Wild Blue Yonder on the Air Air University Public Affairs

The Hap Arnold Outreach Program Review - Abandoning Isolation and Healing From Trauma

This episode of Wild Blue Yonder On the Air features a speaker from the Air War College General Henry Hap Arnold Outreach program, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. Opening up the episode, Dr. Elizabeth Woodward offers an overview of the program and the life of Hap Arnold, the five-star general and first general of the Air Force after which the program is named. She also dives into the three goals of the program: to share the mission and vision of the Air War College, create a bridge between the college and the American people, and connect to those they are serving alongside.

Dr. Elizabeth Woodworth welcomes Kelly McKay to today's episode. And for the first time in his life, McKay wants to embrace his trauma, share notes on grief, and teach others how they too can use their troubled pasts to create a more positive path into the future. After losing countless family, friends, and teammates to suicide or military related accidents, battling with cancer, and watching his wife nearly lose her ability to walk, Kelly had held his cards close to his chest, not letting even his closest confidantes know about the war that was raging on inside him. It wasn’t until recently though that all that changed. McKay explains to Woodward what it’s like leaving his life of isolation behind. Sharing 10 simple lessons with Woodward and the audience, McKay remarks that the most challenging aspect of trauma is embracing vulnerability. As a member of the military where emotions are more often than not suppressed, he started to reckon with that side of him that couldn’t keep things under control or defend himself. Now McKay’s at the point where he finds bravery in asking for help and has abandoned his life of isolation and ignorance for one far more fulfilling and centered around growth. Listen to today’s episode, and feel very free to take some notes.

The Hap Arnold Outreach Program Review—The Dark Side of Leadership and Understanding the Value of Presence

This episode of Wild Blue Yonder On the Air features two speakers from the Air War College General Henry Hap Arnold Outreach program, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. To open the episode, Dr. Elizabeth Woodward provides an overview of the program and the life of Hap Arnold, the five-star general and first general of the Air Force for whom it is named. She also explains the threefold goals of the program: to share the mission and vision of the Air War College, create a bridge between the college and the American people, and connect to those they are serving alongside.

Next, our first speaker takes us to a galaxy far, far away, where the Jedi battle against the Dark Side of the Force. Just like the Star Wars universe, there’s a dark side to leadership too, and it’s easy to find oneself sliding into it, especially when making decisions that impact other people’s lives. The speaker shares how realizing his ambition of becoming a Squadron Commander came with some major emotional challenges, from a suicide on his second day on the job to having to end a colleague’s career, albeit for her own good. He describes how events like these took a toll on his mental and physical well-being, as well as his relationships with his wife and kids, before coming to his own Darth Vader moment of realization that things had to change. He then shares how he shifted his mentality to appreciate the positive parts of his job and reached out to friends and family for help improving his health and building a foundation of resilience. In this, he hopes to provide an example of how to prepare oneself for the challenges of leadership and overcome its dark side.

Something our second speaker holds close to her heart is the saying that your presence is a present. Through her twenty years of military service, she has prided herself on ensuring that while she can’t always give her family the quantity of time she would want to, she can give them quality time. However, it took some major life events for her to realize that while she was there physically, mentally, she wasn’t present, too focused on all the other working parts of her busy life. Even after being advised by her doctor while pregnant with her fourth child to rest and relax for the sake of the baby’s health, she only took this to heart for the length of the pregnancy—once her son was born, she dove right back in. It took a serious health scare with her son, and some help from her friends and family, to realize that she had to learn to be truly present, not just physically but fully. Now, while she still loves being in the thick of things, she’s also learned to take time to find quiet spaces, to have business hours and respect them, and to accept that “no” is a sentence that requires no explanation. And she urges other leaders to do the same and remember that presence is a present, one that those you love deserve to receive.

This episode of Wild Blue Yonder On the Air features two speakers from the Air War College General Henry Hap Arnold Outreach program, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. To open the episode, Dr. Elizabeth Woodward provides an overview of the program and the life of Hap Arnold, the five-star general and first general of the Air Force for whom it is named. She also explains the threefold goals of the program: to share the mission and vision of the Air War College, create a bridge between the college and the American people, and connect to those they are serving alongside.

Next, our first speaker, LTC John Harvey, tells the story of the October day in 2019 when his life as a high-achieving battalion commander changed forever. It was that day he and his wife got the call that they had been selected by a birth mother to raise her brand-new baby girl as their own and had four hours to drive ninety miles to the hospital to pick her up. The chaos of that moment led to the most challenging but rewarding time of his life, and bringing up his daughter alongside his two sons has provided many lessons on how to be a better leader. These include the importance of calculated risk-taking instead of sticking to the status quo and of leaving the organization better than you found it to benefit those who follow. He also highlights how adopting a child born in challenging circumstances transformed his view of the world and made him more empathetic, a skill he now brings to his leadership approach.

The story of the second speaker, Colonel Marty “Metro” Smith, begins in January 2007, when he was a new aircraft commander in the C130H Hercules. He and his crew were getting close to the end of their flying window when they were asked to fly to Baghdad, a call they weren’t happy about. However, when it turned out to be a mission to retrieve the remains of an Army Specialist killed in an explosion, they agreed to make the flight. The speaker recalls that, on the flight back, they discovered the Specialist’s name, Brandon Stout, which coincidentally came up again eight months later during a broadcast by the President. The speaker realized he knew that name and felt compelled to learn more about Brandon and keep him in his memories, which he has done by wearing a bracelet in honor of Brandon every day for the last fourteen years. He says there are three lessons he learned from this experience he wants to share: to know the possibilities that come with going the extra mile, to connect with the people in our lives, and to actively remember the wisdom from those who are no longer with us.

Maj. Frank Martinez, Drs. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton and James Sandy discuss the Marvel Universe and Diversity and Inclusion Recruiting.

Wild Blue Yonder on the Air - Ep. 22 - Dr. Lauren Mackenzie discusses the role of failure in teaching and learning.

Wild Blue Yonder on the Air - Ep. 21 - Lt. General Ronald Place on the DHA and Military Medicine