Podcasts about joint base lewis mcchord

In episode 27,  we take you behind the scenes of one of the Army's most critical missions—bringing top medical talent into the force. Join us as we sit down with CPT Ryan Harakel, a current Army Healthcare Recruiter, to learn what it takes to connect passionate professionals with purpose-driven careers in Army Medicine.CPT Ryan M. Harakel currently serves as the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Officer in Charge at the Portland, Maine Medical Recruiting Station. A native of Little Falls, Minnesota, he began his Army career in 2003, completing Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill and AIT at Joint Base San Antonio, earning the MOS 68P (Radiology Specialist). In 2017, he commissioned into the Medical Service Corps as a 70B (Health Services Administration Officer).His leadership and operational assignments include Officer in Charge at Portland ME Medical Recruiting Station; HHC Commander, Mobilization & Missions Officer, and Executive Officer with the 7456 Medical Operation Readiness Unit in Des Moines, IA. As an enlisted leader, he served in multiple platoon sergeant and readiness roles across the U.S., including at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Camp Shelby, and Rochester, MN.CPT Harakel holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from Mercy College of Health Sciences. His professional military education includes the AMEDD Captains Career Course, Health Care Recruiter Course, Master Fitness Trainer Course, OC/T Academy, AMEDD Senior Leaders Course, Air Assault School, and many others, reflecting his broad experience and commitment to readiness and training.His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal (6 OLC), Army Achievement Medal (7 OLC), Meritorious Unit Citation, Iraq Campaign Medal (2 campaign stars), and multiple other decorations. He has earned the Gold Recruiter Badge, Air Assault Badge, and Norwegian Military Marching Badge.With over two decades of service, CPT Harakel brings deep experience in both enlisted and officer ranks, combining operational expertise with a passion for mentoring and building the future of Army Medicine through healthcare recruiting. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are the guests and host's alone and do not reflect the official position of the Medical Service Corps, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. All information discussed is unclassified approved for public release and found on open cleared sources.For more episodes listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube @ Be All You Can Be MSC For more information, suggestions, or questions please contact: beallyoucanbemsc@gmail.com

Send us a textVincent “Rocco” Vargas, a former decorated Army Ranger who also conducted Spec Ops at the border (and continues to serve as a Sergeant First Class Reserve Officer today).In addition,  Rocco Vargas is a veteran of three combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 75th Ranger Regiment's 2nd Battalion based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.As if that were not enough, Vargas has also thrived in life outside the military.His accomplishments include:  chef, podcaster, writer, producer, business entrepreneur, actor, and a partridge and a pear tree.From childhood to a special operations member, to a starring role in FX's hit TV series 'Sons Of Anarchy' spin-off: 'Mayans M.C.' Rocco understands that the world can seem unforgiving at times.  Conversation:00:00 "Nostalgic Baseball Card Memories"04:12 Baseball Therapy for Stress Relief06:48 Trauma Therapy: Healing Through Hitting11:33 Holistic Healing for Veterans16:40 Self-Love Through Daily Actions18:28 Truth in Vulnerable Masculinity22:10 Stay Active, Pursue Adventure24:57 "From Military to Hollywood Writer"29:12 "Passion for Influential Storytelling"32:55 Rising Above: Perseverance in Hollywood36:37 Walking My Truth Alone38:25 Chasing Taylor Sheridan's Success42:51 Comedy Dreams: Inspired by "Freak"46:14 "Chase Love, Not Titles"50:27 The Beauty of Family Cooking54:06 Billboard of Hope and Change55:04 "Anything Is Possible"Connect with Passing The Torch: Facebook and IG: @torchmartin More Amazing Stories: Episode 41: Lee Ellis – Freeing You From Bond That Make You InsecureEpisode 49: Ryan Hawk – Crafting a Legacy of LeadershipEpisode 52: Riley Tejcek – Mission of Empowerment and Endurance

For review:1. US Army identifies the four Dogface Soldiers (3d Infantry Division) who perished during training exercise in Lithuania. All assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, they were identified as: Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez; Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco; Pfc. Dante D. Taitano; and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins.2.  US Sends More F-35s to CENTCOM. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dispatched the extra air wing of F-35 fighters to Jordan.3. IDF Creates New Security Corridor in S. Gaza. The route, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis to its north, will likely cut off Rafah from the rest of the Strip.4. Hamas is prepared to release all of the remaining hostages at once in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing truce talks told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.5. A top Russian official (Kirill Dmitriev) is in Washington this week for meetings with the Trump administration, as negotiations continue on a deal to end the war in Ukraine.6. US SECDEF Pete Hegseth skips the latest Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. 7.  Finland to Increase Defense Spending to 3% GDP by '29.8. Greece will spend 25 billion euros ($27 billion) over the next decade to adapt its military to evolving high-tech warfare technologies. The plan also includes new programs such as next-generation soldier gear equipped with sensors and communication systems, and the development of dedicated satellite capabilities to ensure secure communications. 9.  US Army Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Test in Dec '25. The Army is forecasting that the first unit to get the hypersonic capability will begin receiving the rounds at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in the May time frame.10.  The US State Department has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale of 20 F-16 fighters to the Philippines, with an estimated price tag of $5.58 billion.The approved package, which covers 16 F-16C Block 70/72 jets and four F-16B Block 70/72 fighters, comes just days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manilla. 

Show SummaryOn today's episode, we're featuring a conversation with Army Veteran Chuck Hodges, President of the Education and Training Division at Transforce, an organization and network of transportation professionals across the US.Provide FeedbackAs a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health. About Today's GuestsChuck Hodges is President of the Education and Training Division, a role he's held since August 2022.  He and his team run The CDL School, Troops Into Transportation, and the United States Truck Driving School, graduatinging thousands of new CDL drivers each year for the Transportation Industry.  Before joining TransForce, Chuck was the Executive Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Hiring Our Heroes Program, where he worked with employers and military installations to connect thousands of Transitioning Service Members and Military Spouses with career opportunities. Chuck is a retired US Army Infantry Colonel, having served 27 years on active duty, completing his career as Joint Base Commander of Joint Base Lewis McChord - the largest operational joint base in the Department of Defense. He commanded at multiple levels including leading 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry as part of the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team.  He holds a Master's Degree in Instructional Systems from the University of Central Florida, a Master's Degree in Public Communication from American University, a Master's Degree in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Central Florida. Links Mentioned in this Episode Transforce Web SiteTroops into Transportation Web Site PsychArmor Resource of the WeekFor this week's PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor course, Veteran Supportive Supervisor Training -- Supportive Supervisor Behaviors This course will explore the four types of support supervisor behaviors, four performance supportive behaviors and then will learn how to apply these behaviors to create a balanced, healthy, vibrant, and productive work culture environment. You can find the resource here:  https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/Veteran-Supportive-Supervisor-Training-Supportive-Supervisor-Behaviors Episode Partner: Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on TwitterPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

King's Way Christian Schools held a Veterans Day ceremony in Vancouver, honoring military members with student performances and Airmen from Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Full story at https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/youth/kings-way-christian-honors-veterans-in-advance-of-holiday on www.ClarkCountyToday.com #VeteransDay #LocalNews #ClarkCountyWa #KingsWayChristian #MilitaryRecognition

AVAILABLE OCTOBER 17!!! Join us for a conversation with #Soldiers from the 14th Engineer Battalion, 7th Infantry Division our of Joint Base Lewis-McChord who recently were deployed to Idaho to help combat the wildfires in the Boise and Payette National Forests. We discuss what it's like fighting wildfires, the training received and their personal experiences. Favorite podcast platform or at one of the links below. https://anchor.fm/forscom-frontline https://podcasts.apple.com/.../the-forscom.../id1584985613 https://open.spotify.com/show/3FXb1jG7PnqdEBfc6ARYVf Watch the Frontline podcast on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/.../UCkcU18XlcCLhcyGTSj_rQXg/videos#FORSCOMFrontline #BeAllYouCanBe #ArmyPossibilities #ArmyTeam #Soldiers I Corps U.S. Army

A cursed video/A dream of disaster   Patreon https://www.patreon.com/user?u=18482113 PayPal Donation Link https://tinyurl.com/mrxe36ph MERCH STORE!!! https://tinyurl.com/y8zam4o2 Amazon Wish List https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/28CIOGSFRUXAD?ref_=wl_share Help Promote Dead Rabbit! Dual Flyer https://i.imgur.com/OhuoI2v.jpg "As Above" Flyer https://i.imgur.com/yobMtUp.jpg “Alien Flyer” By TVP VT U https://imgur.com/gallery/aPN1Fnw “QR Code Flyer” by Finn https://imgur.com/a/aYYUMAh Links: EP 39 - Or Are You Happy To See Me? (Are Porn Stars Unwitting Psychic Vampires episode) https://deadrabbitradio.libsyn.com/ep-39-or-are-you-happy-to-see-me EP 1228 - Fatal Frame: Are Demons Hiding In EVERY Movie? (Possessed Porn episode) https://deadrabbitradio.libsyn.com/ep-1228-fatal-frame-are-demons-hiding-in-every-movie Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIANBamMgas&ab_channel=NineDaysVEVO Spooky Stories and Personal Experiences: The Thread (Possessed Porn This Is The Story Of The girl story) https://archive.ph/qiIyI What Is Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction? https://healthmatch.io/erectile-dysfunction/what-is-porn-induced-erectile-dysfunction The jumpers. (Parachute Dream Death story) https://www.reddit.com/r/ParanormalNews/comments/1euy6no/the_jumpers/ Archive https://archive.ph/SsJ43 JBLM soldier falls to his death; ‘unprecedented' manufacturing error blamed https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/military/article95225582.html Joint Base Lewis–McChord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Base_Lewis%E2%80%93McChord   ------------------------------------------------ Logo Art By Ash Black Opening Song: "Atlantis Attacks" Closing Song: "Bella Royale" Music By Simple Rabbitron 3000 created by Eerbud Thanks to Chris K, Founder Of The Golden Rabbit Brigade Dead Rabbit Archivist Some Weirdo On Twitter AKA Jack YouTube Champ Stewart Meatball The Haunted Mic Arm provided by Chyme Chili Discord Mods: Mason, HotDiggityDane, Carson Forever Fluffle: Cantillions, Samson Foreign Correspondent: Fabio Nerbon http://www.DeadRabbit.com Email: DeadRabbitRadio@gmail.com Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DeadRabbitRadio TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@deadrabbitradio Dead Rabbit Radio Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeadRabbitRadio/ Paranormal News Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ParanormalNews/ Mailing Address Jason Carpenter PO Box 1363 Hood River, OR 97031 Paranormal, Conspiracy, and True Crime news as it happens! Jason Carpenter breaks the stories they'll be talking about tomorrow, assuming the world doesn't end today. All Contents Of This Podcast Copyright Jason Carpenter 2018 - 2024  

Road Home Program's Chaplain Mark Schimmelpfennig interviews two active duty chaplains with rather interesting stories at the Wounded Warrior Project's Chaplain Symposium. Chaplains Brian Koin of the 18th Airborne Corps and Mike Beck from Joint Base Lewis-McChord share their journey to chaplaincy and how they have an impact on soldier's lives through faith and ministry.

The Army will find out whether so-called sustainable building materials will hold up to the wear-and-tear of military construction. It's using such materials to build new barracks for the First Multi-Domain Task Force at Joint Base Lewis-McChord ... near Tacoma, Washington. Joining me with more about this project … the principal deputy assistant Army secretary for installations, Paul Farnan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Army will find out whether so-called sustainable building materials will hold up to the wear-and-tear of military construction. It's using such materials to build new barracks for the First Multi-Domain Task Force at Joint Base Lewis-McChord ... near Tacoma, Washington. Joining me with more about this project … the principal deputy assistant Army secretary for installations, Paul Farnan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 58 – Eric Czaja – Below the Surface In this episode, U.S. Army Maj. Eric Czaja discusses his career from his time as a platoon leader leading up to experiences as an NPS student and his thesis research focusing on regenerative agriculture. This episode is hosted by U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Karl Flynn. This episode was recorded on April 12, 2024. Watch Maj. Czaja and his thesis partner, Maj. Ian McAlpine discuss their research in the NPS Student Profile video. Download a transcript of this episode. Segment 1 of 3 – Operational Experiences - [0:00] Segment 2 of 3 – Homesteading and Agricultural Thesis Research - [11:25] Segment 3 of 3 – Advice to Students - [30:20] Eric is a graduate of Marquette University and commissioned as an Infantry officer in 2011. He served as a Rifle Platoon leader, Reconnaissance Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Assistant Operations Officer in the 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA. After successfully completing the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2018, Eric served as a Special Forces Operation Detachment- Alpha Commander in 3rd Special Forces Group. Eric has successfully led Soldiers in Africa and Afghanistan and is a June 2024 graduate with an M.S. degree in Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. [Disclaimers] The Trident Room has been brought to by the Naval Postgraduate School Alumni Association and Naval Postgraduate School Foundation. The views expressed in this interview are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the US Navy, or the Naval Postgraduate School. For comments, suggestions, and critiques, please email us at TridentRoomPodcastHost@nps.edu, and find us online at nps.edu/tridentroompodcast. Thank you!

