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A Tragedy in Texas | The Mistakes Series · Revisionist History

0:15
Speaker 1: Bushkin.
0:20
Speaker 2: Many years ago, I was on the board of a
0:21
Speaker 2: think tank called the RAND Corporation out in Los Angeles.
0:25
Speaker 2: It was one of the coolest things I've ever done.
0:29
Speaker 2: RAND does all kinds of work on healthcare and energy
0:32
Speaker 2: in the environment, and most of all they consult with
0:35
Speaker 2: the Air Force, which meant from time to time various
0:38
Speaker 2: Air Force dignitaries would come and brief us. And they
0:41
Speaker 2: were two I've never forgotten. The first was a four star.
0:46
Speaker 1: General named David Goldfein.
0:48
Speaker 2: From twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, he was Chief of Staff,
0:51
Speaker 2: the highest military post in the Air Force. Here's a
0:55
Speaker 2: Dave goldfiend story that sums him up. I was once
0:58
Speaker 2: in an elevator with him at some conference and we
1:01
Speaker 2: were all locked in conversation with the conference host, and
1:04
Speaker 2: there was a man in the corner of the elevator
1:06
Speaker 2: who clearly worked for the hotel, older guy in a
1:09
Speaker 2: maintenance uniform who I'm ashamed to say we all treated
1:13
Speaker 2: like he was invisible, except for General Goldfin, who stopped
1:18
Speaker 2: the conversation, reached over, shook the man's hand. Hi, I'm
1:23
Speaker 2: Dave Goldfein. How is your day? In my experience, most
1:27
Speaker 2: powerful people do not notice the anonymous maintenance guy in
1:30
Speaker 2: the corner. Second memorable person who came to RAND when
1:35
Speaker 2: I was there the Secretary of the Air Force, Heather Wilson,
1:39
Speaker 2: the political appointee who runs the service along with the
1:42
Speaker 2: chief of Staff. I met Heather Wilson almost ten years
1:45
Speaker 2: ago now, and my friends will back me up on this.
1:48
Speaker 2: I have not stopped talking about her. In my perfect universe,
1:53
Speaker 2: Heather Wilson would run for president. I don't care which party,
1:56
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. And if she did, not only would
1:59
Speaker 2: she win easily, but she would restore everything about that
2:02
Speaker 2: office that has been damaged over the past generation. And
2:09
Speaker 2: we decided to look at some consequential mistakes people have
2:12
Speaker 2: made for this mini series. I remembered something that happened
2:15
Speaker 2: back when Wilson and Goldfein were running the Air Force,
2:18
Speaker 2: a tragedy that unfolded in Texas, and a story about
2:23
Speaker 2: the mistake at the center of it, or more accurately,
2:26
Speaker 2: a story about how to respond to a mistake, and
2:29
Speaker 2: I wanted to share it with you. My name is
2:34
Speaker 2: Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my podcast about
2:38
Speaker 2: things overlooked and misunderstood. This is my conversation with doctor
2:43
Speaker 2: Heather Wilson and General Dave Goldfinfore.
2:50
Speaker 1: We go on.
2:51
Speaker 2: I remember you were in you were in the same
2:53
Speaker 2: Air Force Academy class.
2:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, we started at the Air Force Academy on the
2:59
Speaker 3: same day. I'm in the class of nineteen eighty two,
3:02
Speaker 3: and we didn't know each other really well as cadets
3:05
Speaker 3: in our careers, cross paths several times after graduating from
3:10
Speaker 3: the academy, but we came back together at the end
3:12
Speaker 3: of our our federal careers as Service Secretary and in chief.
3:17
Speaker 3: So in some ways our values were formed at the
3:20
Speaker 3: same institution at the same time.
3:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, now I will I will add that one of
3:25
Speaker 4: us graduated in four years, became a Rhodes scholar, congresswoman,
3:30
Speaker 4: started her own company, became university president and secretary, and
3:34
Speaker 4: one of us didn't.
3:36
Speaker 1: You were how datas did something useful?
3:40
Speaker 4: Dave?
3:41
Speaker 2: How far down in the graduating class were you, Dave?
