Podcasts about Laos

As the Trump Administration has focused federal immigration activity on different cities around the United States, it has publicized the names and photos of immigrants it calls “the Worst of the Worst.” A Minnesota family is speaking out about their loved one who was given that label. At “Ricky” Chandee came to the U.S. as a refugee from Laos as a child. He was convicted of assault at age 18 and served a prison sentence more than thirty years ago. Back then, Laos refused to accept his deportation. He has since built a life in Minnesota. Minnesota Now producer Alanna Elder reports Chandee is now detained in El Paso, Texas and facing possible deportation.

** VIDEO EN NUESTRO CANAL DE YOUTUBE **** https://youtu.be/YNAplyQ3jg4 +++++ Hazte con nuestras camisetas en https://www.bhmshop.app +++++ #historiamilitar #historia #vietnam Durante el conflicto de Vietnam, en el marco de la guerra encubierta en Laos y el norte del país, la CIA desplegó uno de los helicópteros más silenciosos y secretos jamás construidos: el Hughes 500P “Quiet One”. Basado en el OH‑6 Cayuse, fue profundamente modificado para llevar a cabo misiones de espionaje, sabotaje y extracción de información en territorio enemigo. Con un sistema de rotor silencioso, fuselaje tratado para absorber radar y escape rediseñado, esta aeronave podía operar a muy baja altitud sin ser detectada por el enemigo. En este programa especial, exploramos su historia, tecnología y operaciones dentro del proyecto “Operation Ivy Bells” sobre Hanoi en 1972, con el análisis de Esaú Rodríguez, Julio “Caronte” y Francisco García Campa. Tecnología, sigilo y operaciones negras… el helicóptero que parece sacado de una novela de espías, pero que fue muy real. Suscríbete a nuestros canales: ️ Historia Militar: https://www.youtube.com/@BELLUMARTISHISTORIAMILITAR ️ Geopolítica y Actualidad Militar: https://www.youtube.com/@BELLUMARTISACTUALIDADMILITAR Blog: https://bellumartishistoriamilitar.blogspot.com/ Bellumartis: Historia militar sin mitos ni ideología. Solo hechos. #QuietOne #CIA #Vietnam #Helicopteros #GuerraDeVietnam #AirAmerica #Bellumartis #HistoriaMilitar #Espionaje #OperacionesEncubiertas #BlackOps #OH6 #Hughes500 #Laos #Hanoi #JulioCaronte #EsaúRodríguez #FranciscoGarcíaCampa

Le soleil se lève doucement sur le Laos ce matin... Posé sur une longue barge qui sillonne le majestueux fleuve Mékong, le van d'Oscar et Sacha est bercé par un doux clapot... Pour continuer à suivre nos aventures, rendez-vous sur : https://lesminimondes.fr/© Unique Heritage Media Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

In this novel written in verse, Gao and her family make a harrowing escape from her beloved country, Laos, after the Vietnam War. Ending up in a Thai refugee camp, a reminder that refugees are not just headlines. They're kids who miss their pets, families who tell jokes even when they're scared, and people who want and deserve to be safe.Transcript here

When Travel, Humor & Human Connection Collide: A Joyful Conversation with Melissa Rodway Some of the best stories on The Debbie Nigro Show start with a "premonition." You know… that little voice that says to someone, "I should reach out to Debbie." And when that voice belongs to someone with great energy, curiosity, and a whole lotta heart? I listen. That's exactly how I connected with Melissa Rodway—Toronto-based travel storyteller, longtime host of Fly Travel Radio, part-time adventurer, occasional stand-up comic, and author of the five-star Amazon hit The People You Meet. And let me tell you… this conversation was pure joy. From Airport Observations to Life Adventures Melissa's book was born from heartfelt emails she sent home while traveling through Southeast Asia and China—emails so good, friends begged for more. Sixteen years later, she finally turned them into a book. (Proof that timing is everything, people!) Right out of the gate, she hooks you with humor—like watching President Obama on TV in an airport while wondering why the woman next to her didn't care… "Maybe she already has dental."

In this second episode of the Culinary Travel series, we go around the world through some very exotic flavors with Chef Kelvin Cheung of Jun's in Dubai. Kelvin has eaten his way across the globe, traveling through continents and cities exploring cultures, cuisines, heritage and so much more. On this episode Kelvin gives us a glimpse of his journeys and takes us on a super delicious ride.Destination Highlights and Culinary Insights:1. Thailand - Fireworks of flavor.Kelvin calls Thailand one of the most dynamic food destinations in the world.• Exploring small towns and villages beyond Bangkok.• Best street food in the world.https://www.instagram.com/cheftonn/?hl=en – All of Chef Ton's restaurants come highly recommended.https://www.instagram.com/restaurant.potong/?hl=en – Highly recommended.2. China - A Culinary awakening.• Regional diversity across South, East and Northwest China.• Border cuisines blending Chinese, Thai, and Lao influences3. Japan - The benchmark of excellence.4. Singapore - Nostalgia on a plate5. Jordan - A delicious surprise.https://www.instagram.com/qaismalhas/?hl=en – highly recommended.6. Vietnam - The ingredient revelation - a ‘rice paddy herb'.7. India – A culinary renaissance.Highly recommended - https://www.instagram.com/veronicasbombay/?hl=en                                    https://www.instagram.com/masquerestaurant/?hl=en                                    https://www.instagram.com/restaurantnaar/?hl=enThis special Culinary Series is brought to you by Emirates NBD Voyager Credit Cards.Connect with Kelvin at:https://www.instagram.com/chefkelvincheung/Thank you all for tuning in today!If you enjoyed this episode, please hit that subscribe button here, or on your favorite podcast platform. I'd love to hear from you! What destinations or journeys should we feature next? Drop a comment, leave a rating, or write a review - it truly makes a difference.Stay connected with me on Instagram @moushtravels to find out who's joining me next week. You can also explore all past episodes and destinations mentioned by our guests on www.moushtravels.com or in the episode show notes.Thanks for listening! Until next time, safe travels and keep adventuring.     "Want a spotlight on our show? Visit https://admanager.fm/client/podcasts/moushtravels and align your brand with our audience."Connect with me on the following:Instagram @moushtravelsFacebook @travelstorieswithmoushLinkedIn @Moushumi BhuyanYou Tube @travelstorieswithmoush Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen to current week's news from and about the Church in Asia in a capsule of around 10 minutes.Leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama have lauded the support given by Christian churches during the centenary celebrations. Listen to the story and more in a wrap-up of the weekly news from Asia.Filed by UCA News reporters, compiled by Fabian Antony, text edited by Anosh Malekar, presented by Joe Mathews, Cover photo by AFP, background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex for ucanews.com For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.comTo contribute please visit www.ucanews.com/donateOn Twitter Follow Or Connect through DM at : twitter.com/ucanewsTo view Video features please visit https://www.youtube.com/@ucanews

On Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972, two EB-66 aircraft, call signs Bat 21 and Bat 22 were flying pathfinder escort for three B-52s, which were assigned to bomb the two primary access routes to the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. Gene Hambleton, a navigator aboard Bat 21, was shot down behind North Vietnamese lines. His rescue became known as the largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue operation during the Vietnam War. In this episode, Gene Hambleton recounts his dramatic story.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new book from Minnesota children's author V.T. Bidania looks at the profound impacts of war and displacement through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl. “A Year Without Home” follows Gao Sheng and her family as they live through the wars in Laos and Vietnam during the 1960s and 70s. Eventually, they are forced to escape their beloved home in Laos and make their way to refugee camps in Thailand. Written as verse, the story is a break from Vong's other novels. It is her middle grade debut. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about it.

What if you could deliver all the benefits of traditional collagen without any animal ingredients? In Episode #204 of the PricePlow Podcast, we explore VC-H1, a revolutionary vegan collagen alternative derived from organically grown hibiscus. Eric Withee from Freemen Nutra returns to discuss the science behind this innovative ingredient, while Marc Bruggemann, an e-commerce expert specializing in Amazon strategy, reveals the massive untapped market opportunity for plant-based collagen products. Unlike traditional “vegan collagen boosters” that merely mimic amino acid profiles or throw together kitchen-sink formulas, VC-H1 delivers actual collagen peptides from a botanical source. At just 1.5 grams per serving, this clinically studied ingredient stimulates collagen synthesis through the same pathways as bovine or marine collagen (with price parity, organic certification, and sustainable sourcing from Laos). With 400,000+ annual searches for “vegan collagen” on Amazon alone and virtually no legitimate products to meet that demand, the timing couldn’t be better for brands to enter this blue ocean market. Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast on your favorite platform and sign up for our alerts before we dive into this game-changing ingredient. https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/vegan-collagen-freemen-nutra-vc-h1 Video: Vegan Collagen from Hibiscus: VC-H1 with Eric Withee & Marc Bruggemann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tchb8BYjqpU Detailed Show Notes: Eric Withee (Freemen Nutra) and Marc Bruggemann Discuss VC-H1 Vegan Collagen 0:00 – Introductions Ben welcomes returning guest Eric Withee from Freemen Nutra and introduces Marc Bruggemann, an e-commerce expert with deep Amazon marketplace experience. Unlike typical podcast episodes that focus purely on ingredient science, today’s conversation takes a different angle by examining how innovative ingredients actually perform in the marketplace. Marc brings valuable perspective from his career building Amazon channels for supplement brands, including working at NutriBio Labs and Thrasio (the fastest company in US history to reach $10 billion valuation) before specializing in helping top-10 supplement brands dominate Amazon’s competitive landscape. 0:45 – Marc’s E-commerce Background and Amazon Expertise Marc shares his journey through the dietary supplement e-commerce space, starting with building Amazon channels and eventually working with some of the industry’s largest brands. His experience spans everything from product development to advertising strategy, taking brands from limited distribution to nationwide presence. This unique perspective on both the marketplace dynamics and consumer behavior sets the stage for understanding why certain ingredients succeed or fail on platforms like Amazon. Marc’s track record includes elevating multiple brands into Amazon’s top 10 supplement sellers, giving him invaluable insights into what drives consumer purchasing decisions in the crowded digital marketplace. 1:45 – Introducing VC-H1 Vegan Collagen Alternative Eric introduces VC-H1, a vegan collagen alternative that immediately captured Marc’s attention during their initial conversation. Unlike traditional collagen supplements derived from animal sources, VC-H1 is composed entirely of peptides… Read more on the PricePlow Blog

Angus Taylor will challenge Sussan Ley for the Liberal leadership ahead of Friday’s party room vote; James Van Der Beek has died at 48 from colorectal cancer; A US lawmaker accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of hiding names of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates; Alice Springs rivers surged after storms, cutting roads and stranding residents; Australia appointed diplomat Pablo Kang as special envoy to Laos over teen methanol deaths; Zayn Malik says he was never truly “in love” with Gigi Hadid. THE END BITS Support independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here GET IN TOUCHShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at thequicky@mamamia.com.au CREDITS Host/Producer: Tahli Blackman & Taylah Strano Audio Producer: Lu Hill Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Angus Taylor challenges Sussan Ley for leadership of the Liberal Party; a special envoy appointed to progress investigations into the methanol poisoning deaths of two Australians in Laos; Australians Scotty James and Valentino Guseli reach the snowboard halfpipe final at the Milano Cortina Games.

Those who hope to honor God and advance Jesus' Kingdom face powerful opposition from spiritual, physical, and psychological enemies. Successful launching and long term fruitfulness depends on recognizing and, in dependence on the Holy Spirit, waging war against those enemies.

