01:34.730 --> 01:34.610 you know , it seems like life is 01:34.620 --> 01:36.898 simpler . You take care of the mission , 01:36.898 --> 01:39.629 work out , eat sleep repeat . Um And 01:39.639 --> 01:41.861 you have time to , to , to take care of 01:41.861 --> 01:44.083 yourself and those kind of things too . 01:44.083 --> 01:46.139 Uh But when coming back , when you , 01:46.139 --> 01:45.699 when you're going 100 miles an hour and 01:45.709 --> 01:47.931 all of a sudden life kind of slows down 01:47.931 --> 01:50.153 a bit and you're , you're coming back , 01:50.153 --> 01:52.209 you had this routine that you've had 01:52.209 --> 01:54.209 for 6789 months . Uh And now you're 01:54.209 --> 01:56.431 trying to just roll right back into the 01:56.431 --> 01:58.653 family life and the dynamics of it . Uh 01:58.653 --> 02:00.820 it's challenging and , and , and , and 02:00.820 --> 02:03.042 it's hard to , to , you know , pinpoint 02:03.042 --> 02:04.931 on uh kind of what works well for 02:04.931 --> 02:07.042 everybody . But I , I just , for me , 02:07.042 --> 02:09.265 it's just not suffering in silence is , 02:09.265 --> 02:08.570 is always important . And , and where 02:08.580 --> 02:10.636 can I link somebody up ? And I think 02:10.636 --> 02:12.858 that's where , you know , we , a lot of 02:12.858 --> 02:14.969 us here obviously deploys teams , you 02:14.969 --> 02:14.419 know , we look out for each other and 02:14.429 --> 02:16.596 what's kind of going on going on . And 02:16.596 --> 02:18.262 you can usually tell what the 02:18.262 --> 02:20.485 individuals do when they're coming back 02:20.485 --> 02:20.479 and they're not reintegrating . Well on , 02:20.490 --> 02:22.712 hey , something's going on . Like I , I 02:22.820 --> 02:25.042 let's get you some help and resources . 02:25.042 --> 02:27.264 But I can , I can say the hardest thing 02:27.264 --> 02:29.320 is taking the first step to actually 02:29.320 --> 02:31.653 have some self awareness that , hey , I , 02:31.653 --> 02:33.764 I can't do this on my own . I need to 02:33.764 --> 02:35.820 go get some help routine of going to 02:35.820 --> 02:37.820 sleep at the same time , routine of 02:37.820 --> 02:40.042 waking up routine of , of having a what 02:40.042 --> 02:41.876 you consider a healthy breakfast 02:41.876 --> 02:43.931 routine of , of how much family time 02:43.931 --> 02:46.042 that you're gonna have . You're gonna 02:46.042 --> 02:48.098 have there de devoted to your spouse 02:48.098 --> 02:50.209 devoted to your , to your own workout 02:50.209 --> 02:52.431 leading into uh a deployment big deal . 02:52.431 --> 02:54.653 And then on the back side , finding out 02:54.653 --> 02:56.820 what is that routine that my family is 02:56.820 --> 02:59.169 in ? My spouse is in my significant 02:59.179 --> 03:02.529 other is in and how do I not disrupt 03:02.539 --> 03:04.919 that right away by just me being 03:04.929 --> 03:07.369 present again . How can I , in , how do 03:07.380 --> 03:10.820 I , who's had this opportunity to know 03:10.830 --> 03:12.929 that a routine is really good to now 03:12.940 --> 03:15.990 allow them to continue their routines 03:16.000 --> 03:18.111 as I reintegrate as well . You know , 03:18.111 --> 03:20.222 reintegration is always , it's always 03:20.222 --> 03:22.222 difficult and , you know , and it's 03:22.222 --> 03:24.333 harder to , uh , especially for , you 03:24.333 --> 03:23.690 know , we , we got a lot of Aman too 03:23.699 --> 03:26.032 that don't , don't come home to anybody . 03:26.032 --> 03:27.921 Um , and , and , and that's , and 03:27.921 --> 03:29.532 that's something that's very 03:29.532 --> 03:31.699 challenging . So getting them together 03:31.699 --> 03:31.410 with , you know , with , with friends , 03:31.419 --> 03:33.530 with peers , with folks in the unit , 03:33.530 --> 03:35.586 but outside of the unit , whoever to 03:35.586 --> 03:37.363 help them along that journey on 03:37.363 --> 03:39.475 reintegrating because they don't have 03:39.475 --> 03:39.134 somebody that , that's at the house to 03:39.145 --> 03:41.145 be able to see some of those things 03:41.145 --> 03:43.034 that may be trending in the wrong 03:43.034 --> 03:45.034 direction . That'd be uh , negative 03:45.034 --> 03:44.934 things to where they need help . But 03:45.074 --> 03:46.907 you know , what , what are their 03:46.907 --> 03:49.130 friends seeing ? What , what are , what 03:49.130 --> 03:48.654 are their supervisors seeing ? What are , 03:48.664 --> 03:50.942 what is their family or parents seeing ? 