3:44
Speaker 2: I've forgotten.
3:45
Speaker 4: Well, I will tell you that I was part of
3:47
Speaker 4: the group that made the top half possible.
3:51
Speaker 2: But you said something just then. I keep calling you, Dave.
3:55
Speaker 2: I should call you General Golfing.
3:57
Speaker 4: No, please call me Dave.
3:58
Speaker 2: Okay, So I just want to why do you guys
4:02
Speaker 2: just I don't know which one of you wants to start?
4:04
Speaker 2: Tell me how this all, When, when this began, how
4:07
Speaker 2: it began, how you found out about it, go from there.
4:09
Speaker 3: It was one of the worst days is still probably
4:11
Speaker 3: the worst day in my professional life. So it was
4:14
Speaker 3: a Sunday in November twenty seventeen. I was in the
4:18
Speaker 3: upstairs of my row house in Virginia. I got a
4:23
Speaker 3: call from the Inspector General and he said, I don't
4:28
Speaker 3: know if you're watching TV, but there's been something terrible
4:32
Speaker 3: that's happened in Sutherland Springs.
4:33
Speaker 1: Texas overnight.
4:34
Speaker 5: The quiet town of Sutherland Springs, Texas trying to come
4:37
Speaker 5: to grips with the nation's latest horrific mass shooting. More
4:42
Speaker 5: than two dozen people were killed during Sunday services at
4:45
Speaker 5: the small Baptist church, the victims ranging in age from
4:49
Speaker 5: five to seventy two years old. We also learned a
4:53
Speaker 5: short time ago that between twelve and fourteen of the
4:56
Speaker 5: dead are children.
4:59
Speaker 3: And I of course immediately went on and found out
5:01
Speaker 3: what was going on. Someone walked into a church in
5:07
Speaker 3: Sutherland Springs, Texas and open fire and killed when he
5:12
Speaker 3: was twenty six people. In the end, it was just awful.
5:16
Speaker 5: We are told now that the parents of the shooter's
5:19
Speaker 5: ex wife worshiped here. They were not at church yesterday.
5:24
Speaker 3: The Inspector General General Samsayid said, we're not sure, but
5:29
Speaker 3: we think he was an airman and even more than that,
5:34
Speaker 3: he may have been dishonorably discharged for a violent offense
5:39
Speaker 3: while on active duty. And we might have failed to
5:43
Speaker 3: inform the FBI, which would have if there was a
5:47
Speaker 3: way to put somebody on a list so they can't
5:50
Speaker 3: buy a weapon.
5:52
Speaker 1: And so Dave.
5:53
Speaker 3: And I talked that Sunday afternoon. We agreed we would
5:56
Speaker 3: meet at nine o'clock in the morning in our conference
5:59
Speaker 3: room and find out the facts and then and take
6:03
Speaker 3: it from there. But it was awful. It was just awful.
6:08
Speaker 4: Yeah. So you know, as it all came together, most
6:13
Speaker 4: important thing for us was to sort of get as
6:15
Speaker 4: many facts as we could that we when we gathered
6:17
Speaker 4: the people on Monday, to get everybody together.
6:22
Speaker 3: And it was so when we got together at nine
6:25
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning, the Inspector General General say confirmed
6:29
Speaker 3: that yes he was an airman, Yes he had been
6:33
Speaker 3: convicted of a violent offense while on active duty, and
6:36
Speaker 3: that the service had failed to inform the FBI and
6:39
Speaker 3: put him on the list so he couldn't buy a weapon.
6:44
Speaker 3: And then you think it you know, you think at
6:46
Speaker 3: that point it can't get worse, but it did because
6:51
Speaker 3: the next thing we found out in that meeting was
6:54
Speaker 3: that the Defense Department Inspector General had done a review
6:59
Speaker 3: three years earlier of whether all of the services were
7:04
Speaker 3: appropriately notifying the FBI and putting people on them you know,
7:08
Speaker 3: can't by a weapon list, and said there were problems.
7:14
Speaker 3: So we had been told that the system didn't work.
7:19
Speaker 3: There was an audit finding, and we didn't fix it.