It has long been said that the United States has benefited from its geography, when it comes to national security. This is attributed to vast oceans to the east and west, along with friendly neighbors to the north and south. The same can be said for Canada, with Santa being a pretty friendly neighbor to the north, one would assume. Do to this shared advantage, which might be less true today, Canada and the United States have long worked together to secure "Fortress North America". From the defensive structures of NORAD and NATO, to the continued force projection taking on some of the biggest challenges of the day, these two countries have collaborated in a number of military spaces.While it would take too long to dive into all the shared challenges that these countries face on the global stage, we did take a special opportunity to speak with the Canadian Defense Attaché to the United States about several of the biggest issues of the day. Major General  Michel-Henri St-Louis of the Canadian Armed Forces graciously gave his time to talk about NATO, NORAD, Ukraine, and the current state of Canada's military and integration with American forces. With a thirty-plus year military career, the Major General has held many high level commands across multiple theatres, as he has helped to ensure Canada upholds its international security obligations. This episode tackles important questions, from what challenges do the armed forces face in terms of readiness, what support has the Canadian government provided to Ukraine, and how our adversaries actively work to undermine important foreign policy conversations here in the US and Canada. This fascinating and unique conversation provides access to top level military thinking, accessible for all.Major-General Michel-Henri St-Louis is an infantry officer from le Royal 22e Régiment, currently serving as the Defence Attaché to the United States. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, he and his family moved to the south shore of Montreal in 1978 during the time of the Sandinista Revolution. Before assuming his current responsibilities at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, MGen St-Louis was the Acting Commander of the Canadian Army. This followed his appointment as the Canadian Army's Training Authority. Preceding this, he served as the Commander of Joint Task Force - IMPACT in the Middle East for more than a year (mid 2019 – mid 2020). Other previous commands and appointments include Deputy Commanding General for Operations of America's First Corps (I Corps - US Army) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (2017-2019), command of 5e Groupe-Brigade Mécanisé du Canada (2015-2017), as well as commander of the last Canadian Battle-Group in charge of combat operations in Panjwai, Kandahar (2010-2011).Through his service he and his family have lived in Saint-Jean, Québec City, Oromocto, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Washington, D.C., Washington State and Kingston (Ontario). He has deployed on 6 different missions, to such places as Srebrenica (Bosnia), Rastevic (Croatia), Zgon (Bosnia), Kabul, Kandahar (Afghanistan) and the OP IMPACT Middle East area or operations (Kuwait-Iraq-Jordan-Lebanon).He has attended the US PINNACLE and CAPSTONE Leadership Programs, followed seminars at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NDU) and the US Army War College. He is a graduate of the National War College (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.), the Canadian Forces College, le Collège Militaire Royal de Saint-Jean, the Royal Military College in Kingston, and the Canadian Army Command and Staff College. His three Masters degrees have focused on the study of war, defence and strategy. He served as chief of staff at the operational level in the 1st Canadian Air Division. In addition, he served three times at the strategic level with the Director General of Strategic Planning, within the Canadian Army Staff and with the Strategic Joint Staff.

-Dr. Gabe Farias & Jordan Hicks represent the O2X Integrated Specialist Program with Phoenix Police Department.-Jordan Hicks specializes in injury prevention and management as a certified Athletic Trainer - with six years of expertise in evaluating and rehabilitating musculoskeletal injuries. -Prior to joining the O2X team, Jordan was a Sports Medicine Injury Prevention Athletic Trainer at Camp Pendleton. With a demonstrated commitment to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of patients, she successfully developed regiment level athletic training programs, implemented concussion protocols, and contributed significantly to the overall fitness and mobility of individuals.-She also logged time as a Tactical Athletic Trainer as part of the Optimizing Human Weapons System Athletic Trainer team at Aviano Air Base in Italy and Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State. -She holds a Master of Sciences in Sports Medicine: Strength and Conditioning from the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and a Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training from San Diego State University.  -The second guest, Dr. Gabe Farias, is an O2X Mental Performance Specialist.-Prior to joining O2X, Gabe worked with U.S. Army, engaging with thousands of soldiers, enhancing mental resilience and imparting invaluable mental skills for personal and professional applications. Driven by the belief that mental skills are indispensable for high performance, Gabe applies his expertise in Sport and Performance Psychology to empower tactical athletes and teams. His focus is on cultivating critical mental skills that provide a decisive advantage over the competitors.-Gabe earned his Master's in Performance Psychology from National University in La Jolla, CA back in 2020 and continued his education by earning his PhD in Sport and Performance Psychology from the University of Western States in Portland, OR in September of 2023. He is currently working on his second doctorate in Organizational Leadership.-Together, Jordan & Gabe lead our integrated specialist with Phoenix Police Department where the provide human performance resources to all Phoenix Police officers.O2X | Integrated: Phoenix Police Departmenthttps://youtu.be/ktMfkm-tzIUFirstNet Built with AT&T:http://www.firstnet.com/healthandwellnessBuilding Homes for Heroes:https://www.buildinghomesforheroes.org/Download the O2X Tactical Performance App:app.o2x.comLet us know what you think:Website - http://o2x.comIG - https://instagram.com/o2xhumanperformance?igshid=1kicimx55xt4f 

Joe's interest in the military was tied to his experiences with his Dad in the outdoors and participating in Boy Scouting. It was further fueled by popular movies and documentaries he saw in his childhood. Joe had an indirect route to the Military Academy. Enlisting in 1996 and serving as a soldier in support of West Point prior to being accepted as a New Cadet in 1997. Joe initially suffered from overconfidence in the skills and abilities that got him to West Point and an underappreciation for the amount of work he'd have to invest in himself to build the skills necessary to succeed. Joe would also struggle to learn how to and prepare himself in a way that allowed him to be smooth in the moment of execution. Joe would graduate West Point in 2001 and commission as an Armor Officer. He would serve at Ft. Riley, Kansas and deploy to Iraq in 2003 and 2005. Command a Tank Company in South Korea. Serve as an instructor at the Maneuver Center of Excellence. Deploying to Afghanistan in 2012 to serve as a Brigade S3 for the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan. Served at Fort Carson, Colorado and Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington as a Field Grade Officer before deploying to Saudi Arabia in 2019 to serve as an Advisor for the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Joe would serve as the Deputy Director for Exercises for I Corps at JBLM, Washington for three years before retiring in 2023. Joe talks about his experiences learning from the past, preparing for the future, and trying to live in the present. This is his story. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-harrison0/support

For review:1. Missile Strike on Air Defense Radar Site inside Iran. Reported location is town of Isfahan- 75 miles south of the Natanz nuclear enrichment complex.2. After second meeting, US & Israel Still Apart on Rafah Operation. Third meeting planned.3.  Breaking Defense article (Agnes Helou)- lays out Iran's Air Defense Long-Range, Medium-Range, & Short-Range capabilities.4. Ukraine Reports Downing a Russian supersonic TU-22M "Backfire" Bomber.5. General Atomics pitches Gray Eagle Short Take-off & Landing (STOL) combat drone as potential solution for the Army's now cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Program.  Still in development, the Gray Eagle STOL has the capability to carry a maximum payload of 16 Hellfire missiles6. Pre-Decisional: The Army Names Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) Stations.1st MDTF: Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. (Indo-PACOM)2d MDTF: Germany with some subordinate battalions at Fort Drum, NY. (EUCOM)3d MDTF: Hawaii with some subordinate battalions at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. (Indo-PACOM)4th MDTF: Fort Carson, CO. (Indo-PACOM)5th MDTF: Fort Liberty, NC. (Global Response?)

For review:1. US CENTCOM X:13-14 Apr: CENTCOM & EUCOM Forces engaged and destroyed more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen. 2. Israel Discusses Response to Iranian Attack & IDF Provides Target Options.3. US CENTCOM & EUCOM Air, Ground, & Naval Assets assist Israel in repelling Iranian attack.4. US Navy Guided-Missile Destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) & USS Carney (DDG-64) intercept Iranian ballistic missiles with SM 3s (Standard Missile) - first time these munitions have been used in combat.5. Israeli F-35I Adir Fighters targeted at Nevatim Air Base in Southern Israel during Iranian strike.  No reported damage to warplanes.6. Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky, says the front-line situation is “deteriorating” along the frontier of the Eastern part of the country. Russian forces are moving toward the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. 7. Russia reportedly creates new Corps-sized "Operational Strategic Group" named Sever (North in Russian) for operations in Ukraine.This unit will join five other Strategic Groups- Center, South, West, & Dnipro. 8. Germany to send Patriot Air Defense Artillery System to Ukraine.9. US Missile Defense Agency Selects Next Generation ICBM Interceptor (Lockheed Martin).10. US Army deploys the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) to Philippines (from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA). Unit is equipped with the Mid-Range Capability Launcher that employs the SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles. Mid-Range Capability fills ranges between the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) (500 kilometers) and the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) (2,776 kilometers). 

Josh became infatuated with the military and flying after watching “Top Gun”. Josh did everything he could to learn about aircraft and to prepare to become a pilot, including participating in the Civil Air Patrol. Josh needed glasses to correct his vision so becoming a pilot wasn't feasible, but it didn't stop his desire to serve. Josh enlisted in the Infantry with the goal to apply to West Point and to enter the Academy. When he reported to his first duty station at Joint Base Lewis McChord he told his chain of commmand his intentions and his company commander supported his ambitions. Nine months after reporting to Joint Base Lewis McChord Josh would be reporting to the United States Military Academy Prep School and West Point the year after. Josh would graduate West Point and commission as an Armor Officer; serving in South Korea, deploying from Fort Carson with the 3rd ACR to Iraq, and later to Kuwait as a staff officer in the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC). Josh would leave the military upon the completion of his initial military service obligation and began a journey of discovering his passions for elevators, photography, serving others, and Artificial Intelligence. This is his story. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-harrison0/support

The 41st Chief of Staff of the Army, General Randy A. George makes his first appearance on the podcast for a great discussion about leadership, his vision, and the lessons he's learned over the course of his four-decade career. General George and Joe cover a lot of ground in this episode, discussing topics including:Encouraging professional discourseWhy leaders need to ask questionsThe training management program that's in the Chief's crosshairsWhy great leaders are great editorsWhat transforming in contact looks likeHow General George recharges his batteries after a long dayThe importance of professional boundariesWhat topics General George wants leaders to write about....and more!General Randy A. George assumed duties as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army on September 21, 2023.George commissioned from the U.S. Military Academy in 1988 as an infantry officer. He served as a lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division and deployed in support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. George received his Master of Science in Economics in 1999 from Colorado School of Mines and then served at the National Simulation Center in Fort Leavenworth before attending the Command and General Staff College.In 2001 George went to Italy and served as the executive officer of 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was later executive officer and then deputy commander of the brigade, during which time he deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Returning to the 101st Airborne Division in 2004, George commanded 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment and deployed a second time to Iraq. He then went to United States Naval War College as an instructor and then student. He deployed again as part of the initiatives group for the commanding general, Multi-National Corps-Iraq in 2007.In 2008 George returned to the 4th Infantry Division, where he commanded 4th Brigade Combat Team and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Following command, he was a fellow on the Council of Foreign Relations, chief of the strategic policy division for the Pakistan-Afghanistan coordination cell on the Joint Staff, executive officer to the 33rd Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. He later returned to Fort Carson as the deputy commanding general (maneuver) of 4th Infantry Division.George took command of the 4th Infantry Division in June 2017. In this role he deployed again to Afghanistan. His most recent command was of I Corps at Joint Base Lewis McChord, after which he served as the senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense.He is married to his West Point classmate, Patty. They have two children, Grant and Andrea.Special thanks to this week's sponsors!Veteran-founded Adyton. Connect Leadership With Action Across Distributed Formations With Mustr by Adyton. Mustr is your digital knife-hand for daily and rapid personnel accountability, real time response data visibility, and automated reporting. Learn more about what Mustr can do for your formation here! My favorite coffee is veteran-owned Alpha Coffee and I've been drinking it every morning since 2020! They make 100% premium arabica coffee. Alpha has donated over 22k bags of coffee to deployed units and they offer a 10% discount for military veterans, first responders, nurses, and teachers! Try their coffee today. Once you taste the Alpha difference, you won't want to drink anything else!  Learn more here.   

Bill is joined by Stu Velasco and Zach Popp of The Boardwalk Podcast (also hosted by Kyle Reynolds who couldn't make it, shoutout Kyle Reynolds) to discuss the trials and tribulations of their time in service to the U.S. during the long war.About the guestsStu, Zach, and Kyle met in 2016 while working in the Kandahar Intelligence Fusion Cell (KIFC) at TAAC-S. Stu was the Uruzgan Provincial Analyst, Zach the Kandahar Provincial Analyst, and Kyle the Political-Military (Green and White) Analyst. They created The Boardwalk Podcast in May 2021. Support their show here — and check out their recent episode with Bill here.Stu Velasco Stu joined the Army as an All Source Intelligence Analyst in 2011 and upon completion of Airborne school was assigned to 1st BN, 3rd SFG at Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty), North Carolina. Stu deployed to Afghanistan 3 times, supporting SOTF-E, SOTF-NE, and SOTF-A operations in Afghanistan. After leaving the Army in 2016, returned to Afghanistan as a contractor, providing intelligence support to conventional operations at Kandahar Airfield and FOB Lightning in Paktiya. He switched contracts in late 2017 to a Forward Supporting Engineer role providing training and upkeep with intelligence systems (mainly Palantir) with Special Forces, Rangers, and conventional forces throughout Afghanistan until March 2020.Zach PoppZach joined the Army as an All Source Intelligence Analyst in 2008 and was assigned to XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Zach deployed to Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq with XVIII Airborne Corps in 2010 in support of Operation New Dawn. Upon redeployment, he was assigned to I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Zach left the Army in 2015 and went to Afghanistan in 2016 as a contractor, providing intelligence support to Train, Advise, Assist Command-South and TF Warhawk at Kandahar Airfield. 

Dr. Eric Flake and his daughter Sadie discuss the importance of social skills in the success of children and youth, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the development of these skills.  This podcast features the unique perspective and experiences of one military-connected youth.   This podcast is made possible by generous funding from BAE Systems, Inc. To learn more, visit https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/home.   Audio mixing by Concentus Media, Inc., Temple, Texas.   Show Notes:   Bio: Colonel (Ret) Eric Flake M.D. is a team member of Olympia Pediatrics, the largest independent pediatric group in Thurston County, Washington. He is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician and created the Developmental-Behavioral Family Readiness Center for the DoD. Dr. Flake is faculty of the only Department of Defense (DoD) Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Tacoma, Washington, and founded the only DoD Autism Center — JBLM Center for Autism Resource, Education and Services (CARES). He attended the military medical school (USUHS), graduating in 2001. Dr. Flake has published numerous articles and presentations regarding childhood resilience, autism and the psychosocial effects of deployment on children. He is an Associate Professor at the Uniformed Services University and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, currently serves in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and serves on the science advisory board for the Military Child Education Coalition. Sadie is a 16-year-old junior at Steilacoom High School in Washington. She is a member of MCEC's Student 2 Student, National Honor Society, and SNHS programs and is a varsity cheerleader. She also enjoys singing in the Advanced and Chamber Choirs. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading books, playing the piano, and riding horses. Sadie has moved four times in her life. She has lived in Mississippi (2), Germany, and Washington (2). She has three sisters, one brother, and her dog Toby.   Resources: MCEC's On the Move® magazine https://issuu.com/militarychild/docs/2023-107_otm_final_issuu?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ See article Top Ten Social Skills Students Need to Navigate Life's Challenges.   https://www.semel.ucla.edu/peers The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) is world-renowned for providing evidence-based social skills treatment to preschoolers, adolescents, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and other socio-emotional problems.   https://thepeakproject.org/ Positive, Engaged, Achieving Kids (PEAK) is a national study to evaluate the effectiveness of a classroom social skills curriculum in early elementary grades.

