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How Colonel Bill Davis Transformed His Life Through Service and Leadership · Hart & Hustle Podcast

• Efrain: We're back here on the Horn Hunter Podcast. We got Mr. Bill Davis, or is that Colonel Bill Davis? Col Bill Davis: My nom de guerre, yeah. twenty four years in the Marine Corps, hurrah. Efrain: Yes, sir. Listen, I I always have to hear about a Marine. I think I told you how I whooped a Marine and you may not like that, but he sat here and told me that he can get abs for me, because he was a Marine Bill Davis. And guess what? I got abs before him. So you know. Do I get anything for that man? You know. Col Bill Davis: Hey, you know, you can be good at a lot of things. You can't be good at everything. So sometimes, you know, you gotta you take take the win when you get it and be the grateful graceful loser later and then figure Efrain: Yeah, yeah. Col Bill Davis: out is it's something you need to adjust or not. And sometimes like, you know, okay, you can take the win on that one, buddy. I got other things to worry about. Efrain: You know, what what he would say though is like none of us really lost because as Marines we all just push each other to be better. So I put he says he pushed me to just be better, so in reality he didn't lose. Is is that correct? Is that how you guys look at it? Col Bill Davis: No, you know, that it it's funny you say that because that that's the deal with high performing teams. there there's a couple of different people that talk about it. I can't remember, was it Adam Grant or Simon Sinek that was talking about Could have been another, there's another author in that realm too that talked about people on high performing teams perform better because they challenge each other, they rise to the occasion. And that that's kind of, you know, we're we're not treeing to create the the fastest, strongest, smartest kids in young Marines. But by the same token, you know, we we try to set certain standards and then help kids achieve them and and then watch them get excited about that achievement. Because if you do age appropriate, skill appropriate, don't try and crush them right out the door. That's not gonna get you anywhere. Every child, give them that opportunity to bloom at their own pace and and ability, builds self confidence and resiliency. And it's a good thing. It's a good thing. No matter whether it's Marine Corps, young Marines or just any other youth in America. Efrain: So twenty four years in the Marines, thank you for your service. But it's like you never left because now you said you are now at the young Marines. So exact Col Bill Davis: Ha. Efrain: what is your role with the young Marines and give us some insight on what that actually is. Col Bill Davis: Yeah, yeah, just a a different flavor of serving. And and that's one thing you find in common with a lot of veterans is they they choose to serve their country, but when they leave, they they tend to serve their country in different ways out of uniform. And that that's kind of what my path was. But yeah, I it's funny. I I always kid around I'm a legacy. They they had to take me for my animal house of people way back when. But yeah, dad was in the Marine Corps, never really thought I'd do it. I was in college. working on thinking about being an engineer, really fast might aircraft. for a for a dark period. I was a kid around for a dark period in my life. I spent some time with Air Force ROTC thinking I'd be a pilot, but you know, that that's very constrained, physically, vision issues, things like that. Next thing I know, I'm mucking around with some guys and and said, Hey, look at this Marine Corps thing. And and this is funny when you say it, because if you know you kind of joke, says, yeah. Why do I have to do all this stuff in college? I'm just gonna go to summer camp, you know. Six weeks of summer camp with the Marine Corps, you know, this summer, next summer. That'll be awesome. Yeah, it was. It was really awesome. But but it it it was really good. It it is very trying. You go to Quantico and and their whole job, the the difference between Enlisted an officer, and one way is that officers are selected and enlisted members are enlisted. And so the the process of weeding out literally, each summer we lost about half of the candidates. Could not complete the first six weeks, then 20, 30 percent won't go back for the second summer because hey, I got yelled at last summer. Why do I want to do that again? Right. but but it's a very competitive process and very few people will complete the screening. but once you do, and the reason why it's so tough is once you're sworn in, you are an officer of Marines and you're supposed to lead people in combat and other operations. And so it it is important that you get that right. in the beginning, because you don't get second chances oftentimes in in actual operations, whether it's combat or anything else, because it is a very challenging, difficult, and dangerous profession to be in. but yeah, I was lucky. I was a I was a logistics officer. That's what I got assigned out. That's what I did mostly, but I had a weird career path that most people don't have. bounced around from Hawaii to Kansas to New Orleans to Virginia. A couple of years doing international response to weapons of mass destruction. That that was pretty high speed. and then the last five years was doing facility management for the Marine Corps Reserve all around the country at 188 locations. But along that path, in the late 90s, my son got into a program called Young Marines. And and what usually happens is you're a parent. And you're volunteer, and next thing you know, you're on the staff. Next thing you Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: know, you're running the unit. You know, anyone that's involved with youth things can understand exactly what I just said. Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: but then that kind of ended when I had orders and we moved again. I got stationed back in New Orleans again in 06, just after Katrina. they were doing the rebuild projects there and and and other locations. And some of those senior volunteers that were there in the 90s were still there. And, you know, so I stayed engaged and in touch. But after that five years, you know, we were closing the Navy base in New Orleans. We were creating a new Marine Corps base, and a group of people in the local area, to include a couple of former bosses of mine, wanted to build a charter high school there. As they closed the Navy base, use repurpose some of the buildings for this charter high school that was Marine Corps JRTC. And and they asked me after I kept sending them other these other guys' names, hey Bill, why don't you come do it? Think about that one. But you got thirty days to think about it. So thirty days later, change your whole life and say, I'm gonna Efrain: Thirty days. Col Bill Davis: retire at twenty four years and go build a school. But the mission was really compelling. As I said in the beginning, it's about service. And so you go from, you know, serving in uniform, serving your country, to serving in a different capacity, which was youth development. And and I was very excited. I'd I'd spent time on a school board. I helped my kids with schools. But the opportunity to help these kids graduate high school, especially in a challenging environment like New Orleans, and the school that we built was framed to support the kids. to help them graduate. In fact, when we did our first graduation, there were several kids there that, you know, you talk to the parents like, my child would have never graduated from any other school but yours, because of the support structure you had, because of the Marines that were there, because of the mentors they had. And then after four years of that, there just happened to be the guy that was running Young Marines was retiring. Everyone said, Hey, you should go put in for that. You've done this before. You're okay. And so, yeah, here I am 11 years later as the CEO of the Young Marines program, running a national now from a charter school that serviced the New Orleans metropolitan area to a national program that encompasses 225 units in 40 states, 5,000 kids, and a couple of thousand volunteers. Efrain: I always hear that or just even see it in in I as I told you talking to my neighbor, how life truly in the Marines changed them or just in the military has changed them. And I've seen friends that were probably heading down the wrong path, join the military, come back a different person. Do you feel that it did the same for you? Col Bill Davis: Yeah, it it is it's transformative. It provides it's interesting because they talk a lot about transformation, rights of passage, things like that. And every organization has some kind of rite of passage. And the Marine Corps, of course, does that through Officer Candidate School, it does that through boot camp, the programs that we have and and that you go through this rite of passage, you earn the right to be called a Marine. But it is the the structure, the the discipline. But more importantly, it's the sense of of teamwork, of being part of an organization that has this mission and it has this long history of of tradition and success that kind of Puts it all upon you. You know, you want to uphold that tradition. You want to continue that pattern of excellence, and you want to continue to serve others. I I see it a lot too in our program, as well as my time in the military. And you talk to parents who say, wow, my kid's so different. But, you know, Every child is looking, you know, to to belong to something. And the Marine Corps is one option. The military is one option. There's other organizations that are great options. But having that sense of belonging, having that sense of interpersonal connection, having that sense of some kind of a mission, it it is appealing at the baseline of human psychology. And that's proven out time and time again when you when you read things about this. And and it's that that transformation that puts a a child or a young adult on the right path. And sometimes they're struggling. my my son talked about it once. there's a term called analysis paralysis. Between the internet and the world today, there's so many options and so many things that sometimes they I just don't know what to pick, you know, and sometimes people will pick it for you if you Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: if you're not careful. but if you find that path or or you get exposed to things. that that has that opportunity for you to grow. And that's one of the things I I do like. Obviously, I'm biased about this program, but but one of the things I Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: like about it is, you know, everyone says, it's young Marines, it's all military. Well, you know, get this. 70% of the kids go do something else other than the military. Now, 30% is a higher percentage to consider joining the military than than your general population in the United States, because only 1% of people choose to serve. And here's out of this. Only 23% of our nation's youth, and and this is from ages 17 to 25, roughly, are eligible to serve because the military, you know, it's usually the reasons they can't. It's either obesity or fitness or drugs or criminal record, lack of education. All those things I just listed, those are all the things that every other business in America, construction, trades, first research, they all want that same caliber of person. And then out of that, only like 8% are interested in serving. So you you you have that challenge, that competition. But as I said, you know, about 30% of our kids will choose to serve. They young Marines, I get it. They get exposed to a lot of service members. Out of our 2,000 volunteers, half of them are veterans, not just Marines, all different services, which is why when children choose when they become young adults to join the service. It's not just Marine Corps. Yeah, about half joined the Marine Corps. Hey, it's young Marines, right? But Efrain: Yep, yep. Col Bill Davis: but the other half, then the second biggest is Army and then Navy and then Air Force. And then a handful of Coast Guard and, you know, Space Force now is growing because they got exposed to that. What I like is that because our program is is youth development in general, with leadership and citizenship through community service and living a healthy drug-free lifestyle, that healthy drug-free lifestyle exposes kids to career paths in first responders, you know, EMS, fire, doctor, nurses. to include the other group is teaching. Because as kids get older in the program, we turn the reins over to them and say, okay, we've been teaching you. You've learned enough. Now it's your time to go teach the other kids. And they get the teaching bug. And then we have a lot more kids these days getting into the trades too, which which is awesome. I got you know, welders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, all that kind of stuff. So the outcomes really come, what I learned the lesson at the high school was is most kids don't get exposed to a lot of job opportunities. What is the art of the possible for me when I graduate from high school or go to college? What happens after? You know, so the more people in different roles and occupations you expose them to, you never know what's gonna click. You know, I I had kids at the high school, like they were just mechanically inclined. And everyone's Everyone's got to go to college. No, they don't. They don't. What they need is something purposeful in life. And so if you can say, hey, listen, you don't need to go to college, buddy. You want to be an auto mechanic, go to this school, take this class, go apprentice with these people, and you will have a good career, a great job, and and do well for yourself and and your family, you know, at some point in time. Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: It doesn't matter. Efrain: I is this just I think you mentioned it, but it is not just local. This is actually nationwide. You guys are in multiple states throughout our country, is that correct? Col Bill Davis: Yeah, yeah. So the the program started in nineteen fifty-nine up in Waterbury, Connecticut. bunch of a bunch of World Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: War II and and Korea War veterans, you know. I can see them now, you know, I always kid around about this. Yeah, sitting there smoking unfiltered camels and a PBR in their hand. those kids need discipline, right? but their hearts were in the right place. And so they Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: started it as a as a boys' program for for teaching discipline and fitness and You know, doing their thing and and serving in their community because they're all about it. And and God bless them, in 1974, they made it co-ed. And when I say that, I always stress the point. Do you know that our nation's military academies didn't accept women until 76? So for Marines, that's pretty darn progressive, man. We might co-ed Efrain: Yeah, yeah. Col Bill Davis: before even West Point, Naval Academy, Air Force let women in. but it's a great way to do it because you know, you got to work. with each other. People are people and we need to work together. But the program, like I said, you know, it's it's goes from ages eight to high school. we are co-ed, as I mentioned, and we are, like I said, 225 locations last year in 40 states. we have three units in the District of Columbia. We have a unit in Japan that that's on the marine base. we even have a unit in Hawaii. And you know, we're always always growing and and seeking new venues. And then, you know, last year, 5,000 kids, actually a little over 5,000. We're we're finishing up. Our fiscal year revolves around the federal fiscal year. So as we close up, a little over 5,000. thousand kids this year and a couple thousand volunteers that help us make that mission happen for those kids. Efrain: It's amazing, man. Volunteers, man. So I love when we get to, you know, talk about volunteers because they truly do Col Bill Davis: yeah. Efrain: make the mission move and sometimes zone they they do it just truly out of passion and purpose, but we always gotta highlight the man. How important is the volunteers in making it successful? Col Bill Davis: There's no chicken and egg here, man. It's there's no program without volunteers. You know, my my white mighty huge staff of seven people here to run roughshod over the program. And when you think about it, try to explain it, that's seven people, right? You got me as the CEO, I got a deputy, I got a couple of finance people, a teacher, person that works all the strategic communications, social media, and the person that manages the database. I mean, literally, you cannot do without the volunteers. And when I say that, I'm talking about the top level. So we're set up, yeah, I should say this too, my my shameless plug. Youngmarines.org is our website. So if you're listening to the podcast, you can tube Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: that up on your computer on the side and see the pictures for yourself. But we're broken into six regions. We call them divisions. Go figure, it's military, and then they're broken into regiments below that. But I have I have volunteer leaders leading other volunteers. So the regimental leaders have been volunteers for a long time that accept the burden of trying to manage other volunteers to help us accomplish the mission and make sure that, you know, are we are we tracking all the administration right? Are we tracking promotions for kids? Are we making sure they had their annual physical? did all the volunteers make sure they had their background check done and every three years do it again? Are the finances, and my God. You can't say enough about finances. You know, you you can't pick up the paper almost without reading some nonprofit that that didn't do right by their donors or their funders. And and you know, you've got to keep an eye on the funding and make sure it's being done right, not only at the national level with the funds that we receive and generate, but also at the local level with the funds that they receive and generate. So you you have to do all of these things. And so, you know, the difficulties now, you know, with reduced funding, you know, for the program is how you do that virtually, how do you lean on volunteers in the field to keep that keep that in mind? But the end state is because these senior volunteers, you know, have been around for a while, they've seen the outputs, they've engaged with kids, they've seen kids go on to be successful in life. That is the motof, as we call it, why it drives people, the passion for them to keep engaging in the program. Many times long after their children have left, just because they see the goodness that we have for these kids and what it does for them in their lives. Efrain: Is this are you guys funded by the community or is this strictly government funds? Col Bill Davis: Check C all of the above. Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: So, so we now we haven't consistently, like like a lot of nonprofits, we have not consistently received federal funding from about 93 until 08, we did, and then from 10 to about 20 we did. Now it's kind of hit or miss the last few years with Congress, you know, in and out doing it. But we also do generate various fund flows from other donors. American Legion, you know, has given us donations in the past. Glock has given us donations. variety of funders in the Northern Virginia area for our for our golf tournament. but but we have, you know, different funders that provide funds for different activities. Now that's at the national level, which provides the overarching program, you know, all the all the infrastructure that supports the program. and then includes some actual direct engagement type programs that we do as well for like leadership schools and and different programs that we support throughout the year. But the rubber meets the road at the local level, where you have the local units are all doing their own fundraising to raise