Podcasts about general odierno

CSA speaks about sexual harassment and sexual assault on Capital Hill. The Army wants enlisted Soldiers on station for 36 months. The trial of PFC Manning begins at Fort Meade, MD.

This edition features a story on General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Awards given to 28 Army Officers by General Odierno in D.C. Also available in high definition

General Odierno addresses plans to integrate women into all career fields. Corps of Engineers work through the winter in Afghanistan.

For our very first Throwback Thursday episode we celebrate the bravery of our men and women that have served in the United States Armed Services!   In this episode we will discuss not just continuing life after a horrific injury, but excelling and living life to it's fullest, minus two arms and two legs.  On April 10, 2012, United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills of the 82nd Airborne was critically injured on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan by an IED (improvised explosive device) while on patrol, losing portions of both legs and both arms. In September 2013, Travis and his wife Kelsey founded the Travis Mills Foundation, a nonprofit organization, formed to benefit and assist post 9/11 veterans who have been injured in active duty or as a result of their service to our nation. The veteran and their families receive an all-inclusive, all-expenses paid, barrier-free vacation to Maine where they participate in adaptive activities, bond with other veteran families, and enjoy much-needed rest and relaxation in Maine's great outdoors. If you are in a giving mood this year, the Travis Mills Foundation is a great way to give back to injured Veterans!  (DONATE HERE) TRANSCRIPT PodcastDX-Quad_Amputee   Lita T  00:10 Hello and welcome to another episode of podcast dx. The show that brings you interviews with people just like you whose lives were forever changed by a medical diagnosis. I'm Lita   Ron  00:22 I'm Ron,   Jean  00:23 and I'm a pina colada.   Lita T  00:24 You're not a pina colada she's Jean Marie. Collectively we're the hosts of PodcastDX. On today's show we're speaking with Travis Mills. Travis, if you're not familiar with him by now is the quadruple amputee from an Afghanistan IED and we're going to hear more about his story in a little bit. And he also is running a foundation that provides R&R services more or less for other veterans that have been injured. Is that right Travis?   Travis  00:55 Yeah, absolutely it for physically injured and now we're moving towards all injuries.   Lita T  01:00 Great, great. Well, welcome to the show. Go ahead, Ron   Ron  01:05 Travis. Hi, this is Ron. Again. Thank you for joining us today on our show. First, I would like to start off by saying thank you for your service to our country.   Travis  01:15 Well, no, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And I'm excited to be here. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you guys for a bit. Yeah!   Ron  01:21  I read a bit about your injuries and your recovery. I gotta say, I am amazed by your determination and your tenacity. It seems like you've overcome a lot of challenges since April of 2012. Could you tell our listeners a little bit about that day? didn't it just start off as a regular day for you.   Travis  01:41 You know, it did we were on our, you know, deployment. I was supposed to be there for nine months as my third deployment. And we had a phone call come in from the village elder that there was some IEDs we had a checkout. So we put our gear on like normal. We went on patrol and try to help them out. And we went, you know, the same routes that we always would take not the same routes, the same general direction. And I had the guy in front of me with the Minesweeper and swept the ground once again, twice like we are protocol. And it just didn't alarm that there's anything under the soil. So I happened to take my backpack off and I put it on the ground. And then the bomb went off. You know it. It shocked my world to be honest with you.   Lita T  02:19 Well that's For sure.   Jean  02:21 Yeah. I can't even imagine what you were going what was going through your mind at that time? Probably. Yeah, shock. What were the next steps after you were evacuated from the site where you were actually injured. For instance, how soon after the attack, were you transferred back stateside? And was there an intermediate location or two for immediate surgical repair?   Travis  02:40 Well, I mean, what they did was, like I hit, my arm right side was completely gone, my right leg was completely gone. They disintegrated and they're found those pieces of me my left leg was snapped to the bone actually. So if you imagine the left ankle bone touching the left thigh, and my left wrist was blown out pretty bad. I hit the ground and rolled over on my back and I saw the aftermath. And in my head, I kept seeing the movie, Saving Private Ryan. And I thought you know about the medic that gets shot stomachs and then he cries out for his mom and ultimately died. I had I said no way like that ever remember me to freaking out or complaining or crying or feeling awful, you know begging not to die basically. Because at the end of the day, it's not my choice and I'm always wanting to exude confidence never showed fear, I led from the front and you know, I just, you never do that as a leader. So I calmed myself down, my medic worked on one side of me my Platoon Sergeant worked on the other side of me, they got four tourniquets on and then I with my left hand that was still left on my body. I reached up and grabbed my microphone and I called my Lieutenant I said, Hey, 6 this is 4 I got guys injured. I need your medic with mine. two of my soldiers got hit. So I you know, I called them and they radio back they sent Doc Voyce over. And Doc Voyce came to work on me, we're working on you know, my other men, and then me. I had to kind of calm him down he was in, stuck on repeat, you know like an old CD we could skip start skipping, he was doing what his training taught him to do so I kept saying "You'll be fine Sgt Mills, you'll be Okay, You'll be fine Sgt Mills, you'll be Okay,  he kept working he just kept saying it. I had to look at Doc Voyce and say "Hey Doc Just do your job. It's fine." And they got me on the helicopter about 10 minutes after Doc Voyce got there so really about 12 to 15 minutes being injured I was on a helicopter and I was transported to Kandahar hospital where I didn't know this then and I'm happy that it's, you know, a known fact now but 99% of patients that make it to Kandahar hospital leave Kandahar hospital alive.   Jean  04:36 That's amazing   Travis  04:36 And yeah, so they started wheeling me right into surgery as 14 hours of surgery took me into and just a wonderful team of nine doctors and seven nurses working for 14 hours straight to put me back to, well not put me back together I guess. that I was laying around with prosthetics but to you know, heal up my wounds and...   Lita T  04:56 Saved your life   Jean  04:57 Stabilize   Lita T  04:58  They saved your life, yeah,   Jean  04:59 yeah.   Travis  05:00 Yeah, absolutely.   Lita T  05:01 I'm guessing that those medics at the at the frontline are really the ones that saved your life. I know this wasn't something we were going to talk about, but do you stay in contact with those guys?   Travis  05:10 Oh, I do. Yeah, actually, um, you know, I know very fast forward but my wife and I had another child fortunately. So we have two now. And my son's name is DAX. Oh, he DAX is for medics, Daniel and Alexander as those who made it possible. Somebody will like name my kid in their honor. So  that was great. My wife kind of came up with the idea of more than I was going for Travis Fieldyen Mills the second but she said no   Lita T  05:29 That's amazing  (laughter)   Travis  05:39  I name everything after myself, my my business, my foundation, you know,   Lita T  05:44 At least everybody knows where they're going.   Jean  05:45 It worked for George Foreman, so why not?   Travis  05:48 Exactly.   Lita T  05:49 According to the Department of Defense, as of January 2018, more than 1500 service members have lost limbs in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, since all of this started in 2001, and an article back in 2018. In July, it pushed the number up to 1900 and 14. So 1914 Have you met any other amputees since you have been injured yourself?   Travis  06:21 Had I, you mean previously or since?   Lita T  06:23 no since then?   Travis  06:25 Oh, yes. At the hospital that we had a bunch of better, everybody at the hospital was an amputee   Lita T  06:30 Okay. Okay. So this is a very common wartime injury currently correct.   Travis  06:37 Oh, yeah. Yeah, but it's common to the hospital. So like, I had no idea like patient things like that. I mean, you figure you lose a leg, your life's over. Like it's gonna be the worst thing ever. And, you know, I got to the hospital and when I find it, they woke me up from a medical sedation. I was kind of like questioning why that person got hate me. What would I do wrong in life, talking to your husband and father and you know, the biggest thing I wonder is, why not just die? Like, how is this better? And in truth, I didn'twant to talk to my wife, my mom and dad at all that my parents didn't want to deal with the situation. But then I got to, you know, wake up, my brother in law was in the room, he was in the Military as well,  a friend of mine, I met his sister, my wife, and my parents, my wife, and I did. And then I didn't really have a conversation with them. It's kind of like, I don't want to talk about this, I want to deal with it. But finally, I got to meet Todd Nicely. He was a quadruple amputee, I'm actually one of five, I'm the fourth one out of five of us, and he walked into my room was like, Hey, man, you're gonna be fine. You're gonna walk again, you're gonna drive again, you're going to feed yourself, you know, you do everything you need to do by yourself. And I know doesn't sound like it, but you're gonna be independent. And I'm sorry. And that was all the, you know, the motivation I needed.   Lita T  07:48 So they kind of turn you around you think?   Travis  07:51 You know, my wife, and I thought she should leave me. Turn me like okay, let's get better. I won't be a burden on anybody. I mean, I'm very demanding husband. Unfortunately, you know that I expect a lot of help things but I'm very lucky my wife stayed. My daughter was six months old when I got hit. So she was there more with me every day. And I actually learned how to walk with my daughter kind of cool. You know, little thing me and her have   Lita T  08:15 That's so cool   Travis  08:16  so and she's eight years old. She goes, and she tells people, you know, I taught my dad how to walk.   Lita T  08:22 So cool, I love that. Yeah, it's gonna be hard to not tear up right now.   Jean  08:27 Yeah, especially after watching the movie with the two of you,   Lita T  08:30 right?   Jean  08:31  Yeah, she was right there for your physical therapy and everything and your wife was right there too. And it's, that's amazing.   Travis  08:36 Oh, absolutely.   Lita T  08:38 After that. They got you back, you know, alive and somewhat functioning. Did they give you the chance to remain in the military in any status like you know, just state side desk side or do they just tell you this is it   Travis  08:53 you know, they did actually General Odierno and the Sergeant Major of the Army at the time came in Chandler came in talking to the hospital about, Hey, you know, we'd love to have you stay in, you can go around and maybe present on behalf of the military and I teared off and I said, Look, I plan on doing 20 years, gentlemen, but not like this. And my time has come to an end. I can't be Infantry anymore. I can't, you know, be airborne anymore. And as sad as it was to come to that realization, it was just, it was time. I think I made jokes and I really don't want to get restationed anywhere. And General Odierno said, I don't think we restation Sergeant Mills. I don't think so either, sir, but I'm going to call it today. I appreciate this conversation, you know, cuz it was emotional. I planned on 20 years at whole career path lined up, but it just didn't work out for me and that's okay. Cuz like, you know, it's gonna play some curveballs and you got to keep pushing forward and do the best you can and I feel like I've taken that curveball, and that's kind of knocked out of the park with everybody that helps.    Lita T  09:53 That's super   Ron  09:55 Travis, I've seen some of your videos on YouTube. Absolutely. Amazing. And I could tell you're a pretty humorous guy. How did your humor and your personality I guess, how did it help you with the recovery process? And how long after the amputations where you fitted for the prosthetic that you wear?   Travis  10:18 Well, the humor that I have came back right to me. I met in fact, one day, I was sitting there in my hospital bed, the hallway from the nurses, and I could see them holding their like change of shift brief and I started yelling, oh, my legs, my arms and legs where did they go?  How did this happen? And I'm just joking to get their attention. And a little 10 year old walked by, and I was like, Oh, I'm just kidding. Sorry. Girls, like I'm so sorry. But, of course, you have the humor. And I think the best compliment and sometimes the worst compliment that I get is that I'm the same person that I was for the injury. So depending on who says it, you know, if you know somebody that's a friend of mine that grew up with says that's awesome, but if it's like a like a Maybe old school teacher from high school. Oh, sorry.   Ron  11:02 Yeah.   Travis  11:05  But as far as my prosthetic, I was able to get fitted after five weeks time, so a relatively short period. And then seven weeks and four days, I was able to start walking again so just shy of two months. I took my very first steps at Walter Reed. I mean, it was a short, legs a very different feel from walking, but I was starting my comeback,   Jean  11:24 right? It's amazingly fast.   Lita T  11:27 Amazing. For sure.   Travis  11:29 Well, I appreciate that. And then Believe it or not, I have no arms and legs like I do. I just made a video this morning. I was at the gym and I was actually running this morning at the gym. It's first time in two years. I took a hiatus because a no excuse, but back running now. So it's good.   Jean  11:45 That's awesone, that's absolutely awesome   Travis  11:47 Well yeah, I mean, I travel I travel the nation motivational speaker and I started every time off by saying I tell jokes disarm situation. Knee slapper if you got it, you know, don't have arms or and I also can't slap my knees. But I think it just makes people look past the injury that I sustained and more at the man that I am   Ron  11:47 . I say I'm work. I work in the disability community. I'm involved in Disabled Sports. And I tell you, it is a very interesting community with the humor so I understand exactly where you're coming from. You know who can say what?   absolutely   Travis  12:22 happy, you know, because I want to break down barriers and walls and people are just at Whole Foods to be honest with you and a little boy walked up, he's like, "what happened to your arms?"  His mom's like. "don't ask that"  like don't ask that to know, I probably have people asking like, then stare and like, kind of shy away from it. So I told him I, you know, had that day at work. And now I'm like Iron Man with, you know, the superheroes. He's all about it. He followed me around for a little bit. So I was like, Hey, man, I really gotta go.   Jean  12:49 Oh, wow. So every day, you're just   Lita T  12:52  inspiring people,   Jean  12:53  inspiring people wherever you go. That's fantastic. And Travis, my mom and I both know that, you know The army is not only a community, it's kind of like a family. But apparently that's really the case for you. As you had said your brother in law is also in that in the military. And that's actually how you met your wife.   Travis  13:12 Oh, yeah.   Jean  13:13  And what role has that played in your recovery?   