Recorded October 4, 2023 Signed on Oct. 1, 1953, in the wake of the armistice, the U.S.-South Korea alliance has matured into a dynamic partnership, deterring conflict and fostering cooperation with respect to trade, technology and people-to-people ties. This expert panel reflected on the legacy and future of the alliance. This program was jointly hosted by The Korea Society, the Korea Defense Veterans Association and the Korea-Pacific Program at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. About the Speakers: Thomas J. Byrne joined The Korea Society as its President in August of 2015 following a distinguished career that included Senior Vice President of Moody's Investor Services and Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance. Byrne has an M.A. degree in International Relations with an emphasis on economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before doing graduate work at SAIS, he served in South Korea for three years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. His commentary on Korean affairs has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Financial Times among others. Stephen Haggard is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Distinguished Professor and director of the Korea-Pacific Program at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. He teaches courses on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific at GPS covering political economy as well as security issues. He has done extensive research on North Korea in particular. In addition, he has a long-standing interest in transitions to and from democratic rule and the current phenomenon of democratic backsliding. His recent research on South Korea addresses the issue of political polarization, including with respect to foreign policy. Allison Hooker is a foreign policy and national security specialist with 20 years of experience in the U.S. Government working on Asia. She served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia, where she led the coordination and implementation of U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to that, Hooker served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Korean Peninsula, where she staffed the U.S.-DPRK Summits in Singapore, Hanoi, and the DMZ. Prior to her service at the White House, Hooker was a senior analyst for North Korea in the Department of State and staffed the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program. She received a Masters' of Arts Degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and has been a research fellow at Osaka University and Keio University, where she focused on Japan-Korea relations, and Japan-China relations, respectively. Youngwan Kim is a career diplomat who joined the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Korea in 1993. He worked at various Ministries of the Korean Government, including Foreign Ministry, Unification Ministry, and Office for Government Policy Coordination, Prime Minister's Office. Prior to his current post as Consul General in LA, he served as Director-General for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Prime Minister's office. He also worked as Director-General for Planning and Management of the Foreign Ministry. His most recent foreign post was a Member of the Panel of Experts, UN Security Council Sanctions Committee at the United Nations headquarter. His foreign posts also include Washington D.C., New York, Beijing and Baghdad. Munseob Lee is an economist who concentrates his research efforts on macroeconomics, growth and development, firm dynamics, and Korea. He has investigated the factors that determine the growth of firms, with a particular focus on how government purchases can promote long-term growth of small businesses. Additionally, he examined the disproportionate effect of inflation, revealing that low-income households and black families are the most affected by rising prices in the United States. Lee, who is an Associate Director in GPS's Korea-Pacific Program, teaches courses including Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomics of Development and The Korean Economy. In 2019, General Curtis “Mike” Scaparrotti completed a distinguished 41-year career in the U.S. Army as the Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO. Prior to that he served as the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea / United Nations Command / Combined Forces Command in Seoul from 2013 to 2016. Other prominent postings in his highly-decorated career include Director of the Joint Staff, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces – Afghanistan, the Commanding General of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division. Additionally, over the years, General Scaparrotti served in key leadership positions at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. He has commanded forces during Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Support Hope (Zaire/Rwanda), Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina), and Assured Response (Liberia). General Scaparrotti holds a Master's degree in Administrative Education from the University of South Carolina. In addition to his work with The Cohen Group, General Scaparrotti sits on the boards iof the Atlantic Council and Patriot Foundation, and is a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University. Yoo Myung-hee served at the Ministries of Trade, Industry and Energy and Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea for nearly three decades before becoming Korea's first female trade minister (2019-2021). In a variety of roles she designed and implemented Korea's trade policy and negotiation strategies and led numerous bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations as Korea's chief negotiator, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and Korea's free trade agreements with the United States and ASEAN. As trade minister, she contributed to international initiatives to ensure supply chain resilience and to address digital trade policy. She received her BA and MPA from Seoul National University and JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and currently teaches at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1745-the-u-s-republic-of-korea-alliance-at-70-legacy-and-future

Greg was an Eagle Scout (an elite paramilitary organization), his father was a West Point graduate, and he grew up around the military. Greg knew he was going to the Army. West Point was a path to serve. West Point felt chaotic and Greg struggled to find his rhythm at first, but he leaned into computers, math, and physics as means to create order and mountaineering as a way to gain perspective. Greg loves the outdoors and his experiences at West Point and CTLT drew him towards Infantry. Greg's first duty station was Joint Base Lewis McChord and he was a part of the early Stryker Brigades. Greg would deploy overseas as an infantry officer in Iraq before completing Special Forces selection and deploying to Afghanistan. This is is the first half of his story. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-harrison0/support

Families living at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington have dealt with issues like mold and rodents in their homes. Still, monthslong waitlists exist for housing on base as some families struggle to find somewhere to live nearby. Kaylee Tornay is an investigative reporter with InvestigateWest, a nonprofit news outlet covering the Pacific Northwest. She's covered these issues for the outlet and joins us with details of her reporting. 

Show SummaryOn this Bonus Episode of Behind the Mission, we join with wear blue: run to remember to share stories of active remembrance in support of the annual wear blue: run to remember Memorial Day Run, a nation-wide event happening in-person in communities across the country and virtually.  About Today's Guest On 9 March 2010, wear blue: run to remember was founded following the redeployment of 5-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team to their home station of Joint Base Lewis McChord. While deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the 1-17 Infantry Battalion, Buffalos, sustained significant combat losses and casualties. During that deployment, a small group of 5-2 wives and battalion staff met weekly to run, creating a support network for one another during this challenging and heartbreaking deployment. wear blue co-founder and current Executive Director, Lisa Hallett, lost her husband, CPT John Hallett, when he and three other soldiers were killed on August 25, 2009, while returning from a goodwill mission in Southern Afghanistan. The Hallett children were young when John was killed - 3 years, 1 year, and only three weeks old. John never met his youngest child. A lifelong runner, Lisa turned to running and community to navigate this incredibly difficult time, and work through her grief and loss.When the brigade returned, Lisa and fellow Army wife, Erin O'Connor, turned this small group into a nationwide organization that now helps thousands across the country heal from the devastating effects of the loss of a military loved one.The original wear blue runners wore blue Buffalo PT (physical training) shirts when they were running together while their spouses were deployed from 2009-2010. Blue shirts are now worn as a tribute to the  5-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team.When an individual dons a wear blue: run to remember shirt, they are indicating their support of our service members, veterans, and their families, and their commitment to ensuring that our fallen service members will always be remembered.Today, wear blue honors all members of the military  who pass away while in service and has evolved into a powerful network of currently serving, veterans, military families, Gold Star and surviving families, and community members.Links Mentioned In This Episodewear blue: run to remember Web SiteMemorial Day Run Web Site This Episode Sponsored By: This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations. Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on TwitterPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

As the European Union as well as member states create swiftly changing policies affecting clean energy initiatives, their energy decisions show significant variability. Recent events emphasize both the need for and the challenges to establishing a unified approach to securing supply for EU states and for improving energy independence within the EU. As emerging technology revolutionizes energy markets, it has never been more important for European countries to synchronize their standards on protecting critical energy infrastructure, including electric grids, Smart Grids, gas pipeline sensors and wind and solar technologies. This symposium will showcase cutting-edge research on where the European Union is headed on energy security and what the U.S. and the EU can learn from each other. -- Lieutenant Colonel Frank J. Kuzminski is a U.S. Army officer and strategist and Ph.D. Candidate, Jackson School of International Studies. He was commissioned as an infantry officer in 2004 and served in multiple operational assignments around the world. In 2014, Frank was assigned to the Army Staff at the Pentagon, and later as a strategic plans officer with I Corps at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. He is currently a doctoral candidate in international studies at the University of Washington. He holds a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University and Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy. He is married with two children and speaks Polish and French.

AMSC's Mr. David Howey meets with Command Sgt. Maj. Shawn Carns, I Corps command sergeant major at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, to discuss his motivation to join the Army, his career progression, and other topics to include building and cultivating relationships, delegation, the role of Army Civilians, and more. Learn more about I Corps at: https://www.army.mil/icorps For questions, suggestions, or feedback, write us at usarmy.leavenworth.tradoc.mbx.armyu-amsc-podcast@army.mil To learn more about the Army Management Staff College, visit our website at https://armyuniversity.edu/amsc No DoD or U.S. ARMY ENDORSEMENT IMPLIED. Any references to commercially available products or works are used for research and educational purposes only. Mention of any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the US Army, Department of Defense, or the United States Government. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not state or reflect those of the United States Government and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. The mention of companies by name is solely for the purpose of representing educational framework and should not be implied as endorsement.

Like we've heard hundreds of times, “there's an app for that!” Mobile apps are ubiquitous in modern life. With the proliferation of mental health apps available in app stores, it can be difficult to determine which apps have been rigorously tested and validated. Additionally, the mental health app market is largely unregulated, meaning that many apps may make claims about their effectiveness without sufficient evidence to support them. This can be problematic, as using an app without evidence-based support may not only be a waste of time and money but also potentially harmful if it leads to delayed treatment or incorrect self-diagnosis. How is a mental health practitioner to find evidence-based apps to use in therapy? And what are the challenges to NOT considering utilizing mobile apps in clinical work? Join us in a fascinating discussion with Dr. Greg Reger about the current mental health mobile app landscape and you can integrate mobile app use in your clinical practice.Dr. Greg Reger is the Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary and completed his psychology internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He served with the 98th Combat Stress Control Detachment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and deployed to Iraq for a year prior to working for the Department of Defense National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2). Dr. Reger's research is focused on the design, development, and evaluation of innovative technologies to support Service Member and Veteran psychological health.Resources mentioned in this episode: M-Health Index and Navigation Database Mobile Health Index and Navigation Database, App Evaluation Resources from the Division of Digital Psychiatry at BIDMC (mindapps.org)One Mind PsyberGuide One Mind PsyberGuide | A Mental Health App GuideVA Mental Health Applications VA App Store | VA MobileNo personal knowledge of accuracy but I am told this is the current library of DoD apps (including MH apps) DHA PWAs (health.mil)Psychiatry.org - The App Evaluation Model Calls-to-action: For example: Subscribe to the Practical for Your Practice PodcastSubscribe to The Center for Deployment Psychology Monthly Email

The Community Military Appreciation Committee invited Lt. Gen. Xavier T. Brunson to visit the historic Vancouver Barracks, and the three-star general who commands Joint Base Lewis-McChord said he appreciates the area's long relationship with the military. https://bit.ly/3LE7V30 #LtGenXavierTBrunson #ICorps #USArmy #JointBaseLewisMcChord #CommandingGeneral #VancouverWa #CityOfVancouver #ClarkCountyWa #VancouverBarracks #RedCrossBuilding #HistoricTrust #CommunityMilitaryAppreciationCommittee #CMAC #MayorAnneMcEnernyOgle #Military #CampVancouver #History #Service #Opportunity

David Chiappinelli: Bella's Bakery - the Secret Recipe Dave's older Brother and Lacrosse Coaches were instrumental in inspiring him to apply to West Point. The physical and academic rigors of West Point put a lot of stress on Dave, but his family and the lacrosse community helped keep him motivated and focused. Dave graduated from West Point as an Armor Officer and served in South Korea and at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state. Dave was medically separated from the military in 2004 and returned to New York to work in the finance industry. Dave was successful in finance for 17 years before striking out to start a family owned and operated business. In 2021 Dave and his family started Bella's Bake Shop. Growing and learning about baked goods and small business operations together. This is his story. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-harrison0/support

The Chief of Staff of the Vietnamese People's Army visits Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington. Available in high definition.

Soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are ready and capable to deploy and engage the enemy thanks to training from SSG Jacob Roach.

General Robert Brown (USA-Ret.) is an experienced commander who has led at every level, from platoon through Army Service Component Command. Serving as Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific, General Brown led the Army’s largest service component command responsible for 106,000 Soldiers across the Indo-Pacific Region before his September 2019 retirement. General Brown is a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he was commissioned as an Infantry Second Lieutenant. His assignments took him across the globe including deployments in support of Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and two combat deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before U.S. Army Pacific, he commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington; and the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, Georgia. He also served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Army Europe; Deputy Commanding General for the 25th Infantry Division; Commander, 1st Brigade (Stryker) 25th Infantry Division; Commander, 2nd Battalion 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division; the Joint Staff, J-8; Army Staff, Strategy and War Plans Division G3/5/7 in the Pentagon; Aide-de-Camp, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; Executive Officer to Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; Assistant Professor and Deputy Director, Center for Enhanced Performance, West Point; and Infantry Assignment Officer, Human Resources Command. General Brown holds a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, a Master of Education from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Science in National Security and Strategic Studies (Distinguished Graduate) from the National Defense University. General Brown retired after more than 38 years of service. He was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) before becoming President and CEO in October 2021. In today’s podcast, General Brown discusses how the Army can reach the next generation of Americans, the creation of Multi-Domain Task Forces, challenges in the Pacific AOR, and the importance of the Human Dimension. The following bullet points highlight key insights from our discussion: AUSA, like many other thought-leading organizations, has found itself needing to adjust to changing demographicsand has focused its outreach on connecting the Army with the community. Army bases have become heavily fortified in the post-9/11 environment, making it more difficult to reach that next generation of potential recruits. With “community connectors” and “community partners,” AUSA has the opportunity to tell the Army story and make those critical links. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is more aggressive nowthan in the last several decades. Relying on his experience as the Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), GEN Brown believes the combination of an aggressive and over-confident CCP could be dangerous and potentially lead to accidental conflict. In the Indo-Pacific, it will be a Joint fight andevery domain matters. China’s Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) is powerful and can repel U.S. Forces at significant distance. To combat thi