03:50.942 --> 03:52.997 That's a little different from those 03:52.997 --> 03:52.494 members . And then how do we , how do 03:52.505 --> 03:54.561 we go about helping them ? Because I 03:54.561 --> 03:56.783 think a lot of our airmen , most of our 03:56.783 --> 03:58.838 airmen I would say are , are , are , 03:58.838 --> 04:01.005 are single and , you know , they don't 04:01.005 --> 04:00.259 have anybody that they're coming home 04:00.270 --> 04:02.381 to . They , they do have , you know , 04:02.381 --> 04:04.492 hopefully some friends and everything 04:04.492 --> 04:03.889 like that . But how do we help the ones 04:03.899 --> 04:05.955 that are , that are just coming back 04:05.955 --> 04:08.177 and they , they feel alone , you know , 04:08.177 --> 04:10.343 they feel like nobody understands what 04:10.343 --> 04:12.177 I'm going through . Uh , because 04:12.177 --> 04:11.955 everybody handles deployments 04:11.964 --> 04:14.186 differently . Right . Like , you know , 04:14.186 --> 04:16.408 I , some people , you know , being away 04:16.408 --> 04:18.464 from home from the first time , just 04:18.464 --> 04:18.394 being in the air force in general is 04:18.404 --> 04:20.571 already difficult enough and now we're 04:20.571 --> 04:22.682 sending them down range for the first 04:22.682 --> 04:24.737 time and operating at a high speed , 04:24.737 --> 04:24.654 lots of long days , long hours and then 04:24.665 --> 04:26.665 we're , they're coming back and now 04:26.674 --> 04:28.730 everything is just ok . Well , now , 04:28.730 --> 04:30.896 what am I , what am I doing ? Like , I 04:30.896 --> 04:32.896 don't , it doesn't feel right . The 04:32.896 --> 04:34.896 routine is much different now , you 04:34.896 --> 04:36.896 know , uh , people tend to get very 04:36.896 --> 04:38.730 close in deployments to and meet 04:38.730 --> 04:40.896 different people too and , and connect 04:40.896 --> 04:40.809 with different people and when they 04:40.820 --> 04:43.042 come back , they don't have that . Uh , 04:43.042 --> 04:45.264 it , it's , it's hard to do . So that's 04:45.264 --> 04:47.320 why it's just , I would say , like , 04:47.320 --> 04:49.542 nothing ever beats human interaction if 04:49.542 --> 04:49.450 our enlisted , our , our flight 04:49.459 --> 04:51.681 commanders or flight chiefs , all those 04:51.681 --> 04:53.737 folks all the way up to the squadron 04:53.737 --> 04:53.179 level , just you , you know , who's 04:53.190 --> 04:55.190 deploying , you know , who's coming 04:55.190 --> 04:57.357 back ? Hey , let's , let's check up on 04:57.357 --> 04:59.301 them . Let's have a , let's have a 04:59.301 --> 04:58.730 conversation , you know , have a 04:58.739 --> 05:00.906 deployment co , you know , how are you 05:00.906 --> 05:03.072 doing ? How are you transitioning ? Um 05:03.072 --> 05:05.295 What can I do to help you ? What do you 05:05.295 --> 05:07.517 need from me , uh , to help you through 05:07.517 --> 05:09.517 this ? And I think just having that 05:09.517 --> 05:11.406 conversation goes a long way with 05:11.406 --> 05:11.239 people because yeah , we can do the 05:11.250 --> 05:13.139 reintegration lines and all those 05:13.139 --> 05:15.306 things . But what happens after that ? 05:15.306 --> 05:17.528 What happens at the 30 60 90 day mark ? 05:17.528 --> 05:19.750 Yes , we do our , our deployment health 05:19.750 --> 05:21.806 reassessments all the time , right ? 05:21.806 --> 05:21.609 And I challenge you leaders out there 05:21.619 --> 05:24.109 as we talk about the uh the combat 05:24.119 --> 05:26.320 readiness . And also the the the 05:26.329 --> 05:28.496 holistic aspect is , don't forget that 05:28.496 --> 05:30.551 backside . She brings up a wonderful 05:30.551 --> 05:32.551 point of , you know , we're , we're 05:32.551 --> 05:34.829 very good about the invasive downrange . 05:34.829 --> 05:36.885 Let's do it once we get back home as 05:36.885 --> 05:39.107 well , take care of our individuals and 05:39.107 --> 05:39.079 get them back on the path to their own 05:39.089 --> 05:41.311 reintegration and then continuing on to 05:41.311 --> 05:43.533 the next phase like to end on uh attack 05:43.533 --> 05:44.299 rescue and prevail .