Travis  13:17 As far as military Brotherhood in my recovery, how's that? Okay, yeah. So at the hospital, I answered the military in general, you have a brotherhood, right? Like I didn't go on my third deployment. I was supposed to go to Fort Hood, Texas, and help build a per day up ticket timeout from the point that so much time but I had all these young guys that came from across the nation that believed in me, I said, Nope, it's not fair to them. They believe me, I'm their leader. My wife understood the calling there at her house with five kids and she knew I had to go.  There is something ingrained in you as a servicemember. So I went overseas, and I got injured, right. So you go from the platoon size brotherhood and then you have the hospital without Todd Nicely coming to talk to me. Shortly after I was injured. I've never know the possibilities that lay the head. So I work properly as motivated when you get down to the military advanced training center, where all the injured guys are at and then we tell you something is just amazing. Because that's a tight knit group, and you're all working together and living together. going through the same thing with the with your spouse will do the same thing or children and having them to lean on. Plus, the staff at Walter Reed are just top notch physical therapists, occupational therapists, you know, in the driving of cyclists, the process everybody, it's just one well oiled machine, the doctors sorry and Walter Reed is a Brotherhood and having everybody that was injured. Like me, or you know, not like me with no arms legs, but like maybe missing the leg missing the arm, spinal cord injury, whatever. It was nice having them there because, you know, you feed off them, they still got the mentality of, you know, being in the service.   Lita T  14:54 Right. Could you please tell us a little bit about the prosthetics that you're using now. And an add on question, I guess. Do you start out like a person that has an amputation? Do they start out with one type of a prosthetic and move on to different ones as they get acclimated to the use? Are there like prosthetic training wheels of sorts?   Travis  15:16 Yeah, absolutely There are so we'll start with the hands the first one that I got called the mile electric I still use things that Dan that I have that but he only went for one hour a day and then it got progressively more and more so without I was on I want so like I've added on 20 hours or whatever, you know, up and up that long working or doing whatever. And they just, you know, it's muscle flex base. So I certain muscles blow it up into flex, but they muscle fat that rotate and download down fast. And it's pretty awesome because I mean, I could eat a sandwich, I can open the door, I could drive my truck, do everything I need to with that one hand that I wear on the left side, the right side. I'm so high up injured. I don't wear prosthetics on it. Unless I'm doing that. activities like downhill mountain biking, or kayaking, and things of that nature. Okay, snowboarding, I do all that stuff, which is pretty awesome, then. Oh yeah. And then as far as the prosthetic legs is definitely a training wheels type session where you start on short legs, so they mold your legs start on really short prosthetics and you got to rebuild everything from 250 pounds when I got injured to 140 pounds. I lost all my muscle mass. I couldn't roll right and left for sit up myself for a while there. So I had to regain all my core muscle and strength. And he started on shorter legs. So when you get stronger on those, it's basically like if you imagine where your kneecap is, there's a foot at the end of it for me it would have been difficult to deal with Sure, yeah. It and then you grow taller and taller to the point where you have straight legs that are like still so you're standing up as high as they're going to make you okay, I was six, three, almost six foot right now. I was you know, so they Currently, Sanchez Blitz offer safety and gravity and whatnot. And then they give you the legs I'm wearing now it's called x threes. And they're the top of the line. They're waterproof. They're Bluetooth, that have like a locking remote, much better angle. They have little computers in each leg. So they're microprocessors fitter. So every time I move over here and adjustments get made to keep me as upright as possible. And then the last thing is they have hydraulic brakes built in so when I go down the ramp, I can slow myself down. I find a lot of airplanes actually good motivational speaker. So when I go down on the jetway, I don't go bowling for people.   Ron  17:36 So yeah, that in the video too. Right, right. Yeah,   Jean  17:39 that's, that's incredible.   Ron  17:42 was funny. One of the other things in the video talked about your prosthetic hand and your daughter's future boyfriend. I thought that was pretty humorous.   Lita T  17:53 Yeah, tell us about that firsthand.   Travis  17:55 Yeah, I got it. Yeah, keeping a Crown Royal bag in my closet. It was 45 pressure, and then 35 pounds of pressure. And the reason I keep in the closet is because when she's 16 her mom lets her go on a date, I'm gonna bring the handout. I'll probably you know, crush his hand, when he's crying I'm going to tell him "no   fingerprints".  But don't mess with me, bro. Let him go   Lita T  18:15 (laughter)   Travis  18:15 To subdue any, you know,   Lita T  18:17 Questions that he might have had   Travis  18:18 Ideas he was thinking about trying?  My wife says I'm not gonna be able to do that. But, you know, we'll see.   Lita T  18:19  Right right That's right, that's right   Travis  18:27  And high school buddies like real good friends of mine are so excited because their kids get old enough they can't wait to  buy me into the same thing. I'm like, I'm coming let's throw a party. That boys to style like Bad Boys 2 with Martin Lawrence, and Will Smith the show that day.   Lita T  18:41 Sure, sure.   Ron  18:42 Yeah, that's too funny. You just mentioned your friends. It's actually leads me into my next question. Your friends and family, including your wife. how supportive as they put you through this little this journey.   Travis  18:58 Oh, I mean, stop that. I I definitely gain and lose friends through this and you know having my wife at my side every day was a reason I kept fighting to get better because she's not leaving me, then I gotta do my best to not be a burden. And you know a lot of places that she goes for other nonprofits maybe they bring up like, you know, the problems that have their husbands or issues they have their husbands. You know, some of the other spouses might say like, we can't do this because of that I felt like was Travis Travis Travis takes boys to gymnastics he runs around does grocery shopping when he when he can and things so I try to be everyday average normal husband, fathers, I can't be but then having you know, my friends, bear with me. And now with the foundation. I've been able to bring up a lot of really cool families that I want to help out. So we help all physically injured, sterilization spinal cord, service families and it's all free to them and it's all about Hey, get out out there be active in community and in your society, because some people aren't as open as me. And I think having support group that I had and having that I, I had  to learn things like, like walking and stuff as I'm fortunately so successful in my everyday life.   Lita T  20:17 Sure, sure.   Ron  20:18  Oh, that's fantastic. That's fantastic.   Lita T  20:20 Definitely. Travis, what do you wish people knew about amputees? I know that you say that, you know, go ahead and ask That's for you personally. But what do you wish people would know about amputees? Like the emotional changes that a person goes to you? So like, in other words, if somebody wanted to ask a question, but they were afraid to ask, you know, pretend like you're asked, answering those questions. What What did you have to go through emotionally?   Jean  20:47 And I would say like, what, what do you wish they knew?   Lita T  20:50 Right?   Jean  20:50  Yeah.   Travis  20:51 Well, I mean, honestly, for me, a lot of my buddies that I know rather than have the conversation than the looks, the stairs, and like the The awkward, you know, oh crap, they're looking at me I'm going to look back, or up at the ceiling or whatever and look back when they're not looking. So, really people they want to be delicate, which I appreciate I understand but, you know, everybody that I know is everyday, regular person, they just had some mishap at work but didn't change them, you know, into being this person that needs to be, you know, you know, babied around or, or ostracized I guess. So, you know, for me, why don't people know is like, have the conversation say Hey, how's it going? People ask me. It's a funny thing. Like, hey, Travis, you know, when I see someone like you, What do I say? I'm like, I usually say hi or hello   Lita T  21:42 Exactly, exactly right, right   Travis  21:45 And, you know, also, I'm trying to change the narrative. I say I'm recalibrate because my voice those out you want those wounded guys, it doesn't feel very good, don't have any more injuries. I have scars. So I'm trying to change the whole life. Word wounded, is that the negative to recalibrated it right?   Lita T  22:03 Okay,   Travis  22:03 based off a little bit. We're good to go. It's good. And then then also, I think that the term veteran in general has become kind of like, oh, you're one of the veterans Do you got that, you know, pts or what's wrong and I'm like, nothing I serve my country had a great time doing it, love my job, had a bad day at work. I gotta move on. So, you know, my foundation, we're actually expanding our program to help people get back on their feet. That may be something for PTS, things like that. Because I really truly feel that you know, you need to get help to get out of your own way to be successful,  I'm fortunate. We're going to talk about that I run I own part owner and two, and I run one with my wife. So three businesses plus nonprofit that's very successful.   Lita T  22:47 That's great.   Jean  22:48 Well, we weren't must be very busy.   Lita T  22:50 Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, well, yes, for sure. I'm getting back to the physical thing that you've been through. How many surgical procedures have have you had?   Travis  23:02 I think 13 they said they   23:06 Yeah, 13 surgical procedures,  maybe more, but I didn't have any. I didn't have any surgeries. Kind of weeks easily get with me What's up, let's go internal. Then I had my eardrum repaired, which was the worst surgery that I can remember. But and then besides for that, nothing too crazy. I was very fortunate and lucky there no infections or anything like that.   Lita T  23:28 Do you think they'd be in the best physical condition that you were in prior to the injuries was what helped your recovery?   Travis  23:36 I think so. I think it did. For sure. I was a weightlifter. I picked anything up that was heavy and put it down. You know, one of those meat is kind of nice. But I also I think it was on the battlefield. The reason I didn't lose my blood out and everything. I remained calm. I didn't get my heart rate up. I didn't freak out. I kept telling myself whatever happens happens. Not my call at the end of the day. So don't freak out. And I think that might have saved my life as well because instead of yelling, I don't want to die and freaking out and panicking, I just like to stay calm and ride this one out. So very fortunate that I'm kind of stuffing it in the best way possible, which are my thing. And the most worst way. Yes. All my family members, maybe.   Jean  24:22 Well, yeah, that's, that is truly amazing. And it says a lot about who you are as a person who you were before, and who you who you have always been, and your injuries were in 2012. Do you still have like phantom limb pain? And is there anything that they can do to help treat that part of the injury?   Travis  24:39 You know, it's great question and I can't reiterate the documentary and I wish I could, because I say that the academy coma I don't think I would do it again, which is I only did that. You know, the documentary was five months after my injury. In truth, the phantom limb pain I would 110% not be the person I am Today if I didn't have the ketamine colon Academy coma, they're doing a case study. And what they did was reset my brain to think that my nerves and where they were blown off and finally beat. And I, I have been absolutely pain medication free since October of 2012. I quit it cold turkey, and no pain medication. No medication whatsoever, actually, which is very unfortunate, but because of my case study they did. It's more of a common use process. And I have no phantom limb pain, no pain to speak up. And I'm very, very lucky. I know that so it's, you know, that's one thing that at the time when I said it in the documentary, I didn't know the results of it and now looking back like it was probably the best thing for me because my life is obstructed by anything, I don't live, you know, any medication and just keep pushing forward with with a pretty worryfree life.   Lita T  25:58 It's amazing.   Jean  25:59 Yeah, that's awesome.   Ron  26:01 Try to watch the video that showed you and your modified truck. Oh, you know you still drive? What about any of your other recreational pursuits? Do you need adaptations? Or how do you how do you do done?   Travis  26:15 Well, you know, luckily with the remote to my truck, and I click My legs are better your angles I can drive my truck No, no no problem and therefore a lot of us like to get into get adapted. I just kind of drove it every day and made it work with a steering wheel handle so I can drive most anything but I have a van that has ankles in it, which is awesome. And that that really helps out a lot too. So it's just a lot of fun that I get to do that and be able to drive again and stuff so I i guess i have a ranger in a golf cart. But there's no adaptions on those. I just kind of drive those.   Jean  26:48 If you're going to be running that day. Is there do you switch out your prosthetics to make running   Travis  26:54  You know what? Yeah, yeah, so I did I forgot to cover that. I went back and training was walking to look at my profit. But in truth, I have bicycle legs I've never used I'm going to set them up one day very excited about this. I'm running late. I have both. I have worked out a little short workout legs. And then I have different hands and attachment. I mean, it's I have a bowling arm. I think I'm going to use this weekend. My daughter's birthday party thing she's doing with all their friends and their, you know, whatever. And I have a pool table arms. I can't wait to get a pool table. I'm telling you what,   Ron  27:26 (laughter)    Travis  27:27 kind of exciting but yeah, there's definitely different adaption,   Lita T  27:30 okay,   Travis  27:31 there are adaptations that they have. And it's kind of like it's weird, but like, just like on Amazon, you go and set the book. You're like, oh, that activity looks fun. And see if I get one of those. I have I have a like a 10 inch butcher knife. So I can carve a turkey to be honest. I haven't covered a lot of turkeys. But it's very sharp. And you got to be very careful on the walking thing because it's like running with scissors.   Lita T  27:52 Oh, yeah.   Travis  27:54 But yeah, we have all that stuff. And I'm so grateful that there's some geniuses and bright minds out there. That put this together to make it possible for   Lita T  28:01  for sure.   Ron  28:02  Well, Travis, if you don't already, if you don't do scuba diving or you haven't done archery and you are interested, let's talk later because I'm involved in both of those activities for people with disabilities.   Travis  28:17  I appreciate that. Yeah,   Ron  28:19 for what I've seen you do a lot, but I wanted to throw that out. There is another. I don't know something else you could add to the resume.   Lita T  28:26 Right, right.   