 In the first episode of Extra Duty's sixth season, host interviews Rochelle T. Ralph, a former combat medic turned public affairs officer in the U.S. Army. Known as Chellmaticc on social media, Rochelle discusses her journey from a healthcare specialist to an infantry OSUT drill sergeant, and now, a Unit Public Affairs Representative at the 198th Infantry Training Brigade in Fort Benning, Georgia.Rochelle has served in various positions in the Army, including ambulance aide driver, wardmaster, and platoon sergeant, and has completed several military education courses. She has also been assigned to duty assignments at Fort Bliss, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and Fort Benning, and has served two tours in Kosovo in support of Operation Joint Guardian.Throughout the episode, Rochelle opens up about the importance of mental health, taking a break from social media, and exiting the trail. She also delves into her recent accomplishment of being selected to attend Officer Candidate School, and the topic of catfishing. Join us as we hear from an inspiring guest who has dedicated her life to serving her country.  This Episode was Sponsored by:Are you facing challenges in your life? Look no further than MJwest Solutions. Our founder and CEO, MJ West, has turned life's toughest challenges into strengths. After being adopted at a young age and facing personal struggles, MJ went on to have a successful 23-year career in the Army, earning numerous awards and accolades. At MJwest Solutions, we believe that challenges can be turned into strengths, and we're here to help you do just that. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you transform your life. Visit us at https://mjwest.solutions/.Are you tired of drinkware that can't keep up with your smooth moves? Upgrade to Smooth Boar Drinkware. Our mission is to provide the smoothest drinking experience possible, using only the highest quality materials and cutting-edge technology. Our drinkware is designed to enhance the flavor and provide maximum durability, so you can enjoy your favorite beverages with ease. We stand behind our products and are committed to delivering exceptional customer service. Upgrade your drinking game with Smooth Boar Drinkware and experience the smoothest, most durable drinkware on the market. Order now at https://smoothboardrinkware.com/. Support the show

As first reported by KOIN 6 News reporter Jashayla Pettigrew, Kenneth George Harold was a member of the U.S. Army stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord when he allegedly committed his crimes between February and April, 2021. He left the military in May 2022.Harold is charged with interstate riot and is accused of communicating with others or traveling to Portland on more than one occasion to incite violence and damage property, Pettigrew reported on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Among other things, Harold is accused of using a “tool” to smash through the windows of local buildings, including those at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland.According to the KOIN 6 News report, court documents show that on Feb. 17, 2021, Harold sent a text message in which he suggested that he and the recipient break windows and distract law enforcement “again.” About a week later, Harold had a similar interaction with another contact.“The cool thing about Portland is that there are a ton of people that show up so it's easier to perform the type of direct action I like to do like throwing smoke bombs so that the pigs can [sic] see us or I would cut loose with a mortar fir [sic] sure,” the person typed in their message.Harold replied that it seemed easier to conduct those actions in Portland than it did in Seattle.Support the showSign Up For Exclusive Episodes At: https://reasonabletv.com/LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos every day. https://www.youtube.com/c/NewsForReasonablePeople

Description:  Dr. Flake takes questions from a live audience regarding the challenges surrounding autism spectrum disorder.  He also elaborates on emerging innovation to overcome these challenges and the importance of creating a community of care. This episode was made possible thanks to the Hurlburt Spouses Club. https://hurlburtspousesclub.com/   Show Notes: PEERS- UCLA https://www.semel.ucla.edu/peers   The JBLM Center for Autism Resources, Education, and Services (CARES) https://madigan.tricare.mil/JBLMCARES   Military-connected Children on autism Spectrum with Subject Matter Expert, Col(R) Eric Flake, M.D https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f8TKXHtcQBq5WJX5LSqhNw   Bio: Colonel (Ret) Eric M. Flake, M.D., is a team member of Olympia Pediatrics, the largest independent pediatric group in Thurston County, Washington. He is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician and created the Developmental-Behavioral Family Readiness Center for the DoD. Dr. Flake is faculty of the only Department of Defense (DoD) Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Tacoma, Washington, and founded the only DoD Autism Center — JBLM Center for Autism Resource, Education and Services (CARES). He attended the military medical school (USUHS), graduating in 2001. Dr. Flake has published numerous articles and presentations regarding childhood resilience, autism and the psychosocial effects of deployment on children. He is an Associate Professor at the Uniformed Services University and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, currently serves in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and serves on the science advisory board for the Military Child Education Coalition.

LTG Xavier T. Brunson and CSM Shawn F. Carns, command team for U.S. Army's I Corps, connects with SMA Tilley for a conversation that will inspire from start to finish. In this episode, the command team covers initiatives, their leadership philosophy, mission focus and an effort to make Joint Base Lewis-McChord an assignment of choice for Servicemembers and their Families. The energy, synergy and commitment to their installation leaves no doubt of the priorities for America's First Corps. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yournextmission/message

 Sean AmbrizArmyPersonal Websitehttps://www.seantobiasambriz.com/InstagramChief_pinkmistI enlisted in February 2008 as a Military Police Soldier and completed One Station Unit Training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Since that time I have served a wide verity of duty positions to include a Driver, Gunner, Platoon Medic, Team Leader, Designated Squad Marksman, Squad Leader, MMS NCO, Special Reaction Team NCOIC and Platoon Sergeant.  My duty assignment locations thus far have been at Fort Carson, Schofield Barracks, Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Fort Leonard Wood.  I have also served in overseas assignments to include two tours in Afghanistan. Currently, I am assigned to the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence as the MP Senior Leader Course Instructor.  I most recently have earned by Criminal Justice Associates Degree and have earned 170 credit hours towards my Bachelors Degree in Homeland Security. Some of my more significant career achievements include recently being inducted as number 9, into the Military Police Corps convent Commandants 100, selected in 2011 as All-American, Distinguished Leadership Awardee in BLC and ALC, the 4th Infantry Division NCO of the Quarter, Audie Murphy, receiving the Presidential Volunteer Service Medal and earning a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars with Valor.Topics you want to discussGhosts of the Valley This Episode Is Sponsored By Snapbacks USA! In 2014, I completed boot camp for the United States Coast Guard and was quickly stationed on CGC Finback in Cape May, New Jersey. After working there, I attended Machinery Technician School in Virginia and graduated in 2015. Then I was transferred to a small boat station in St. Ignace, Michigan. While there, I maintained and repaired our boats and carried out law enforcement duties and search and rescue missions. During my time in Michigan, I was accumulating ribbons frequently, and it never made sense to me that I had to purchase a new ribbon rack just to add a single ribbon. In 2019 I began thinking of different ways I could create a modular ribbon rack that would be convenient for not only myself but other service members as well. While starting my product research and development, I decided to change career paths and switch rates from MK to AMT. I attended AMT School in North Carolina and graduated in 2020. After that, I transferred to Mobile, Alabama where I currently work on C144s as an Aviation Maintenance Technician. I continued my product development and prototyping through all of 2021 and launched my store in 2022. The product I invented was getting more attention than I could have ever hoped for. My goal of creating a more convenient ribbon rack for service members was complete. But I still have more ideas for improving the SnapRack to make it the most versatile ribbon rack on the market. I will continue to grow my business and supply the most convenient products to others who serve.Show Your Support by Following SnapRack on Social Media! https://www.facebook.com/SnapRack.usahttps://www.instagram.com/snaprack.usa/https://www.tiktok.com/@snaprack?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pchttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX_to8RpajviEdDbFvF1ubA Support the show

The Glue of H2F: Why human performance needs Occupational Therapy with Dr. Justin Bolten, DOT & Dr. Catrinna Amorelli, DScOTJoin Doc's Sarah and Alyse for a great guest episode on Occupational Therapy and why it's such a vital part of human performance programming! In this episode we chat about: OT and it's broad scope in human performance. Is too small provider: client ratio a problem with HP programming?TURF TALKS and the power they hold!Can 'Stuffers' help spread the word of HPO?How one crucial role for a leader in HPO is being able to force multiply. What is missing in the current Human Performance team make ups for tactical?If you haven't considered an OT for your HP team, we hope this episode will make you re-think! Talk to ya later!Meet Our Guests:Justine Bolten is an Army Occupational Therapist. She graduated in 2013 from Western Michigan University in Interdisciplinary health care with a minor in holistic health and psychology. She received her doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Creighton University in 2018. Justine is stationed in NY and is currently working in the human performance realm with the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness Program.Catrinna Amorelli is from Mancos, Colorado and completed my Bachelor's of Science degree at Colorado State University. Her Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of New England inPortland, ME. Shortly after the completion of her degree, she applied for the US Army Doctor of Science in Occupational Therapy (DScOT) through the Army and was accepted.  Her DSc program was at Fort SamHouston, TX and afterwards she went on to her first assignment in Vilseck, Germany. So far in her career she has been Chief of Occupational Therapy, a behavioral health role in a Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC), and now at Joint-Base Lewis McChord, WA where she is a Mental Readiness Director for the Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) team.  If you like what you hear, leave us a 5- star rating and subscribe! Find us on IG and LinkedIn @ Not Your Typical Doctors or reach out to us anytime through: notyourtypicaldoctors@gmail.com

This week Ryan Gipson joins the gang to talk ego, expectations and echo chambers in strength and conditioning.  Ryan is a strength coach at Joint Base Lewis-McChord working alongside AC.

Introduction Ashley Lauilefue is a real estate broker in Olympia, WA near Joint-Base Lewis McChord. She loves educating buyers and sellers about the process of buying and selling homes. Her happy place is movie night with her husband and 3 kids. Get In Touch With Our Guest Today If you'd like to get in touch with our guest today, click on the link below and I will send you a warm introduction: Get In Touch With Our Podcast Guest Today Podcast Sponsors MyFico: 90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores—do you know yours? Check your FICO Score at MyFico.com The Smart Home Buyer Calculator: Use our 4-in-1 super-smart calculator to make sure you know your numbers before buying your first home. Get it now at The Smart Home Buyer Calculator The Free Podcast Course: Do you want to start your own podcast? Then enroll in The Free Podcast Course today, which is the course that I followed to create this podcast! Listen To A Podcast Guest In Your Area If you'd like to find podcast guests for your specific location or profession just click on the link below to search for them: Podcast Guest Search Find A Great Real Estate Agent Near You  If you'd like to find a great real estate agent near you, just go to this link: Real Estate Agent Near Me Awesome Resources For First-Time Home Buyers If you'd like to access other great resources for first-time home buyers just click on this link: First-Time Home Buyer Resources Let's Talk I'd love to talk to podcast listeners and get to know you all better! I can also help you answer any questions you have about buying your first home! So if you'd like to talk about that let's jump a quick call! Just schedule a time that works for you here: Schedule A Call With Laura Moreno Feedback I love receiving feedback so please, if you'd like to tell me how you'd improve the podcast, send me an email or schedule a call with me for that works for you here: Schedule A Call With Laura Moreno Share The Love If you know someone looking to buy their first home and you think this information would help them,  just share it with them. They will really appreciate it. Subscribe To The Podcast Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Connect On Social Media YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Pamela Lemons and Staff Sgt. Lawrence Crawford, from the 62nd Medical Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. SSG Crawford talks about how Dr. Lemons and the Holistic Health and Fitness Program have helped him work through the losses of two friends to suicide. 62nd Medical Brigade Facebook Holistic Health and Fitness