funds for activities for them to do, whether it's regional camps or major national activities that they want to participate in. And so, you know, that's kind of it. The normal program is really mostly an evenings and weekends program, and you'll find us anywhere. You know, it's you'll see it at churches, you'll see it at a veterans organization, American Legion, VFW, the Elks Club sponsors programs because they're really big into sir, you know, community service and and healthy drug-free lifestyles. we have churches, schools. I do have a handful of school-based programs where they use us. You know, a lot of people are familiar with JROTC at the high school level. that that's a title ten. US military program, you know, supported in the schools for civic duty, civic development. we're a little more flexible than that, but I do have school-based programs where they use it as an elective or a classroom because it it serves the same purpose. You know, it it provides some structure for the kids and another way to excel that that complements what they're trying to do at the school-based level. Efrain: So if people want to give youngmarines dot org. Col Bill Davis: Young Marines dot org, that's us. Yeah, happy to happy to send you a thank you letter and appreciate your support. Hoorah. But five one C three, absolutely, since nineteen eighty. There we are. Yeah. Efrain: A donation receipt five one three three, right? Yeah. Love it. We gotta plug that in there. If you wanna give your donations, you do it's a text write off 'cause sometimes people don't even realize it. they give and don't film the Col Bill Davis: That is true. It it it is a tax write-off. It it does come in handy. I'm I'm one of the bigger donors for the program because you know, my wife and I believe in giving back because again. we've seen the benefit of the mission. And after the last 10 years of of her volunteering to to help, you know, do some of the various events we have to, we have to make sure we have the proper number of chaperones. So she steps in and helps out sometimes and becomes my my sidekick logistics officer. Hey, hey, let's load a bunch of water in the van and away we go, sweetie. Yeah. but Efrain: Love it, love it. It's always good to have the support from your wife for sure, man. Sometimes my wife Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Yeah. But but again, you know, over like I said, for the for the volunteers, that that passion, you know, a lot of them I I had this one lady, she just finally she she finally said, Hey, Bill, I I I think I gotta be done. I'm like, Okay, I've been doing this for thirty years. Her kid was Efrain: Sure. Col Bill Davis: in the program. She did it for ten years and her son one day called her, I guess a couple of years ago and says, You know, mom You know, I left the program twenty years ago. You're still volunteering, you know? It was like, amen. But she said, you know, that's the thing. Over those years, not only did your child benefit from it and go on to be successful in life, but You just see so many other kids. And and my wife and I in 11 years, you know, we we still get, you know, she'll get texts on Mother's Day. we'll get reminders of what they're doing. you know, nowadays it's gone to now we get, you know, wedding invitations or wedding announcements and baby announcements. And it's like, wow, you know, you got like Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: this, you got your your blood kids, you know, that you raised up, and now you these other group of kids that that you've helped in some fashion raise up. And that's what happens at the unit level because they're these are right, they're kids in their community. I'm dealing with kids from across the country, but the community level, what you see is is so amazing and impactful. And and remember, ones that join the military, very few people will finish an entire career and retire after 20 years or 40 years, depending on where you fall out. A lot of those kids will join the military, do four, six, eight, whatever, twelve, and then they will come back home. My unit leader up in in Idaho. you know, grew up, married his high school sweetheart, joined the army, did a few cool things, came back, and now he works in the local area and he said, I want to give back. So he started a young Marines unit, right? Now he's my deputy region for the Northwest, Efrain: Wow. Col Bill Davis: you know, a guy that that helps motivate runs schools. I have a lot of that. Probably about It's between 9 and 10% of my adult volunteers are former young Marines who want to come back and give back and have other kids have that same experience for them. So it is it is powerful that that ability to put someone on a positive trajectory in life. And I think Ephraim, you and I talked about it before. I talked about how to feel good about yourself and psychology coming out now is that one of the most powerful ways to feel better. to get that oxycotton flowing in a natural way is to help somebody else. Get out of your own head, Efrain: I gonna say that. Col Bill Davis: help somebody else is super powerful. No matter what, Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: however you do it, this is how we do it. But and you talk to a lot of people that do that same thing in other ways. Efrain: Hundred percent. It's it's about how we fertilize the future. It's not even about us, right? Like we truly have to just keep pouring into others the same way that someone poured into you. You talked about being the young marine at one point in your life and someone was pouring into you to get you to this place. How do we continue that cycle going? You have to now pour into the next young marine. It's so it's I mean, this whole just name of this organization just kind of works out, right? 'Cause that's exactly what we're doing. We're helping Col Bill Davis: There there is a yeah, there is kind of a name brand recognition. Yeah. Hey, but I gotta pause, man. I had to if you saw my little hand moving and for people watching podcasts, what did you just write down? I wrote down Fertilize the Future because dang it, man, I'm using that one. That that's that's a good one right there. Efrain: Yeah. Hey take it. I I I learned it from another leader and when he told me that I swear I say almost every day like that is so true. You know, I was one that says we Col Bill Davis: That that is. I talk about shaping the future, but I I like fertilize the future too. Maybe it's good. I d I didn't grow up on a farm but I grew up in Montana Efrain: Me too, man. Always say we plant seeds. Col Bill Davis: and Washington State. So I I and my my grandfather was was big on farming before he served in World War Two. Efrain: No, man. I always say planting seeds and watering seeds. It's what we do, Col Bill Davis: Yes. Efrain: right? And we never would see sometimes we'll never see it grow, but I love the fertilizer because I love plants. So it just all goes and ties up with everything that I actually love to do, Col Bill Davis: There you go. Efrain: to be quite frank. But what are some of your your accomplishments that you're most, you know, happy about, man? I mean, it looks like you've done a lot of things over your your years, whether it's for our country, whether it's for the youth. Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Efrain: What are some of the things that come to mind? Col Bill Davis: You know, i it's funny you say that. You know, you serve the military and and We had an exceptional period of time during I served where we were actively engaged in operations. I mean, I I was a desert storm veteran. I've been in like a year and a half and, you know, I just got engaged to my wife, and like next week it's like, hey, guess what? We're going to war. so you know, so my roommate Efrain: man. man. Col Bill Davis: and I threw all our stuff in our apartment. I got a C five and I disappeared for eight months and came back. But luckily 36 years, she still follows me out of idle curiosity of what I'm gonna do next. So she's a good gal. But Efrain: Ha ha ha ha. Col Bill Davis: but yeah, you know, you think about that. you know, starting there. that that Ability to go into a country that had been invaded and repel that and get those people back to their standard of life. And they still, the Kuwaitis still remember and reflect. I see it every year at the Memorial Day Parade in DC that we support with young Marines. The Kuwaitis are always like, thank you. You know, thank you for for helping us. Efrain: Mm-hmm. Col Bill Davis: But the help so often than that, it it's not war-related. I mean, I I remember, you know, just being a lieutenant and a bunch of guys that knew how to scuba dive on the big island of Hawaii is like, hey, there's this guy that owns the scuba thing. He said he'd let us borrow some gear if we want to clean up. The harbor. I'm like, let's do it. So here's like 30 marines snorkeling, scuba dive. Those of us that could scuba dive, dive, those of us snorkeling. We pulled out like two massive seven-ton trucks full of well, there were five-ton trucks back then. Wait a minute, let me date myself. Efrain: Ha ha Col Bill Davis: but we pulled two full trucks of garbage out of this bay to clean up the waters. You know, you're out there swimming, there's a turtle coming by. You're like, hey buddy, I got your back, you know. Efrain: Ha ha ha. Col Bill Davis: but you know, you you do things throughout your career, a lot of it's just helping communities, helping out. When I was honored to have this serve in Northcom, US Northcom, like I talked about weapons of mass destruction response, we went to Africa twice. One of those trips was to talk about disaster management and nation building in eastern Africa, Golden Spear. And that was awesome because you know you're talking to all these countries and talking about how do you leverage each other. You can't, like we were talking about earlier, you can't be the expert in everything. But if you're good at this, you're good at this, and you have this. If something happens, let's all come together and help each other. In the United States, it's the interstate compact. And you you see that in natural disasters, not just where you see the electrical trucks flowing from all around the country to whoever lost power, but at the state, the interstate compact level. And so Being able to do multiple exercises around the country, working with different states here in the United States about how we effectively can respond to a natural disaster or an unnatural disaster, God forbid that happens, was very powerful. I think, though, you know, the last five years being the head of facilities for the Marine Corps Reserve, my portfolio was energy, environmental, construction, utilities, fleet, all these things, right? But the cooler things was is like going out to like New York and rebuilding, you know, a couple million dollars restabilizes the shoreline so it stops eroding away. going down and doing the same thing in Jacksonville, Florida, restabilizing the shoreline and preserving the ecosystem for all the animals in the St. John's River. You got a lot of manatees there, you got turtles there, all that kind of activity and making sure we operate safely. Katrina. You know, when when we got called up, it it was killing me that I I had left New Orleans and and here I work for this organization. And I didn't get to go down. And eventually after a week, like, okay, Bill, get your get your team. You're gonna go do some some support operations there. And going down, and although we only got to Atlanta because they were trying to reduce the number of guys that were actually in theater, we backfilled for the headquarters to help support them so that they could go, you know, take care of the mission to to save people. As many as you could after that. You know, and so those military times where you had these opportunities to do big impact, concurrently you're always doing little impact. As a leader of Marines, whether you're you know an officer or you're a staff and a staff NCO or an NCO, as a leader of Marines, you're always shaping, supporting, and helping others, you know, within the branch, the service that are assigned to you. To do better, to be good and and to have a healthy life. So you do that. And I think it was that sense of service and support. And then doing that in my son's schools, of course, you know, not just at my kids' school, suddenly I'm the chair of the school board at Quantica over C in five schools, with the superintendent executing, but me having that fiduciary oversight. Those experiences when I got asked to to run the high school kind of shaped that. And and that To be honest, that becomes your huge impact because building that school where they didn't have this kind of opportunity before and the structure that we had, building that school is unique. I had a waiting list from the first year. After the after we got going the first year and people saw what we did, how we did it and the impact it had on the kids, the word got out. I had a waiting list every year. thankfully when this opportunity came, a good friend of mine that I'd worked with in the Marine Corps was getting ready to retire. And literally called him on the road. He was like driving to go do some interview for high school. Like, dude, you need to come back and interview and run NOMA. And and so he did. And so Chris Schleifer's there now. he took the ball 11 years from now and ran with it. He expanded it