Travis  28:27 Yeah, so I've done archery, and I'm okay with that. You know, it's not something again, knock knock on the arrow part gets me kinda. So like, my biggest stubbornness I have. If I can't do it by myself, then it's like, I don't really want to do it. So I'm getting some, some rifle setup so I can go, I like to skeet shoot you right. It's target shoot. But also, my next goal is already been skydiving a few times I show my airplanes but since I've been injured I've been skydiving twice, my next goal and here's where being you can can collaborate. I'm gonna go you know, cage diving with a great white sharks. I just I'm so afraid of sharks. I face my fears and I cannot wait to jump in that cage with those with sharks all around the but I want the big ones off this, you know the Cape of you know, of South Africa I want   Ron  29:14 certainly that. That's one of my bucket list items. I just say I don't want that to be the last item on my bucket list if you know what I mean   Lita T  29:20 (laughter) okay.   Jean  29:22 Yeah, you two have fun   Travis  29:23  You've got to live a little bit   Lita T  29:25 I'll be up on the boat with the spear gun and I'll be keeping an eye out for you.   Jean  29:30 Wow.   Travis  29:31 Yeah, drinking the rum punch. I love it   Lita T  29:35 Somebody getting on shotgun.   Jean  29:36 Yep.   Travis  29:37 Oh, I get it.   Jean  29:39 That's you guys are hilarious. But yeah, you guys don't have to work that out with Dive. Heart. Travis, what is the future of prosthetics look like and what do you hope to see with future prosthetic devices?   Travis  29:53 You know, the prosthetics are quite amazing. They have prosthetics that your hands that each finger moves instead of just Like the two fingers, like, you know, like he can add a little motor I'm looking for those get more durable, which is exciting, but also then hooking to like, your nerves and all that so that they can, you know, sense what your muscles would would actually be flexing to open your hand and close it. But I think also what I'm excited about a step further than prosthetics is they're doing stuff called osteo integration where they they're hollowing out your humor bone and hooking a rod to it and a rod inside your skin like your feet do. And then you connect your feet on it, and you can take them off. And then kind of lastly is the stem cell stuff, which is so intriguing to me because they're regrowing people's like one guy like regrew his thumb, so that they're saying they're probably able to regrow people's arms and legs in the near future. Like we're talking 5/10 years.   Lita T  30:47 Wow.   Travis  30:48 We're just I mean mind blowing, right?   Lita T  30:50 oh yeah wow,   Travis  30:51 yeah, I'm gonna be the first one to do it. But I'm saying it's just it's just amazing that the progression right when the first guy made a prosthetic Civil War thing or got started, because he lost his leg to a cannon, or infection or a gunshot, something to do with civil war. But now, I mean, bionic stuff is just impressive. So sky's the limit. If I was a Vietnam era veteran on the battlefield medicine or technology that we had have today, very rarely where a guy like me ever make it, very low percentage. And now, because of the wars and because of technology and the time that we live in, I live a pretty normal life. Like, I mean, you know, I, I went down and did a federal meeting today at a building that was like a day to day and I had I went to the gym and ran to the outdoors, the laces running at the gym. Pretty cool, right?   Lita T  31:41 Absolutely.   Jean  31:42 And very inspiring   Travis  31:44 And I think i think i think the big thing is, you know, to stay to stay humble, because I don't want to ask for too much. It's just so fortunate and lucky to have what's out there on the market right now.   Jean  31:55 Sure, sure. But I guess you know, as far as the future of prosthetics, the designer Definitely want to hear from the individuals who will be using them to see what is it that you guys need?   Travis  32:05 Oh, absolutely there for dreams for sure.   Ron  32:09 Travis older veterans day name require amputations due to medical complications, like diabetes, or something like that. Have you interacted with any of these older vets to talk with them and give them an idea of what to expect after amputation?   Travis  32:27 Well, I mean, I get it. I get some conversations, right? A lot of like, one on one counseling like that. But if I go to the VA to do a checkup or something, when I see somebody and ask the questions I answer or someone at the grocery store that, you know, I, you know, have the conversation. So a big thing is people emailing my website, and they'll ask me like, Hey, you know, I got this going on. I was thinking, maybe I should just cut my leg off. What do you think I'm like, I'm not the guy. Like, that's not my Yeah, my expertise, but I'll tell you, that, you know, there's different prothestics out there make your life better if that ends up being the diagnosis or what happened. So, I'll try to get as much information but I want to make it sound like oh, it's Rick, hack that thing off. Let's call it a day. Right? But um, as far as people that are suffering you know, I know people use my use my website TravisMills.org for a lot of inspiration. And they go on my Facebook, which is all like tagged SSG Travis, because when they go to my Facebook page or my Instagram they'll see fun videos of me and my wife children or or meet my buddy or things like that and then they can you know, they can find out Hey, life goes on. That's what this whole podcast about some happen. Keep pushing forward. And that's kind of the message that we always we always project I'm always speak about resiliency and about, you know, overcoming life's obstacles. And it's just, it's a lot of fun for me, so I'll have the conversation, but it's not something I do what I want to accomplish.   Lita T  33:54 Well, speaking of resiliency, you were obviously able to draw on an incredible Internal Strength just to survive that incident. Could you tell us more about your mantra of never give up? never quit? How did you come up with that? And can that work for everyone?   Travis  34:11 Absolutely. It can work for everybody in the way that I kind of started in the hole. Never go never quit was I was working out. I looked all skinny and sickly and their staff say Do you wanna take a break? And I said, I'm never gonna give up I'm never gonna quit. And you know when I say my wife on my side, my daughter being there helped me walk again. In my driving force. My parents my in laws. My father in law, I didn't really know him that well really, right. Like, we talked about the weather, a lot sports but lived near him or was nowhere near him. When I grew up. He moved in the hospital with me, we became really close friends now. I mean, we're best friends. We travel all over the nation together. But it's just it's ingrained in my head that you just keep pushing forward. You can't just let your situation that you're living in now the outcome of your life and let me just Like the military, I always strive for more promotions and higher rank and do better and things like that and the best time of my life. So, you know, I don't want to sit stagnant. You got to keep moving. And that's kind of how I got the slogan. And now I live by it because I know that there's no not one but two children that look up to me every day. And I need to make sure they know like, hey, look, if you fall down, you got to get back up and keep going forward.   Jean  35:24 It's once again, amazing,   Lita T  35:27 Hooah!   Ron  35:30 Could you tell us a little bit more about the movie a soldier's story?   Travis  35:34 Yeah. So this documentary was created because people in Texas saw my story on I think Fox News, one of the new stations, and they thought was pretty cool. And they realized quite early in our conversations to have go room to room and meet people like me and the people that came into the hospital, and they wanted to film and we decided, you know what, let's just go ahead and do a short documentary half hour long and then it turned into an hour long documentary and became a film that that was actually that was done and about seven days, maybe nine days of filming. Yeah, there's a lot of iPhone footage of that cotton edit from Kelsey phone, which was great. But they did reenact with some of the interviews and all that just like in nine days, so.   Lita T  36:16 Oh, yeah, I was, that was a heart wrenching. A heart wrenching movie. We watched it just before we started the interview. We wanted to make sure that we were in the right frame of mind, and I don't know if that helped. Oh,   Jean  36:29 yeah, it was all it was us in a box of tissue. Yeah, but there were a lot of smiles.   Lita T  36:34 Yeah, yeah, I knew how it ended so that was the only reason I said it's got a good ending.   Jean  36:38 Yeah,   Lita T  36:39 it's gonna be a good movie.   Jean  36:40 It's gonna work out it's gonna be okay.   Lita T  36:42 Yeah,   Travis  36:43 I know it kind of sad for the first half hour.   Lita T  36:45  Yeah, it was a it was a it was a rough beginning.   Travis  36:49 And then now I actually unfortunate where we have, or I guess I have a book "AS Tough As They Come" It's a New York Times bestseller. I have a book out, and it might be made into an actual motion. picture, which is exciting, but can't count your chickens before they hatch. So we're playing it day by day and see how it goes.   Lita T  37:07 Sure, sure. Can you tell our listeners about your family now? So you've got two children and how have you adapted to life together as and does this amputee getting away? I mean, are you just a husband and a dad?   Travis  37:26 I mean there's two answers to that I guess it didn't patient or my disability or you want to call it it does give away something like my daughter's in soccer. I'd love to be in the backyard keep the ball around and running. But I did that for the first year when she was like five cheaper soccer but now I can't keep up so I kind of watch her you know, from the side but doesn't really get in my way. I get on the trampoline with my kid but I still do a backflip we get into the floor the lake and swim around so don't really hold me up and I still do daddy daughter dances and things like that    Lita T  37:59 oh that's sweet   Travis  38:00  My wife, you know, she's unsung hero of everything. She doesn't like the limelight as much. But, you know, she's one keeps us all together the glue that holds it and she's been phenomenal. You know, she's taking my side and helped me out like today before we left, I still need help put my legs on. So she had to put my legs on, she doesn't complain about that she just, It's just normal now. So like, when I wake up, you know, my legs go on in my pants or whatever. But it doesn't hold me back from being a father or a parent. You know, I'm the one that takes your gymnastics, and my son and I wrestle around. This is a lot of fun. So I guess we have the same family dynamic that we were always going to have. You know, I'm, you know, active with the kids and my wife and I still do things as a family. It's just different because I'm not able to do as much sports stuff as I'd like to because I used to be very athletic.   Lita T  38:55 But at least you've been there. You know the tips. You know, you know what to tell you kids how to do it. You can train them, you can coach them, you can guide them, because you've already done it. And   Travis  39:08 absolutely, give me excuses. I'm not sure that excuses will work with me, like, really, really fully   Ron  39:19 add here and kind of in the same boat with you a little bit too old, so I can't keep up with my kid. But I've done it before I can talk with them. I can explain to them, but I certainly can't keep up with them. They're young. You know?   Travis  39:33 You're doing better than me, Ron I mean, I fell apart at 25 you know, I got two feet in the grave now. 32 years old. There you go.    Jean  39:40 I don't know if that's quite true   Ron  39:42 I finally heard that, finally caught it. Again, I know the humor in the community can be pretty pretty intense, huh?   Jean  39:50 Yeah, you guys. Yeah. quite quite the comedian there.   Lita T  39:53 I gotta close my mouth now,   Jean  39:55 yeah. Okay.   Ron  39:56 Yeah, hopefully we'll talk afterwards. There. You   Jean  40:01 Do you have any tips hints and helpful advice for our listeners, or someone who's recently had an amputation or waiting to have one or their family members?   Travis  40:10 For you, I don't just sit here with amputations. I'll tell you what I tell all the audiences I speak to. I travel with you know, all over the nation. The two things I leave won't get off stage since the two left crap where because, you know, I went from this athletic six foot three lift weights every day, big, stocky, strong guy to, you know, have no arms and legs, and everything. So the first thing I tell people is don't dwell in the past. I sit in hospital bed and close my eyes and hope we pray that this never happened. And think how I go back in time, how do I change this? And you know, it took what two three weeks then when I finally realized that it does me no good living in the past is never going to change anything. So instead of dwelling on it, I remember this 25 years I have arms and like they're phenomenal and I've had seven amazing times and then I also take it step further and tell people that you can't control your situation. But you can always control your attitude. So for me, my situation is I wake up every morning with no arms, no legs, right then that's how I am. But my attitude, I'm fortunate, my daughter, Chloe to run down with no, if I'm not already awake, I jumped my wheelchair, I throw my arm on, right, we go downstairs, and we have our breakfast. And then I'm able to go ahead and go about my day. So instead of letting my situation dictate how I feel, I just realized that hey, I'm so lucky to be here and so fortunate because I have a lot of guys that make it back home to their families, that I might as well have a great attitude about every day I get to be here because you know, they're no longer with us and their sacrifices so much bear in mind. And I think if you get by those two life life lessons that I've been, you know, that I've learned and I live by pretty, pretty positive, upbeat, average, you know, great day. Hi, everybody. Sorry about the great day   Jean  41:59 Yeah.   Lita T  42:00  good attitude   Jean  42:01  is wonderful.   Ron  42:03 Yeah, attitude is definitely a big factor. Travis, you do have quite the following of people. You want to give a plug for your book or your podcast?   Jean  42:13 I can't believe you also have a podcast Wow.   Travis  42:16 You know, I do but we're just getting it off the ground. We did a little a couple, you know, test episodes and pilots, but now we're going to go ahead and and change out the format to be great. And, you know, I'm really excited about that. So, yeah, if anybody gets bored and want to check it out, check out Travis mills.org. For otter Travis Mills needs and we'll just kind of go from there. Okay, there you go. That's, that's great. That's, that's that's wonderful. And we hope our listeners do check that out. We cannot thank you enough for joining our show today. It's been a pleasure having you on Yes, definitely. Yeah, absolutely appreciate you guys having me. I hope you guys have won frustrated day and excited to be a part of this. You know, this episode. Your phenomenal podcast here.   Lita T  43:01 Thank you Travis for joining our show. And I hope others can find strength by listening to your story because that's the goal of our podcast.   Jean  43:10 Yeah. And it's extremely inspiring,   Lita T  43:12  very   Travis  43:14 Thanks so much, much appreciated.   Lita T  43:15 You're welcome. If our listeners have any questions or comments related to today's show, they can contact us at podcast dx@yahoo.com do our website podcast dx calm and Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.   Jean  43:28 And if you have a moment to spare, please give us a review wherever you get your podcast. As always, keep in mind that this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with a any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment in before undertaking a new health care regime and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you've heard on this podcast   Lita T  43:49 till next week.  