7:23
Speaker 3: So it was not a good day.
7:27
Speaker 2: So you have we have a case of somebody who
7:31
Speaker 2: is dishonorably discharged for a violent offense, and what's the
7:36
Speaker 2: internal mechanism in which the way that case is dealt
7:40
Speaker 2: with within the Air Force.
7:41
Speaker 3: When systems screw up, when when things fail, it's usually
7:49
Speaker 3: not because of somebody intended to make a mistake. Is
7:52
Speaker 3: because you know, the person who did that job moved on,
7:56
Speaker 3: or nobody wrote down the procedures, or people weren't adequately trained,
8:00
Speaker 3: and the way it was supposed to work in the
8:03
Speaker 3: service is that a felony offenses. Unlike minor offenses, felony
8:07
Speaker 3: offenses are handled by the Office of Special Investigations and
8:10
Speaker 3: a military prosecutor. Once there is a conviction, it should
8:14
Speaker 3: have been reported on a system by that Office of
8:18
Speaker 3: Special Investigations to the FBI and then it is closed
8:22
Speaker 3: out and you know, put on file. That didn't happen.
8:27
Speaker 3: And so it was a combination of systems and processes
8:30
Speaker 3: and training and uh, and it wasn't done right. And
8:37
Speaker 3: we were told that in advance when the d D
8:40
Speaker 3: Inspector General did an audit of all of the all
8:43
Speaker 3: of the services, and in fact that the Air Force
8:46
Speaker 3: had been doing it, doing better on it than the
8:48
Speaker 3: other services. But that didn't matter. We still knew we
8:52
Speaker 3: had a problem and we'd fail to fix it.
8:59
Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more of my conversation with
9:02
Speaker 2: General Goldfein and doctor Wilson. After you get that call,
9:20
Speaker 2: doctor Wilson, who do you call? Who's your first call?
9:24
Speaker 1: Is it Dave?
9:25
Speaker 3: My first call usually was to Dave. Now we also
9:28
Speaker 3: talked to the General Counsel and so forth. It was
9:30
Speaker 3: actually out of town, as I remember on that day,
9:33
Speaker 3: but one of the things, and this is one of
9:35
Speaker 3: the things about our relationship is service secretary in chief.
9:39
Speaker 3: The chief has an obligation to give his best military
9:43
Speaker 3: advice to the civilians appointed to run the department. As
9:48
Speaker 3: a secretary, there's nothing that says that you have an
9:50
Speaker 3: obligation to ask for it. But I generally did a
9:54
Speaker 3: much better job when I asked for it, because Dave
9:57
Speaker 3: Goldfeen may be a much better secretary.
10:00
Speaker 2: You said you guys were shaped by the same values,
10:04
Speaker 2: and this is a really important part, and I want
10:07
Speaker 2: you to talk a little bit before we go on.
10:08
Speaker 1: I want you to talk about it. What do you
10:10
Speaker 1: mean by that?
10:11
Speaker 4: So each service has a set of core values that
10:15
Speaker 4: are infused into every member of the institution, normally during
10:19
Speaker 4: basic training and then reinforced throughout their time in service.
10:24
Speaker 4: And so you could go to each service and find
10:26
Speaker 4: those core values. For us, it's integrity, service, and excellence.
10:30
Speaker 4: And so you know, integrity first is how we're taught
10:34
Speaker 4: to approach all things. So you know, in terms of
10:38
Speaker 4: how we approach this, it started off with ownership because
10:42
Speaker 4: we needed to ensure that we were true to the
10:45
Speaker 4: values of the institution and that we were representing the
10:49
Speaker 4: institution correctly as its leaders, and so integrity first, service
10:54
Speaker 4: before self, meaning that we you know, we look at
10:59
Speaker 4: this opportunity to lead as a gift that's offered by
11:03
Speaker 4: those who were privileged to serve, and each day we
11:05
Speaker 4: asked the question, are we worthy of that trust and
11:08
Speaker 4: competence not only of the airman that we were privileged
11:11
Speaker 4: to lead, but also the American people that entrusted us
11:14
Speaker 4: with their sons and daughters. And so those core values drive,
11:20
Speaker 4: you know, how we choose to handle things throughout our careers.