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Axios reporter Melissa Santos. They start off looking at the larger trends from this last week's primary, including why the predicted ‘red wave' didn't materialize. Next, they talk about Olgy Diaz's appointment to the Tacoma City council, discussing her impressive credentials and watershed status as the first Latina to serve on the Council. In Seattle City Council news, Crystal and Melissa look at the two recent abortion- and trans-related protections the council passed this week. For updates on public health, our hosts look at how Washington state is lifting most of its COVID emergency orders, where the state is at with its COVID response, and what our outlook is for MPV and its vaccine. After that, the two discuss the redistricting plans for the Seattle City Council, and different neighborhoods' responses to the proposed new district lines and close the show by looking at the state of behavioral health crisis response in our neighborhoods, discussing the county's plans for an emergency walk-in centers, the county's plans to improve its behavioral health response, and our lack of crisis response staff.  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Melissa Santos, at @MelissaSantos1. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Our blue legislature bucks GOP trend” by Melissa Santos from Axios: https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2022/08/12/washington-state-blue-legislature-gop-trend    “Tacoma City Council selects its newest member. She's the first Latina to serve” by Liz Moomey from The News Tribune: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article264330356.html?taid=62f470bf1a1c2c0001b63754&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter    “Seattle passes protections for abortion and gender affirming care” by KUOW Staff from KUOW: https://kuow.org/stories/seattle-passes-protections-for-abortion-and-gender-affirming-care   “MPV cases doubling nearly every week in WA, as U.S. declares public health emergency” by Elise Takahama from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/monkeypox-cases-doubling-nearly-every-week-in-wa-as-us-set-to-declare-public-health-emergency/   "US will stretch monkeypox vaccine supply with smaller doses" by Matthew Perrone from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/us-will-stretch-monkeypox-vaccine-supply-with-smaller-doses/   Washington state says goodbye to most COVID emergency orders” by Melissa Santos from Axios: https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2022/08/09/washington-end-most-covid-emergency-orders   "New map would redraw Seattle's City Council districts, with changes for Georgetown, Magnolia" by Daniel Beekman from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/new-map-would-redraw-seattles-city-council-districts-with-changes-for-georgetown-magnolia/   “Racial Equity Advocates Like Seattle's Newly Proposed Political Boundaries. Magnolia Residents Do Not.” by Hannah Krieg from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/08/04/77339585/racial-equity-advocates-like-seattles-newly-proposed-political-boundaries-magnolia-residents-do-not   “County Plans Emergency Walk-In Centers for Behavioral Health Crises” by Erica C. Barnett from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/08/11/county-plans-emergency-walk-in-centers-for-behavioral-health-crises/    "Local Leaders Announce New Coalition to Address Behavioral Health Crisis" by Will Casey from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/news/2022/08/11/77680008/local-leaders-announce-new-coalition-to-address-behavioral-health-crisis   “Designated crisis responders, a ‘last resort' in mental health care, face overwhelming demand” by Esmy Jimenez from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/designated-crisis-responders-a-last-resort-in-mental-health-care-face-overwhelming-demand/   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave us a review because it helps a lot. Today, we are continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a cohost. Welcome back to the program today's cohost: Seattle Axios reporter, Melissa Santos. [00:01:00] Melissa Santos: Hello, thanks for having me. [00:01:01] Crystal Fincher: Hey, thanks for being back. We always enjoy having you. So there were a number of things that happened this week. I think we'll start off just talking about the elections real quick. We got more results this week. Things are looking more conclusive - a couple of late-straggling races have been decided, including one of the congressional - two, really of the congressional district races. It looks like in the 47th Legislative District race that Republican Bill Boyce will be facing Democratic candidate Senator - former Senator - Claudia Kauffman. And that in the 47th House seat, that Democrat Shukri Olow and Democrat Chris Stearns will both be getting through and Republicans will actually not be making it in that seat, despite that race including three different Republicans - one the pick of the GOP that raised over $200,000, Carmen Goers, who actually finished in last place. So a number of things got settled, but overall, as you look at these elections, what are your takeaways, Melissa? [00:02:16] Melissa Santos: On the legislative side, really things look mostly similar to what they looked like on primary night, in the sense that a lot of the races that Republicans had hoped to pick up, I think Democrats still look really strong in. And that's in a lot of those swing districts in the suburbs - in Island County, the Democrats have pretty strong performances in some House races that I think Republicans have been eyeing for a pickup in the 10th District. The 28th Legislative District looks pretty much like the incumbent Democrats are in really good shape there - that's around Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Lakewood, University Place. And I think that the Republicans not having someone in that 47th District open seat is maybe not what people would've predicted when talking about a red wave coming this year, and that Democrats have been saying - we're just trying to defend what we have, we're not really planning to add seats here. But they look like they're in a pretty good position to defend the seats. The only place where things look like it'll be rough for Democrats are seats up in the 47th - sorry, the 42nd Legislative District in Whatcom County, I think, have some disappointing results for Democrats when it comes to trying to get the former - the State Senate seat formerly held by Republican Doug Ericksen. That's gonna be a tough race where it looks like the State House Democratic Rep who's running for it might have a really tough race to fight in November. She wants to pick up that seat for the Democrats. But again, Democrats were trying to just defend mostly this year. So I think they look like they're in a pretty good position to do that. One thing that's a little bit interesting is a lot of the fringier types in the Republican legislative caucus in the House are actually not going to be returning to the legislature next year. And some of that's just because they ran for Congress in some cases, like Brad Klippert. [00:04:15] Crystal Fincher: And Vicki Kraft. [00:04:16] Melissa Santos: Yes, and Vicki Kraft. So I'm interested to see how that plays out. There are some races where legislative candidates who are being accused of being RINOs [Republicans In Name Only] actually have advanced through the primary. And I am wondering if some Republicans - are they more moderate or just hoping that they beat the more Trumpy Republicans essentially. So that's something I'm watching actually going forward is - while we certainly have situations across the nation where Trump-endorsed Republicans are getting through - we see this in the 3rd Congressional District race, here in our state, where Jaime Herrera Beutler who voted to impeach Trump will not be getting through to the general - that was finalized this week. But locally in legislative races, I'm not sure that the more far-right candidates will win out in all these races in November. So I'm watching that - how does our state picture, when it comes to the Republican party, compare to what we're seeing nationally. And it's always interesting to see how Washington does 'cause we're a little bit different sometimes as a state in how we vote versus the rest of the country. [00:05:25] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And that sets up an interesting dynamic for Republicans, I think, in that it is really helpful when - just from a campaign perspective - when everyone is consistent with the message that's being delivered for the party, what priorities are in terms of values. And so there have been - legislatively - some more moderate Republicans making it through. There are certainly some real extremists. And again, "moderate" is an interesting word for Republicans 'cause - when it is gonna come to some of these caucus votes, I think moderation is gonna effectively fly out of the window. Or being afraid to speak out on certain things that challenge some of the more extreme elements in the party, which essentially in my opinion, enables that element of the party. But with Joe Kent higher on the ticket and being so visible, being a frequent guest on Hannity, Trump-endorsed, and really vocal about a number of things like opposing aid to Ukraine, about wanting Jim Jordan - who is extremely problematic and has been accused of ignoring sexual assault allegations on his watch under his responsibility - wanting him to replace Kevin McCarthy as the leader of the party, certainly moving in a much more extreme direction. A number of those things are gonna be inconsistent, I think, with what some of the other Republicans, I think legislatively under JT Wilcox certainly, Republicans are gonna wanna be talking about. So there may be just a bit of a mismatched message there and it will be interesting to see how the party navigates that, but especially coming from a place where the extremism - you look at the primaries - certainly did not land. And some of, even the criticisms just legislatively, of Republicans who were on the message that they wanted to be on, did not turn out to be very effective at all - that presents a challenge for them in the general. [00:07:40] Melissa Santos: I think that was interesting in the Federal Way area. I think everyone, including Democrats, were saying - yeah, there's a lot of voters concerned about public safety there. I think everyone thought maybe the Democrats might be a little bit more vulnerable from attacks from Republicans in that area in South King County around Federal Way, with Republicans say - Hey, Democrats passed all these bills that hamstring police, so they can't keep you safe. I think everyone thought that line of argument might work better in some of those areas in South King County than it did. And so I'm wondering if Republicans will change their approach or not, or if they're just gonna stick with hammering Democrats on public safety. I think that maybe we'll see just more talk about economy and inflation and maybe a little less of the public safety attacks - possibly - based on those results. [00:08:29] Crystal Fincher: And they certainly hit hard on both of those. It is interesting to see - particularly - so you have Jamila Taylor, who is the incumbent representative there, there's another open House seat, and then Claire Wilson in the Senate seat. Jamila Taylor, who's the head of the Legislative Black Caucus, did play a leading role in passing a lot of, number of the police accountability reforms that police, a number of police unions, and people who are saying "Back the Blue" and these were problematic. She actually has a police officer running against her in that district. And also, the mayor of Federal Way, Jim Ferrell, is running for King County Prosecutor on a hard line, lock 'em up kind of message. They've been working overtime to blame legislators, primarily Jamila Taylor, for some of the crime that they've seen. And holding community meetings - really trying to ratchet up sentiment against Jamila Taylor - helping out both her challenger and Jim Ferrell was the plan. And again, that seemed to fall flat. Jamila Taylor finished with 54% in that race and the most votes out of any Democrat. You saw Democrats across the board, both Claire Wilson and Jamila Taylor, get 54% and 55% of the vote. In a primary, that is certainly where you would want to be and that's really a hard number to beat in the general. And then in the other open seat, you had two Democratic candidates combine for, I think, 55% of the vote. So it is - where they attempted to make that argument the hardest, it seemed to fall almost the flattest. And it goes to - we talked about this on the Post-Primary Recap a little bit - I think it goes to show that the conversation publicly - certainly the political conversation about public safety - I think is too flat and does not account for where the public actually is. I think people are absolutely concerned about crime and rightfully so - we have to attack gun violence, we have to attack property crime and violent crime. We have to do better than we're doing now. But I think people are recognizing that the things that we have been doing have not been successful. And we have been trying to lock people up and people see that there's a need for behavioral health interventions, for housing, for substance use treatment and that those things are absent. And that you can send a policeman to do that, but they don't have the tools to address that even if they were the appropriate responder. And there's a lot of people saying they aren't even the appropriate response for a number of these things. So I just think regular voters - regular people - just have a more nuanced and realistic view of what needs to happen. [00:11:42] Melissa Santos: I also think that message - we could talk about those races forever, probably - but I think that message might land especially flat in communities like South King County that are predominantly people of color in many of these communities. They want to address - well, okay, I should not group everyone together, let me back up here - but I think a lot of people see the effects of crime on their communities and their family members and want support, not just a crackdown. And I don't know if that - I don't know - I'm generalizing here and I shouldn't, but I think that maybe that - [00:12:09] Crystal Fincher: I think it's across the board. I feel like - we saw polling in Seattle where, even if you break it down by Seattle City Council district, whether it's North Seattle or West Seattle which are predominantly white areas, in addition to other areas with higher percentage of people of color - they're saying near universally - when given, asked the question - where would you allocate more of your tax dollars in the realm of public safety to make a difference? They start off by saying behavioral health treatment, substance use disorder treatment, treating root causes. And then "more officers" trails those things. So it's - and even before more officers, they're saying better training for officers so they do a better job of responding when they are called. So I just think that across the board, there's - Republicans have gotten far and have done a lot by talking about the problem. And I think what the primary showed is that you're gonna have to do a better job of articulating a logical and reasonable solution to the problem. 'Cause people have heard talk about the problem for a long time, this isn't new. They're ready for someone to do something about it and they want to hear something that sounds credible, with some evidence behind it, that'll make a difference. And I don't think Republicans articulated that at all. And I think Democrats are talking about things more in line with where voters are at. But certainly, we could talk about those election results forever, but we will move on to other news. Speaking of newly elected people, we have a new appointment of a person on the Tacoma City Council - Olgy Diaz was just unanimously appointed as the first Latina member of the Tacoma City Council last Tuesday night. She was one of 43 applicants to apply, ended up making the shortlist, and then was officially appointed on Tuesday night. What did you take away from this? You previously covered - based in Tacoma, covered Tacoma previously, worked at The News Tribune. What does Olgy bring to the Council? [00:14:41] Melissa Santos: Olgy is really experienced in politics, I want to say. For way back when - I think I started talking to Olgy years and years ago - she was, definitely in her role with leading One America, she's done a lot of policy work at the state level for a long time. She worked in the Legislature, so I talked to her in that capacity. And she brings a lot of experience to the table - I think more than a lot of people who apply for vacancies on city councils, for sure. But I honestly was also just - I was blown away to read - I didn't realize the Tacoma City Council has never had a Latina member before and that really blew my mind, given the diversity of Tacoma and given that that's a community where you have people who just weren't represented for such a long time. I worked in Tacoma for eight years at the paper and I didn't - I guess I didn't realize that was the case. So Olgy - separately - brings just a ton of experience. She leads the National Women's Political Caucus of Washington now as president and I talked to her for stories in that capacity, and she's always very knowledgeable and really thoughtful. But yeah, that's just - in terms of representation, she brings a lot to the Council that apparently it hasn't had - in terms of experience and lived experience as well. I didn't watch the whole appointment process every step of the way, but it seems like that is a very solid choice, given that you have someone coming in possibly that has way more, broader political knowledge than a lot of the sitting councilmembers in some cases. And that's not a knock on the sitting councilmembers, but you just have someone really, really versed in politics and policy in Washington State coming onto that city council. [00:16:26] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and an unusual amount of experience. I think, to your point, not a knock on anyone else. Olgy just has an unusual amount of experience on both the policy and political side. She's the Government Affairs Director for Forterra, she's president of the National Women's Political Caucus as you said, on the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition and Institute for a Democratic Future board. She's previously been on the city's Human Rights Commission. She just has so many, so much experience from within, working within the legislature and elsewhere. And if - full disclosure - Olgy Diaz is not just a friend, but also worked for Olgy as her consultant and love the woman. But just completely dynamic and if you know Olgy, you know she reps South Tacoma harder than anyone else just about that you've ever met. She deeply, deeply loves the city, particularly South Tacoma, and has been an advocate for the city in every role that she's had. So just really excited to see her appointed. In other local news - this week, Seattle, the Seattle City Council stood up and passed protections for abortion and gender affirming care. What did they do? [00:17:52] Melissa Santos: They passed something that makes it a misdemeanor for someone to interfere, intimidate, or try and threaten someone who is seeking an abortion and they also have some civil rights protections that they passed. Those are especially - you might not think that's necessarily an issue in Seattle all the time, but I think that - certainly the misdemeanors for trying to interfere for someone getting treatment or getting abortion care, I think that is something that could actually be used and called upon sometime in Seattle with certain individual cases. And I do think it's - not necessarily in a bad way - but a messaging bill on both of them - in a way saying - care is protected here. Even though in Washington State we do have some state law protections for abortion - better than in most states - I think it's partly about sending a message to people that your care will not be interfered with here. And maybe even a message to people in other states - that they can come - actually that is part of it - is that you can come to Seattle and get care and you will not, we will support you. And so that's part of why they're doing it - both on a practical level, but also sending a message that we will not tolerate people trying to dissuade, to discourage people who decided to get an abortion from getting the care that they are seeking. [00:19:18] Crystal Fincher: And I know Councilmember Tammy Morales has also said that she plans to introduce further legislation to prevent crisis pregnancy centers from misrepresenting the facts, misleading people - which has happened in other situations with pregnancy crisis centers, which sometimes bill themselves as abortion care providers. A person seeking an abortion finds them, goes, and unexpectedly is - in some situations - heavily pressured not to have an abortion. And there's been situations where they have been found to have been coerced into not having an abortion. And so that would just seek to make sure that everybody correctly represents themselves, and who they are, and what they are attempting to do. Lots of people do, to your point, look at Seattle and say - okay, but this - things were safe here anyway. I do think the first one - we see a lot of counter-protestors - of people making points in Seattle, going to Seattle to protest different things, because it has a reputation for being progressive, where progressive policy is. So it attacks people who really dislike those policies and moving in that direction. I think this is helpful for that. And it serves as model legislation. There are some very red areas here in the state. There are other localities - we may have neighboring states that - the right to abortion is coming to an end. And so having legislation like this that has passed in the region, that has passed nearby, that is in place, that survives legal challenges against them makes it easier for other localities to pass the same. And so I think that it is a very positive thing for Seattle to take the lead passing model legislation. Certainly aren't the first to pass, but having it in the region is very, very helpful. So glad to see that. Also this week - some challenging news. One - monkeypox, now referred to as MPV, cases have been doubling nearly every week in Washington and has been declared a public health emergency. Where do we stand here? [00:21:37] Melissa Santos: I think that right now, we have about 220 cases - and that's what I think I saw on the CDC website just earlier today. And last week, it was 70 fewer than that, at least - we have been seeing, especially early on, every week or so the cases were doubling in our state. And we remember how COVID started in a way - it was small at first and things just can really expand quickly. This isn't spread the same way COVID is - and I'm not saying it is - but we do definitely have a vaccine shortage here for this and that's a huge concern. I asked the State Department of Health - actually, I have not put this in the story yet, but I was like - how many people do you feel like you need to treat that are at high risk? And they said it's almost 80,000. And took me a long time to get that number, but I think we only have - we only are gonna have something like 20-something thousand vaccines doses coming in, maybe 25,000, through at least early September. So there's a lot of potential for this to spread before we get vaccines to treat the people who are most at risk. That's a big concern. And so I haven't checked in our state yet - this sort of decision that we can stretch these doses further by divvying them up and doing, making each dose into maybe five doses - that could really help here. So I need to check whether in our state we're going forward with that and if that meets the need or not. But we still need a second dose for everybody, even beyond that. So it looks like the math just doesn't work and we're still gonna be short. And in that time, how far will it spread? Because it's not just - it's not a sexually transmitted disease that only is going to spread among LGBT individuals - other people are getting it and will get it. So that is - and also that community needs as much support as they can get anyway, regardless. But this is not something that just affects someone else, for instance, if you're not a member of that community. It's something that can affect everybody, and it's - everyone's afraid of another situation like we had with COVID - could it spread before we get a handle on it? And I think it's still an unknown question right now. [00:23:57] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, big unknown question. And to your point, it was - the CDC just announced that the vaccine supply can be stretched by giving one-fifth of the normal dose, so stretched five times what we thought we previously had. But that was just announced, so our local plans for that are probably in progress and process and hopefully we'll hear more about that soon. But haven't yet as that information was just announced - I want to say yesterday, if not day before. With that, to your point, it is - some people are under the mistaken impression that this is a sexually transmitted infection. It is not. It can spread by just skin-to-skin contact. If two people are wearing shorts and at a concert, or have short-sleeve shirts and are rubbing against each other, it can be spread just by touching especially infected lesions, by surfaces if there's a high enough amount on a surface. It is pretty hardy - lasts a long time on a number of surfaces or clothes or different things like that. Certainly a lot of concern with kids going back into school, kids in daycare that we may see an increase particularly among children - just because they are around each other and touching each other and playing as they do and that is how this virus can spread. So certainly getting as many people, starting with the highest risk people, vaccinated is important. We are short - there are just no two ways about that and running behind. Testing capacity has also been a challenge. So hopefully with these emergency declarations that we've seen locally and nationally that we fast forward the response to that and get prepared pretty quickly, but we will say that. Also this week, most COVID emergency orders have been ended. What happened here? [00:26:08] Melissa Santos: Some of them are still getting phased out, but the governor just very recently announced in our state that he's going to be - he's ending 12 COVID emergency orders. And so I went - wait, how many are left then, 'cause I don't think we have that many. And the governor's office - there's only 10 - once these mostly healthcare, procedure-related orders are phased out, will only be 10 COVID emergency orders left. And honestly, some of those have even been scaled back from what they were. They're - one of the orders relates to practicing some safe distancing measures or certain precautions in schools - that's really a step back from having schools be completely closed, like we had at one point. So even those 10 aren't necessarily as stringent as the orders we were seeing earlier in the pandemic. What does that really signify? I think that the governor has said - because we have good treatment options available, it doesn't mean that COVID is no longer a threat, but we have better ways of dealing with it essentially. It's not like early in the pandemic when nobody was vaccinated. We have a fairly high vaccination rate in our state compared to some others. And we have some treatment options that are better. And at least right now - well, I say this - our hospitals aren't pushed completely beyond capacity. Although, however - this week Harborview actually is over capacity, so that's still a potential problem going forward. But we just have better ways of dealing with the virus than we did. It doesn't mean it's not a threat, it doesn't mean that people aren't still getting hospitalized and even dying - because they are. But we're moving to a different stage of this pandemic where we're just not going to have as many restrictions and we're going to approach the virus in a different way. [00:27:51] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. Yeah, that pretty much covers it there. [00:27:56] Melissa Santos: The thing - I do think for public - I've asked the governor a couple times - what is your standard for lifting the underlying emergency order? 