WEBVTT

00:00.140 --> 00:03.765
- I went through the entire enlisted process with the Corps,

00:03.765 --> 00:06.779
'cause I come from an entire family of Marines,

00:06.779 --> 00:09.427
so Thanksgiving gets interesting (chuckles),

00:10.690 --> 00:13.560
but I found out about the Air National Guard

00:13.560 --> 00:15.380
through a buddy, 'cause I was actually going

00:15.380 --> 00:16.490
through the process with the Corps,

00:16.490 --> 00:18.546
and he said, "Hey, I have the number for this recruiter.

00:18.546 --> 00:19.847
"You should give him a call.

00:19.847 --> 00:21.870
"I think it would fit your personality a lot more."

00:21.870 --> 00:23.900
i actually wanted to come

00:23.900 --> 00:25.708
straight out of high school and just kind of,

00:25.708 --> 00:27.300
all my family are pretty much

00:27.300 --> 00:28.900
blue collar workers and farmers,

00:29.010 --> 00:30.919
so I thought was gonna kind of be my legacy,

00:30.919 --> 00:33.890
and kind of just go into the Corps and be a farmer.

00:33.890 --> 00:35.023
That's where I was gonna end up.

00:35.023 --> 00:37.267
But my grandpa sat me down and said,

00:37.267 --> 00:39.207
"Hey, you blew your ASVAB out of the water.

00:39.207 --> 00:40.509
"what are you doing with your life?"

00:40.509 --> 00:43.540
And so he pushed me more towards the Air Force

00:43.540 --> 00:45.340
side of the house and a college degree.

00:45.340 --> 00:48.810
I think that the stereotype surrounding military members

00:48.810 --> 00:52.123
and uneducation are totally a facade.

00:52.330 --> 00:54.549
I recently just me a Senior Master Sergeant

00:54.549 --> 00:57.281
that's actually a nurse anesthetist on the civilian side.

00:57.281 --> 00:59.480
So you're never gonna know who

00:59.480 --> 01:01.663
you're gonna interact with on the military side

01:01.663 --> 01:04.866
that has an amazing civilian side education.

01:04.866 --> 01:08.780
Mhy job entails keeping track of people's benefits,

01:08.780 --> 01:13.550
their records, any type of dependency status change,

01:13.550 --> 01:16.620
if they have a kid, any of those changes,

01:16.620 --> 01:19.313
we keep track, we update, we help people promote.

01:19.510 --> 01:22.130
I've been in now about four and a half years

01:22.130 --> 01:25.150
coming up on five for 2018.

01:25.150 --> 01:27.729
I enlisted three days after I turned 18.

01:27.729 --> 01:31.873
So it's been one heck of a ride so far.

01:32.040 --> 01:33.840
It all started 'cause I got an email

01:34.080 --> 01:36.010
saying I was nominated by a faculty member

01:36.010 --> 01:39.182
for what Walsh calls The Tower of Excellence award.

01:39.182 --> 01:41.870
It's their longest-standing award

01:41.870 --> 01:44.330
for leadership in the service outside of the valedictorian

01:44.330 --> 01:45.813
or outstanding student award.

01:46.020 --> 01:47.460
So they kind of coincide,

01:47.460 --> 01:49.635
they coexist together as the top of the class.

01:49.635 --> 01:51.435
So when I got that email,

01:51.435 --> 01:54.223
you have to be nominated by a faculty member,

01:54.230 --> 01:57.163
submit a package, a resume, and answer a lot of questions.

01:57.210 --> 02:00.020
So the 179thg really provided a lot

02:00.020 --> 02:02.120
of the answers to those questions,

02:02.120 --> 02:04.814
'cause they're all about what has developed you as a leader?

02:04.814 --> 02:06.451
What are your views on leadership?

02:06.451 --> 02:09.132
How do you plan on leading others in the future?

02:09.132 --> 02:11.734
And then it talks about incorporating Walsh

02:11.734 --> 02:13.580
into those leadership concepts,

02:13.580 --> 02:17.158
but that pool of nominees gets narrowed down to 25,

02:17.158 --> 02:19.037
and then down to five.

02:19.037 --> 02:22.780
Those five people go through an hour-long interview process

02:22.780 --> 02:25.293
and then a winner is selected out of that,

02:25.310 --> 02:26.610
and I ended up being the winner

02:26.610 --> 02:28.663
out of those final five people.

02:28.663 --> 02:31.580
And with that comes the ability

02:31.580 --> 02:33.880
to give the commencement speech at graduation.