11:24
Speaker 3: I would say on the integrity first part. Once on
11:28
Speaker 3: that Monday morning, we knew the truth. We knew that
11:32
Speaker 3: he had been an airman, We knew that he had
11:34
Speaker 3: been convicted of a violent crime, and we knew that
11:37
Speaker 3: we should have reported at to the FBI, and we didn't.
11:41
Speaker 3: Those were facts we knew by Monday morning. And as
11:44
Speaker 3: I said, our general counsel was out of town, but
11:46
Speaker 3: there was a more junior lawyer around the table there
11:49
Speaker 3: and everybody was just man was just a somber meeting.
11:52
Speaker 3: But the lawyer when we kind of went around the
11:54
Speaker 3: table and said, all right, what do you think we
11:56
Speaker 3: should do next? On this one? It was very often
12:00
Speaker 3: that Dave and I came from things from a slightly
12:02
Speaker 3: different perspectives. You know, we we'd see different things, and
12:06
Speaker 3: I think we made better decisions because ste sharpened steel.
12:10
Speaker 3: We'd engage a lot with each other, but in this one,
12:13
Speaker 3: there was no daylight between us. From the very beginning,
12:16
Speaker 3: we knew the truth and we thought we needed to
12:19
Speaker 3: just say it, and so we made a decision at
12:22
Speaker 3: that meeting that we would release a statement by late
12:26
Speaker 3: that morning. We gave them a deadline of eleven. I
12:29
Speaker 3: think it took us till one. It always takes a
12:31
Speaker 3: little longer, but to say, to say what we knew,
12:36
Speaker 3: and we also thought that that would allow our institution
12:40
Speaker 3: to focus on fixing the problem rather than denying it
12:45
Speaker 3: or delaying things, or trying to duck accountability. And David
12:50
Speaker 3: and I also did a press conference or press availability
12:53
Speaker 3: with the Pentagon media the following morning, which was you know,
12:57
Speaker 3: that wasn't fun. But some ways, when we just said
13:02
Speaker 3: these are the facts as we know them, and this
13:03
Speaker 3: is what we're doing to fix the problem, what could
13:05
Speaker 3: they ask? You know, we weren't going to deny things.
13:08
Speaker 3: It was really unpleasant, but it was the truth, and
13:13
Speaker 3: I think Dave and I were both committed to just
13:16
Speaker 3: telling the truth. Well, good afternoon, Paps open up with
13:22
Speaker 3: a couple of remarks. The offenses for which the shooter
13:27
Speaker 3: in Texas was court martialed should have been reported, and
13:32
Speaker 3: that's why we launched a full scale review of this
13:35
Speaker 3: case and all others like it. Since Sunday night, the
13:39
Speaker 3: Air Force Inspector General has talked to about one hundred
13:42
Speaker 3: people involved in this case. We are looking at all
13:47
Speaker 3: of our databases and if we have problems that we find,
13:51
Speaker 3: we'll fix them.
13:53
Speaker 2: David, you can you can you give us your memory
13:55
Speaker 2: of that press conference?
13:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, you know, it's uh. I think we both
14:03
Speaker 4: expected to get, you know, really tough questions and we
14:07
Speaker 4: were prepared, you know, to own up. But it was,
14:12
Speaker 4: like Heather said, right once we opened up with hey,
14:17
Speaker 4: we own this. You know, we we the United States
14:21
Speaker 4: Air Force goofed this up, and we as the leaders,
14:25
Speaker 4: represent the institution that guped this up. And so we
14:28
Speaker 4: take ownership and our focus is now on ensure that
14:32
Speaker 4: we understand all the facts and we are going to
14:34
Speaker 4: fix this to ensure that it can never happen again.
14:38
Speaker 4: Once we started off with that statement, you really could
14:41
Speaker 4: have sort of felt the air go out of the room.