'Cause we still are in a state of emergency over COVID and that does give the governor, if something comes up, quick power to ban some activity or something. And if there's a public health risk, he could order, for instance, indoor mask wearing again if he wanted. He has not indicated he plans to, but it gives him a little more power. Republicans are still mad about that, but in effect, there aren't that many orders actually in place anymore. We're just not living under as many restrictions as we once were. [00:28:34] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. So the protections are going away - there are lots of people who are very concerned about this. This does not seem tethered to - earlier in the pandemic - in some situations when cases were spreading at a lower amount than they were in some areas then than they are today - they tied it to certain metrics and to hospital capacity and different things. So there seemed like there was an underlying data-based justification that would dictate what the appropriate health response was. This seems untethered from all of that. And I think a lot of people's criticisms of this are - the actions that are taken, or realistically the actions that are no longer being taken, the justification behind that seems to be driven by convenience or by a desire just to get back to normal or fatigue. And instead of what health precautions dictate would be wise. I think at the very minimum we would be a lot better off if - we were very late in, from the CDCs perspective, in acknowledging that this is an airborne virus. And so air quality, air purification, air turnover in indoor spaces is extremely important, especially given how helpful that is for wildfire air mitigation. We're having a higher, more low-quality air days than we have before. Focusing on indoor air purification - I wish there were more of a push for that, more awareness for that, more assistance for that. Because it just seems like - given this and monkeypox, which has evidence that it is spread also via airborne - [00:30:37] Melissa Santos: Or at least droplets in close - yeah, at least like close breathy, breathing-ey stuff. [00:30:44] Crystal Fincher: Yes - that air purification is important. And so I wish we would make a greater push because still - that's not really aggressively talked about by most of our public health entities. And there's just not an awareness because of that, by a lot of people who are not necessarily being, saying - no, I don't want to do that - but just don't understand the importance of that. And many businesses that could take steps, but just don't know that that's what they should be doing. Sometimes it's still here - well, we're sanitizing all of these surfaces, which is going to come in handy for monkeypox certainly, but is not really an effective mitigation for COVID when - hey, let's talk about air purification instead of you wiping down surfaces. Just interesting and this may ramp up again, depending on what happens with MPV infections and spread. So we'll see how that continues. [00:31:47] Melissa Santos: But this time we have a vaccine at least - there is a vaccine that exists. Remember the beginning of COVID - of course, everyone remembers - there was no vaccine. So this feels like - theoretically, we should be able to address it faster because we have a vaccine, but there's just a shortage nationwide of the vaccine. So that's, I think, an extra frustrating layer of the monkeypox problem - is that we have a tool, but we just don't have enough of it. In COVID, we just were all completely in the dark for months and months and months and months - and anyway. [00:32:17] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and unfortunately the effect on the ground of not having enough is the same as not having any. [00:32:23] Melissa Santos: Right. Yeah. [00:32:24] Crystal Fincher: And so people are left with greater exposure to the virus and to spreading the virus than there would be otherwise, because we don't have the adequate supply of it. Which they say they're working on, but of course those things - unless you are prepared beforehand and making an effort to be prepared beforehand, it takes a while to get that ramped up. I think they're saying the earliest we could anticipate additional supply would be in the September timeframe, and oftentimes that's when it starts to trickle. And so it could be October before we see a meaningful amount of additional supply or longer. Just stay on top of information, be aware out there, and we will see. Very important thing happening within the City of Seattle - is Seattle City Council district redistricting, and what's happening. There have been some good articles written recently - both in The Seattle Times, especially in The Stranger by Hannah Krieg - about racial equity advocates actually being happy about the newly proposed political boundaries for council districts. But some residents of Magnolia, the expensive and exclusive Magnolia community, who have been known to advocate against any type of growth, or development, or any change to their community, other people getting greater access to their community and the political power that comes with who they've been and their ability to have an outsized voice, realistically, in local politics. They're not that happy. What's happening here? [00:34:16] Melissa Santos: The proposal that at least is moving forward at this point would split Magnolia, right? So this is something that communities of color have argued as being - Hey, in other areas, our communities are split and that dilutes our voice. And now it's interesting that Magnolia, which is not historically an area where - that has been predominantly people of color - every district in Seattle is changing - safe to say that it's been a whiter area. They're saying - Hey, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa - wait, we're gonna get split, that's gonna dilute our voice. So it's an interesting dynamic there. And what's also interesting - and it makes sense because the same organizations have been working on city redistricting and state redistricting, to some degree - we're seeing this movement to really unite and ensure communities in South Seattle are not divided. So in this - this was something that they really were trying to do with congressional districts - is make sure that South Seattle communities of color have a coalition and aren't split. And especially having the - well, let's see, and at least in state redistricting - making sure the International District is connected in some way to other parts of South Seattle and Beacon Hill. That was a priority in one of the congressional district redistricting for some of these groups that are now working on Seattle redistricting. One of the things that it would do is put South Park and Georgetown in the same district, which is interesting because I think those two communities work together on a lot of issues that affect the Duwamish and affect - again, a lot of people of color that live in those districts - there are issues that really would affect both of them. And so putting them in the same district, I could see why that would make sense. And you also have - I want to make sure I have this right, but I think - making sure Beacon Hill and it is connected to South Seattle as well. I'm gonna check here - is it also the International District here we're talking as well? Oh, Yesler Terrace - that's right. [00:36:12] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, so CID and Yesler Terrace will be in District 2 - kept them both in District 2 - that those were some really, really important considerations. And large percentages of those communities have talked about how important that is. You just talked about Georgetown and South Park being in that district. Looking at Lake City, Northgate, and Broadview in District 5. Also keeping growing renter populations together in South Lake Union and Downtown together there has been making a difference. Both communities of color and, as we talk in the larger redistricting conversation, communities of interest - and now with more than half of the City being renters - renters have been largely overlooked in terms of redistricting and City policy until now. And really what a number of these organizations are saying is - we've been overlooked, we have not been absent, but we've been ignored in this and communities and voices from places like Magnolia have been overrepresented and have been catered to this time. And there's a saying - when you're used to privilege, equity looks like oppression. And so Magnolia is saying - we're losing our voice - and kind of collectively, interests from the rest of the City are saying - no, what you're doing is losing the ability to speak over our voices. But now that we're all at the table and all have a voice, it's time for us to also be recognized as valid and important and worthy of preservation and continuity and representation and not have it broken up in favor of predominantly wealthy homeowners who are saying - well, we're a historically important community. Well, are you historically important and the change that the rest of the City has seen hasn't come to your district because you have fought so vehemently against it. And then turn around and say - and that's why you should cater to us and keep us together because we continue to fight against any kind of change. And realistically saying - hey, other districts have changed and boundaries need to change in those other areas to accommodate that. And so this does - certainly not all that advocates have asked for, but some meaningful progress and some promising boundaries, I think, for a lot of people in the City, for a lot of people who are not wealthy, for people who are renters no matter what the income is - because of the challenges that just the rental population is facing. And to your point, neighborhoods who have worked together and who share interests, who now have the opportunity to have that represented politically within the City? I think that's very helpful and I definitely hope people stay engaged. In this redistricting process. And as the voices from some of those communities who have had greater access to an ability to participate in these redistricting and City processes, and who've had the inside track and who have been listened to to a greater degree than others, that you add your voice to the conversation to make sure that it isn't drowned out by anyone else. Looking at a recent announcement - and kind of announcement is a better word than a new policy or a plan - because it is just announced and announced the intention to take action, but we have yet to see. There was a press conference yesterday about emergency walk-in centers for behavioral health cases, addressing our regional behavioral health crisis here. What was announced and what is the deal? [00:40:32] Melissa Santos: What exactly is going to happen remains a little bit unclear to me exactly, but basically King County Executive Dow Constantine announced a plan to just expand services for people who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis. And it's going to be part of his 2023 budget proposal, which isn't coming out 'til next month. So the idea is having more short- and long-term treatment - so more walk-in treatment that's available and more places to send people who have acute mental health needs. He was talking about how the County's lost a third of its residential behavioral healthcare beds - Erica Barnett at PubliCola reported on this pretty extensively - and there's just a concern there just won't be enough. I was surprised by the stat that there's only one crisis stabilization unit in the County that's 16 beds - that's not very much, especially when we know people suffer mental health crises more frequently than that small number of beds might indicate. So what's interesting is we want to put more money in somewhere so people aren't getting treated in jails, that they have a better place to go, but we're not quite - we don't know exactly the scope of this, or how much money exactly we're talking about to put toward more beds. I guess there's some plans to do so - is what I got from the executive. [00:42:06] Crystal Fincher: Certainly from a regional perspective, we saw representation from the mayor's office for the City of Seattle, county executive certainly, county council, regional leaders in behavioral health treatment and homelessness - all saying that - Hey, we intend to take action to address this. Like you said, Dow said that he will be speaking more substantively to this in terms of details with his budget announcement and what he plans to do with that. Universal acknowledgement that this is a crisis, that they lack funding and resources in this area, and say that they intend to do better with a focus, like you said, on walk-in treatment and the ability to provide that. But we just don't know the details yet. We'll be excited to see that. And you covered this week, just the tall task ahead of them, because we've spoken about before and lots of people have talked about even in this press conference, a problem that we almost require that people - the only access that people can get to treatment sometimes is if they've been arrested, which is just a wildly inefficient way to address this, especially when it plays a role in creating some of the problems with crime and other things. But even with the newly rolled-out intervention system with an attempt to - if someone who previously would've called 911 now can call a dedicated kind of other crisis line to try and get an alternative response - but even that is severely underfunded. What's happening with that? [00:44:00] Melissa Santos: So with 988 - this is the three-digit number people can call when they have a mental health crisis and they'll be connected to a counselor who can help talk them through it. The idea is ultimately for that system to also be able to send trained crisis responders - largely instead of police in many, many cases - meet people in-person, not just talk to them on the phone. But we just don't have enough of these mobile crisis response teams. There's money in the state budget to add more over the next couple of years, especially in rural areas that just don't have the coverage right now. They just don't have enough teams to be able to get to people when they need it. That's something they want to expand so there's more of a response than - that isn't a police officer showing up at your door. So that's the ultimate vision for this new line you call - 988 - but it's not fully implemented right now. You still will get some support. And if you call, I'm not trying to say people should not call the line, but they don't necessarily have all the resources they want to be able to efficiently deploy people - I shouldn't say deploy, it sounds very military - but deploy civilian trained helpers to people who are experiencing a crisis. So that's where they want it to go and The Seattle Times had an article just about how some of those designated crisis responders right now are just stretched so thin and that's just not gonna change immediately, even with some new state money coming in to add more people to do those sorts of things. And designated crisis responders have other duties - they deal with actually to getting people to treatment - some involuntarily in certain cases. Again, it's different than a police response and right now there's just not enough of those folks. [00:45:55] Crystal Fincher: Which jeopardizes the willingness of people to continue to call. Certainly the possibility that a police response can ultimately happen from someone who was requesting a behavioral health or another type of intervention response. And that is still a possibility which some people find challenging or - hey, they expected to avoid that or have something different if they call this and that might not always be the case. But it's certainly a challenge and I think one of the things that was talked about yesterday, which kind of wraps this under a whole umbrella, is there needs to be a lot more done in terms of infrastructure and capacity from - with there being someone to call, someone appropriate to call for whatever the challenge is, an appropriate response. If that is a behavioral health trained person, a crisis intervener, someone like that - and places to take people. Someone does respond and then can connect that person to services that exist. We have problems in a number of areas saying - yeah, we offered services or services are available and they aren't, or they aren't appropriate for the crisis that's there. They don't meet the needs of the person and their situation. So certainly a lot to build out. I think it is a positive step that we're hearing acknowledgement of this and a unified plan to take action, but still need to see what actually results 'cause sometimes we hear big fanfare to start and don't get much substantive on the back end. Certainly I hope with a number of the people involved in this that we do get some substantive progress and I hope to see that, I would expect to see that - but I'm looking forward to it. With that, I think that wraps up this show today. Thank you so much for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, August 12th, 2022. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler, assistant producer is Shannon Cheng with assistance from Bryce Cannatelli - we have an incredible team here at Hacks & Wonks - just want to continue to say that it is not just me, it is completely our team and not possible without this full team. Our wonderful co-host today is Seattle Axios reporter Melissa Santos. You can find Melissa on Twitter @MelissaSantos1. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on the new Twitter account @HacksWonks, you can find me on Twitter @finchfrii (spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I). Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show deliver to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show and Election 2022 resources at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 5, Why did the Caterpillar Cross the Road? To get to the Artillery Range. A story about the metamorphosis of a prison into a butterfly rearing facility for endangered species recovery. This episode is all about the Sustainability in Prisons Project's (SPP) Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program. In this episode, we learn more about the program with Mary Linders, endangered species biologist and we talk with Liz Louie, former butterfly technician, about her experience rearing Taylor's checkerspot butterflies. This season is all about the Sustainability in Prisons Project (otherwise referred to as SPP), how they bring education, nature and training into the prisons to reduce recidivism and protect and enhance our environment. This season (we now know) is 7 episodes long. In the first episode we got into how it all started; Episode 2 provided a background on the prison system and an introduction to SPP. Episode 3 was all about partnerships, which is really what SPP is, a network of partners working to bring education and nature into the prison system. Last episode provided an overview of the Conservation Programs at SPP and then we got into more of the details of the Conservation Nursery Programs and how they are involved in prairie restoration.We start off the episode with a few fun facts, including:A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope, although sometimes referred to as a flutter, flight or swarm. A group of caterpillars is called an army.According to the Smithsonian: There are about 18,500 butterfly species worldwide (except Antarctica). Of those, around 750 are found in the US.Interviewees this EpisodeMary LindersMary has worked as an endangered species recovery biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) since 1994. For the past 18 years she has worked to protect and recover populations of five at-risk prairie and oak-associated species in the South Puget Sound region. As the lead biologist overseeing captive rearing and population re-establishment of the federally endangered Taylor's checkerspot butterfly, Mary has grown the project from a captive rearing test trial to a program with two captive rearing facilities, 14 field sites, and nine conservation partners. All told, this effort is transforming 1000s of acres of degraded grassland to high quality native prairie benefitting a multitude of other species. Mary holds a Master's degree in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington-Seattle and a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Liz LouieLiz is currently the manager of the FareStart Restaurant Program. She was previously a butterfly technician with the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Rearing program. According to their website, “FareStart transforms lives, disrupts poverty and nourishes communities through food, life skills and job training.” We hope to have a future mini-sode where we share more about Liz's experience with the FareStart Program. Stay tuned for more info on that!Taylor's Checkerspot ButterflyAccording to the WDFW Website:“Taylor's checkerspot is a Pacific Northwest endemic butterfly. It is currently restricted to a small scattering of 8 populations in Washington, a single population in British Columbia, and 2 populations in Oregon. The decline of this butterfly has accompanied the loss of open, prairie and grassland habitats…it has declined dramatically due to widespread habitat degradation and loss of prairie-oak ecosystems from development, invasive species, and loss of beneficial disturbance mechanisms. Habitat enhancement efforts for Taylor's checkerspot since 2006 have been significant, however, the amount of fully-restored habitat relative to need is low, and the configuration of habitat remains fragmented and isolated.”TAYLOR'S CHECKERSPOT BUTTERFLY ON BALSAMROOT - PHOTO CREDIT: USFWS/K. REAGANTaylor's Checkerspot was listed as an endangered species by the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2006, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada in 2011, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013. The federal listing means that basically that no harm can come of the butterfly.Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) includes the largest remaining intact prairie (which happens to be a live artillery range) in the South Salish Sea Basin. The artillery impact area at JBLM contains some of the highest quality prairies in the Pacific Northwest and some of the few remaining natural populations of Taylor's checkerspot butterflies. Out of all of the glacial outwash prairie that previously existed there is only 3% remaining and of that, JBLM is home to about 95%. If you want to learn more about butterfly identification in the South Salish lowlands, check out, A Region Specific Guide to Butterflies of South Puget Sound, Washington.The Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership has a lot of great resources related to prairie oak restoration in the Salish Sea basin and Willamette Valley, including various field and landowner guides.WDFW asks that you share Taylor's checkerspot butterfly observations on their WDFW wildlife reporting form. Providing detailed information such as a photo and the coordinates will improve the confidence and value of your observation.Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly ProgramIn this episode, Mary Linders shares more about the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program. She talks about their lifecycle and their unique ecological niche within the Salish Lowland Prairies. The ultimate goal of the program is to rear butterflies to be reintroduced into the wild to help restore the few remaining native populations. The easiest way to do that is to try to reduce their mortality in captivity. Mary says that one of the biggest challenges to rearing Taylor's checkerspot butterflies is weather. On the habitat side, it means that they may or may not get green up after a fire, or germination, which is impacted by weather and management techniques. While on the butterfly side of things, it is very plastic in its behavior to the climate; if there is an early spring, it will shift its flight habits.We learn that in the wild, the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly has a survival rate of 1-5% from egg to adult, while in captivity they see about a 65% survival rate. They try to keep every stage at 90% survival rate.While GPS and GIS have not been used on the incarcerated side, Mary does share how GIS and GPS are used for all aspects of conservation from habitat assessments to recording release locations and tracking movement.This project is having an impact on species recovery. Where they were down to a single population, they have now established two other populations and there is a third that is doing okay. There are also a couple of sites that have not fully taken off yet.Mary discusses some of the benefits of bringing a project like this into a prison setting. One of the benefits is that you get an intimate look at captivity and another is that they have been very successful at minimizing mortality in captivity. She says one of the drawbacks of having a program like this in a prison is that it is a very dynamic situation, where you might face lockdowns or other circumstances that might not happen outside of prison. She shares that there was a lot of risk involved, especially at the beginning, since they had to build a dedicated facility, but that the women in the prison took it on and made it their own. One aspect that helped them get this project off the ground, is that the Oregon Zoo was able to help guide the rearing details.Mary shares how collaborating with SPP has impacted her. She says it's the ultimate feel good, where you can heal the environment and society at the same time.Rearing Taylor's Checkerspot Butterflies in a Prison SettingNext we talk with Liz Louie about her experience as a butterfly technician. She shares more about how she got started with the program, including going through a traditional interview process, which is not typical for positions in prison. She talks about how she had some skills that were helpful for working with the butterflies, like experience working with data. Liz says that she was fearful at first, because the butterflies are such sensitive little animals! She also shares how it was great to be able to participate through four rearing seasons and that they were able to surpass the prior year's survival rates.We ask Liz about the benefits of working in a program like this. She says that every year the technicians had the option to apply for credit from Evergreen. She talks about how impactful it was for those individuals that had never been to college before or had that kind of an experience and that it pushed participants to pursue further education and gave them confidence to apply for other programs.Liz also explains what butterfly rearing looks like in the prison environment. She talks about the various life cycle stages. She says that the butterfly phase was her favorite part, because you get to handle them a little more and you have to feed them. She also talks about how they have various families or lines and they have to keep track of them so they are breeding different families together. According to the Oregon Zoo website, this is what their recovery project looks like (they provided guidance to the SPP project):“Spring: Adult females and eggs are collected in the wild at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Olympia, Wash., and sent to the zoo for hatching and rearing. The hatched caterpillars are fed leaves grown on grounds at the zoo.Summer: The caterpillars continue to eat and grow until June when they go into a mostly inactive phase called "diapause." The caterpillars are then placed in earthenware pots in a sheltered outside area and periodically inspected.Winter: In February the larvae are brought back into the lab where they begin to eat again.Spring: In March most of the caterpillars are released at sites with suitable habitat to continue growing until they pupate and eclose (or emerge) as butterflies.”You can learn more about the specifics of rearing in the Oregon Zoo's Taylor's Checkerspot Captive Rearing Overview document.Then we chat about how they make the babies…spoiler alert, she says they did try things like playing some Marvin Gay to see if that helped get them in the mood! Typically they take a single female and place 7-8 males from a different lineage into the same tent. They have run various experiments, such as changing the temperature, or the light, trying to get the conditions prime for baby-time! After a male has, you know, joined…the female is placed in her own tent where she lays the eggs and then she is retired into a mix cage to be released.The rearing facility is a greenhouse located just outside of the Mission Creek Correctional Facility (well there are two rearing greenhouses now, but there was one while Liz was there). They raise a bed of plantain, which is a weedy little plant that is the preferred food for the caterpillars. The technicians provide the butterflies with a sponge with sugar water, fresh water and nectar bearing plants, such as cotton candy, which they grow onsite. Both caterpillars and butterflies start to wake up in January, then they are fed at the facility for a couple of weeks before they are released into the field in late February. Liz shares how she thinks prison job programs like this are very important. They provide people with transferable skills that they can use once they are out of prison, but it also provides people with pride and self-confidence to study, learn, and pursue things that they previously thought were not possible. She says that she believes these programs do more good than harm, but she, like others that we have talked with, says that the one thing she wished is that the wages were more representative of the level of work they were completing. For example, she says they only received 35 cents per hour commensurate with other in house jobs (like laundry, kitchen, or custodian), but some of the other physical labor jobs, like for the highway cleanups, incarcerated workers receive a dollar an hour. SPP is working to make it more equitable, but they are working within the legislative confines of current prison wages.In the end Liz says that she is really glad that she found SPP, and that she is excited to hear that they are growing and offering more and more programs, because she believes it is such a good thing for anyone that participates. Most people have a good experience and they learn a lot. Until Next Time…Thank you so much for joining us this episode! We hope you learned more about:Taylor's checkerspot butterfly conservation and restoration efforts and the importance of the South Salish lowland prairies in their recoveryWhat a SPP facilitated conservation program is likeThe impacts of programs like these to species recovery and human enrichment, and how both of these can have a positive impact in our communitiesWe think one of the takeaways from this episode is that rearing and restoring populations of Taylor's Checkerspot Butterflies is difficult, and adding it into a prison setting doesn't make it easier, but the cumulative effort to do so results in benefits to both the butterflies and the humans that participate in the program. This is another major conservation program that is facilitated by SPP, and while we don't expect that all of our listeners (or SPP) have the time and resources to develop big programs, there might be someone out there that has just the perfect program idea to pitch to SPP. Next episode, we will learn more about opportunities to participate with SPP without developing a whole dang program. Please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or on our Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest pages. Until next time, Will We Make It Out Alive?