to eighth grade. It it's a A-B school, mostly A level school in the New Orleans area Efrain: Love it. Col Bill Davis: with a waiting list and 800 kids. And of course, you know, that that is that replicator effect that that we just talked about. And now Having the opportunity to take my show on the road to a national level program to put in, you know, great oversight, volunteer management, make sure we got great adults that are trained well, that have a passion for the mission to influence and impact, you know, tens of thousands of kids over the time that I've been here, and then to hear their stories. That that's like you said, rarely, you don't always get a chance to see the fruits of the plant that you watered, if you would, or the vegetable there. Efrain: Yep. Yep, yep. Col Bill Davis: But but when you do talk to a parent or some kid and they say, yeah, man, you know, this this experience, three years, four years, eight years, really helped me come out of my shell. It gave me self confidence, it told me the direction I wanted to go in life, exposed me to careers I never thought about. And and now I'm off being successful. And that that's just amazing. I just last Efrain: Love it. Col Bill Davis: week found a guy, he's now a deputy mayor in a small town in California and works in the police department. He goes, yeah, I was the young Marines for like five years, man. I never never would have thought about it. And went into the police from here, you know, based on the people I met, police and that got me in politics and all that speaking I did made me confident to do it. You know, this is just a guy I Efrain: Say man. Col Bill Davis: met last week that I never met before. We ran into each other on LinkedIn. Good stuff. Efrain: yeah, that's good stuff. I mean the biggest accomplishment that I've also one of the biggest accomplishments, there's a lot of all those accomplishments, but it's 36 years married, thirty-four? Thirty-six Col Bill Davis: Thirty six, yeah. Efrain: okay, cool, I had it. Thirty-six years married, man. What's the secret sauce? Col Bill Davis: man, you know, here's a problem. We went to Disney a couple of months ago and we were wearing that and everyone and that's what I was getting all the kids were asking me, man. I'm like I I think at the end of the day, communication. do our best to communicate I'm not dude, I am not saying I'm an expert. I'm not I I find my I Efrain: But you Col Bill Davis: find myself in the doghouse still every once in a while. A couple of weeks ago, you know, yeah. For VM me. But but at the end of the day, the communication and that we truly care for each other. She is a wonderful loving person. I do my best to be equally loving. Efrain: Mm, yeah. Col Bill Davis: but but I think that's really it. We care about each other, we want the best for each other, but we talk it through. we even had a thing this weekend we were at and I was getting a little grumpy about something and I said, Sweetie, let me I'm just gonna lay this out so you understand where I'm coming from. It has nothing to do with you. But if I can speak these words and get it out of me, then it's no longer on my back. And that's what I Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: did. And she's like, I appreciate you for doing it that way. I'm like, I'm trying, I'm trying to evolve, baby. Efrain: I had to tell my wife, just you know, as men, we we go through a lot, sometimes hold on to a lot as well. And right, sometimes I have to just say it. Yeah, yeah. I had to Col Bill Davis: Yeah. It's our it's our culture. Yeah. It's like, hey, subscribe, man. Mm. Efrain: and I'm an emotional person. So one, I'm probably gonna get emotional. Two, I was you know, my life has not been the easiest and just have things I've had to overcome. Col Bill Davis: Yeah, no, you you had a very you have very challenging upbringing. And Efrain: Yeah, yeah. Col Bill Davis: yeah, and I do a lot of reading about that because, you know, we need to help people like you get to where you are. Let's get there. Efrain: Man, so I had to tell her, Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I that you become the soundboard. you know, and one of the things she mentioned was like I just want you to understand that you need to get help as well. Right. Just recently was I think I told you I'm adopted, but my adopted my biological mother, not that I had a relationship with her, but found out she was hit by a car. she Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Efrain: was an ICU and it's like, where do I stand with all this, right? Like not that I had a relationship with her, but it's someone that gave birth to me and Col Bill Davis: But still, no, I absolutely. Efrain: You know, so just then I'm in the middle of putting on this huge event next Friday is the event. So you're like just overwhelmed with things and she becomes a soundboard. And this is a woman that's already a stay at home mom. She's Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Efrain: homeschooling, you know, got these two kids that she's probably up to here as well. And then you put more onto her, you know, her plate and sometimes you don't realize it. You're just wanting to communicate. But is it the right time or how you know I mean, like it goes on to all that, man. Col Bill Davis: Timing is everything. Yeah, maybe not right now, but eventually. Efrain: Yeah, tablet on it. Col Bill Davis: But yeah, it's funny. I did way back when when I again we're we're always works in progress trying to evolve. You know, I read that men Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: and var men are Mars and women are Venus. And actually there was some stuff in the okay, okay, you know. But the more you go along the road, you know, you you can't put everyone in the same basket. But but you're right. Communication, the timing of that communication, the open communication, and then trying to understand the frame of reference from the other. And this is funny because a couple of things, Ephraim, you're you're out of target. One thing that made me a better dad was running a high school. My empathy level for kids and my own kids and understanding, you know, some of the challenges and pressures they have really expanded watching that. And, you know, any given time, having one or two kids in children's hospital for suicidal ideation. Only with a you know, like five hundred kids in the school. Wow, man. And you're trying to figure out why and what can we do better? You know, and the same thing in our program, you know, try to understand why. But but applying the empathy and the understanding, one of the things, so my wife, my last after I retired to build the school, she she volunteered. Like when I deployed to Desert