When you go to one of Chef Ann Ahmed's restaurants, you are immersed in southeast Asian cuisine. Chef Ann is Laotian-American, and her three restaurants in the Twin Cities reflect her roots. Now, she's helping her employees understand the culture and cuisine she grew up with by guiding them on a trip to Laos. Monty Luthongxay is a server at Chef Ahmed's restaurant Khaluna and joined her on the trip. Both Luthongxay and Ahmed joined MPR News host Nina Moini for a conversation about visiting Laos.

Gov. Tim Walz says he spoke Tuesday with Trump administration leaders, and he believes an end to the surge of federal agents in the state could be days away. We'll have an update. Plus, details from a U.S. House committee hearing over ICE and Border Patrol actions in Minnesota.Every day, volunteers wait outside the Whipple Federal Building with phones and warm layers for people being released from detention. We checked in with the group's founder. We have an update on 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his family, who are back together but still living in uncertainty. Twin Cities chef Ann Ahmed is back from taking her employees to visit her home country of Laos. We heard about her trip. Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Blood Moon” by Poliça and our Song of the day was “Fear Met Me” by LaSonya Natividad.

Today's headlines include: Nine people have been charged after police clashed with demonstrators in Sydney’s CBD on Monday evening. The families of two Australian teenagers who died from methanol poisoning in Laos say the Federal Government hasn’t put enough pressure on the South East Asian country. Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said she’d be willing to testify that Donald Trump did nothing wrong if the U.S. President pardons her. And today’s good news: An injured green turtle, named Terry, has been released back into the wild after being rehabilitated at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. Reporting with AAP. Hosts: Billi FitzSimons and Emma GillespieProducer: Rosa Bowden Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful. The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent. Want more from TDA?Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletterSubscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel Have feedback for us?We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UN Tourism ha lanciato il piano strategico 2025-2027: sostenibilità, innovazione, inclusione, capitale umano e governance. Cinque pilastri per trasformare il turismo da estrattivo a rigenerativo. Ma le strategie si tradurranno in azioni concrete?Intanto nel mondo AI si parla di Open Claw, il progetto open source di Peter Steinberg che ha superato 150.000 stelle su GitHub. Non è un chatbot: è un agente autonomo che gira sulla tua macchina, gestisce email, calendario, file e prenotazioni 24/7. Le implicazioni per il turismo — dai piccoli hotel alle agenzie — sono enormi, ma i rischi di sicurezza anche. E poi c'è Molt Bock, il social network dove solo le AI interagiscono tra loro: 1,6 milioni di agenti registrati e 7,5 milioni di post.Silvia Moggia ci manda un contributo dalla Cambogia: dopo un mese e mezzo tra Thailandia, Laos, Cambogia e Vietnam, racconta un Sud-Est Asiatico in piena fase di sviluppo turistico. Grandi investimenti asiatici, brand internazionali con approcci nuovi, e una composizione di viaggiatori occidentali molto cambiata. Il messaggio per l'Europa e l'Italia: non possiamo competere su prezzo e scala, solo su identità, qualità e cura del territorio.Eleonora Lorenzini, direttrice dell'Osservatorio Travel Innovation del Politecnico di Milano, ci racconta i risultati del Travel Innovation Day. Il mercato travel italiano cresce tra il 2% e il 7% a seconda del comparto. L'88% delle medio-grandi aziende investe in AI, con priorità su efficienza operativa e customer experience. L'85% dei viaggiatori che usa l'AI si dichiara soddisfatto. Ma attenzione: servono visione strategica e obiettivi chiari prima di adottare qualsiasi tecnologia.

Xin chào, Sabaidee, and hello everyone! Welcome back to another episode of the Thip Khao Podcast. I'm Jewelry Pouna Keodara, an Advocacy Ambassador from IL, and Peachey Peace Fellow with Legacies of War.Today, I'm truly honored to welcome Terry Vo, Metro Council Member for District 17 in Nashville, Tennessee.Terry is not only an incredible leader but also someone whose story carries so much heart. As the proud daughter of Vietnamese refugees, her journey speaks to resilience, compassion, and the power of community.Terry Vo is the District 17 Metro Council member and Partnerships Director for API Middle TN. The first Vietnamese American elected to Metro Council, Terry champions inclusive, integrity-driven solutions for Nashville. A dedicated advocate for social change, she is the founding Immigrant Caucus Chair and serves on the Friends of Fort Negley Board of Directors and GUIDER Advisory Board for the Nashville Predators. Raised by Vietnamese immigrants in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Terry holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Arkansas and a master's in governance and public policy from the University of Queensland. In her global career, she has worked across nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors, building bilateral relations between U.S. and Japan and connecting Tennesseans to affordable internet. She is a US Japan Foundation Program Fellow and proud alumna of Leadership Middle Tennessee, Leadership Tennessee, and the US Global Leaders Coalition's Next Gen Global Leaders Network Class of 2024. She was recently named the Nashville Emerging Leaders Award Government and Public Affairs recipient! In her free time, she enjoys traveling, gardening, and the Beautiful Bookworms Book Club.Thank you all, dear friends,  for tuning into Thip Khao Talk brought to you by our Innovators Sponsors Akin Gump and Article 22. Please continue to listen and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The theme music used in this podcast are by the Lao Jazzanova Band from Vientiane, Laos. Learn more about Legacies of War: https://www.legaciesofwar.org/