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 3, If You're not a Partner of the Solution, You're a Partner of the Problem; Partnerships and Programs with the Sustainability in Prisons Project (aka SPP). This season is all about the Sustainability in Prisons Project, what they do, why they do it and how you might be able bring your skills and knowledge to incarcerated individuals. For this episode, we interviewed Kelli Bush, the Sustainability in Prisons Project Director; Mary Linders, WDFW Wildlife Biologist; and Carolina Landa, a former butterfly technician. In this episode we dive into the complex web of partnerships that SPP maintains for their various, changing and growing programs. At the heart of this whole organization is a web of partnerships that keep everything moving forward and also ensure that projects are safe and appropriate for the prison environment.Interviewees' Background and ExperienceKelli Bush is the co-director of the Sustainability in Prisons Project. She helps bring nature, science and environmental education into prisons in Washington. She also leads staff from The Evergreen State College that coordinate programs in the prisons. She has a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture Ecology from The Evergreen State College. Mary Linders has worked as an endangered species recovery biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) since 1994. For the past 18 years she has worked to protect and recover populations of five at-risk prairie and oak-associated species in the South Puget Sound region. As the lead biologist overseeing captive rearing and population re-establishment of the federally endangered Taylor's checkerspot butterfly, Mary has grown the project from a captive rearing test trial to a program with two captive rearing facilities, 14 field sites, and nine conservation partners. All told, this effort is transforming thousands of acres of degraded grassland to high quality native prairie benefitting a multitude of other species. Mary holds a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master's degree in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington-Seattle. This background has served her well in a field where conservation values mesh with competing human values. Outside of work she enjoys gardening, hiking, camping, paddling and playing music with her husband and son. Carolina Landa MPA, identifies as a Mexican-American woman. She currently works at the Office of the Corrections Ombuds as the Assistant Ombuds focused on Gender Equity and Reentry. She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College where she received her Bachelor's degree with a focus on Law and Policy followed by her Master's degree in Public Administration. Her three areas of specialized work are in Social Justice, Disabilities and Immigration. She currently serves as a member of the Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council. She strongly believes that people with lived experiences have the power through voice to impact the most effective change in our society. Partnerships and Programs, oh my!This episode is all about partnerships and programs in the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). When we first started researching this topic, Amy the Poop Detective was amazed at the breadth of different organizations and project types that fall under the SPP umbrella.SPP was initially formed as a partnership between The Evergreen State College (Evergreen) and the Department of Corrections (DOC) to bring science, nature and education into prisons in Washington State. It has since grown to almost 200 partnerships. The breadth and depth of the programs that they help facilitate is impressive, to say the very least. While we are most interested in conservation, nature and education programs, we learn that there are so many other types of programs/projects.SPP Perspective on Partnerships and ProgramsIn this episode, Kelli Bush shares more about how partnerships form and function. One of the main points that she makes is that these programs can be started at any level, whether it be an idea from an incarcerated individual, DOC staff, Evergreen graduates or partners in the community (that could mean you!). She also describes how each project is evaluated to make sure that there is benefit to all involved parties. They especially do not want projects that are just looking for free or cheap labor. The primary types of benefits to incarcerated individuals are educational, therapeutic and/or job skill related. She also shares more about how new projects also must be vetted by the DOC to ensure that they meet their safety and risk reduction considerations associated with the prison environment. We chat about how some projects are relatively easy to implement, for example education programs, where other programs are more difficult to implement such as the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly program, which required a greenhouse to be built and potential risks to be considered. She uses the composting program at the Monroe Correctional Facility as an example of how programs can start and grow. In this example, incarcerated individuals worked with DOC staff to develop an internal composting program. Over time, this program has grown into an award winning composting program and they have expanded their composting methods to include Bokashi composting (basically fermenting compost) and Black Soldier Fly Larvae composting, similar to vermicomposting, where the larvae eat through and break down food waste quickly. Here are some additional links to learn more about the SPP Bokashi and Black Soldier Fly Larvae composting programs.She shares more about several programs that are not so science based, including:A dog training program, where dogs live with and are trained by incarcerated individuals. They train dogs for children and adults for a variety of conditions. They also host foster animals, sometimes difficult to adopt animals, from many different agencies including the Kitsap Humane Society and Purrfect Pals.A bike refurbishing program, which reduces waste by salvaging and restoring bikes that otherwise might be headed to the landfill. Then those newly tuned up bikes get awesome paint jobs and they are donated back to someone in need in the community.There are lots of other cool partnerships that we did not get into. If you want to learn more, head over to SPP's website and you can look through the many partners and projects.Kelli shares a little about potential project gaps. One of the projects she hopes that the Magical Mapper might pursue is bringing more technology, like GIS, into the prisons. The other one that she feels is important is a program that supports successful reentry, and that includes housing and employment opportunities. She discusses how she initially thought this work might be done outside of the prison by another organization, but now she thinks it might be something that SPP should help develop. She wants partners to consider if organizations are willing to invest in previously incarcerated individuals once they are outside of the prison as well; helping them grow their environmental careers once they are released.We talk about some of the barriers to new program development such as:A general lack of space; prisons were not set up as educational facilitiesTechnology, computer and internet accessGeneral capacity at SPP to take on and facilitate additional projectsKelli also discusses how a big part of SPP's work is to try and identify the roles and responsibilities for the involved partners. She talks about how communication, clarity of roles, community time investment and who gets recognition for the work are all important aspects to making the partnerships function and ensuring that all partners feel valued and needed.She also shares a little bit about a new program on the horizon, the Evergreen Coalition for Justice, which just received funding for a year that starts this July. It will provide an opportunity to expand support for incarcerated individuals post release. They will partner with community colleges and other organizations to help fill the gaps where needs have been identified and to complement existing programs. They are pitching the idea to develop a program with current community organizations that are involved with SPP to work with previously incarcerated individuals post release.Outside Organization Perspective on Partnerships and ProgramsNext we get Mary in the hot seat to learn more about her experiences with partnerships and programs and in her work with WDFW. Mary shares more about how she partners with SPP to help recover the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly. We're going to focus more on the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly Program next episode, but this interview with Mary is more about the partnership and program with SPP. Mary shares some of the ins and outs of how the partnership started and how difficult it was to get support from WDFW for the project. She talks about some of the other partners in the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly recovery program and what their roles are. Partners in this program include Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the Department of Defense, the US Fish and Wildlife, the Oregon Zoo, and SPP (which includes Evergreen and the Department of Corrections), and the butterfly technicians. We also dive into some more details of the program.Next Mary talks about some of the things that potential new partners may need to consider if they want to develop a new SPP project or program. Some of the things that she mentions include that you have to really know what goals or products that you need, you also need to have critical and detailed planning, and in the end you need to be creative and flexible. She also shares a little about the impact this work has had on her and how it has been one of the most rewarding things she has ever done.SPP Butterfly Technician Perspective on Partnerships and ProgramsFinally, we bring in Carolina Landa to share her lived experience as a Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly technician. She discusses her experience with partnerships and how the SPP program helped her find her voice, move forward, and be successful after her release. Since she was a butterfly technician, she went on to earn her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Public Administration from The Evergreen State College and she is currently an Ombuds(wo)man for the Department of Corrections. She shares how she became involved in the butterfly program and what some of the requirements were for her to become a butterfly technician. She also talks about how she was perceived by other inmates and how the program has grown in popularity. She shares some of the ins and outs, like how they spent 7 hours a day in the greenhouse during the active rearing season.One of the areas that she thinks could use a new program or project developed under SPP would be a re-entry program or a work entry program, which of course is similar to what Kelli was saying! And it sounds like on some level the Evergreen Coalition for Justice will be able to help move this idea forward. Carolina shares her perspective on whether she felt her experience participating in SPP was exploitative. She talks about what she gained from the program. One of the major benefits was she was the first person to receive 16 college credits for her participation in the program from The Evergreen State College. She also talked about the therapeutic aspect of working with the butterflies, being outside of the prison walls, able to spend her days in the sunshine of the greenhouse, and about the lifelong friendships that she made with the people that she worked with. She shares that near the end of her time she had to move on to another program that took up more of her time. She wasn't able to work at the butterfly enclosure anymore, but she still volunteered her time there on the weekends!!!As far as what she would change about the program, she says that she hopes that programs like this expand and are available to more participants and at different prisons. She shares a little about what she is up to now, including being an advisor to SPP and her work as an Omsbud(wo)man for DOC.As far as her experience with incarceration and reentry, she says that prisons are bad (m'kay) and most first timers never think that they will end up in prison. She shares that there are staff that want to do better, but the structure makes change very difficult. She says for those experiencing incarceration it is important to build your network, find your people and community and then you have people to ask if you need help. She also talks about how technology can be difficult to adjust to post release. She shares a little about the barriers that exist when you have a criminal background, namely around housing and employment. In Washington you can have your record vacated depending on the type of felony and Carolina helped fight for this change in Washington!She also talks about how the view of the prison system is changing and how Washington State is making some changes. One of the programs that Washington has participated in is the AMEND program, which brings the principles of incarceration from Norway, where the goal is more restorative than punitive.Finally, she helps us end with a little bit of humor when she shares a funny story about a corrections officer that took her job seriously.Until Next Time…Thank you so much for joining us this episode! We hope you learned more about how the Sustainability in Prisons Project uses partnerships to effectively leverage multiple partners to bring education, nature and science into the prisons and how their programs impact our communities and our environment. We think the biggest takeaways from this episode include:Partnerships must provide value to all involvedPartnerships and programs can start from any level, whether that's an incarcerated individual, DOC or SPP staff, an outside organization, or an Evergreen graduate student and One of SPPs main roles is as a facilitator, ensuring that projects and programs run effectivelyWe also learned that some projects are easy to implement, such as bringing a guest lecturer or developing some educational materials, while other programs are more difficult to implement, such as the butterfly program, which requires learning how to successfully rear butterflies in a prison and building the necessary infrastructure to do so. Please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts (like Tune In, Castbox Himalaya, iheartradio, etc). Please let us know what you think in the comments below or on our Facebook page. Until next time, Will We Make It Out Alive?