In September 2013, Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond T. Odierno directed the Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group to research and write an operational history of the U.S. Army's experience in the Iraq War from 2003 to 2011. This volume, The United States Army in the Iraq War, 2003-2006, is the first of two fulfilling that task. It tells the story of the U.S.-led campaigns to remove Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi Ba'athist regime from power in 2003 and to stabilize the country following those operations. It details the course of the campaigns up to a point in late 2006 when President George W. Bush and other U.S. leaders changed the strategy in Iraq to one that resulted in the “surge” counteroffensive by American troops in 2007–2008. That counteroffensive and the subsequent withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq are the subjects of the second volume of this series. In scope, the study group members consciously modeled this history after the Army's “Green Book” histories of World War II. As the Green Books did, and as General Odierno charged us to do, we focused on the operational level of war. These volumes are narrative histories that tell the story of U.S. forces in Iraq, mainly from the perspective of the theater command in Baghdad and the operational commands immediately subordinate to it. They focus on the decisions and intent of the senior three- and four-star commanders in Baghdad over time. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/3daudiobooks0/support

In the third episode of Warpod's special series ‘Reckoning with 9/11', hosts Larry Attree and Delina Goxho are joined by Emma Sky, author of ‘The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq', who served as political advisor to General Odierno, the commander of US Forces in Iraq and Renad Mansour, senior research fellow and project director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House, to reflect on how the war on terror became connected to the push to topple Saddam Hussein and the consequences it unleashed in Iraq. This special Warpod series ‘Reckoning with 9/11' is created by Saferworld with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and produced by the Podcast Company. Please note the views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the contributors featured. They are not necessarily the views or opinions of Saferworld.