A Biofund, Fundação para a Conservação da Biodiversidade de Moçambique, anunciou na semana passada a realização, no passado dia 29 de Janeiro, de um 'workshop' de validação da métrica para a preservação do Elefante Africano em Moçambique, uma espécie considerada "em perigo". Esta iniciativa liderada pelo programa COMBO+ que resulta de uma parceria entre a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a Biofund e o Ministério moçambicano da Agricultura, Ambiente e Pescas, visa dotar as autoridades moçambicanas de uma ferramenta -a métrica- quantificando os prejuízos causados pela actividade humana no meio ambiente e compensar essa perda. Esta que é quinta métrica a ser desenvolvida no âmbito desse programa, a seguir às métricas implementadas para recifes de coral, florestas, mangais e ervas marinhas está a ser desenvolvida numa altura em que o país envida esforços para conciliar o desenvolvimento económico com a preservação da biodiversidade, neste caso, do elefante africano, uma "espécie prioritária para a conservação" considerada "em perigo" pela União Internacional para a Conservação da Natureza (IUCN). Segundo dados oficiais, o país tem cerca de dez mil elefantes que, para além dos caçadores furtivos, têm que enfrentar outros entraves à sua sobrevivência, como a extensão da actividade agrícola ou o impacto dos megaprojectos no país. Em entrevista concedida à RFI, Vanda Machava, gestora do Programa de Contrabalanços e Biodiversidade no seio da Biofund, explica-nos no que consiste a métrica aplicada à protecção da natureza, começando por evocar o contexto em que surge esta ferramenta. RFI: No que consiste a métrica e em que contexto ela surge? Vanda Machava: Moçambique é um país bastante rico no que concerne aos recursos naturais, à biodiversidade. Temos áreas de conservação, temos reservas. Cerca de 26% do território nacional faz parte da rede Nacional das Áreas de Conservação. Em Moçambique, é dentro deste património natural, que o elefante africano é uma das espécies prioritárias para conservação, tanto a nível nacional, até mesmo a nível internacional. Mas temos verificado nas últimas décadas que esta espécie emblemática tem sofrido uma grande pressão no que diz respeito a ameaças e temos verificado mais e mais que uma das ameaças mais frequentes tem sido a caça furtiva ou então a perda da vegetação devido à prática da agricultura por parte das comunidades locais e até mesmo alguns megaprojectos que mais e mais estão a ser evidentes aqui em Moçambique, como por exemplo a mineração, a construção de grandes infra-estruturas, assentamentos humanos. São projectos que nós chamamos de projectos de desenvolvimento, contribuem para o desenvolvimento económico do país, mas vão acabar por comprometer a biodiversidade. RFI: Só para nós sabermos qual é o habitat natural do elefante em Moçambique? Em que zonas é que ele fica? Vanda Machava: As zonas onde o elefante africano ocorre são zonas protegidas, então fazem parte da rede nacional das Áreas de Conservação. Contudo, o elefante africano não fica fixo, não fica parado, movimenta-se, migra através dos corredores de migração. Então, por isso mesmo é que acaba criando um bocadinho de conflito com as comunidades locais, porque às vezes as comunidades podem decidir fazer agricultura nos corredores de migração, nos locais que os elefantes acabam percorrendo. Então aqui já existe este conflito. Por exemplo, nas áreas de conservação, bem perto, ao redor das áreas de conservação, as comunidades fazem agricultura e às vezes os elefantes passam por estes locais. E aí há choques. Então tem que sempre tentar-se identificar medidas para evitar que haja esses choques. Então, uma das formas que nós identificamos ao nível nacional foi o desenvolvimento de métricas. No que consistem estas métricas? Métrica é uma forma que foi identificada para poder se minimizar ou reduzir o impacto ou a pressão sobre a biodiversidade. Neste caso, podem ser plantas. As métricas podem ser aplicadas também à ecossistemas como mangais, recifes de corais, ervas marinhas e até mesmo também na fauna -neste caso- o elefante africano. O que acontece? Temos verificado mais e mais que vários projectos estão a ser implementados em Moçambique. E estes megaprojectos de mineração, por exemplo, ou então exploração de petróleo e gás e por aí fora, podem vir a afectar áreas ou ecossistemas onde ocorre o elefante africano. De forma a tentar minimizar este impacto sobre esta espécie, foram desenvolvidas métricas que vão ajudar a fazer o cálculo ou a compensação. 'O projeto X afectou negativamente na população de elefante', como é que nós podemos compensar esta perda? Então, a métrica vai permitir quantificar quantos animais, por exemplo, foram perdidos na área onde está a ser desenvolvido o projecto. E depois, vai poder quantificar quantos animais devem ser povoados numa outra área. Neste caso, chamamos de área de contrabalanço ou projecto de contrabalanço de diversidade, para estes animais poderem-se multiplicar. Então, esta métrica faz parte de um pacote a nível nacional que nós chamamos de contrabalanço de biodiversidade, que são medidas de compensação que foram identificadas para compensar as perdas ou os danos que os projectos de desenvolvimento causam na biodiversidade. Ao fim do dia, o que todos nós queremos é que haja desenvolvimento do nosso país, desenvolvimento económico, mas também tem que estar em harmonia ou em sincronia com a conservação da biodiversidade. Então, de forma resumida, a métrica vai ajudar a quantificar o que se perdeu. E depois do que se perdeu, quanto pode ser ganho na área, neste caso, de contrabalanço de biodiversidade. RFI: Desde quando é que este sistema está a ser implementado? Vanda Machava: Vamos talvez fazer um bocadinho de contextualização do programa. COMBO+ é um programa maior que começou a ser desenvolvido em 2016/2017 ao nível de diferentes países. Então, desde 2016/2017 e até agora está a ser implementado. COMBO+ significa conservação, mitigação de impactos e contrabalanço de diversidade. O objectivo deste programa internacional é exactamente garantir que haja esta harmonia, o balanço entre o desenvolvimento económico e a conservação da biodiversidade. Está a ser implementado em diferentes países, ao nível de África, em Moçambique, Madagáscar, Uganda e Guiné. Ao nível da Ásia está a ser implementado no Laos e no Myanmar. Envolve muitos treinamentos, envolve muitas trocas de experiências entre os países. Levamos Moçambique para Madagáscar, para podermos aprender e trocar experiências, trocar impressões. Isto envolve um conceito maior que nós chamamos de hierarquia de mitigação. São um conjunto de passos que devem ser implementados pelos megaprojectos de forma a reduzir ao máximo o impacto no meio ambiente. Então, voltando a falar de Moçambique em particular, as métricas começaram a ser desenvolvidas já desde 2020/2021, em Moçambique. Nós já desenvolvemos métricas para quantificar perdas e ganhos nos recifes de corais, no mangal, na floresta, nas ervas marinhas e agora estamos a desenvolver a quinta métrica que é a do elefante africano. Então, essas métricas vão ser implementadas pelos proponentes de projectos que vão causar impactos negativos ou sobre recifes de corais, ou então sobre ervas marinhas, ou então sobre o mangal, ou então sobre a população de elefante africano. RFI: Concretamente, depois de desenvolverem essa métrica, como é que isto vai ser implementado? Há de facto espaço em Moçambique para depois utilizar essas métricas? Vanda Machava: O que está por detrás do desenvolvimento deste conjunto de métricas ou ferramentas, está directamente relacionado com o impacto negativo sobre a biodiversidade, o impacto negativo que vai ser provocado pelos grandes projectos ou pelas grandes empresas que vão criar impactos residuais significativos no ambiente. Então, esta é uma medida que foi identificada para compensar essas perdas. Isto vai permitir que as empresas ou os grandes projectos vão continuar a ser implementados em Moçambique. Contudo, tem que se ter em conta que eles devem fazer alguma coisa pela natureza, alguma coisa pela conservação da biodiversidade. Aí é que entra a métrica para responder a isto. E isto não está a ser feito do nada, consta na legislação moçambicana. É um requisito legal. Tanto que foi publicado em 2022 um diploma ministerial de contrabalanço de biodiversidade, que obriga a empresas ou actividades que são classificadas pelo Ministério da Agricultura e Pescas como sendo da categoria A ou A+, que causam impactos negativos residuais, a implementar projectos de contrabalanços. RFI: Concretamente, empresas como a Total em Cabo Delgado ou empresas de exploração florestal, por exemplo, poderão também utilizar esse sistema de métrica? Vanda Machava: Sim, exactamente. Estas grandes empresas que chamamos de megaprojectos como a Total (hidrocarbonetos) ou a Kenmare (mineração), várias empresas chinesas, os sectores que nós estamos a prever é a mineração, construção de grandes infra-estruturas. Podemos talvez adicionar um ponto: Moçambique encontra-se a desenvolver o primeiro plano de gestão de contrabalanço de Biodiversidade e vai ser implementado pela empresa mineradora Kenmare que opera a nível de Nampula. Eles estão a contar com o apoio da Biofund e também da WCS (Wildlife Conservation society) nestes primeiros passos, porque é um plano de gestão de contrabalanço de diversidade que é pioneiro. RFI: Será que é suficiente simplesmente repor o que se perdeu? Estou a pensar, por exemplo, num caso concreto, em que se destroem florestas, depois as empresas fazem aquilo que se chama o "greenwashing". Vão plantar novamente árvores, não forçosamente aquelas que se perderam, e isto pode demorar anos até realmente ficar como estava dantes. Vanda Machava: Sim, leva muito tempo até a natureza, os ecossistemas voltarem a ter vida. E assim, de acordo com o nosso quadro legal é imperioso, é obrigatório que esta fase da compensação seja a última medida, o último passo. De acordo com o nosso quadro legal, os proponentes devem primeiro tentar evitar ao máximo a degradação na biodiversidade. Esse é o primeiro passo. Caso eles não consigam evitar, devem fazer de tudo para minimizar ou reduzir o impacto. Isso pode ser feito, por exemplo, através da alteração das metodologias, das suas actividades, dos seus projectos de Desenvolvimento é o terceiro passo é tentar fazer a restauração. Essa restauração dos 'habitats' acontece dentro da área do projecto, por exemplo, áreas em que eles já não se encontram a usar, podem começar a fazer a reabilitação para a natureza começar a responder. Mas caso se identifique, mesmo após a aplicação de cada um desses passos, a natureza não está a reagir, continuamos a ter impactos negativos, aí eles têm que fazer o contrabalanço e a última fase. E é uma fase que exige dinheiro. Será um projecto extremamente dispendioso. Porquê? Porque este projecto de contrabalanço, primeiro tem que ser realizado fora da área de impacto, fora da área do projecto, neste caso, dentro de uma área de conservação ou então dentro de uma área-chave para a biodiversidade, de forma a garantir que haja preservação. Estes projectos são projectos de longa duração. Não são projectos de dois nem três anos. Podem levar 20, 30, 50 anos, 60 anos. O ciclo de vida ou o tempo de vida destes projectos de contrabalanço vai depender do tempo em que os impactos negativos continuarem a surtir efeitos na área do projecto que foi impactada. RFI: Há interesse das empresas que estão a explorar diversas áreas em Moçambique, na exploração florestal, na exploração de minérios, na exploração de gás em Cabo Delgado, há esse interesse, de facto, de ter uma responsabilidade social e de efectivamente compensar as comunidades se tem um impacto negativo na biodiversidade? Vanda Machava: Neste caso, independentemente de existir interesse ou não existir, não tem nenhuma importância. O mais importante é o que consta na legislação. É obrigatório. Todas as empresas que forem a causar impactos residuais negativos no meio ambiente, é obrigatório eles compensarem. É de lei. E depois, como é de lei, está no diploma ministerial. Cada vez que uma determinada empresa for a causar impactos, cada vez que tiver que fazer a renovação da licença ambiental que decorre de cinco em cinco anos, se por acaso verificar-se que eles estão a causar danos ou perdas na biodiversidade, eles vão receber uma notificação do ministério para eles poderem fazer um plano de gestão do contrabalanço ou projectos de contrabalanço de biodiversidade. E eles devem provar que estão realmente a conseguir ter resultados, porque os resultados vão ter que ser medidos. E como se mede este resultado? Através da métrica. Por isso mesmo é que se fez um trabalho muito, mas muito robusto entre a Wildlife Conservation Society, a Biofund e o Governo de Moçambique, para podermos ter a legislação ou quadro legal publicado divulgado, os diferentes 'takeholders' que vão estar envolvidos na implementação dos projectos de contrabalanço estão devidamente treinados. Só para ter uma ideia, treinamos acima de mil e tal pessoas. Foram capacitadas acima de 250 instituições a nível nacional. Levamos técnicos do governo para outros países para eles poderem aprender com os outros como é que eles estão a implementar este conceito de hierarquia e de mitigação. Então houve muito trabalho. Nesta altura, nós estamos ansiosos para que os projectos de contrabalanço sejam desenvolvidos. Então, independentemente da empresa querer ou não, se estiverem a causar impactos, vão ter que compensar.

Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime.Guest: Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime.Guest: Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime.Guest: Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scamming attempts might seem to just come out of nowhere to suddenly appear in your WhatsApp, but a special economic zone in Laos has emerged as a hotbed of cryptocurrency schemes—where victims of human trafficking are trapped and forced to attempt more crime.Guest: Andy Greenberg, senior writer for WIRED.Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Brian and Leah dive into the key tech industry figures who show up in the final batch of the Epstein Files. Then, they discuss SpaceX and xAI's blockbuster merger, and what it says about the future of Elon Musk's companies. Plus, we share the story of how a whistleblower revealed — and fled — the inner operations of crypto scam compound in Laos.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

January disappeared in a flash - and what a crazy month it was worldwide. Here in South East Asia, an intriguing slate of talking points emerged to set up the 2026 travel year - and Lunar New Year is just around the corner. As we do every month, Gary and Hannah recap January's top 8 takeaways from across ASEAN and beyond with stopovers in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand… and Russia. En route, we debate ASEAN's claim to have (marginally) surpassed 2019's aggregate visitor arrivals in 2025, and look at two new and rebranded airlines in Vietnam. We try to make sense of the dramatic currency volatility that beset Asia last month, look at why Russia is 2026's hot inbound source market, and address whether government intervention in the Philippines will bring down domestic air fares. We finish on the A-List red carpet as Thailand launches a tourism campaign at Wat Arun helmed by global pop culture superstar, Lisa from Blackpink.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith have jointly announced the launch of the Year of China-Laos Friendship.

Medical missionaries often feel powerful emotional burden from moral injury, and it is a leading cause of departure from the mission field. But we have learned proven methods of preventing and dealing with moral injury. Use God’s powerful methods to protect yourself and your team, and to grow in wisdom and spirit!

Comment les éléphants se soignent avec des plantes ? L'automédication est très répandue chez les éléphants. Quand ils sont malades, ils savent quelle plante ingérer pour se soigner ou guérir leurs blessures. Comment explorer ce savoir médicinal des éléphants ? Et comment les remèdes d'éléphants inspirent les humains ? Explorons les savoirs médicinaux des éléphants… Car un éléphant, ça se soigne énormément et tout seul, mais comment ? Comment les pachydermes, rois de l'automédication, se guérissent-ils de leurs blessures et de leurs maladies avec des plantes et quelles plantes ? Comment leur pharmacopée inspire les humains ? Notre invité, l'ethno biologiste et ethnobotaniste Jean-Marc Dubost a mené l'enquête au Laos auprès des éléphants de village et surtout des cornacs qui les soignent, qui vivent avec eux et qui partagent leurs remèdes. Une enquête de terrain unique en son genre qui montre un partage, un échange de savoirs entre cultures animales et humaines. Comment l'observation de l'automédication chez les éléphants, mais aussi chez les chimpanzés et même chez les fourmis contribuent au développement de nos pharmacopées humaines ? Avec Jean-Marc Dubost, docteur en Ethnobiologie, il a fait des recherches et missions sur les usages traditionnels de plantes au Laos et en Thaïlande. Il étudie sur le terrain les savoirs médicinaux des éléphants. Musiques diffusées dans l'émission Talab Khan Barna - Sat Bhayan Ki Ek Behanadli I Charlotte Dipanda, Davido - Survivor.

Comment les éléphants se soignent avec des plantes ? L'automédication est très répandue chez les éléphants. Quand ils sont malades, ils savent quelle plante ingérer pour se soigner ou guérir leurs blessures. Comment explorer ce savoir médicinal des éléphants ? Et comment les remèdes d'éléphants inspirent les humains ? Explorons les savoirs médicinaux des éléphants… Car un éléphant, ça se soigne énormément et tout seul, mais comment ? Comment les pachydermes, rois de l'automédication, se guérissent-ils de leurs blessures et de leurs maladies avec des plantes et quelles plantes ? Comment leur pharmacopée inspire les humains ? Notre invité, l'ethno biologiste et ethnobotaniste Jean-Marc Dubost a mené l'enquête au Laos auprès des éléphants de village et surtout des cornacs qui les soignent, qui vivent avec eux et qui partagent leurs remèdes. Une enquête de terrain unique en son genre qui montre un partage, un échange de savoirs entre cultures animales et humaines. Comment l'observation de l'automédication chez les éléphants, mais aussi chez les chimpanzés et même chez les fourmis contribuent au développement de nos pharmacopées humaines ? Avec Jean-Marc Dubost, docteur en Ethnobiologie, il a fait des recherches et missions sur les usages traditionnels de plantes au Laos et en Thaïlande. Il étudie sur le terrain les savoirs médicinaux des éléphants. Musiques diffusées dans l'émission Talab Khan Barna - Sat Bhayan Ki Ek Behanadli I Charlotte Dipanda, Davido - Survivor.