Storm, we were there for about a month. And all of a sudden the boss, you know, I was a company executive officer. We we had about 180 some people in the company. Like, hey, we need someone to be the family rep. You you if Brenda would do it, I don't know. So I got to get a free phone call, which back, you know, these days everyone's like, yeah, a phone call. What? No. Back then, no, no cell phones, man. Landlines only. And it was really super expensive. I had some five hundred, seven hundred dollar a month phone bills a couple of times while I was out there. It was staying in touch, man. But Efrain: Real quick, Davis, I was just laughing at your phone when we started. I'm like, we still have landlines on our desk like Bill Davis over here. Col Bill Davis: So that is but however that is a VoIP line, voiceover internet protocol. and I have the same thing at home. But it's good to have a I here's the thing, we're all about redundancy and backup. But that phone travels with me because the app's on my cell phone and it'll transfer over. And when you run a Efrain: No Col Bill Davis: geographically distributed organization, you know, comms are important just like in in life. But so yeah, for twenty-two years after that, my wife got sucked in for twenty-two years. she did family type stuff. And when I retired, they actually hired her to do some of this stuff. One of the classes, so she when I took this job, she resigned that position to volunteer with me. And she took a lot of the classes that she did for the Marines and sailors in the reserves and adopted them for kids, stress management, anger management. One of the big ones is something called four lenses. If you're familiar with Myers Briggs testing, personality testing, Efrain: Yep, yep. Col Bill Davis: it's it's A iterative, interactive version of that. And man, kids, man, that's like when you go to the advanced leadership school, Mrs. Davis teaches, you know, the ways of the warrior, whatever it's like the Jedi mind trick thing. Not really. I mean, I joke around about it, but what it's really all about is understand yourself. And this this is a leadership principle of the Marine Corps. Know yourself, know your people. Straight up, like number one. So this is about know yourself, what's your personality type, what makes you tick. Try to figure out the people around you so that you can communicate better with them. And that that's helped us as well over the last, you know, 15 years or go since she certified to train that stuff. So shame, you know, shameless plug for those guys. There, there's there's Efrain: Cool. Yeah. Col Bill Davis: plenty of different versions, believe me. But I think the fundamental concept is beyond just taking a Myers-Briggs test, like, okay, I got it, is find something that takes that and makes it in a format. That you can process and use it in your personal life and how you interact with other people. Because if you understand their temperament, their psyche a little better, you can better communicate, engage with them. You know, Ephraim, just what we're talking about, with our spouses, you know, know, know kind of how they are so that you know how to approach them and say, hey, sweetie, I got a thing, you know. Do they want it straight Efrain: I Col Bill Davis: or do they want it, you know, sugar-coated? I don't know. Yeah. Efrain: We try, we try. Sometimes it don't matter which way you give it to us, but we're not gonna get down that down that path here. We're not gonna get in trouble today, David. Col Bill Davis: Yeah, we go firmer. Yeah, we went a long way down that path. But it you it's all about heart and hustle, man. It's the heart. It's the heart, baby. Efrain: It is, baby. It is. we talk about communication. You mentioned environmental, that has to end this conversation with AI. We had a really good conversation. I love your stance on it and what you brought to the table. People may not see it from your perspective, but Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Efrain: you're out you're out there. You you you've educated in it. What does that look like nowadays, man? AI, where do you kind of sit with it? Col Bill Davis: So yeah, it's kind of funny when we talked about it, you there's there's my mind, my brain housing group, because of the things I I did in the military and the the level that I worked at, you know, you start talking about a national security thing. You know, I'm I'm not saying anything that anyone there's nothing classified here. I haven't had access to that stuff for 16 years, you know. So but when you look at from a critical infrastructure thing, 70% of the data is flowing through two counties in northern Virginia. That that's not good, man. And when people push back on not wanting their neighborhood, I think some of it, you know, it's it's about being properly informed. And at the end state is like, okay, tell me you don't want that data center. Yet you're all on social media. You're you're all using we were effra and I were kidding for the viewers kidding around about this before. I was gonna answer a question. We were talking about somebody, I said, Yeah, I'm afraid to ask the question because I don't wanna fire up two generators down the street just to answer my simple, you know, Google search, you know. But information is what it is today. I mean, you think about it. What my conversational, I had a landline phone call to talk to my wife in nineteen ninety-one. When I went back downrange in two thousand four to six and I was visiting troops in Qatar and Kuwait and and Bahrain and these places, they're all for free. You know, doing video chats for free Efrain: Mm-hmm. Col Bill Davis: over the internet, you know, and then there's all this data that we've accumulated. If you look at it though, the majority of the data, it's social media, it's videos, it's things like the data, the truly important type information is a small percentage of the junk that's resting in all those server farms, right? And we're accessing it primarily for entertainment. But but I look at back to you know AI itself and the concerns people have. You know, you look at how much computers are engaged right now in everything we do in every aspect from the phone call we're having, your power centers, the grid, water plants, communications, flying, boats, all those things. And so that is the concern that if something goes awry, it could be catastrophic for an area. You know, you shut down the power grid, you you shut down the water supply, you put the wrong chemicals in, where we have people hacking these systems. And that's a lot of what we dealt with at Northcom and the people at the the top levels of government worry about critical infrastructure management. So that that is an area concern