Friday Night Fights is all about United States Army Soldiers blowing off some steam and raising morale while competing in boxing matches in Iraq in 2003. General Odierno, our commanding General, even showed up for a night of fights and called a United States Senator to listen to the crowd. I had to perform guard duty a couple of times, and escorted the Porta Potty sucker truck that ended up being hilarious. The formerly known as The Washington Redskins cheerleaders paid us a visit through the USO during the fall of 2003. I got a chance to go home for R and R for 14 days which was great but also hard to leave my family again. https://millersmilitarymoments.com

In this episode, Jordyn Shubrick '22 interviews Ambassador Harry Thomas '78. In their conversation, they talk about Harry's career, reflecting on some of the most memorable moments from his days serving as the US Ambassador. Their conversation showcases the enduring impact that friendships forged at Holy Cross can have on the world. Interview originally recorded on December 16, 2020.  Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, all interviews in season 2 are recorded remotely. --- Harry: And when you look at it representing your country, are you going to do the right thing? Easy to do the wrong thing, but are you going to do the right thing? Are you going to tell the truth? Are you going to represent our values of democracy, of free markets? Of very important freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The other thing that Jesuits I think are best at teaching us is to question authority. Don't take things for granted. Maura: Welcome to mission-driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host Maura Sweeney from the class of 2007, director of alumni career development at Holy Cross. I am delighted to welcome you to today's show. In this episode, we hear from Harry Thomas from the class of 1978. A member of the Holy Cross board of trustees, Harry served a long and successful career in the foreign service working in US embassies around the world before advancing through the ranks of the state department to serve as US ambassador to Bangladesh, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. A native of Harlem, Harry made his way to Holy Cross in search of a close knit community. Little did he know that his friendships from Holy Cross would continue to make an impact around the globe through his work in the foreign service. Despite all of his accomplishments, Harry is most proud of delivering the commencement address at Holy Cross in 2016. He's joined by Jordyn Shubrick from the class of 2022. In their conversation, they speak about their shared experiences as throwers on the Holy Cross track team. They also talk about Harry's career, reflecting on some of the most memorable moments from his days serving as the US ambassador. Their conversation showcases the enduring impact that friendships forged at Holy Cross can have on the world. Jordyn: Hello and welcome everyone. My name is Jordyn Shubrick, currently a junior at the college. And today I'm here with Mr. Harry Thomas class of 78. How are you, Harry? Harry: Hey, how are you Jordan? So good to see you. Jordyn: Yes. Nice seeing you too, along here on Zoom, but that's the price we pay for being in a virtual space, but all good things. Harry: Yes it is. Jordyn: Yeah. So just to kick things off, I love to hear the stories of why people chose Holy Cross. So why did you choose College of the Holy Cross? Harry: Well, I went to a large high school, 6,000 boys and two girls in New York city. And I did not thrive there. I thought it was too large so I was looking for a small college. And I visited Holy Cross during a Black Student Union weekend, met a lot of great people and felt that the environment would be perfect for me. And then I had to convince my parents. Jordyn: And how was that process of convincing your parents to go to Worcester, Massachusetts? Harry: Not easy. In fact, my father said, you know how it was, my father said, "No, you're not going. Too expensive." And that was it. And a couple of weeks later he said, "Yes, you can go." And it took many years before I found out that my mother had told him that he should let me go and they agreed. And it wasn't an easy decision because it cost them their life savings. Jordyn: Right. No, definitely. I think especially with Holy Cross being such a Jesuit school and all the values, but that price point is a lot. It is, it very much is, but I think it's so important to hear the stories of why people chose Holy Cross, because there's so many different unique experiences. But with that said, I know your time at Holy Cross you were an athlete. How was that being a student athlete on the Hill? Harry: Well, yes. I was on the track team. I threw the shot put in 35 pound weight, not as well as you, but I did have a few personal bests at Brown. It was good. A lot of people were into sports. We were very good in track and field and a lot of other sports. I also had a job working in Hogan and I look back on it and having so much time devoted to academics, athletics and working helped me focus. You couldn't afford to be too far behind. You had to keep up or you'll never catch up. And I definitely did not want to visit Father Fahey who was the Dean at that time and have to go home to my parents. That was a non-starter. Jordyn: Right, definitely. So I know you talked about having a job, but being an athlete and a student. How were you able to balance your time given that there is so much to do as a college student? You're growing into your own person, but... Harry: It was difficult. It really took, I would say into my third, fourth semesters to really learn how to do it, because as much as you say that you are disciplined, you're free for the first time. And you're interested in going to a lot of parties, hanging out with your friends and also keeping up with athletics, but also I had to work. And I had to because even though my parents paid, that meant they weren't giving me any spending money. So I wasn't on athletic scholarships so I had to work. So it was a lot and I was tired often and I did not initially utilize the weekends to study. I later learned that Saturday and Sunday mornings were a really good time to study, to write your papers and catch up, but I did not know that at the beginning. And it took time. Jordyn: Right. Definitely a big learning curve I would say. Everyone's faced with when they hit the Hill, then you got to learn how to navigate through that new space. But as you're talking, I wonder what was your biggest driver to push you both academically while you were on the Hill? Harry: Well fear. Fear of my parents, very honest. That I had to show them my transcript or whatever, I guess, report card every semester. There was no PII in those days, even if there were, I was going to have to show it to them. And they both were college graduates. In fact, my mother had a master's. So yes, my mother had a master's from NYU in social work. She had gone to Allen, HBCU undergraduate. My father went to Morris Brown after getting out of World War II. So that was extremely important in our family. And I had many members of my family I've come from a large family. My mother's one of eight, my daddy one of 10 and many in going to college and university, even grand uncles. My father's elder sister graduated from Claflin University in 1939 and a great uncle who graduated from Allen in 1916. Harry: So I was not the first. You couldn't pull a, this is so hard. So they're like, no, we did this. So that was extremely important. Luckily, even though I wasn't so fond of my high school. It was one of the three top academic high schools in New York city. So in terms of science, it was an engineering school. So sciences and math, I was really prepared. Even though I did well on the English part of the SAT and all that, in terms of learning how to write and write clearly and concisely and orally communicate, I really improved those skills through the rigors of the courses I took at the Cross. Jordyn: Right. Yeah, definitely. Holy Cross is reflection time, write papers, you have to be able to definitely be able to convey your ideas on both paper and as you speak. But as I'm starting to listen to you more and more, were there any mentors that helped you throughout your time at Holy Cross? I know you say your parents were a big influence as well. Is there any people that come to mind? Harry: So many. As they say, it takes a village and when I would go home, neighbors would give you $5, $10, a dollar and just encourage you. And that made you feel very good. Before we started at Holy Cross, Stan Grayson who is class of '72 had a bunch of us to his apartment in Manhattan. An apartment in Manhattan, I was impressed with that. How do I get one of these? But even from there on Stan was one of my closest friends and he was the groomsman in my wedding. Was able to assist me whenever I needed. There wasn't instant communications in those days. You had to call somebody which you had to pay for or writing letters as we did. But this, all we do so it was okay. But also, I remember Clarence Thomas coming to campus and talking to the Black Student Union about how we should perform. Ted Wells... Harry: So you never felt alone. Father Brooks took a great interest in all of us. Father Honore, who was the only black Jesuit, had us down every Friday to Loyola where the Jesuits lived and remember the drinking age was 18. So he taught us how to eat properly with all those forks and knives, the finger bowl, you're laughing, but those things were hard. We didn't know. But he also gave us wines, bourbon just to know. He wanted us to graduate. And there was another priest who's late now also in Campion house who would have us over. And I remember when we were about to graduate, he gave us a line book. All of this was education. There were all kinds of people there to encourage you on campus and so many programs. And we thought that in those days, just men who were graduates that those guys did it, so we could do it. We just had to figure out how they did it. Harry: They were impressive. And Eddie Jenkins also was great football player, was somebody who would come back and talk to us. And just those, whether they were formal or informal, gave you beliefs that you could do it. Of course, we were trying to change the world also. We were very activist as students are today and protest marches and things like that coming out of the civil rights move, we thought that was part of it. So yeah, and that was another great reason I chose Holy Cross because my high school was too large to have mentors and a lot of close friends. So I was able to get that at the Cross. Jordyn: Yeah, the community. Community is what it is, and I definitely think that's a very important part. And as I hear you speak, you speak about the people in part in the community which is great to hear. Switching gears a little bit, what did you major in when you were at Holy Cross? Harry: Political science. Jordyn: Oh, very nice. How was that? I'm a sociology major, so I don't take too many political science classes. Harry: I had a few Sociology courses with Dr. Imse, who's a great teacher. But political science was something I thought I wanted to go to law school and I thought that was the major that would help prepare my analytical thinking. But by the time I was a senior, I decided that I had no interest in the law. And I remember Stan Grayson telling me that the people who do best are those who love the law and I reflected, "Well, no, I don't love the law. And so let me change up." Jordyn: Right. Yeah, of course. Any favorite professors you had that sticks out in your mind? Harry: Oh yeah. Tony Kuzniewski who is later also Father Kuzniewski. He was a chaplain for athletic teams for years. But in those days he was a seminarian and he looked younger than anybody on campus. He's always mistaken for a student and I look, years later, he was prematurely gray. It was like, the hair was white, but I just remembered him looking younger than me when I was at junior or senior. But he was really good. We took a course on immigration and I was praising the Statue of Liberty and he said, "Don't you dare praise the Statue of Liberty. My ancestors were not wretched refuse." I was like, "Ooh, there are many ways to look at this." So it was one of the life lessons. You have to look at things very differently in terms of what you look. Harry: The other great professor for me was Blaise Nagy, who was in Latin and Latin literature. I took Latin for two semesters and Latin lit. I took him four times so maybe he was my favorite. He was young also. So when you're young, you want young people and he had long blonde hair and he was handsome and we used to call him Blaz Nagy, because we thought that sounded cool. And I think he retired a few years ago, but man, he was great. He was demanding, but he also explained things. If you messed up he would embarrass you in public. Has happened to some people. But I'm from New York, we can take that. We're just used to go on back at somebody. You want to go back and Blaz, but yeah, he was fantastic. Harry: And as I said, Dr. Imse, he wasn't sociology was philosophy. His course was depth. Now think about it. First thing he said is a person only dies once, but an athlete dies many times. I never forget that. An athlete dies when you pour in a meat, when you fail in a game, after you are no longer an athlete and what are you going to do with that? So those were shocking thoughts when you're 18 or 19. I wanted to go to, which I never was good enough to go to, I wanted to go to the Penn relays. You have dreams of the Olympics, no matter how unrealistic they are, but those are the dreams, right? I wasn't that good, but those things, his message on depth has helped me in so many parts of my career. Harry: You're going to fail, you're going to go up against road blocks and how do you restart? How do you get back up? And how do you get back up with thought because in my day it was like, just brush it off and get up and go. And we know mentally, we didn't even talk about mental health. That was seen as weakling, but we know that is something that's needed now. And thank goodness that we had Dr. Imse who... He was the first professor that was telling us to reflect, take time on these things. So that was important. Very important. Jordyn: Yeah, definitely. Sounds like he pushed you a lot, challenged you in different ways. I think reflecting does something, really makes you look at yourself in a different way, but also who you are becoming. And that, it sounds like what Dr. Imse and your other professors helped you do. Helped you grow throughout your years at Holy Cross. And I know you touched upon it a little bit, but as you think about your career as an ambassador, what are some of the life lessons you learned at Holy Cross that were able to transfer over in your career? Harry: Well, first of all, I wish I had taken languages wth Fr. Honore because I wouldn't have had to work so hard once I joined the foreign service, so trust me, but Honore, we only had ABCDF in those days and Honore was, a 90 was a C. Nah, not for me. So I wish I had more courage. But I think the Jesuit values is something I take very seriously and honor duty, honor country, which is West point's motto, that's important to me. We were known as the Catholic West point believe it or not. When you look at it, representing your country, are you going to do the right thing? easy to do the wrong thing, but are you going to do the right thing? Are you going to tell the truth? Are you going to represent our values of democracy, of free markets? Of very important freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The other thing that Jesuits, I think were best at teaching us is to question authority. Don't take things for granted. Harry: There were conservative and liberal Jesuits and some of the conservative ones, I really didn't like. Their opinion was different than mine, but they taught me to look at somebody else's opinion who differs with you and listen to them. Don't just try to get to change their mind because that's not going to work more often than not, but listen and try to understand where they're coming from. And instead of just jumping in and say, "Hey, you should do ABC and D." And that was part of reflection, you had to reflect and do that. But I take that the ethics