Nick Brokhausen is a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces veteran who served in the secretive Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) from 1970 to 1971, conducting high-risk reconnaissance missions deep behind enemy lines in Vietnam and Laos. On his second tour in Vietnam, he joined Recon Team Habu in Command and Control North (CCN), participating in some of the most dangerous operations of the war. With a 15-year career in the Regiment, Brokhausen undertook classified missions across the globe. He is the author of "We Few: U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam" (2018) and "Whispers in the Tall Grass: Back Behind Enemy Lines with MACV-SOG" (2019), offering firsthand accounts of SOG's covert operations and the camaraderie among elite warriors. He advocates for preserving the history of special operations and honoring the sacrifices of Vietnam veterans. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Get 30% off your first subscription order at ARMRA by going to https://ARMRA.com/srs or entering code SRS at checkout. Go to https://shopbeam.com/SRS and use code SRS to get up to 50% off Beam Dream Nighttime Cocoa—grab it for just $32.50 and improve your sleep today. Join thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family—apply today in just minutes at https://meetfabric.com/SHAWN Try ZipRecruiter for free at https://ziprecruiter.com/SRS. Nick Brokhausen Links: Amazon Author Page - https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07CKVZHTP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Episode 218!  This episode is dripping with some serious girl powered inspiration.  We have a young woman who is changing how mental health cared for and viewed in Laos.  Then there is Lina AbiRafeh who has a different and powerful approach to feminism.  And to finish up, Teresa talks about two women who recently died, but left a powerful legacy behind.  So much inspiration to be found in this episode, come have a listen! #GirlPower #BeKind #WeStandWithUkraine We would love to hear from you. Send us your comments or even your own inspirational stories at tangentialinspiration@gmail.com. Follow us on our social media: Website: tangential-inspiration.com Instagram: tangentialinspirationpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tangentialinspiration Twitter: https://twitter.com/TangentialInsp1   Produced and Edited by Craig Wymetalek

✅Visit LHC's website at https://www.lhcnj.net/

Somsack is from Laos where he became a Buddhist monk as a young man and spent time living in a temple. Today, Somsack is a foodie tour guide for A Chef’s Tour, taking hungry and curious travelers around his city of Luang Prabang. He tells Brent why the French are to thank for coffee culture in Laos, how seaweed helps young people in a tough job market, and cooking a delicious stew for all his friends! [Ep 374] Show Notes: Destination Eat Drink foodie travel guide ebooks Destination Eat Drink blog A Chef’s Tour food tours of Luang Prabang

Transports, logements, sécurité, logements.... Fanny partage des infos pratiques après 29 jours au Laos en famille. Un extrait utile pour comprendre comment s'organise ce type de voyage, au-delà du récit.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Plusieurs transports, des correspondances, et l'arrivée sur Don Khon, dans les 4000 îles. Fanny revient sur ce long trajet, les quatre nuits passées sur l'île, et ce que ces derniers jours au Laos lui font réaliser. Un extrait qui mène doucement vers la conclusion du voyage.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Welcome to another episode of Thip Khao Podcast. I'm Murphy Nosanchuk, a founding member of our Advocacy Ambassador program for Legacies of War and I have the honor today of welcoming to the podcast our friend Shari Bryan.Shari directs all aspects of operations for MAG US, working out of the United States headquarters in Washington DC. As Executive Vice President at the National Democratic Institute, she led a global non-profit organization with 1,300 employees in 65 countries, working directly with foreign political leaders and civic partners on issues related to democracy, governance, electoral integrity and conflict recovery. Shari has decades of experience managing relationships with donor aid agencies, including the US State Department, USAID, European governments and multilateral organizations.To learn more about Mines Advisory Group US: https://www.mag-us.org/Thank you all, dear friends,  for tuning into Thip Khao Talk brought to you by our Innovators Sponsors Akin Gump and Article 22. Please continue to listen and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The theme music used in this podcast are by the Lao Jazzanova Band from Vientiane, Laos.Learn more about Legacies of War: https://www.legaciesofwar.org/

À Ban Luang, Fanny rencontre Mr Say, qui donne chaque jour des cours d'anglais aux enfants du village. Elle raconte aussi les cascades près de Luang Prabang, le passage des moines au petit matin, puis le départ vers Vang Vieng et ce trajet en train marqué par l'histoire du couteau de son fils.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Un trajet annoncé simple, une chaleur écrasante, une erreur de direction… et une vraie expédition à pied avec des enfants. Fanny revient sur ce moment fort : la marche vers un village isolé, la vie sur place sans eau ni électricité, puis le retour en tractuk le long de la rivière. Un extrait qui résume l'aventure au sens le plus concret.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Un trajet annoncé simple, une chaleur écrasante, une erreur de direction… et une vraie expédition à pied avec des enfants. Fanny revient sur ce moment fort : la marche vers un village isolé, la vie sur place sans eau ni électricité, puis le retour en tractuk le long de la rivière. Un extrait qui résume l'aventure au sens le plus concret.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Deux jours sur le Mékong, des heures de bateau lent, des paysages qui défilent et des rencontres qui s'installent. Dans cet extrait, Fanny raconte comment le slow boat marque l'entrée au Laos, avant l'arrivée à Muang Ngoi et les premiers repères trouvés au fil de l'eau, avec ses deux enfants.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier :Le Laos en famille, 29 jours entre Mékong, rencontres et imprévus-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

Aujourd'hui, je vous emmène au Laos avec Fanny et ses deux enfants, Emma et Arthur, qui avaient 9 et 7 ans au moment du départ. Ensemble, ils se sont lancés dans un tour du monde sans planning précis, avec cette idée un peu folle : décider au fur et à mesure.Au Laos, leur aventure commence tranquillement en slow boat. 2 jours sur le Mékong pour rejoindre Luang Prabang, avant d'enchaîner les étapes : Nong Khiaw, Muang Ngoi, un village perdu accessible uniquement à pied, une ferme où ils donnent un coup de main, les cascades de Kuang Si, Vang Vieng et, pour finir, les 4000 îles dans le sud du pays..Ce voyage est une succession de moments forts qui restent en tête : des enfants qui jouent avec des petits Laotiens, des nuits sans eau ni électricité, et cette fameuse marche qui devaient durer 1 h 30… transformée en vraie expédition sous une chaleur écrasante.Si vous aimez les voyages en famille où tout n'est pas maîtrisé et où les galères deviennent de chouettes souvenirs, vous allez adorer cet épisode.-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify

After five years of brutal civil war, Myanmar's ruling military is holding an election that many say is a sham.But it has a major backer: China. So why is Beijing suddenly interested in democracy in this conflict-stricken country?Venetia Rainey and Arthur Scott-Geddes speak to the Telegraph's Global Health Security correspondent Sarah Newey about her recent trip to Yangon and Joe Freeman, researcher for Amnesty International. Read Sarah's dispatch: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/why-china-is-forcing-myanmars-junta-to-stage-an-election/Watch Sarah talking about scam centres in Laos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nRBG037FT0Producer: Sophie O'SullivanExecutive Producer: Louisa WellsStudio Operator: Meghan Searle► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorContact us with feedback or ideas:battlelines@telegraph.co.uk@venetiarainey@ascottgeddes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Un fallo técnico en el Air Force One con Trump a bordo obligó a que el avión regresara a tierra. Ladrón se hace pasar por agente de ICE e irrumpe en una casa de Pennsylvania. El DHS aclara por qué detuvo a un ciudadano estadounidense originario de Laos.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Whether you’re a seasoned team member or preparing for your first trip, short-term mission trips have the potential to make a meaningful global impact. In this conversation, we’ll highlight five key principles that help ensure our efforts contribute to lasting, sustainable change in the communities we serve.