14:43
Speaker 4: And then the questions at that point were just more
14:47
Speaker 4: about detail, and I don't remember getting any really pointed,
14:52
Speaker 4: you know, attacks or questions. It was more okay, well
14:56
Speaker 4: tell us what you know about this, and how are
14:58
Speaker 4: you going to handle that? And so I think that,
15:02
Speaker 4: you know, my recollection of it was it accomplished what
15:05
Speaker 4: we were hoping it would accomplish, which was taking ownership.
15:09
Speaker 3: One of the things that somebody around that table on
15:12
Speaker 3: Monday morning said was, well, you know, you and the
15:14
Speaker 3: Chief weren't the leaders of the Air Force at the
15:16
Speaker 3: time this prosecution happened and they failed to report. And
15:21
Speaker 3: both Dave and I had the same reaction was that
15:24
Speaker 3: doesn't matter. We represent the institution. And Dave couldn't take
15:29
Speaker 3: the four stars off of his shoulders anymore than I
15:33
Speaker 3: could take the Airmen symbol off of my lapel. When
15:37
Speaker 3: you are the leader, you own the institution and you
15:41
Speaker 3: represent the institution, and you have to take ownership for
15:45
Speaker 3: the institution and lead it forward. And so the fact
15:50
Speaker 3: that it didn't happen on our watch, that's no excuse.
15:55
Speaker 3: We're not going to make an excuse. We're not going
15:58
Speaker 3: to say it was somebody else's problem.
16:02
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. What happens next.
16:19
Speaker 2: You have this press conference, You've you've told the world
16:23
Speaker 2: we're looking into We're going to go over every single case,
16:26
Speaker 2: make sure we've done the right thing, but we still
16:28
Speaker 2: have the aftermath.
16:31
Speaker 3: In Texas, this was a this was a bedroom community
16:35
Speaker 3: for Randolph Air Force Base, and then some of the
16:38
Speaker 3: victims were the family of an airman who was deployed overseas,
16:43
Speaker 3: and Dave took the lead on that part, and I'll
16:46
Speaker 3: let him tell that part.
16:49
Speaker 4: So we reached out to the community and because there
16:53
Speaker 4: was a series of funerals they were holding, and reached
16:57
Speaker 4: out to the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nuremberg at
17:01
Speaker 4: the time, and asked if it would be appropriate and
17:05
Speaker 4: it would be acceptable for me to travel to the
17:09
Speaker 4: San Antonio and attend the funeral in uniform representing the service,
17:14
Speaker 4: knowing that we were, you know, we were responsible for
17:18
Speaker 4: everything we've been talking about. Because I wanted to make
17:22
Speaker 4: sure that we weren't contributing to any increased pain by
17:26
Speaker 4: me being there, and I offered to also come into
17:29
Speaker 4: the entire if that's what they preferred, and they said, no,
17:31
Speaker 4: we'd appreciate if you would be here in uniform. So
17:37
Speaker 4: I met with the mayor first and we talked about,
17:40
Speaker 4: all right, how do we ensure that this is not
17:42
Speaker 4: just you know, once and done, that we have a
17:45
Speaker 4: long term commitment to this community. As the community works
17:48
Speaker 4: to recover from this tragedy, how do we ensure the
17:52
Speaker 4: Air Force is continually plugged in for the long term.
17:55
Speaker 4: So that was what the agenda working out with the mayor.
17:59
Speaker 2: Tell me more about going to that funeral, you're how
18:03
Speaker 2: did you feel on the flight down?