and how do you put safeguards in there, you know, that that help us through that. And I think that you got a lot of people that recognize that, realize that issue, and are trying to work on how do we how do we reap the benefits because AI is also Finding new ways to deal with medicine, new ways for us to understand the world around us. How do we make better decisions? Farmers, I mean, wow, how do you optimize your farming? Because that saves you money. It amplifies the crops. UPS, how do you route that to save gas and energy if you're on battery power? Whatever. These are all those benefit things. But down at the level where I'm at now, the concern I have is is AI in education and youth development. And there's a lot of, you know, groundbreaking work. and not it's not so much groundbreaking anymore, because it's been around for a while, but you know, you look at early on, I read a book, Jean, Dr. Jean Twangy out of San Diego, UC San Diego, Generation Me, and she talked about issues. And in her analysis, she talked about how suicide rates were going up for kids starting in 2000 2011. And everyone said, Well, that was tied to the same time the iPhone came out. Like, is it causal? Is it related? No knows. Social media took off. So you have these rising, and so the guy that followed on to this, Jonathan Hayde, you hear a lot about taking cell phones out of school. Well, that was the guy, Jonathan Hayde, who wrote Anxious Generation that looked at her data too, and still tried to say, Is it is it the social media? Is it is it the phones? Is it the lack of sleep? All these things. that combine into youth development that I look at, you know, how does that young brain from birth up until 24 or so, how does that brain form? What are the environmental factors around it that are helping form how that brain works? Not just drugs, because that's we worry about, you know, drug impacts, but also Dopamine, you know, gaming, AI, social media, and how that impacts kids. And it's interesting because there's another guy coming out now that's kind of debunking us saying, well, it's not so much that, it's the other things. At the end of the day, the fundamentals still apply. Free play, socialization, interaction. one of the challenges with social media and AI and things like that, it shortens attention spans. So as kids are developing, they they don't take the time to do the lengthy study, the lengthy introspective, the things that really Help with your brain development focus. And so that's the challenge for us collectively as a society. And my little slice I have in here at Young Marines is how do I apply those lessons the best I can with my limited staff and my amazing volunteers to help shape our programs so that we engage children the best way possible so that they develop into being healthy adults. And so we we have that free play, we have that challenge. We do a lot of outdoor stuff. Kids don't go outdoors, they don't get outside as much. Most of our summer programs, when we have them, and the ones all around the country, it's a camp. Take them out in the woods. We take away the phones, engage each other people, get challenged physically, whatever, breathe in that great. There's a thing the the Japanese call forest bathing. There's a lot of science that supports being in the woods or walking in the woods is good for you. Well, heck yeah, we're gonna do that too. So we Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: just try to provide all those structures, which you would the psychologists call, you know, developmental and protective factors for my psychology folks, social learning theory, that I I have a base understanding of all this, other people understand it better. But we put that all into our program to make the magic sauce that we apply through our volunteers to help kids develop as best we can for the future. Efrain: We could keep talking for Yeah. Well yeah, I'm about to say Col Bill Davis: yeah, we could do yeah, Captain America, man. We could do this all day, baby. Efrain: I had to let you go. I know you got plenty of busy things to do, man. But leave the audience with where they can get more information on what Young Marines is doing. I know we plugged in a couple of times, but for those still watching, still listening, where can they find this information? If you guys are on social as well. Yeah, yeah. Col Bill Davis: One last shameless plug. Yeah. No, yeah, if you go to youngmarines.org, we're we're cell phone friendly, computer friendly, whatever. There's places in there where you can if if you want to donate to the program that's in there. But equally, if not more important, is find a program. And you go to the Find a program. If you're a child that's interested, you can find out about a program, see if there's one near you, if you're a parent. If you're interested in starting a program, we have a way to do that as well. We it's pretty simple. Three people, background checks, letters of recommendation, make sure you're all good folks. And we can start a unit in your in your neighborhood near year and help those kids out as well and become part of this national network that's helping produce great young citizens. Efrain: Appreciate you so much for the conversation, all the insight and for the great work you continue to do on serving our country and fertilizing the future. That's your new word. I know it's a tagline. Col Bill Davis: I know, man, it it's it's right there. Fertilizing the future. No, thank Ephraim, thank you up for the opportunity for the Heart and Hustle podcast team. You know, you're out here telling stories of folks that are trying to do good for their neighborhoods, good for the country. And and and and I know it's it's it's heart with H A R T, I can spell, but it at the end of the day, it's about heart with an H E A R T that does it. Efrain: It is, it is. You know the the reason that H A R real quick so really I we definitely understand the H E R T. Hart is actually the it all started with my co host, which is Col Bill Davis: Yeah. Efrain: Keenan Hart. So he kinda played on his name, put hustle. Col Bill Davis: yeah. Efrain: but yeah, man, I I'm glad that you get it. Some people may not get it. Col Bill Davis: Ha ha no, I got yeah, I was reading the whole thing about, but but I love what you guys are doing. The podcast here is about sporting organizations like ours and others Efrain: Yeah. Col Bill Davis: out there and good things. So youngmarines.org, one last time. I think I have to say it five times for you to remember it, something like that. Efrain: Ampli amplifying missions and stories, man. Thank you so much for sharing yours today. I'm Ephrain. This is Mr. Davis. We'll catch you in the next one. Later. Col Bill Davis: Cheers. Thanks.