Purpose, trust and laughter matter.  SUMMARY Dr. Heather Wilson '82, former secretary of the U.S. Air Force, and Gen. Dave Goldfein '83, former chief of staff of the Air Force, highlight the human side of leadership — honoring family, listening actively and using humility and humor to build strong teams. Their book, Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership, challenges leaders to serve first and lead with character.   SHARE THIS PODCAST LINKEDIN  |  FACEBOOK    TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE Leadership Is a Gift and a Burden – Leaders are entrusted with the well-being and development of others, but that privilege entails tough, sometimes lonely, responsibilities. Servant Leadership – True leadership is about enabling and supporting those you lead, not seeking personal advancement or recognition. Influence and Teamwork – Lasting change comes from pairing authority with influence and working collaboratively; no leader succeeds alone. Embrace Failure and Own Mistakes – Effective leaders accept institutional and personal failures and use them as learning and teaching moments. Family Matters – Great leaders recognize the significance of family (their own and their team's) and demonstrate respect and flexibility for personal commitments. Be Data-Driven and Strategic – Borrow frameworks that suit the mission, be clear about goals, and regularly follow up to ensure progress. Listening Is Active – Truly listening, then responding openly and honestly—even when you can't “fix” everything—builds trust and respect. Humility and Curiosity – Never stop learning or questioning; continual self-improvement is a hallmark of strong leaders. Celebrate and Share Credit – Spread praise to those working behind the scenes; leadership is not about personal glory, but lifting others. Resilience and Leading by Example – “Getting back up” after setbacks inspires teams; how a leader recovers can motivate others to do the same.   CHAPTERS 0:00:00 - Introduction and Welcome 0:00:21 - Guest Backgrounds and Family Legacies 0:02:57 - Inspiration for Writing the Book 0:05:00 - Defining Servant Leadership 0:07:46 - Role Models and Personal Examples   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LINE PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org   Ryan Hall | Director:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org      ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     FULL TRANSCRIPT SPEAKERS Host: Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 Guests: Dr. Heather Wilson '82, former Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, and former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. (Ret.) Dave Goldfein '83  Naviere Walkewicz 0:09 Welcome to Focus on Leadership, our accelerated leadership series. I'm your host, Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99. I'm honored to welcome two exceptional leaders whose careers and friendship have helped shape the modern Air Force, while inspiring thousands to serve with purpose and courage. Our guests today are Dr. Heather Wilson, USAFA Class of '82, the 24th secretary of the Air Force, now president at the University of Texas El Paso. And Gen. Dave Goldfein, Class of '83, the 21st chief of staff of the Air Force. Both are United States Air Force Academy distinguished graduates. Together, they've written Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership, a powerful reflection on resilience, humility and the courage to lead to adversity. And our conversation today will dive deeply into the lessons they learned at the highest levels of command and in public service, and what it means to serve others first. Thank you for being here. Gen. Dave Goldfein 1:08 Thank you for having us. Naviere Walkewicz 1:09 Absolutely. This is truly an honor. And I mentioned that I read this incredible book, and I'm so excited for us to jump into it, but before we do, I think it's really important for people to know you more than the secretary and the chief. I mean chief, so Gen. Goldfein, you came from an Air Force family. Your dad was a colonel, and ma'am, your grandpa was a civil aviator, but you really didn't have any other military ties. Dr. Heather Wilson 1:29 Well, my grandfather was one of the first pilots in the RAF in World War I, then came to America, and in World War II, flew for his new country in the Civil Air Patrol. My dad enlisted by that a high school and was a crew chief between the end of the Second World War and the start of Korea, and then he went back home and became a commercial aviator and a mechanic. Naviere Walkewicz 1:52 I love that. So your lines run deep. So maybe you can share more and let our listeners get to know you more personally. What would you like to share in this introduction of Gen. Goldfein and Dr. Wilson? Gen. Dave Goldfein 2:02 Well, I'll just tell you that if you know much about Air Force culture you know we all get call signs, right. Nicknames, right? I got a new one the day I retired, and you get to use it. It's JD, which stands for “Just Dave.” Naviere Walkewicz 2:17 Just Dave! Yes, sir. JD. I will do my best for that to roll off my tongue. Yes, sir. Gen. Dave Goldfein 2:25 And I will just say congratulations to you for your two sons who are currently at the Academy. How cool is that? Naviere Walkewicz 2:31 Thank you. We come from a Long Blue Line family. My dad was a grad, my uncle, my brother and sister, my two boys. So if I get my third son, he'll be class of 2037, so, we'll see. We've got some time. Gen. Dave Goldfein 2:41 We have grandchildren. Matter of fact, our book is dedicated to grandchildren and they don't know it yet, but at least on my side, they're Class of 2040 and 2043 at the Air Force Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 2:52 OK, so my youngest will be cadre for them. Excellent. Excellent. Dr. Heather Wilson 2:57 And my oldest granddaughter is 4, so I think we'll wait a little bit and see what she wants to do. Naviere Walkewicz 3:04 Yes, ma'am. All right. Well, let's jump in. You just mentioned that you wrote the book primarily for your film book. Is that correct? Gen. Dave Goldfein 3:09 Yes. Naviere Walkewicz 3:10 How did you decide to do this now together? Because you both have incredible stories. Dr. Heather Wilson 3:14 Well, two years ago, we were actually up in Montana with Barbara and Craig Barrett, who —  Barbara succeeded me as secretary of the Air Force. And our families, all six of us are quite close, and we were up there, and Dave was telling stories, and I said, “You know, you need to write some of these down.” And we talked about it a little bit, and he had tried to work with another co-author at one time and it just didn't work out really well. And I said, “Well, what if we do it together, and we focus it on young airmen, on lessons learned in leadership. And the other truth is, we were so tired of reading leadership books by Navy SEALs, you know, and so can we do something together? It turned out to be actually more work than I thought it would be for either of us, but it was also more fun.   Naviere Walkewicz 3:59 How long did it take you from start to finish? Dr. Heather Wilson 4:02 Two years. Naviere Walkewicz 4:03 Two years? Excellent. And are you — where it's landed? Are you just so proud? Is it what you envisioned when you started? Gen. Dave Goldfein 4:10 You know, I am, but I will also say that it's just come out, so the initial response has been fantastic, but I'm really eager to see what the longer term response looks like, right? Did it resonate with our intended tenant audience? Right? Did the young captains that we had a chance to spend time with at SOS at Maxwell last week, right? They lined up forever to get a copy. But the real question is, did the stories resonate? Right? Do they actually give them some tools that they can use in their tool bag? Same thing with the cadets that we were privileged to spend time with the day. You know, they energized us. I mean, because we're looking at the we're looking at the future of the leadership of this country. And if, if these lessons in servant leadership can fill their tool bag a little bit, then we'll have hit the mark. Naviere Walkewicz 5:07 Yes, sir, yes. Ma'am. Well, let's jump right in then. And you talked about servant leadership. How would you describe it? Each of you, in your own words, Dr. Heather Wilson 5:15 To me, one of the things, important things about servant leadership is it's from the bottom. As a leader, your job is to enable the people who are doing the work. So in some ways, you know, people think that the pyramid goes like this, that it's the pyramid with the point at the top, and in servant leadership, it really is the other way around. And as a leader, one of the most important questions I ask my direct reports — I have for years — is: What do you need from me that you're not getting? And I can't print money in the basement, but what do you need from me that you're not getting? How, as a leader, can I better enable you to accomplish your piece of the mission. And I think a good servant leader is constantly thinking about, how do I — what can I do to make it easier for the people who are doing the job to get the mission done? Gen. Dave Goldfein 6:08 And I'd offer that the journey to becoming an inspirational servant leader is the journey of a lifetime. I'm not sure that any of us actually ever arrive. I'm not the leader that I want to be, but I'm working on it. And I think if we ever get to a point where we feel like we got it all figured out right, that we know exactly what this whole leadership gig is, that may be a good time to think about retiring, because what that translates to is perhaps at that point, we're not listening, we're not learning, we're not growing, we're not curious — all the things that are so important. The first chapter in the book is titled, Am I worthy? And it's a mirror-check question that we both came to both individually and together as secretary and chief. It's a mere check that you look at and say, “All right, on this lifelong journey to become an inspirational servant leader, am I worthy of the trust and confidence of the parents who have shared their sons and daughters with the United States Air Force and expecting us to lead with character and courage and confidence? Am I worthy of the gift that followers give to leaders? Am I earning that gift and re-earning it every single day by how I act, how I treat others?” You know, that's the essence of servant leadership that we try to bring forward in the book. Naviere Walkewicz 7:38 Right? Can you recall when you first saw someone exhibiting servant leadership in your life? Dr. Heather Wilson 7:46 Good question. It's a question of role models. Maj. William S. Reeder was my first air officer commanding here. And while I think I can probably think of some leaders in my community, you know, people who were school principals or those kind of things, I think Maj. Reeder terrified me because they didn't want to disappoint him. And he had — he was an Army officer who had been shot down as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He still had some lingering issues. Now, I think he had broken his leg or his back or something, and so you could tell that he still carried with him the impact of that, but he had very high expectations of us and we didn't want to disappoint him. And I think he was a pretty good role model. Gen. Dave Goldfein 8:47 You know, one of the things we say at the very end of the book is that we both married up. We both married incredible leaders, servant leaders in their own right. So in my case, I married my high school sweetheart, and we've now been together almost 43 years, coming up on 43. And when you talk about servant leadership, you know, very often we don't give military spouses enough credit for the enormous courage that they have when they deal with the separations, the long hours, very often not talked about enough, the loneliness that comes with being married to someone who's in the military. And so I just give a shout out to every military spouse that's out there and family to thank them for that very special kind of courage that equates to servant leadership on their part. Naviere Walkewicz 9:47 Excellent. Those are both really great examples, and I think, as our listeners are engaging with this, they're going to start to think about those people in their lives as well, through your descriptions. Early in the book, you make this statement: “Leadership is a gift and a burden.” Might you both expand on that?   Dr. Heather Wilson 10:03 So it's a gift in that it's a gift that's given to you by those whom you are privileged to lead, and it's not just an institution that, you know, it's not just the regents of the University of Texas who have said, “Yes, you're going to be the president of the University of Texas at El Paso.” It is those who follow me who have given me gift of their loyalty and their service and their time. It's a burden, because some days are hard days, and you have to make hard calls based on values to advance the mission and, as chief and service secretary, there are no easy decisions that come walking into that part of the Pentagon. The easy decisions are all made before it gets to the service secretary and chief and so. So there is that responsibility of trying to do well difficult things. And I think sometimes those are lonely decisions. Gen. Dave Goldfein 11:09 And I think as a leader of any organization, part of what can be the burden is if you care deeply about the institution, then you carry the burden of any failures of that institution, both individuals who fall short, or the institution itself. And we face some of those, and we talk about that in the book. One of our chapters is on Sutherland Springs and owning failure. There was no dodge in that. And there was, quite frankly, there was an opportunity for us to actually showcase and teach others how to take ownership when the institution falls short and fails, right? And you know, one of the interesting elements of the relationship between a secretary and a chief is that if you go back and look at the law and read the job description of the chief of staff of the Air Force, it basically says, “Run the air staff and do what the secretary tells you.” I'm not making that up. Because most of the decision authority of the institution resides in the civilian control, the military civilian secretary. So almost all authority and decision authority resides with the secretary. What the chief position brings is 30 years in the institution that very often can bring credibility and influence. And what we determined early in our tenure was that if we were going to move the ball, if we were going to actually move the service in a positive direction, neither of us could do it alone. We had to do it together. We had to use this combination of authority and influence to be able to move the institution forward. And so that was a — and we talked a lot about that, you know, in the book, and it sort of runs throughout our stories. You know, that that trust matters. Naviere Walkewicz 12:59 Absolutely. We're going to visit that towards the end of our conversation, because there's a particular time before you both — before you became the chief and before you became the service secretary, when you met up together. And I want to visit that a little bit. But before we do, Gen. Goldfein — JD — you shared a story in the book, and obviously we want everyone to read it, so I'm not going to go tell the whole story, but you know where you took off one more time than you landed, and you had to, you know, you were hit, you had to evade and then you had to be rescued. There was a particular statement you made to identify yourself. And many of our Long Blue Line members will know this: fast, neat, average, friendly, good, good. In that moment of watching the sun start to rise while you're waiting to be retrieved, how did that come to your mind? Of all the things you could be thinking of to identify yourself? Gen. Dave Goldfein 13:53 Well, you know, it's interesting. So, you know, for those who've never, you know, had gone through a high-speed ejection, people asked me, what was like? I said, “Well, I used to be 6-foot-3. This is all that's left, right?” And you know, my job once I was on the ground was, quite frankly, not to goof it up. To let the rescue team do what the rescue team needed to do, and to play my part, which was to put them at the least amount of risk and be able to get out before the sun came up. And at the very end of the rescue when the helicopters — where I was actually vectoring them towards my location. And I had a compass in my hand, and I had my eyes closed, and I was just listening to the chopper noise and then vectoring them based on noise. And then eventually we got them to come and land, you know, right in front of me. Well, they always teach you, and they taught me here at the Academy during SERE training, which I think has been retitled, but it was SERE when we went through it, survival training. Now, I believe they teach you, “Hey, listen, you need to be nonthreatening, because the rescue team needs to know that you're not — this is not an ambush, that you are actually who you say you are. Don't hold up a weapon, be submissive and authenticate yourself. Well, to authenticate myself required me to actually try my flashlight. And I could see the enemy just over the horizon. And as soon as the helicopter landed, the enemy knew exactly where we were, and they came and running, and they came shooting, and they were raking the tree line with bullets. And so, you know, what I needed to do was to figure out a way to do an authentication. And I just, what came to mind was that training all those years ago, right here at the Academy, and I just said, “I could use a fast, neat, average rescue,” and friendly, good, good was on the way. Naviere Walkewicz 15:53 Wow, I just got chill bumps. Dr. Wilson, have you ever had to use that same kind of term, or, you know, reaching out to a grad in your time frequently? Dr. Heather Wilson 16:04 Yes, ma'am. And, you know, even in the last week, funny — I had an issue that I had to, I won't go into the details, but where there was an issue that might affect the reputation, not only of the university, but of one of our major industry partners, and it wasn't caused by either of us, but there was kind of a, kind of a middle person that was known to us that may not have been entirely acting with integrity. And I just looked up the company. The CEO is an Academy grad. So I picked up the phone and I called the office and we had a conversation. And I said, “Hey, I'd like to have a conversation with you, grad to grad.” And I said, “There are some issues here that I don't need to go into the details, but where I think you and I need to be a little careful about our reputations and what matters is my relationship as the university with you and your company and what your company needs in terms of talent. But wanted to let you know something that happened and what we're doing about it, but I wanted to make sure that you and I are clear.” And it was foundation of values that we act with integrity and we don't tolerate people who won't. Naviere Walkewicz 17:30 Yes, ma'am, I love that. The Long Blue Line runs deep that way, and that's a great example. JD, you spoke about, in the book, after the rescue — by the way, the picture in there of that entire crew was amazing. I love that picture. But you talked about getting back up in the air as soon as possible, without any pomp and circumstance. “Just get me back in the air and into the action.” I'd like to visit two things. One, you debriefed with the — on the check ride, the debrief on the check ride and why that was important. And then also you spoke about the dilemma of being dad and squad comm. Can you talk about that as well? Gen. Dave Goldfein 18:06 Yeah, the check ride. So when I was in Desert Storm, an incredible squadron commander named Billy Diehl, and one of the things that he told us after he led all the missions in the first 30 days or so, he said, “Look, there will be a lot of medals, you know, from this war.” He goes, “But I'm going to do something for you that happened for me in Vietnam. I'm going to fly on your wing, and I'm going to give you a check ride, and you're going to have a documented check ride of a combat mission that you led in your flying record. I'm doing that for you.” OK, so fast forward 10 years, now I'm the squadron commander, and I basically followed his lead. Said, “Hey, I want…” So that night, when I was shot down, I was actually flying on the wing of one of my captains, “Jammer” Kavlick, giving him a check ride. And so, of course, the rescue turns out — I'm sitting here, so it turned out great. And so I called Jammer into a room, and I said, “Hey, man, we never did the check ride.” I said, “You know, you flew a formation right over the top of a surface enemy missile that took out your wingman. That's not a great start.” And he just sort of… “Yes, sir, I know.” I said, “And then you led an all-night rescue that returned him to his family. That's pretty good recovery.” And so it's been a joke between us ever since. But in his personal — his flying record, he has a form that says, “I'm exceptionally, exceptionally qualified.” So I got back and I thought about this when I was on the ground collecting rocks for my daughters, you know, as souvenirs from Serbia. I got back, and I looked at my wing commander, and I said, “Hey, sir, I know you probably had a chance to think about this, but I'm not your young captain that just got shot down. I'm the squadron commander, and I've got to get my squadron back on the horse, and the only way to do that is for me to get back in the air. So if it's OK with you, I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna get crew rest and I'm going to fly tonight.” And he looked at me, and he looked at my wife, Dawn, who was there, and he goes, “If it's OK with her, it's OK with me.” Great. Dawn, just a champion, she said, “I understand it. That's what you got to do.” Because we were flying combat missions with our families at home, which is, was not in the squadron commander handbook, right? Pretty unique. What I found, though, was that my oldest daughter was struggling a little bit with it, and so now you've got this, you know, OK, I owe it to my squad to get right back up in the air and lead that night. And I owe it to my daughter to make sure that she's OK. And so I chose to take one night, make sure that she and my youngest daughter, Diana, were both, you know, in a good place, that they knew that everything's going to be OK. And then I got back up the next night. And in some ways, I didn't talk about it with anybody in the media for a year, because my dad was a Vietnam vet, I'd met so many of his friends, and I'd met so many folks who had actually gotten shot down one and two and three times over Vietnam, in Laos, right? You know what they did after they got rescued? They got back up. They just went back up in the air, right? No fanfare, no book tours, no, you know, nothing, right? It was just get back to work. So for me, it was a way of very quietly honoring the Vietnam generation, to basically do what they did and get back in the air quietly. And so that was what it was all about. Naviere Walkewicz 21:25 Dr. Wilson, how about for you? Because I know — I remember reading in the book you had a — there was something you said where, if your children called, no matter what they could always get through. So how have you balanced family? Dr. Heather Wilson 21:36 Work and life. And so, when I was elected to the Congress, my son was 4 years old. My daughter was 18 months. First of all, I married well, just like Dave. But I also think my obligations to my family don't end at the front porch, and I want to make a better world for them. But I also knew that I was a better member of Congress because I had a family, and that in some ways, each gave richness and dimension to the other. We figured out how to make it work as a family. I mean, both my children have been to a White House Christmas ball and the State of the Union, but we always had a rule that you can call no matter what. And I remember there were some times that it confounded people and, like, there was one time when President Bush — W. Bush, 43 — was coming to New Mexico for the first time, and he was going to do some events in Albuquerque. And they called and they said, “Well, if the congresswoman wants to fly in with him from Texas, you know, she can get off the airplane in her district with the president. And the answer was, “That's the first day of school, and I always take my kids to school the first day, so I'll just meet him here.” And the staff was stunned by that, like, she turns down a ride on Air Force One to arrive in her district with the president of the United States to take her kids to school. Yes, George Bush understood it completely. And likewise, when the vice president came, and it was, you know, that the one thing leading up to another tough election — I never had an easy election — and the one thing I said to my staff all the way through October, leading — “There's one night I need off, and that's Halloween, because we're going trick or treating.” And wouldn't you know the vice president is flying into New Mexico on Halloween for some event in New Mexico, and we told them, “I will meet them at the stairs when they arrive in Albuquerque. I'll have my family with them, but I won't be going to the event because we're going trick or treating.” And in my house, I have this great picture of the vice president of the United States and his wife and my kids in costume meeting. So most senior people understood that my family was important to me and everybody's family, you know — most people work to put food on the table, and if, as a leader, you recognize that and you give them grace when they need it, you will also have wonderful people who will work for you sometimes when the pay is better somewhere else because you respect that their families matter to them and making room for that love is important. Naviere Walkewicz 24:36 May I ask a follow on to that? Because I think that what you said was really important. You had a leader that understood. What about some of our listeners that maybe have leaders that don't value the same things or family in the way that is important. How do they navigate that? Dr. Heather Wilson 24:52 Sometimes you look towards the next assignment, or you find a place where your values are the same. And if we have leaders out there who are not being cognizant of the importance of family — I mean, we may recruit airmen but we retain families, and if we are not paying attention to that, then we will lose exceptional people. So that means that sometimes, you know, I give a lot of flexibility to people who are very high performers and work with me. And I also know that if I call them at 10 o'clock at night, they're going to answer the phone, and that's OK. I understand what it's like to — I remember, you know, I was in New Mexico, I was a member of Congress, somebody was calling about an issue in the budget, and my daughter, who was probably 4 at the time, had an ear infection, and it was just miserable. And so I'm trying to get soup into her, and this guy is calling me, and she's got — and it was one of the few times I said — and it was the chairman of a committee — I said, “Can I just call you back? I've got a kid with an ear infection…” And he had five kids. He said, “Oh, absolutely, you call me back.” So you just be honest with people about the importance of family. Why are we in the service? We're here to protect our families and everybody else's family. And that's OK.   Naviere Walkewicz 26:23 Yes, thank you for sharing that. Anything to add to that, JD? No? OK. Well, Dr. Wilson, I'd like to go into the book where you talk about your chapter on collecting tools, which is a wonderful chapter, and you talk about Malcolm Baldridge. I had to look him up — I'll be honest — to understand, as a businessman, his career and his legacy. But maybe share in particular why he has helped you. Or maybe you've leveraged his process in the way that you kind of think through and systematically approach things. Dr. Heather Wilson 26:49 Yeah, there was a movement in the, it would have been in the early '90s, on the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Awards. It came out of the Department of Commerce, but then it spread to many of the states and it was one of the better models I thought for how to run organizations strategically. And I learned about it when I was a small businessperson in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I thought it was interesting. But the thing that I liked about it was it scaled. It was a little bit like broccoli, you know, it looks the same at the little flora as it does at the whole head, right? And so it kind of became a model for how I could use those tools about being data driven, strategically focused, process oriented that I could use in reforming a large and not very well functioning child welfare department when I became a cabinet secretary for children, youth and families, which was not on my how-to-run-my-career card. That was not in the plan, but again, it was a set of tools that I'd learned in one place that I brought with me and thought might work in another. Naviere Walkewicz 28:02 Excellent. And do you follow a similar approach, JD, in how you approach a big problem? Gen. Dave Goldfein 28:07 I think we're all lifelong students of different models and different frameworks that work. And there's not a one-size-fits-all for every organization. And the best leaders, I think, are able to tailor their approach based on what the mission — who the people are, what they're trying to accomplish. I had a chance to be a an aide de camp to a three-star, Mike Ryan, early in my career, and he went on to be chief of staff of the Air Force. And one of the frameworks that he taught me was he said, “If you really want to get anything done,” he said, “you've got to do three things.” He said, “First of all, you got to put a single person in charge.” He said, “Committees and groups solve very little. Someone's got to drive to work feeling like they've got the authority, the responsibility, the resources and everything they need to accomplish what it is that you want to accomplish. So get a single person in charge. Most important decision you will make as a leader, put the right person in charge. Second, that person owes you a plan in English. Not 15 PowerPoint slides, right, but something that clearly articulates in one to two pages, max, exactly what we're trying to accomplish. And the third is, you've got to have a way to follow up.” He said, “Because life gets in the way of any perfect plan. And what will happen is,” he goes, “I will tell you how many times,” he said, “that I would circle back with my team, you know, a couple months later and say, ‘How's it going?' And they would all look at each other and say, “Well, I thought you were in charge,” right? And then after that, once they figure out who was in charge, they said, “Well, we were working this plan, but we got, you know, we had to go left versus right, because we had this crisis, this alligator started circling the canoe, and therefore we had to, you know, take care of that,” right? He says, “As a leader, those are the three elements of any success. Put someone in charge. Build a plan that's understandable and readable, and always follow up. And I've used that as a framework, you know, throughout different organizations, even all the way as chief to find — to make sure that we had the right things. Dr. Heather Wilson 30:21 Even this morning, somebody came by who reminded us of a story that probably should have been in the book, where we had — it was a cyber vulnerability that was related to a particular piece of software widely deployed, and the CIO was having trouble getting the MAJCOMMS to kind of take it seriously. And they were saying, “Well, you know, we think maybe in 30, 60, 90 days, six months, we'll have it all done,” or whatever. So I said, “OK, let all the four-stars know. I want to be updated every 36 hours on how many of them, they still have, still have not updated.” I mean, this is a major cyber vulnerability that we knew was — could be exploited and wasn't some little thing. It was amazing; it got done faster. Naviere Walkewicz 31:11 No 90 days later. Oh, my goodness. Well, that was excellent and actually, I saw that in action in the story, in the book, after the attack on the Pentagon, and when you stood up and took charge, kind of the relief efforts, because many people were coming in that wanted to help, and they just needed someone to lead how that could happen. So you were putting into practice. Yes, sir. I'd like to get into where you talk about living your purpose, and that's a chapter in there. But you know, Gen. Goldfein, we have to get into this. You left the Academy as a cadet, and I think that's something that not many people are familiar with. You ride across the country on a bike with a guitar on your back for part of the time — and you sent it to Dawn after a little while — Mini-Bear in your shirt, to find your purpose. Was there a moment during the six months that you that hit you like lightning and you knew that this was your purpose, or was it a gradual meeting of those different Americans you kind of came across? Gen. Dave Goldfein 32:04 Definitely gradual. You know, it was something that just built up over time. I used to joke — we both knew Chairman John McCain and always had great respect for him. And I remember one time in his office, I said, “Chairman, I got to share with you that I lived in constant fear during every hearing that you were going to hold up a piece of paper on camera and say, ‘General, I got your transcript from the Air Force Academy. You got to be kidding me, right?' And he laughed, and he said, Trust me, if you looked at my transcript in Annapolis,” he goes, “I'm the last guy that would have ever asked that question.” But you know, the we made a mutual decision here, sometimes just things all come together. I'd written a paper on finding my purpose about the same time that there was a professor from Annapolis that was visiting and talking about a sabbatical program that Annapolis had started. And so they started talking about it, and then this paper made it and I got called in. They said, “Hey, we're thinking about starting this program, you know, called Stop Out, designed to stop people from getting out. We read your paper. What would you do if you could take a year off?” And I said, “Wow, you know, if I could do it, I'll tell you. I would start by going to Philmont Scout Ranch, you know, and be a backcountry Ranger,” because my passion was for the outdoors, and do that. “And then I would go join my musical hero, Harry Chapin.” Oh, by the way, he came to the United States Air Force Academy in the early '60s. Right? Left here, built a band and wrote the hit song Taxi. “So I would go join him as a roadie and just sort of see whether music and the outdoors, which my passions are, what, you know, what it's all about for me.” Well, we lost contact with the Chapin connection. So I ended up on this bicycle riding around the country. And so many families took me in, and so many towns that I rode into, you know, I found that if I just went to the library and said, “Hey, tell me a little bit about the history of this town,” the librarian would call, like, the last, you know, three or four of the seniors the town, they'd all rush over to tell me the story of, you know, this particular little town, right? And then someone would also say, “Hey, where are you staying tonight?” “I'm staying in my tent.” They said, “Oh, come stay with me.” So gradually, over time, I got to know America, and came to the conclusion when I had to make the decision to come back or not, that this country is really worth defending, that these people are hard-working, you know, that want to make the world better for their kids and their grandkids, and they deserve a United States Air Force, the best air force on the planet, to defend them. So, you know, when I came back my last two years, and I always love sharing this with cadets, because some of them are fighting it, some of them have embraced it. And all I tell them is, “Hey, I've done both. And all I can tell you is, the sooner you embrace it and find your purpose, this place is a lot more fun.” Naviere Walkewicz 35:13 Truth in that, yes, yes, well. And, Dr. Wilson, how did you know you were living your purpose? Dr. Heather Wilson 35:19 Well, I've had a lot of different chapters to my life. Yes, and we can intellectualize it on why we, you know, why I made a certain decision at a certain time, but there were doors that opened that I never even knew were there. But at each time and at each junction, there was a moment where somehow I just knew. And at South Dakota Mines is a good example. You know, I lost a race to the United States Senate. I actually had some interns — I benefited from a lousy job market, and I had fantastic interns, and we were helping them through the loss. You know, they're young. They were passionate. They, as Churchill said, “The blessing and the curse of representative government is one in the same. The people get what they choose.” And so I was helping them through that, and one of them said, “Well, Dr. Wilson, you're really great with students. You should be a college president somewhere. Texas Tech needs a president. You should apply there,” because that's where this kid was going to school. And I said, “Well, but I don't think they're looking for me.” But it did cause me to start thinking about it and I had come close. I had been asked about a college presidency once before, and I started looking at it and talking to headhunters and so forth. And initially, South Dakota Mines didn't seem like a great fit, because I'm a Bachelor of Science degree here, but my Ph.D. is in a nonscientific discipline, and it's all engineers and scientists. But as I went through the process, it just felt more and more right. And on the day of the final interviews, that evening, it was snowing in South Dakota, there was a concert in the old gym. I mean, this is an engineering school, and they had a faculty member there who had been there for 40 years, who taught choral music, and the students stood up, and they started singing their warm up, which starts out with just one voice, and eventually gets to a 16-part harmony and it's in Latin, and it's music is a gift from God, and they go through it once, and then this 40th anniversary concert, about 50 people from the audience stand up and start singing. It's like a flash mob, almost These were all alumni who came back. Forty years of alumni to be there for that concert for him. And they all went up on stage and sang together in this just stunning, beautiful concert by a bunch of engineers. And I thought, “There's something special going on here that's worth being part of,” and there are times when you just know. And the same with becoming cabinet secretary for children, youth and families — that was not in the plan and there's just a moment where I knew that was what I should do now. How I should use my gifts now? And you hope that you're right in making those decisions.   Naviere Walkewicz 38:43 Well, probably aligning with JD's point in the book of following your gut. Some of that's probably attached to you finding your purpose. Excellent. I'd like to visit the time Dr. Wilson, when you were helping President Bush with the State of the Union address, and in particular, you had grueling days, a lot of hours prepping, and when it was time for it to be delivered, you weren't there. You went home to your apartment in the dark. You were listening on the radio, and there was a moment when the Congress applauded and you felt proud, but something that you said really stuck with me. And he said, I really enjoy being the low-key staff member who gets stuff done. Can you talk more about that? Because I think sometimes we don't, you know, the unsung heroes are sometimes the ones that are really getting so many things done, but nobody knows. Dr. Heather Wilson 39:31 So, I'm something of an introvert and I've acquired extrovert characteristics in order to survive professionally. But when it comes to where I get my batteries recharged, I'm quite an introvert, and I really loved — and the same in international negotiations, being often the liaison, the back channel, and I did that in the conventional forces in Europe negotiations for the American ambassador. And in some ways, I think it might have been — in the case of the conventional forces in Europe negotiations, I was on the American delegation here. I was in Vienna. I ended up there because, for a bunch of weird reasons, then they asked me if I would go there for three months TDY. It's like, “Oh, three months TDY in Vienna, Austria. Sign me up.” But I became a very junior member on the delegation, but I was the office of the secretary of defense's representative, and walked into this palace where they were negotiating between what was then the 16 NATO nations and the seven Warsaw Pact countries. And the American ambassador turned to me, and he said during this several times, “I want you to sit behind me and to my right, and several times I'm going to turn and talk to you, and I just want you to lean in and answer.” I mean, he wasn't asking anything substantive, and I just, “Yes, sir.” But what he was doing was credentialing me in front of the other countries around that table. Now, I was very young, there were only two women in the room. The other one was from Iceland, and what he was doing was putting me in a position to be able to negotiate the back channel with several of our allies and with — this was six months or so now, maybe a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall. So things were changing in Eastern Europe, and so I really have always enjoyed just that quietly getting things done, building consensus, finding the common ground, figuring out a problem. Actually have several coffee mugs that just say GSD, and the other side does say, Get Stuff Done. And I like that, and I like people who do that. And I think those quiet — we probably don't say thank you enough to the quiet, hardworking people that just figure out how to get stuff done. Naviere Walkewicz 41:59 Well, I like how he credentialed you and actually brought that kind of credibility in that way as a leader. JD, how have you done that as a leader? Champion, some of those quiet, behind the scenes, unsung heroes. Gen. Dave Goldfein 42:11 I'm not sure where the quote comes from, but it's something to the effect of, “It's amazing what you can get done if you don't care who gets the credit.” There's so much truth to that. You know, in the in the sharing of success, right? As servant leaders, one of the things that I think both of us spend a lot of time on is to make sure that credit is shared with all the folks who, behind the scenes, you know, are doing the hard, hard work to make things happen, and very often, you know, we're the recipients of the thank yous, right? And the gratefulness of an organization or for somebody who's benefited from our work, but when you're at the very senior leaders, you know what you do is you lay out the vision, you create the environment to achieve that vision. But the hard, hard work is done by so many others around you. Today, in the audience when we were there at Polaris Hall, was Col. Dave Herndon. So Col. Dave Herndon, when he was Maj. Dave Herndon, was my aide de camp, and I can tell you that there are so many successes that his fingers are on that he got zero credit for, because he was quietly behind the scenes, making things happen, and that's just the nature of servant leadership, is making sure that when things go well, you share it, and when things go badly, you own it. Naviere Walkewicz 43:47 And you do share a really remarkable story in there about accountability. And so we won't spend so much time talking about that, but I do want to go to the point where you talk about listening, and you say, listening is not passive; it's active and transformative. As servant leaders, have you ever uncovered challenges that your team has experienced that you didn't have the ability to fix and you know, what action did you take in those instances? Dr. Heather Wilson 44:09 You mean this morning? All the time. And sometimes — and then people will give you grace, if you're honest about that. You don't make wild promises about what you can do, but then you sit and listen and work through and see all right, what is within the realm of the possible here. What can we get done? Or who can we bring to the table to help with a set of problems? But, there's no… You don't get a — when I was president of South Dakota Mines, one of the people who worked with me, actually gave me, from the toy store, a magic wand. But it doesn't work. But I keep it in my office, in case, you know… So there's no magic wands, but being out there listening to understand, not just listening to refute, right? And then seeing whether there are things that can be done, even if there's some things you just don't have the answers for, right? Gen. Dave Goldfein 45:11 The other thing I would offer is that as senior leadership and as a senior leadership team, you rarely actually completely solve anything. What you do is improve things and move the ball. You take the hand you're dealt, right, and you find creative solutions. You create the environment, lay out the vision and then make sure you follow up, move the ball, and if you get at the end of your tenure, it's time for you to move on, and you've got the ball moved 20, 30, yards down the field. That's actually not bad, because most of the things we were taking on together, right, were big, hard challenges that we needed to move the ball on, right? I If you said, “Hey, did you completely revitalize the squadrons across the United States Air Force?” I will tell you, absolutely not. Did we get the ball about 20, 30 yards down the field? And I hope so. I think we did. Did we take the overhaul that we did of officer development to be able to ensure that we were producing the senior leaders that the nation needs, not just the United States Air Force needs? I will tell you that we didn't solve it completely, but we moved the ball down the field, and we did it in a way that was able to stick. You know, very often you plant seeds as a leader, and you never know whether those seeds are going to, you know, these seeds are ideas, right? And you never know whether the seeds are going to hit fertile soil or rocks. And I would often tell, you know, young leaders too. I said, you know, in your last few months that you're privileged to be in the position of leadership, you've got two bottles on your hip. You're walking around with — one of them's got fertilizer and one of them's got Roundup. And your job in that final few months is to take a look at the seeds that you planted and truly determine whether they hit fertile soil and they've grown roots, and if they've grown roots, you pull out the fertilizer, and the fertilizer you're putting on it is to make it part of the institution not associated with you, right? You want somebody some years from now say, “Hey, how do we ever do that whole squadron thing?” The right answer is, “I have no idea, but look at how much better we are.” That's the right answer, right? That's the fertilizer you put on it. But it's just equally important to take a look at the ideas that, just for whatever reason, sometimes beyond your control — they just didn't stick right. Get out the Roundup. Because what you don't want to do is to pass on to your successor something that didn't work for you, because it probably ain't going to work for her. Dr. Heather Wilson 47:46 That's right, which is one of the rules of leadership is take the garbage out with you when you go. Naviere Walkewicz 47:51 I like that. I like that a lot. Well, we are — just a little bit of time left. I want to end this kind of together on a story that you shared in the book about laughter being one of the tools you share. And after we share this together, I would like to ask you, I know we talked about mirror checks, but what are some things that you guys are doing every day to be better as well, to continue learning. But to get to the laughter piece, you mentioned that laughter is an underappreciated tool and for leaders, something that you both share. I want to talk about the time when you got together for dinner before you began working as chief and service secretary, and I think you may have sung an AF pro song. We're not going to ask you to sing that today, unless you'd like to JD? But let's talk about laughter.   Gen. Dave Goldfein 48:31 The dean would throw me out. Naviere Walkewicz 48:33 OK, OK, we won't have you sing that today. But how have you found laughter — when you talk about — when the questions and the problems come up to you?   Dr. Heather Wilson 48:40 So I'm going to start this because I think Dave Goldfein has mastered this leadership skill of how to use humor, and self-deprecating humor, better than almost any leader I've ever met. And it's disarming, which is a great technique, because he's actually wicked smart. But it's also people walk in the room knowing if you're going to a town hall meeting or you're going to be around the table, at least sometime in that meeting, we're going to laugh. And it creates a warmth and people drop their guard a little bit. You get to the business a little bit earlier. You get beyond the standard PowerPoint slides, and people just get down to work. And it just — people relax. And I think Dave is very, very good at it. Now, my husband would tell you that I was raised in the home for the humor impaired, and I have been in therapy with him for almost 35 years.   Naviere Walkewicz 49:37 So have you improved? Dr. Heather Wilson 49:39 He thinks I've made some progress.   Naviere Walkewicz 49:41 You've moved the ball.   Dr. Heather Wilson 49:44 Yes. Made some progress. I still don't — I used to start out with saying the punch line and then explain why it was funny. Naviere Walkewicz 49:52 I'm in your camp a little bit. I try. My husband says, “Leave the humor to me.” Dr. Heather Wilson 49:54 Yeah, exactly. You understand. Gen. Dave Goldfein 49:58 I used to joke that I am a member of the Class of 1981['82 and '83]. I am the John Belushi of the United States Air Force Academy, a patron saint of late bloomers. But you know, honestly, Heather doesn't give herself enough credit for building an environment where, you know, folks can actually do their very best work. That's one of the things that we do, right? Because we have — the tools that we have available to be able to get things done very often, are the people that are we're privileged to lead and making sure that they are part of an organization where they feel valued, where we're squinting with our ears. We're actually listening to them. Where they're making a contribution, right? Where they believe that what they're being able to do as part of the institution or the organization is so much more than they could ever do on their own. That's what leadership is all about. Dr. Heather Wilson 51:05 You know, we try to — I think both of us see the humor in everyday life, and when people know that I have a desk plate that I got in South Dakota, and it doesn't say “President.” It doesn't say “Dr. Wilson.” It says, “You're kidding me, right?” Because once a week, more frequently as secretary and chief, but certainly frequently as a college president, somebody is going to walk in and say, “Chief, there's something you need to know.” And if they know they're going to get blasted out of the water or yelled at, people are going to be less likely to come in and tell you, right, what you need to know. But if you're at least willing to laugh at the absurdity of the — somebody thought that was a good idea, you know. My gosh, let's call the lawyers or whatever. But you know, you've just got to laugh, and if you laugh, people will know that you just put things in perspective and then deal with the problem. Naviere Walkewicz  52:06 Well, it connects us as humans. Yeah. Well, during my conversation today with Dr. Heather Wilson and Gen. Dave Goldfein — JD — two lessons really stood out to me. Leadership is not about avoiding the fall, but about how high you bounce back and how your recovery can inspire those you lead. It's also about service, showing up, doing the hard work and putting others before yourself with humility, integrity and working together. Dr. Wilson, Gen. Goldfein, thank you for showing us how courage, compassion and connection — they're not soft skills. They're actually the edge of hard leadership. And when you do that and you lead with service, you get back up after every fall. You encourage others to follow and do the same. Thank you for joining us for this powerful conversation. You can find Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership, wherever books are sold. And learn more at getbackupeadership.com. If today's episode inspired you, please share it with someone who can really benefit in their own leadership journey. As always, keep learning. Keep getting back up. Keep trying. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99. This has been Focus On Leadership. Until next time. Producer This edition of Focus on Leadership, the accelerated leadership series, was recorded on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025.   KEYWORDS Leadership, servant leadership, resilience, humility, integrity, influence, teamwork, family, trust, listening, learning, purpose, growth, accountability, service, courage, compassion, balance, values, inspiration.     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation  