18:06
Speaker 4: Well, it was I knew that we had airman that
18:09
Speaker 4: was deployed and several members of his family. This is
18:14
Speaker 4: a young airman. Several men member of his families were
18:18
Speaker 4: killed and we were going to be several, yes, members
18:22
Speaker 4: of his extended family because a member again. Sutherland Springs
18:26
Speaker 4: is a bedroom community for Randolph Air Force Base, which
18:29
Speaker 4: is one of our largest Air Force training bases. So
18:33
Speaker 4: the number of people that come through Randolph, that's probably
18:36
Speaker 4: one of the most traveled bases. So when you talk
18:39
Speaker 4: to airman right and ask them of their common experiences,
18:44
Speaker 4: many of them will share a period of time when
18:46
Speaker 4: they went through Randolph Air Force Base or Lackland Air
18:49
Speaker 4: Force Base in San Antonio. So San Antonio is known
18:52
Speaker 4: as Military City, USA. Is one of the the monikers
18:58
Speaker 4: that it's used because there's so much military. You can't
19:02
Speaker 4: go to the airport in San Antonio without seeing a
19:04
Speaker 4: large number of young airmen who are who are arriving
19:07
Speaker 4: for basic training or leaving, and so you know, on
19:11
Speaker 4: the way down, I'm traveling in uniform to Military City, USA,
19:17
Speaker 4: and I'm going to meet with this airman. And having
19:21
Speaker 4: had the unfortunate opportunity to meet with a lot of
19:27
Speaker 4: airman and families over the course of my career, especially
19:30
Speaker 4: in the two years I was the Air Component Commander
19:32
Speaker 4: for Central Command where we lost a number of soldier, sailors,
19:36
Speaker 4: airman Marines while I was there. I'd had experience with
19:40
Speaker 4: handling the tragedy of death and talking with the families,
19:47
Speaker 4: and so I had a good sense of what I
19:49
Speaker 4: was stepping into. I'll never forget, you know, going to
19:53
Speaker 4: the funeral and I met with the pastor of the church,
19:58
Speaker 4: Frank Pomeroy, and it continually remains perhaps one of the
20:03
Speaker 4: most profound spiritual moments that I had as chief. When
20:09
Speaker 4: you know, Pastor Pomeroy stood up and started off by
20:13
Speaker 4: asking us if we would pray for the shooter and
20:16
Speaker 4: his family, and he did so while his fourteen year
20:21
Speaker 4: old daughter was in a casket because she they had
20:25
Speaker 4: lost her in the shooting. I don't know if there's
20:30
Speaker 4: a better example of spiritual courage, right we forgive those
20:35
Speaker 4: who trespass against us. I don't know that we're going
20:37
Speaker 4: to find a better example of that. And so being
20:41
Speaker 4: there for that airman, being there for those families was,
20:46
Speaker 4: you know, both profound and also I think every time
20:53
Speaker 4: there's a setback or a failure in an institution, it's
20:58
Speaker 4: an opportunity for the leaders to teach the next generation
21:01
Speaker 4: how to handle failure because we all get knocked down.
21:05
Speaker 4: All institutions have failures. The question is not whether you're
21:10
Speaker 4: going to fail. The question is how do you handle
21:12
Speaker 4: it when you do fail? Do you take ownership? Do
21:16
Speaker 4: you step up? Do you get back up? And do
21:18
Speaker 4: you teach the next generation of leaders how to handle
21:22
Speaker 4: failures so that they can be more prepared when it
21:26
Speaker 4: comes to them, because it's going to come to them.
21:30
Speaker 4: My concern on this particular one was would there be
21:34
Speaker 4: a hostile reaction by the community to my being there,
21:40
Speaker 4: because it's a hostile reaction not to me, but a
21:43
Speaker 4: hostile reaction to Ni States Air Force. And there was
21:46
Speaker 4: none of that. It was a welcoming opening. Sutherland Springs
21:51
Speaker 4: is an incredible community. And again I go back to
21:54
Speaker 4: Pastor of Frank Pomeroy, who is just an incredible and
21:58
Speaker 4: incredible spiritual leader. I think he set the tone for
22:03
Speaker 4: all of us when he asked us to pray for
22:05
Speaker 4: the shooter.
22:07
Speaker 1: And there was there wasn't a hostile reaction because you
22:11
Speaker 1: showed up.