and honesty, which I credit my parents for also, but from the Jesuits. They were tough. A lot of these guys were World War II veterans, like father Brooks and others. Harry: So that was extremely important. Father Markey was there. He was a Dean of men, you didn't want to see him. He was one of our greatest basketball players. But yeah, I can't undervalue the importance of ethics and honor and doing the right thing, that my parents and the Jesuits and the professors put into me. And we were honest, there were no locks on the doors in our day and no locks on anywhere. And sometimes your friends might come and take a bite of your sandwich or beer, but we just trusted people. And there was that value of trusting people and opening your eyes. Jordyn: Right. Yeah, no, definitely. And I think you hit on it perfectly, trust. I think that's so big, we talk about it nowadays. Just being able to trust in the community you're with, I think it's so important. But this question popped into my head, but the black student union. Some of the values and different things. Talk a little bit about how that was for you being on campus and like you said, you have Eddie Jenkins and Stan Grayson, you have all these wonderful people, part of the Black Student Union, and now you're being able to add to this legacy. How did you see yourself in the black student union at your time on the Hill? Harry: Well, we were young and we were advocates. We argued among ourselves a lot about different strategies, protest marches, which we did. Remember we didn't have presidents and vice, we were ministers. We were like black panthers, we were in college and that was pretend if I look back at it. But we took ourselves and those things very seriously. So we were advocating for things like more black professors, more courses that we could relate to, even food in Kimball, which I think was bad for everybody in those days. Except once a month, somebody gets steak and then once a Sunday steak and eggs, but on track team before meets you got steak. I don't think they will feed your steaks now, they look at nutrition, but everyone gets a good meal. But we really took ourselves seriously. And so many of us were involved through the Black Student Union with other things as big brothers, big sisters. And those programs that you saw are a lot of BSU members in. Several on the radio and those things, that was really important. I wish that I had joined more organizations, that I learned more things because Holy Cross offers a lot of organizations. Harry: And then one of the things I would encourage current students to do is don't listen to the thought police, follow whatever you want to do, especially things that you have never done before. My close friend, Dr. Keith Crawley from my class at position, was the first black guy I ever saw the golf club. We're like, "Oh, we don't do that." My game would have been a lot better now. But really there were clubs on economics and trade and business. I wish I had done that. One of the things I'd love to see, and at Yale where I am a senior fellow, each college has its own endowment and the students with fund managers manage it. So they learned at young age, not everybody's going to go to Wall Street, but they learn a lot of finance and nowadays with FinTech and other things being an opportunity, Holy Cross is much smaller than Yale, but some way for... We need financial literacy in minority communities first, but also about businesses. My father was a small business person and I had to work in his store all weekends and all this stuff. So I definitely want to go into business. Harry: I don't want to be a small business person, but I wish I had learned more about economics and trade, international trade those things and that was open to me, but I chose not to do it. So I encourage people to try something different. Jordyn: Yeah, definitely. I think I'm experiencing that now. Junior year you're halfway through and you're like, where's the time going? It's going by so fast. So definitely trying new things is definitely how you're going to grow, right? In those uncomfortable situations, that's when you grow the most and I think that's so important. And as we think about the Holy Cross' mission, men and women form with others, how did you see that not only at your time at Holy Cross, but throughout your career? Because I think it's such an impactful statement that it really just can carry someone throughout their challenging moments, but also in those great moments. So how did you see that mission go along with you as you grew up? Harry: Well, one of the things I learned from Father Brooks and others was don't brag when you do charity. Do it because it's the right thing or because you want to do it, but just don't tell people I'm good at this, I'm doing it. It's like me saying, I'm a good father. Well, I'm supposed to be, right? What, I want to metal for that? I signed up for this. So it's the same thing. But let me tell you Jordyn, when I was ambassador to Bangladesh and their was I visited a school for boys who had been trafficked to the middle East to be camel jockeys. And they've been rescued and brought home. Their parents didn't want them because they had been raped and these boys were five, 10 years old. And it was embarrassment to the family. There was an American woman that had an orphanage that I visited for these boys and they were overcrowded, no latrine. Harry: And I asked my classmates many of whom I met when I lived in Clark. These were all whites and dear friends of mine for funds. And they gave funds for school rooms and bathrooms. In fact, there wasn't enough initial money for the bathroom and my friend Nina Riccio on her mother built a latrine. And when I visited, they named it after her. So she still has the pictures, I think. And when I went to the Philippines, there was a place called smokey mountain where kids climb up a hill that produces gas from the refuse to get their food. The stench is unbelievable. And we work with them to have a field of dreams and baseball, softball for girls and provide tutoring. But again, I asked my friends from Holy Cross, the send baseball equipment and they did, bats, balls, gloves. Harry: And even though one of the owners of the San Francisco Giants lived in the Philippines, our outreach to him did not succeed, but my classmate who lives in San Francisco Lori Stasukelis got with the San Francisco Giants and they sent out equipment and we brought Ken Griffey Jr. there of course too to tease them. But now I moved to Zimbabwe and a Zimbabwean playwright wanted books. He wanted books on black literature, black plays. He envisioned building in a park right across my office, a theater in the park where he was using trailers. And I said, "This thing looks terrible, but let's try." And reached out to my friends most of whom this time were African-American and family and they gave the books. They gave hundreds of books that he started a library with the train playwrights. When my wife was trying to work with kids who live... There are kids will live in game parks without much clothing. Again, it was our friends from Holy Cross and along with my family who shipped clothing for these kids. So I know in so many ways I could always reach out to my school mates from Holy Cross to help people that they've never met and never will meet. Jordyn: Right. Wow. That's just amazing to hear that story. I think this is great to have this opportunity to get to know you better, but also hearing about how Holy Cross has evolved over the years, but that foundation of community and helping people will always be there. Always. Yeah, I think that's great. So as we're continue to talk about your amazing career, what is one of the most memorable moments you can think about? And I know there's a lot, because you did great things, a lot of different things. So if you could pinpoint one or a couple, I would love to hear about that. Harry: Well, I'll try to give you three briefly. One was working at the White House on 9-11. Maybe I shouldn't even be here today if that plane going into the White Houses as planned and surviving that and then going with Secretary Powell to Kabul, Afghanistan within five months and seeing that embassy maintained, reopened, and being scared on the helicopter ride from Bagram Airport to Kabul, but seeing the embassy had been maintained and Powell wanting to give people rewards and the Afghans said, "Okay, but there are no women deserving." And he goes, "Okay, that's cool. No women, no rewards." They produced all the women who had worked, so don't compromise on things like that. And that was secretary Powell, but I worked for Dr. Rice in the White House. Wonderful person. In the Philippines, our United States Agency for International Development, which is our lead humanitarian agency, their director came to me and said that there were over 4,000 women dying each year from bleeding in the uterus after they give birth. Harry: In America and the developed world they get a drip that prevents the bleeding and costs a dollar a day, but people couldn't afford it. They had a dollar, they spent it on the other things. And we know what happens to boys and girls who lose their mothers at a young age, their lives are wrecked. And most of these would not be first time parents. So we work with an American pharmaceutical company and the Philippine government and we came up with a shot, a syringe that could go in the fatty part of anybody's body, woman after she gave birth, they chose to use midwives. And now we're saving several thousand people's lives each year. A fun thing was in June, 2012 we brought the president of Philippines to meet president Obama. And the night before, we were very worried about China and the Philippines going to war. Harry: And we did something that you don't see a lot. But we were in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in DC for a meeting and we cleared out the kitchen and we met with the president of the Philippines and some of his cabinet in this kitchen. And when I was there in the kitchen, I learned that the New York Football Giants who were world champions were coming to the White House that day. And they were like, "Oh wow, that's sweet." So, went upstairs and there were two of my Filipino American friends waiting for me and we have a drink and we spied Linda Johnson Rice of the then Ebony magazine, the publisher. And one of the women with me Lloyda Lewis, her husband Reginald Lewis was the first African American billionaire. Harry: And he had been in the magazine but she had never met him. Today if you go to the African-American history museum, you will see her name right next to Oprah as a largest donor. You go to Baltimore and you see the Reginald Lewis museum African-American history that she built. So I went over to Ms. Johnson rice and said, "Hi, my name is Harry Thomas. I'm the US ambassador to Philippines." And she just goes, "That's nice." Put her book up in front of her face and totally diss me. So what could I do, but slink away. And so the next day when we were doing the pre-brief with President Obama, he said, "Harry, why are you smiling so much?" I go, "Because Mr. President, the Giants are coming." And he says, "You want to them?" And I said, "Yes, sir." He says, "Okay, after the meeting, you can meet them." Harry: Now I didn't care what they said in the meeting. I wanted to meet my Giants. And after the meeting, he said, "Come on." And he grabbed my hand. I had to run out of the oval because you can't bring electronic equipment. I had my iPad in there, so I had to run and get that and he took me out, grabbed my hand, President of the United States and took me out to the garden and were next to Attorney General Holder and General Odierno and put me in the front row. So another life lesson, somebody disses you, but the person next to you, the most powerful man in the world had time to be kind to you. So we always have time to be kind to people. Jordyn: Wow. What a remarkable... That's amazing. President Obama. Had you met him before? Was that your first time? Harry: No, I had read him several times before, but it's always intimidating when you meet any president. You're never quite calm. I remember when I worked for president Bush, you'd go into the oval office, my feet always felt they were burning. No matter how many times I went in and after 9-11, because I was working on South Asia, I was in there a lot. And Dr. Rice would always leave you in there alone, brief the president United States one-on-one. And that would be a little nervous. So I can't tell you especially the first time you going there, you're not paying attention. You're like, "I'm from Queens and I'm here. I was born in Harlem, I'm here and I'm not cooking and cleaning." So it was always special. So I truly feel blessed. Jordyn: Yeah. That's amazing. I mean, I get nervous track meets you get in the circle, you just get stomach drops, but being in the White House, I don't know how that feeling feels, but I'm assuming it's a little bit of the same. Harry: Yeah. You know the anxiety before meet even when you wake up, even when you try to go to sleep early, you wake up that day, you have anxiety, even though you're trying to pump yourself up and be calm. It doesn't matter how many practice, that first throw relaxes you, kind of, right? Jordyn: Right, exactly. Harry: When the meet's over is when you're like, "Ah, yeah. It's Miller time." So that's the same thing and that never has you just got to do it a little better as you get along, but that anxiety. When you talk to Ken Griffey Jr. And others they said big moments, they always had anxiety. They had to hold themselves back from swinging at a pitch quick because they were so anxious and amped up. And I was like, "Wow, that happened to Ken Griffey?" I couldn't compare myself but I was like, man. Jordyn: Yes, of course. That is great. Great to hear that story. So thank you for sharing that. I think you touched on it before, you said you wish you took languages at Holy Cross. So how are you able to get over those challenges? Because they say it's not easy to learn a language past a certain age, it's better to learn them be the young. So how were you able to learn three, right? Three languages. Harry: Yeah. Again, fear. Fear of failure. In the foreign service, you have to pass these exams to keep your job. And again, I wasn't going home. But of course, when you're taking a language, especially the first one was Spanish, you really have to know English. The 14 tenses, all of that helps you, small classes... Every time I took a language, Hindi, Bengali, I studied a little Tagalog. They give you a book like you have when you were in kindergarten and with a pencil and you're starting over like a kindergartener only lower really, and so you had little books, but that's where you have to start and you quickly learn. The nouns are easy, so that's what people concentrate on. But you learn to concentrate on the verbs. But you're right about age. It's hard to have a natural accent once you get past 12 and in another language, unless you're a singer or you have good ear. So that's why you can hear a lot of singers or even rappers do songs in foreign languages. Harry: They may not have the exact, they'll have a Spanish accent, they may not have a Peruvian accent or Uruguayan accent because all Spanish, just like Americans have different accents in English, right? But they can be understood. It's like this, Jordyn, if I parachute in your hometown of Springfield, spend a weekend going around talking to people, how much do I know about Springfield? I don't know jack, right? Jordyn: Right. Harry: So in my job, I really had to live in a country and learn and be able to tell people in the United States what was going on. So if I didn't speak their language, understand their culture, how was I going to do it? So, and I speak your language in Springfield, but I don't know your culture. I know New York, but Springfield a couple of hundred miles away I just don't. So imagine that when you go to a foreign country. So you've got to know their language, it's disrespect if you're unwilling to learn somebody's language, you're living in their nation. Jordyn: Yeah, wow. Harry: And culture is so different. I saw Maura had up her Christmas lights, I'm sure y'all do also. My wife's family starts celebrating Christmas September 1st. In the Philippines that's when they do it, September 1st, they start