Matthew Friedman joins Dr. Sandie Morgan as they explore how pig butchering scams work, why they're so effective, and how they're tied to forced labor and human trafficking, while explaining what prevention can look like from personal red flags to safeguards in financial systems.Matthew FriedmanMatthew Friedman is the Founder and CEO of The Mekong Club, a pioneering organization that mobilizes the private sector to fight modern slavery across Asia. A globally recognized expert on human trafficking, Friedman has spent over three decades working at the intersection of business, government, and humanitarian action to combat exploitation and promote ethical leadership. Before founding The Mekong Club, Friedman served as Regional Project Manager for the United Nations International Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP/UNDP), overseeing a six-country initiative spanning China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. He also served as Deputy Director for the USAID Office of Public Health (Asia Region), managing a $100 million annual portfolio. Friedman holds a Master's degree in Health Education from New York University and is a renowned keynote speaker who has delivered more than 900 presentations in 20 countries, inspiring individuals and organizations to take a stand in the fight against modern slavery.Key PointsPig butchering scams are sophisticated romance scams where criminals build trust over weeks before convincing victims to invest life savings in fake cryptocurrency schemes, with the metaphor referring to "fattening the pig before the slaughter."An estimated 300,000 to 400,000 young professionals have been trafficked into scam centers across Southeast Asia, where they are forced under extreme violence and coercion to run online scams targeting victims in wealthy nations.The Prince Group sanctions marked one of the most significant global crackdowns on forced-labor scam centers, with the UK freezing real estate assets and the US freezing $15 billion in cryptocurrency, signaling increased international cooperation.Financial institutions can help prevent pig butchering by monitoring unusual withdrawal patterns, such as when customers who haven't touched their accounts for 30 years suddenly liquidate everything, and by contacting clients before large transfers are completed.Victims in scam centers face brutal violence including being tasered, beaten, and in some cases tortured to death with videos sold as "hardcore" content, creating a level of violence unprecedented in modern slavery according to Friedman's 35 years of experience.Only 0.2% of the 50 million people in modern slavery receive assistance globally, not because counter-trafficking organizations don't care, but because the $236 billion generated by criminals vastly outweighs the $400 million available to fight it.Public education and awareness are critical for prevention, as people in North America remain largely unaware of pig butchering scams while Asian communities have become more informed through widespread media coverage and victim testimonies.The Mekong Club has developed multilingual e-learning tools including a three-and-a-half-minute video to help raise awareness about both human trafficking into scam centers and the scams themselves, emphasizing that prevention must be widespread.ResourcesThe Mekong ClubThe Mekong Club - Tools & ResourcesValid8 FinancialEnding Human Trafficking Podcast - Episode 269Matthew Friedman on LinkedInContact Matthew FriedmanEnding Human Trafficking Website

