WEBVTT 00:00.058 --> 00:03.230 (upbeat music) 00:03.230 --> 00:05.733 - I started this Air Force journey at 17. 00:08.240 --> 00:10.440 I kind of received a lot of negative feedback 00:10.440 --> 00:12.870 from a lot of folks about how I would do in the military 00:12.870 --> 00:16.530 or how I would do a military institution for college 00:16.530 --> 00:18.850 and I think I'm most proud that I didn't listen 00:18.850 --> 00:20.227 to them when I did it anyway. 00:20.227 --> 00:22.810 (upbeat music) 00:31.300 --> 00:33.380 And I was in high school, I was just kind 00:33.380 --> 00:36.403 of in a very turbulent time in life, lots of change. 00:37.420 --> 00:39.410 And my mom pretty much told me she's like, Look, 00:39.410 --> 00:40.450 if you want to go to college, 00:40.450 --> 00:43.340 you're gonna have to figure it out. 00:43.340 --> 00:47.320 My mom is a legacy employee in American Airlines. 00:47.320 --> 00:49.660 She was talking one day outside of the cabin 00:49.660 --> 00:52.290 and one of the pilots overheard her. 00:52.290 --> 00:56.520 He was a retired Air Force officer that graduated 00:56.520 --> 00:57.870 from the Air Force Academy. 01:00.300 --> 01:01.400 So he told me about 01:01.400 --> 01:04.410 it and we actually took a trip out there. 01:04.410 --> 01:07.130 And I just fell in love with it, I fell in love 01:07.130 --> 01:10.030 with the idea of it, of having a meaningful life 01:10.030 --> 01:14.210 of having an education that directly translated into a job. 01:14.210 --> 01:15.920 And I was just ready. 01:15.920 --> 01:18.253 I was like, let's do this its game time. 01:20.040 --> 01:22.760 I thought I wanted to fly planes, 01:22.760 --> 01:24.730 and show up at the Air Force Academy 01:24.730 --> 01:27.130 and realize I really hate flying things. 01:27.130 --> 01:30.370 When I came across the civil engineering department, 01:30.370 --> 01:32.760 I just loved the people. 01:32.760 --> 01:34.730 I go, you know, if I'm gonna do this for 20 years, 01:34.730 --> 01:36.930 these are the people that I wanna be around. 01:38.460 --> 01:41.580 So my first duty station was Vandenberg Air Force Base. 01:41.580 --> 01:44.460 Being at Vandenberg really got to understand utilities 01:44.460 --> 01:46.513 and how it impacts mission assurance. 01:47.770 --> 01:50.510 And then my deployment, having the opportunity 01:50.510 --> 01:53.520 to be a flight commander with a very close knit, 01:53.520 --> 01:56.900 small team gave me a much greater appreciation 01:56.900 --> 01:58.700 for what officer ships really about. 02:00.960 --> 02:03.910 I currently work as the officer in-charge 02:03.910 --> 02:05.920 of operations engineering, and it's an element 02:05.920 --> 02:09.470 that links our operations flights or engineering flight. 02:09.470 --> 02:13.150 Asset Management falls under me, work management, 02:13.150 --> 02:15.750 which is the legacy Customer Service Unit. 02:15.750 --> 02:19.083 Service contracts falls under me as material control. 02:20.360 --> 02:22.160 Asset Management is really important just 02:22.160 --> 02:24.550 because if you don't manage your assets and your base, 02:24.550 --> 02:28.630 then your mission is not gonna go as smoothly as it should. 02:28.630 --> 02:32.450 You wanna invest the correct amount in the right asset 02:32.450 --> 02:35.390 to make sure that we're benefiting our personnel 02:35.390 --> 02:36.283 in this country. 02:37.230 --> 02:38.360 I've also had the opportunity 02:38.360 --> 02:40.660 to lead our readiness challenge team taking 02:40.660 --> 02:41.930 them down to Tyndall. 02:41.930 --> 02:44.260 And so my role was to make sure the right person 02:44.260 --> 02:47.010 that we're going to represent our Squadron mom, 02:47.010 --> 02:48.210 and that they were prepared 02:48.210 --> 02:50.840 to execute some more time passed down there. 02:50.840 --> 02:54.130 It was amazing knowing that I was helping make history 02:54.130 --> 02:56.414 for the Air Force and engineers. 02:56.414 --> 02:58.997 (upbeat music) 03:01.040 --> 03:02.670 I'm proud to be civil engineer officer 03:02.670 --> 03:07.410 just because of how many different types of expertise I get 03:07.410 --> 03:10.000 to oversee understanding how you impact 03:10.000 --> 03:11.830 the national defense strategy, 03:11.830 --> 03:14.530 our country's security, keeping internal 03:14.530 --> 03:15.890 to our borders safe as well. 03:15.890 --> 03:19.440 I got the opportunity to do hurricane Michael recovery. 03:19.440 --> 03:22.010 And I think the Air Force enterprise enjoys 03:22.010 --> 03:25.530 having civil engineers around because we're well organized 03:25.530 --> 03:28.840 and we're taught to think through a process. 03:28.840 --> 03:31.670 So the fact that we're part of an organization 03:31.670 --> 03:35.173 that takes us so seriously makes it pretty amazing. 03:36.610 --> 03:38.620 Somebody told 18 year old Morgan 03:38.620 --> 03:40.530 that I was gonna go through all of this. 03:40.530 --> 03:42.993 I was looked at them and said, You're crazy. 03:44.800 --> 03:47.440 That's why we don't know if we did know it's beginning 03:47.440 --> 03:49.040 of what everything you have to go through 03:49.040 --> 03:49.990 and you'll make it. 03:52.260 --> 03:55.560 I think I'm just most proud of having the courage 03:55.560 --> 03:59.883 to start all of it and just not giving up. 04:01.670 --> 04:03.340 My name is Captain Morgan Grohol 04:03.340 --> 04:06.658 and I am the United States Air Force civil engineer. 04:06.658 --> 04:09.325 (upbeat music).