In this episode, Colonel Christopher Perry, M.D. discusses the prevalence of substance use disorders in military personnel, which substances are most commonly misused, and how addiction is managed in those actively serving. He reviews the importance of screening for and treating use disorders, especially given the high rates of suicide in this population.Dr. Perry is the Chief Medical Officer for Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint-Base Lewis McChord, Washington. He has extensive experience in treating addiction in military personnel and was a member of the VA/DoD Work Group, which established comprehensive guidelines for the management of substance use disorders in military personnel and in veterans. Learn more about Colonel Perry at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-perry-a1298321/Access the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines at https://www.healthquality.va.gov/guidelines/MH/sud/VADoDSUDCPGProviderSummary.pdf

On today's ZBT we've got 5 rounds in the magazine .... ROUND 1: A delightful tale of beautiful head. No, we aint talkin Blow Jibbers… A Luxury Bathroom curated by the troops @ Joint Base Lewis McChord will make you wanna flush every other latrine youve ever been to. ROUND 2: Attention to detail remains important. A couple of inspectors at the Mexico= US Border discovered that some strawberry puree would leave you tweaking if you were to add it to your morning smoothie. ROUND 3: Heroes among us. National forest fighter fighters (no word if they were volunteers or not) help rescue a woman who was in a precarious situation deep inside the woods. ROUND 4: Some virtual fisticuffs happened this weekend. A Mil spouse battle took place on facebook and it's an even more intense rivalry than Army/Navy games. Round 5: Elon Musk chat because we work on the internet and we have to or else it would be dereliction of duty.

The week on The Panjwai Podcast we journey all the way to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York to speak with Colonel Trey Rutherford. In 2012, then Lieutenant Colonel Trey Rutherford commanded 1-23 Infantry Battalion out of Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. We speak to Col. Rutherford about his military career leading up to Panjwai, and the extremely unique challenges faced by commanding  a seven company battalion in the violent fight that was Panjwai. Rutherford tells us about his relationships with command and his company commanders, the impact 1-23 had on the battles-ace, and the unique political interactions with the power brokers of Panjwai.   For those who served in Panjwai in 2012, this interview should answer some questions as to the “why” of what you endured, and hopefully provides some context for the challenges we faced.     ---------------------------------   The views expressed by the guests and hosts of this podcast do not represent the views of the Department of Defense or United States Government.   ——————————————— Also Available on:   Apple: https://buff.ly/3gTXet9 Spotify: https://buff.ly/2Kx6cjR Google: https://buff.ly/3b29R4z Podbean: https://buff.ly/2WoN0aF iHeartRadio: https://buff.ly/3nc5Wo1   Check out the video version of the podcast at : https://www.youtube.com/thepanjwaipodcast   For maps, photos and more information about Panjwai go to : https://www.thepanjwaipodcast.com/about-panjwai   You can donate and support the podcast on Patreon for as little as $3.00 a month. visit www.patreon.com/thepanjwaipodcast to learn more.   Direct donations can also be sent via venmo @thepanjwaipodcast Be sure to like, follow, and/or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Youtube, TuneIn, Amazon Music and many more. visit www.thepanjwaipodcast.com/listen for more information.   Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepanjwaipodcast Instagram: @thepanjwaipodcast Twitter: @panjwaipodcast ----------------------------------------------------------------   Podcast Theme Song “Take me with you” by Dustin Gaspard https://www.instagram.com/dusty_muhrie/ https://www.dustingaspardmusic.com/

In this episode: A guided mindfulness meditation exercise. Hosted by U.S. Army Capt. Fawn Walter, Ph.D. The information in this podcast is for educational purposes and does not replace treatment. Patients should consult with a physician before making any changes to care. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, nor the U.S. Government. DHA Connected Health Defense Health Agency https://health.mil/connectedhealth Email: dha.connected-health@mail.mil Twitter: @DHAConnected (https://twitter.com/DHAConnected) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DHAConnected Learn more about Mind-Body Medicine at https://www.med.navy.mil/Navy-Marine-Corps-Public-Health-Center/Population-Health/Health-Promotion-and-Wellness/ Learn more about Military Health Podcasts at https://health.mil/podcasts The Military Meditation Coach Podcast is produced by the Defense Health Agency in collaboration with the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Music is Golden Chant by Joseph Beg. (https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/9SC28v445i/) U.S. Army Capt. (Dr.) Fawn Walter, Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, is a military service member. This work was prepared as part of official duties. Title 17, USC, §105 provides that ‘Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the U.S. Government.' Title 17, USC, §101 defines a U.S. Government work as a work prepared by a military service member or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person's official duties.

It's First Lushootseed name is čaʔadᶻac aka Oregon white oak, Garry oak, or Quercus garryana. Join us on a deep dive on the intersections of urban development, environmental racism, organizing against tree loss, and the oak restoration imaginary. Oak savannas and prairies in the Willamette Valley-Puget Trough-Georgia Basin are one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. In the Pacific Northwest. We can confidently say we've lost about 95 percent of the oak and prairie habitat that existed in the early to mid-1800s. Local oak protectors have been challenging City of Lakewood on oak protections and developers on plans to build warehouses, etc. Garry oaks are part of an imperiled ecosystem. Lakewood has long settler history and lies adjacent to Joint Base Lewis McChord that has the largest remaining oak woodland in South Puget Sound. Tacome News Tribune. Neighbors rally to save native oak trees threatened by Lakewood warehouse proposal June 22, 2021. https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article252065168.html Lakewood Garry Oak Conservancy https://oak.eco  Portland State University Heat Island Maps for Tacoma Earth Economics. 2020. Urban Heat Island Analysis: Tacoma, WA Cascade Prairie Oak Partnership https://cascadiaprairieoak.org  Tacoma Tree Foundation webinar: Garry Oak Restoration w/ Brandon Drucker  Editing for this episode provided by the wonderful Katie Dunn. Brandon Drucker was essential to production. It takes a community to keep a podcast going. Donate to the show via Paypal www.paypal.com/paypalme/myadrick and Venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/myadrick  Music on the show was from Cheel, Otis McDonald, Chris Haugen and DJ WIlliams.  Tell a few friends about the show and follow the podcast on Instagram and Twitter @treehuggerpod Review treehugger podcast on iTunes

Season 2 Episode 4 is a 2-parter at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with Alycia, Zack and Paul.  They are three of the smartest people the Army has to offer as we talk about the Army's H2F system. The Army's philosophy is all about putting people first and that winning matters, which means the teams they put together are going to be highly trained, disciplined and incredibly fit.  The H2F System is the Army's primary investment in making their soldiers ready by being in optimal physical and mental performance, reducing injury rates, improving their rehabilitation after injury, and increasing the overall effectiveness of the Total Army. Alycia, Zack and Paul are a huge part of the H2F program and it is going to take a 2-part episode to get through it all. Note...the views expressed are those of the individuals and do not reflect the official policy or position of the US Army, Department of Defense or the US Government. Episode 4 Part 1...powered by Primo Espresso...enjoy! Primo Espresso Alycia Zack H2F - Holistic Health and Fitness