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 3! Our guest today is the amazing author V.T. Bidania. She is of Hmong descent and was born in Laos and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. A prolific author with over 20 titles published already, her latest work is the very personal fictionalized memoir A Year Without Home which details her family's escape from Laos after the end of the Secret War in Laos and the Vietnam War. A Year Without Home was released on January 13, 2026 and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. It's her debut middle grade novel and written in a unique style with lyrical verse. Told through the eyes of eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, Bidania does an amazing job of immersing the reader into the joys of what it was like to live in Laos as well as the challenges and horrors of fleeing as refugees. Her previous works are the Astrid and Apollo series and the new spin-off Extraordinary Eliana series. Both uplift Hmong culture in a joyous informative way. In our conversation, V.T. shares her journey to writing, the challenges of researching for A Year Without Home, how she decided to lay things out in the book, why the book is even more important now than ever, and a lot more. To learn more about V.T. Bidania and the Hmong culture, you can visit her website vtbidania.com, follow her on Instagram @vtbidania, and of course purchase    or any book int he Astrid and Apollo or Extraordinary Eliana series. If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Le Laos et la Bolivie au sommaire du supplément du Grand reportage. Direction le Laos avec Jean-Pierre Fage, sur l'une de ces nouvelles routes de la soie lancées tel un filet sur le monde par la Chine. C'est en 2013 que le président Xi Jinping lance la nouvelle initiative, la bonne idée d'influence sur ses voisins et au-delà. En 2è partie : une montagne qui s'effondre sur elle-même, minée depuis des siècles, par l'exploitation de filons prometteurs, le Cerro Rico en Bolivie, avec Nils Sabin. Laos: sur la voie des investissements chinois  Au Laos, la Chine est devenue le premier investisseur, mais aussi le principal créancier du pays. Un des effets des tentaculaires Routes de la Soie développées par Pékin. Plus de 140 pays, plus de 4 milliards d'habitants sont maintenant concernés par ces coopérations avec le géant asiatique. Une conquête chinoise à bas bruit, antérieure à l'expansionnisme claironnant de Donald Trump.  Le petit Laos et sa large dette est pris dans cette dynamique, où s'affiche le train à grande vitesse Vientiane / Kunming. Et cela transforme en profondeur le paysage socio-économique du pays. Un Grand reportage de Jean-Pierre Fage qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix.   Cerro Rico en Bolivie: la montagne minée par l'argent Dans le sud de la Bolivie, le Cerro Rico est une montagne surexploitée. Creusée depuis 480 ans pour ses ressources minières : argent, étain, plomb ou zinc. Ses mines ont enrichi l'empire espagnol et toute l'Europe pendant l'époque coloniale et tout le secteur de la ville de Potosi est classé patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco. La montagne est devenue un gruyère. Elle menace de s'effondrer sur elle-même. Mais difficile de vraiment calmer le jeu, tant les mines sont essentielles à l'emploi et l'économie. Un Grand reportage de Nils Sabin qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix.