playing Christmas music. That's okay. That's just their culture. Jordyn: Right. Harry: It's cool. When I lived in Arizona and I was at Arizona State, I told the young women that, and they were like, "That's weird." I said, "It's 95 degrees and y'all are wearing boots." They go, "This is the only time we can wear boots." Well, I don't care not a big deal, but it's okay. That's what you got to do, right? Jordyn: Right. Yeah. Harry: So you have to learn what drives people and understand that you don't speak their language, you'll fail. Jordyn: Yeah. And I'm quite sure you know just learning different cultures that was probably a great experience in itself. Learning the language, but also being around the people. I would love to hear a little bit more about how you really immerse yourself in different cultures and what you got out of that. Because of course I feel like right now my view is probably a little bit one dimensional as that like you said, Springfield, Massachusetts now Holy Cross. I really haven't immersed myself in a different culture, but you've been able to do that in so many different places across the globe. Harry: Well, I was no different than you when I was your age so don't be hard on yourself. Worcester was a culture shock, Holy Cross was a culture shock, trust me. But in the State Department we have these books called culture shock and they try to teach you before you go to a country, right? Many countries you can only eat with your right hand, many countries you have to take your shoes off, different gestures. If you call somebody the way we wave at somebody like that with our hand up, that's an insult. You have to learn to call people like this. Putting your feet up can be an insults in other cultures. So those are relatively easy, it shouldn't be difficult to learn. But what they eat and what they think, eating foods that I had never eaten before or thought about initially, it doesn't bother me now, but initially that could be a challenge. And drinking water from some places that you thought weren't so clean, but I did it, but that was a challenge. And it can be very hard for women. Places where they don't want to see women in pants or short shorts or going past religious houses on Fridays and things like that, days of prayer. Harry: So you have to learn these things and also protect yourself, but understand people. So yeah, every place I go, I served, there things were very different than the United States, which is why I'm so happy I'm home from the holidays now especially, but there was always some Americans saying that was weird. And I'm like, "What do you expect? Why would you expect Zimbabwe to be like Springfield? Duh. And why did you come if you did? And why are you complaining?" That wasn't most people. When I was a junior officer, we had to visit people in jail, Americans in jail, mostly for drugs, and it was never pleasant going to jail. And one day after they threw five nuns out the building and burned one. So, in Lima, it was dangerous, but we had to learn that culture of that jail to get through those guards and everything else. So, you're constantly learning and it's easy because if you respect people as especially now, your generation wants to learn from others, everybody's equal, everybody's woke. Well, that means listening to them, right? Jordyn: Right. Harry: We had a Black Student Union, but Holy Cross by many schools has a Caribbean Students Union, African Students Union, there's Asian students and Latin X students. And they're not all the same. I have a student at Yale who was from Puerto Rico and she didn't have other students who were Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico. It was very different. And she had never seen a Puerto Rican professor at Yale who was from Puerto Rico. So she didn't feel aligned. This year we brought some speakers to Yale, a woman, Maria Russell was a Time Magazine person of the year, lived on the same floor with Michelle Obama at Princeton and yeah, a friend of mine and she, human rights activists, but they asked us to bring her there because they said everybody you're bringing from Asia is from Japan, China, Korea. That's not all Asia. So you have to understand that. And although there's an African Students Union at Holy Cross, I hope they're United to say that Africans from 54 Sub-Saharan countries, are the same, that's folly. Harry: And I can tell you having worked in the Foreign Service and now living in Florida, Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Ecuadorians, Colombians are very different and they... I just got an email from a friend of mine from Bangladesh who lives in New York. And she's been shocked by some of the racism she's experienced this year after immigrating from Bangladesh. But she says, "Why do people lump us with blacks? We're not black. We weren't brought here as slaves. We came here for a better life. Y'all were brought here. People need to apologize, but we have our own identity." And you look at that. Ooh, but she's right. Jordyn: She is. Harry: She's right. So it's a challenge for people. People don't like strangers, no matter who they are, they don't like new people moving in their community no matter who they are. Jordyn: Yeah. And I think with everything going on in the world right now, what we saw in the summer, the racial injustices, I think what we're starting to also see and what's coming to the conversation is how diverse people are in different... You may identify as one way, but your culture might say something else. So it's important to see everyone and like you said, listen and hear their stories and their experiences because it could be completely different from yours. Harry: And you're right. This has been such a difficult year. Not just the Black Lives Matter protest, but COVID-19. And you combine that, I think we, as a people, not only the United States, but the globe are under more stress than we realize. And we don't have a tradition of mental health days or meditation. We have a tradition of prayer and we really need to increase that. But I think a lot of people are stressed and I know that... I was joking with my cousin and if my daughter was home... At 16... During COVID, it'd be war. I know that a rebellious teenager? Oh Lord, I'm glad I don't have to do that. But imagine there are places where... You are one of four, right? So some school districts in places only give two laptops out or three. What happens if your parents can't afford it? What happens if everybody doesn't have their own room and the parent's teleworking too? Harry: So not only a lot of kids, unfortunately losing critical year of school and that really hurts minorities. But they don't have the tools to catch up and those kids are under stress. We know in poor communities where there is gunfire, drugs, kids are under stress. But imagine now all of these kids throughout America under stress and Christmas season is coming. And so many people have lost their jobs and they're not going to be able to give Christmas presents or give what they wanted and when that happens, men feel that they're not living up to what was expected and we see domestic violence go up. And so he's under stress and his family that he's abusing are under stress. There's no excuse for ever touching a woman. No excuse and don't tell me, but this is what happens. And we're seeing that. And then the third world where abuse of women is rampant, I'm sure it's worse. I don't have the statistics, but it's just common sense. Jordyn: Yeah. I mean, like you said, combining a pandemic with everything that is going on, it's just... When you look at it, it's a lot and- Harry: And we had the election. Jordyn: Yes. Harry: And I'm happy to say that the side I supported won, I have no problem in saying that. But a lot of people who supported president Trump are angry believing they were cheated, believing he was the winner. And we saw some of these people, the proud boys, marching in black churches and burning down, taking down Black Lives Matter flag in DC and burning them. Now I give them no sympathy, but we know their stressed too. And that can lead down unfortunate situations. So that's another reason why prayer helps. Meditation, prayer does help. Jordyn: Yes. I'd definitely say throughout these times, I think prayer has helped me channel those feelings of frustration and sadness. Prayer has helped me leverage that time to find time to be a better daughter, a better friend, a better sister being in the home environment. And I can say I'm grateful to have a great place to come home to, but also figuring out how I can use this time not to be all upset and worried about the problem. It's like, okay, let's see what we can use this time to do. Harry: No, I applaud you for that. I know as much as I was just talking about my daughter, I know it would have been hell on me if I were at home with the rents when I was junior. That was such a funny year, not the anxiety of senior year where you're worried grad school and getting a job. And so I like to keep you and others grounded, but I know I would have been suffering. And my parents have been looking at me as ungrateful. So I applaud you for doing your best. Jordyn: I appreciate that. Means a lot. Switching gears, I actually was doing some research and I listened to your commencement address in 2016. Very well done, very well said, but out of curiosity say your older self were to say to maybe you were a junior in college, you're going to be giving a commencement address, what would you say? Harry: I didn't know. Let me tell you what happened. My wife and I went to a dinner in New York, a Holy Cross fundraiser. We just happened to be in New York and we went and Father Boroughs came and got us and said he wanted to talk to us. And he said, "Hey, didn't you get a letter to open?" I said, "I get a lot of letters." And Holy Cross I said, "No I didn't open this letter." And he says, "Well, we want you to be a commencement speaker. I was like, "What?" Really, I was shocked. So then I talked to Father Boroughs about what the subject. Just like you looked at me, I looked at others. I mean, governor Cuomo, my God, the late governor Cuomo gave to me the best of the commencement addresses I've seen all across and what an orator. Harry: And so I said, "What can I talk about?" Obviously service. Father Boroughs said, "What about a gift?" "What gift?" "The gift of a Holy Cross education." I said, "Okay, let me start working on that." So I had five months, I had to go back to Zimbabwe. I was ambassador of Zimbabwe and I had a day job. And we have speech writers, but I couldn't employ them for that. It would have been an ethical violation. So I did what I did so many times, I turn into my family and my Holy Cross friends. So Steve Scott, who best man in my wedding and best man in his, from Boston, turned to Steve and he gave me some language. My sister and daughter did, my wife said, "That's not a good speech. You're not writing a good speech, you can do better." Harry: And so I kept refining it and it, and I remembered that before I was sworn in as ambassador to Bangladesh, that I was coming from visiting friends in Maine, July 4th, in 2003. And I stopped at Holy Cross campus. It was empty. And I was on the side of the Hill between Hogan and Healey. And I sat there and I wrote my speech and I was just calm, and I just got back in the car. So I thought I had the speech almost done, but it didn't quite work. So the morning of the speech I put on my Holy Cross shirt and I went to a Dunkin Donuts and I didn't want to go on campus and I rewrote it. And that's what happened. I had told them earlier, thank God I didn't, you don't want to share your speech, but Father Boroughs wanted to see it. I know he was nervous, I guess, what would I say, but I told him I wanted to do a selfie and only because he asked for the speech because otherwise I wouldn't have told them, but I'm glad I did because they had a camera behind and they sent me that photo, which is one of my favorite photos of all time to be doing a selfie at Holy Cross. Harry: But I will tell you, I have been blessed with many honors, many incredible honors in the Foreign Service and the other aspects of my life but the honor of my life was being invited to be the commencement speaker at Holy Cross, the honor of my life. Jordyn: Beautiful. We talked about nerves, I could only imagine the nerves of giving a commencement address, but also the honor that comes with it. It's amazing Harry: Every time before I speak and I don't always give a good speech, I do pray. Even as I'm walking down, I'm praying. God has been busy a few times, but most times he's been there. But yeah, it was. The speech at your Alma Mater. I hope you get that opportunity. I really do. I've spoken in other colleges, I did a commencement address at Loyola, it was exciting, my whole family came for the weekend. Everybody's in a different hotel rooms and stuff, at your Alma Mater is something. Jordyn: Yeah. It's something special. And I know you said it's a gift. You talked about the gift in your speech. You said every once in a while peek inside, take it out, use it to better the globe. So how will you continue to use your gift that Holy Cross gave you? Harry: Well, luckily I still work with some Holy Cross brothers. I work with Ron Lawson who works with Care for the Homeless. I'm a member of his board. We had a board meeting last night actually. And I've learned a lot about the homeless. So many of the homeless in New York are women who are employed. Some of the mental challenges they have, but I'm proud of Ron's work and the Care for the Homeless work they do. Similarly, I'm chair of the board of Winter4Kids, Schone Malliet, another Holy Cross alum, Marine aviator, who said the reason he does things like this is nobody ever told him no. So giving kids opportunities that I didn't have, to use winter sports. And I knew how to toboggan and throw, we had a lot of snowball fights at Holy Cross between the dorms, the elevators and everything. We were crazy toboganning, Oh my God. Harry: But I didn't know how to ski, sleigh, and I had opportunities to learn. I had no interest and giving kids at a young age the opportunity to learn winter sports, as you know, you're an athlete, it's important to be outside, learn how to be, even in winter sports there are teams, individual and team. Learn that these are great athletes. And besides I got to meet Lindsey Lohan because of Schone last year. But work with those two organizations. Friday, my wife and I are going to be helping to feed the homeless down here in Tampa. When we were in DC, we went to Gonzaga High School, which is a feeder high school for Holy Cross, a Jesuit High School. They had feeding programs for the homeless that Holy Cross alumni association would run and Gonzaga's colors are purple and white. So it felt like we were right back home. And I was always meeting people there that I didn't know, they were just Holy Cross alum trying to give back, really, really good people. And you can't neglect your family, you got to give back time and effort to your family. So I still try. I still try. Jordyn: Right. Yeah, definitely. I think that's great. Great note to end on. I think this podcast has been great. Harry, I'm so happy that we had this time. I got to know you a little bit more and hear a little bit more of your story, which is always great. But truly, truly want to say thank for your time and thank you for sharing your gift. I'll say that too. Harry: Well, thank you and Maura for this. Thanks for the gift of Holy Cross. Thank you for having me. Jordyn: Yes, of course. Thank you. Harry: AMDG. Maura: That's our show. I hope you enjoy hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the mission to be people for and with others. A special thanks to today's guests and everyone at Holy Cross who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. If you or someone you know would like to be featured on this podcast, then please send us an email at alumnicareers@holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review. This podcast is brought to you by the office of alumni relations at the College of the Holy Cross. You can subscribe for future episodes wherever you find your podcast. I'm your host Maura Sweeney and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, "Now go forth and set the world on fire." Theme music composed by Scott Holmes, courtesy of freemusicarchive.org.