22:14
Speaker 4: I don't know how much of it was, because I
22:17
Speaker 4: think it was more we were all there for the
22:20
Speaker 4: same purpose, right. I was not there to do anything
22:25
Speaker 4: other than I mean, I didn't sit in I didn't
22:28
Speaker 4: sit in the front road. They tried to, you know,
22:31
Speaker 4: move me up to the front row, and I said, no,
22:32
Speaker 4: I'm I'm part of this community today, and so I
22:37
Speaker 4: want to sit with the community, and I'd like to
22:39
Speaker 4: sit in an area that is, you know, with the
22:42
Speaker 4: families that are represented here. And and so this was
22:47
Speaker 4: not a you know, we made a point. I made
22:52
Speaker 4: a point of my team. I said, uh, do not
22:55
Speaker 4: please make this a big protocol event for the Chief
22:58
Speaker 4: of Staff of the Air Force. This is Dave Goldfing
23:04
Speaker 4: coming here to show my respect, my love for these families,
23:09
Speaker 4: and to represent the institution that let them down.
23:13
Speaker 1: M hm hm.
23:15
Speaker 3: So I don't think I could have done that. First
23:16
Speaker 3: of all, I think Dave was Now there's a when
23:19
Speaker 3: people think about the American Air Force, they don't think
23:22
Speaker 3: about somebody in civilian clothes the secretary. They think about
23:27
Speaker 3: our uniform military And so I think Dave was the
23:29
Speaker 3: right one to represent us there, and he and I
23:32
Speaker 3: talk about this. I also think I'm not sure I
23:35
Speaker 3: could have done what he did. I mean, it was
23:38
Speaker 3: it was just pretty amazing as.
23:42
Speaker 1: A leader to do that.
23:45
Speaker 3: But I don't mean with the humility that he did it,
23:48
Speaker 3: because he's that way. But just the whole thing's just
23:52
Speaker 3: so incredibly heartbreaking.
23:55
Speaker 1: M One last question. It's such an extraordinary story.
24:01
Speaker 2: Can you reflect on what this ought to teach us,
24:07
Speaker 2: what this taught you, and what this ought to teach
24:08
Speaker 2: us about what a leader is.
24:12
Speaker 3: You know, there's a variety of lessons I think woven
24:16
Speaker 3: into this. I actually had to go up to Capitol
24:18
Speaker 3: Hill and testify in front of the Senate several months
24:22
Speaker 3: after this happened, and anybody who testifies in front of
24:28
Speaker 3: the Senate needs to be prepared, to be grilled, to
24:30
Speaker 3: get really hard questions. And I've had harder questions on
24:35
Speaker 3: more benign topics than I did on that day. And
24:41
Speaker 3: I think part of it was because I did in
24:43
Speaker 3: my opening statement pretty much what Dave and I had
24:46
Speaker 3: done the day after it happened, which was to own
24:50
Speaker 3: it and to tell the Senate what we were doing
24:54
Speaker 3: to fix it. And I, of course had met individually
24:56
Speaker 3: with the Senators, mostly the Senators and House members most
25:00
Speaker 3: directly affected. I remember we had a wonderful Director of
25:05
Speaker 3: Legislative Affairs, General Steve Bash, he called him Bash. He
25:10
Speaker 3: was a B two pilot, very experienced in legislative affairs
25:13
Speaker 3: and an aviation and he was sitting behind me in
25:16
Speaker 3: his very stoic way as he did as a two star,
25:19
Speaker 3: and helped prepare me. He had been there Monday morning,
25:22
Speaker 3: sitting through the meetings. He had gone with me to
25:25
Speaker 3: the Hill for all of the one on ones. He
25:27
Speaker 3: had been involved in all of this, and he was
25:30
Speaker 3: he was a very straight guy, very professional guy. And
25:32
Speaker 3: when we walked out of that hearing, he said, you know,
25:35
Speaker 3: Madam's secretary, I learned something today that's pretty strong statement
25:41
Speaker 3: coming from a two star with all of his experience.
25:45
Speaker 3: I said, well, what's that bash? He said, The result
25:49
Speaker 3: of today's hearing wasn't decided today. It happened in the
25:54
Speaker 3: twenty four hours after the incident, when you and the
25:58
Speaker 3: chief took ownership. And by taking ownership, by owning failure,
26:08
Speaker 3: we not only allowed the institution to focus on fixing
26:12
Speaker 3: the problem and focusing on the future rather than on
26:16
Speaker 3: kind of trying to mess around and deny the past.