Join host Jed Doherty for an inspiring episode of "Reading With Your Kids," featuring celebrated author VT Bidania. In this heartfelt conversation, VT Bidania shares the story behind her impactful middle grade novel in verse, "A Year Without Home." Listeners will hear how VT draws from her family's journey as Hmong refugees to create an emotionally powerful narrative for young readers. The discussion highlights the popularity of verse novels for middle grade audiences, as well as the historical significance of the Secret War in Laos and the resilience of the Hmong community. VT explains her mission to provide authentic cultural representation—ensuring Hmong characters are portrayed not just through struggle, but also through hope and heroism. The episode also features picture book author and high school English teacher Stacy Whitcomb. Stacy shares the charming origin of her book "Baby Munchkin," inspired by her own children's creativity and her experiences as both a parent and educator. She recalls the joy of reading her book to classrooms, the enthusiasm of young readers, and the challenges of writing for children. Stacy also offers valuable advice to aspiring authors about persistence, creativity, and connecting with audiences of all ages. Whether you're interested in middle grade fiction, picture books, Hmong American stories, or the craft of writing for children, this episode offers inspiration and practical insights. Don't miss the unique voices of VT Bidania and Stacy Whitcomb—perfect for parents, teachers, and book lovers alike!

LAM SON 719 AND THE FAILURE OF VIETNAMIZATION Colleague Geoffrey Wawro. The 1971 invasion of Laos (Lam Son 719) exposed the failure of Vietnamization, as South Vietnamese troops were routed without USground support, proving they lacked the leadership and logistics to fight alone. By 1972, only massive American air power, reinstated by Nixon during the Easter Offensive, saved South Vietnam from collapse, while Nixonsimultaneously pursued détente with China and the USSR to isolate Hanoi. The relentless "Linebacker" bombing campaigns eventually forced North Vietnam back to the negotiating table, though the peace deal essentially replicated terms available years earlier. NUMBER 15