Former Chief of Staff of the Army, Ray Odierno is a retired four-star general of the United States Army and current chairman of USA Football. With a background in team sports, General Odierno utilized team dynamics in his leadership style as Commanding General. Listen as David and General Ray discuss diversity and inclusion in the Army, providing options for the commander in chief, and how to avoid toxic leadership.

[General Odierno] felt that we'd spent the first several years of the Iraq War re-learning many of the lessons of the Vietnam War In 2013, a team of authors was commissioned by then Chief of Staff of the Army General Odierno to write a study of Operation Iraqi Freedom to glean insights for immediate practical application. The resulting two-volume report (Volume I | Volume II) was completed in 2016 but not authorized for release until early in 2019. In this presentation, A BETTER PEACE welcomes co-editor U.S. Army Colonel (Retired) Frank Sobchak and author U.S. Army Colonel Jim Powell to discuss their experiences of assembling the team, researching the report, and ultimately writing what came to a 1300-page product with tremendous implications for the current and future Army. What were more important insights? What were the toughest challenges, beyond the sheer size of the project? A BETTER PEACE Editor Jacqueline E. Whitt moderates.     Frank Sobchak is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army and co-editor of the Iraqi Freedom Study (with U.S. Army Colonel Joel Rayburn. Jim Powell is a colonel in the U.S. Army and one of the Study's authors. Jacqueline E. Whitt is Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Army War College and the Editor of A BETTER PEACE. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense. The OIF Study is available at the U.S. Army War College Publications website. Click the following links to access them: Volume I | Volume II Image: Covers of the two volumes of the report. Prepared by Jennifer Nevil. Composite assembled by Tom Galvin.

Emma Sky was U.S. General Odierno's chief political adviser during the the surge - building alliances with the Sunni leaders who would defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq. She also administered a key Kurdish area for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Her memoir of her time in Iraq is: "The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq." She now teaches at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. This is the first in an occasional series of Wavemaker briefings from leading authorities on ISIS and the region.

Emma Sky was U.S. General Odierno's chief political adviser during the the surge - building alliances with the Sunni leaders who would defeat Al Qaeda in Iraq. She also administered a key Kurdish area for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Her memoir of her time in Iraq is: "The Unraveling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq." She now teaches at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. This is the first in an occasional series of Wavemaker briefings from leading authorities on ISIS and the region.

Yesterday's "leak" that the Army would cut 40,000 troops was nothing new. It was actually announced by General Odierno earlier this year. What's going on here? Scare people into opposing any military cuts. Meanwhile military spending increases -- even with the "sequester."

Author and Middle East expert, Emma Sky, discusses Iraqi politics and her path to becoming the political advisor to U.S. General Ray Odierno in Iraq with Foreign Affairs Editor Gideon Rose.

5月28日，美国总统奥巴马出席西点军校毕业典礼并发表演讲，阐述其新外交政策。需要演讲文本，请关注微信“英语环球NEWSPlus”。 PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, General Caslen, for that introduction. General Trainor, General Clarke, faculty and staff at West Point, you have been outstanding stewards of this proud institution and outstanding mentors for the newest officers in the United States Army. I'd like to acknowledge the Army's leadership -- General McHugh -- Secretary McHugh, General Odierno, as well as Senator Jack Reed who is here and a proud graduate of West Point himself. To the class of 2014, I congratulate you on taking your place on the Long Gray Line. Among you is the first all-female command team: Erin Mauldin and Austen Boroff. In Calla Glavin, you have a Rhodes Scholar, and Josh Herbeck proves that West Point accuracy extends beyond the three point line. (Laughter.) To the entire class, let me reassure you in these final hours at West Point, as commander in chief, I hereby absolve all cadets who are on restriction for minor conduct offenses. (Laughter, applause.) Let me just say that nobody ever did that for me when I was in school. I know you join me in extending a word of thanks to your families. Joe DeMoss, whose son James is graduating, spoke for a whole lot of parents when he wrote me a letter about the sacrifices you've made. “Deep inside,” he wrote, “we want to explode with pride at what they are committing to do in the service of our country.” Like several graduates, James is a combat veteran, and I would ask all of us here today to stand and pay tribute not only to the veterans among us, but to the more than 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as their families. (Applause.) It is a particularly useful time for America to reflect on those who've sacrificed so much for our freedom, a few days after Memorial Day. You are the first class to graduate since 9/11 who may not be sent into combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. (Cheers, applause.) When I first spoke at West Point in 2009, we still had more than 100,000 troops in Iraq. We were preparing to surge in Afghanistan. Our counterterrorism efforts were focused on al-Qaida's core leadership -- those who had carried out the 9/11 attacks. And our nation was just beginning a long climb out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Four and a half years later, as you graduate, the landscape has changed. We have removed our troops from Iraq. We are winding down our war in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida's leadership on the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been decimated, and Osama bin Laden is no more. (Cheers, applause.) And through it all, we've refocused our investments in what has always been a key source of American strength: a growing economy that can provide opportunity for everybody who's willing to work hard and take responsibility here at home. In fact, by most measures America has rarely been stronger relative to the rest of the world. Those who argue otherwise -- who suggest that America is in decline or has seen its global leadership slip away -- are either misreading history or engaged in partisan politics. Think about it. Our military has no peer. The odds of a direct threat against us by any nation are low, and do not come close to the dangers we faced during the Cold War. Meanwhile, our economy remains the most dynamic on Earth, our businesses the most innovative. Each year, we grow more energy independent. From Europe to Asia, we are the hub of alliances unrivaled in the history of nations. America continues to attract striving immigrants. The values of our founding inspire leaders in parliaments and new movements in public squares around the globe. And when a typhoon hits the Philippines, or schoolgirls are kidnapped in Nigeria, or masked men occupy a building in Ukraine, it is America that the world looks to for help. (Applause.) So the United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. That has been true for the century past, and it will be true for the century to come.

General Raymond T. Odierno assumed duty as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army in September of 2011. Most recently General Odierno commanded the United States Joint Forces Command, and prior to that he served as the Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq. While serving as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2004-2006, General Odierno was the primary military advisor to Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. During more than 35 years of distinguished service, he has commanded units at every echelon and has had duty in five different countries. Join the World Affairs Council and the Marines’ Memorial Club in welcoming General Odierno for his remarks about "America's Army: The Strength of the Nation." Our partner organization for this event is Association of the United States Army (AUSA): San Francisco Chapter.

This episode features stories about U.S. Marines and NATO forces combating the Taliban in Afghanistan, General Odierno sitting down to discuss the Iraqi elections, the 482nd Fighter Wing responding to the crisis in Haiti, Navy Customs agents in Iraq helping protect U.S. borders, and volunteers giving the families of deployed service members a sense of normalcy. Presented in anamorphic 16:9 format.