26:19
Speaker 3: But it also you know, sometimes when institutions screw up,
26:24
Speaker 3: they get sued or their just claims or whatever. And yes,
26:27
Speaker 3: the government did get sued. The Air Force got sued
26:30
Speaker 3: by the families of the victims. But for it as
26:35
Speaker 3: the institution, the families also were. If we had denied responsibility,
26:44
Speaker 3: the relationship between the communities and the service would have
26:47
Speaker 3: been completely different. And because it would have been you know,
26:52
Speaker 3: range linked difference with lawyers talking to lawyers, and it
26:57
Speaker 3: would not have allowed them to heal either. And so
27:00
Speaker 3: I think it mattered to the institution to be able
27:04
Speaker 3: to say, okay, when things get screwed up, the best
27:07
Speaker 3: thing to do is to own it and fix it
27:09
Speaker 3: even when it really hurts. And it's also the best
27:12
Speaker 3: for the people who have been impacted by the failure.
27:17
Speaker 4: I'll share with you that I've come to believe over
27:19
Speaker 4: the years that the journey to becoming an inspirational servant
27:23
Speaker 4: leader is a journey that actually never ends. I'm still
27:28
Speaker 4: not the servant leader I want to be, but I'm
27:31
Speaker 4: working on it. And I think if we ever get
27:34
Speaker 4: to a point where we plant the flag as leaders
27:35
Speaker 4: and believe we've figured it all out and got it
27:37
Speaker 4: all maybe that's a pretty good indication of it's time
27:39
Speaker 4: to retire, because we stop learning, we stopped listening, we
27:44
Speaker 4: stop growing as leaders. And so, you know, leadership as
27:51
Speaker 4: a servant leader is a gift, and it's a gift
27:54
Speaker 4: that's offered by those you're privileged to lead, and you've
27:56
Speaker 4: got to earn and re earn that gift every single day.
27:59
Speaker 4: And you earn trust and confidence as a leader over weeks, months,
28:04
Speaker 4: and years, but it can be lost in a single
28:06
Speaker 4: moment of indiscretion or bad decision making or bad behavior.
28:12
Speaker 4: And so for us, there was an opportunity that was
28:16
Speaker 4: presented for us to teach that next generation of leaders
28:21
Speaker 4: what servant leadership looks like. And so perhaps part of
28:26
Speaker 4: the you know, the positive outcome of this incredibly terrible
28:32
Speaker 4: tragedy for these families in this community is there's a
28:36
Speaker 4: there's a story here that can help the next generation
28:40
Speaker 4: when they face something similar and how to step up
28:43
Speaker 4: as leaders and take ownership.
28:48
Speaker 2: I'm going to change what I said at the beginning.
28:51
Speaker 2: I don't just want Heather Wilson to run for president.
28:54
Speaker 2: I want the two of them on the ticket. Doesn't
28:56
Speaker 2: matter which party, doesn't matter which order. Wilson and Golfing
29:00
Speaker 2: are Goldfing and Wilson. Wilson and Golfing in twenty twenty
29:03
Speaker 2: eight to remind us.
29:05
Speaker 1: What real leadership looks like.
29:08
Speaker 2: If you want to know more about the two of them,
29:10
Speaker 2: they wrote a wonderful book together, Get Back Up Lessons
29:14
Speaker 2: in Servant Leadership. Links to the book are in our
29:17
Speaker 2: show notes. Revisionist History is produced by Nina Bird, Lawrence
29:21
Speaker 2: Lucy Sullivan, and Ben Nadafh Haffrey. Our editor is Karen Schakerji,
29:26
Speaker 2: fact checking by Angelie Mercado. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith.
29:31
Speaker 2: Engineering by Nina Bird Lawrence Owen Miller and Sarah Bugeer.
29:35
Speaker 2: Original music by Luis Guerra, Sound design and mastering by
29:40
Speaker 2: Jake Gorsky. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, coming next week on our
29:46
Speaker 2: Mistakes series.
29:48
Speaker 1: He's like, YO, I need you to make a record,
29:51
Speaker 1: and I said what he said, make a record with
29:53
Speaker 1: j Low and put jaw on it and make it
29:55
Speaker 1: a duet