Latest / The SEANC View / Veterans Day Edition: A conversation with DMVA Secretary Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette

Transcript

Veterans Day Edition: A conversation with DMVA Secretary Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette · The SEANC View

• 0:00
  Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm your host Jonathan Owens joined by Artis Watkins, Suzanne Beasley, and Samantha Klein.
• 0:09
  We have a big show this week so let's dive right in.
• 0:22
  Our awkward silence is over and we're back. So this is a special episode.
• 0:28
  We are going to be honoring Veterans Day this week, which will be on Tuesday, November 11th.
• 0:34
  So this episode will come out on Friday before and then. Yeah,
• 0:37
  there's a lot of events that weekend going into. But we have a very special guest.
• 0:41
  We're very excited to have her in our presence.
• 0:44
  She stole the show at our convention in September.
• 0:47
  Everyone was very excited by her speech about military and veteran issues.
• 0:51
  And we immediately ambushed her and begged her to be on our podcast.
• 0:57
  I think it was a bit of a clamor after the convention.
• 1:01
  I like got off the stage and someone, now I know it's Suzanne,
• 1:05
  but was like, can you be on our podcast? Like, who are you? Who's podcast?
• 1:09
  Well, the whole place was like, oh, my goodness. Let me introduce her first.
• 1:14
  We haven't even gotten who she is.
• 1:17
  So the voice you just heard was Secretary Jocelyn Mittnall Mallette,
• 1:21
  of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veteran Affairs.
• 1:26
  Thank you for joining us and giving us some time. Thank you for having me.
• 1:29
  Now you can finish your thought.
• 1:30
  Well, I was struck because we have a lot of speakers come to our convention,
• 1:35
  and we're very thankful to everybody who comes. And then we have a ton of scenic speakers.
• 1:39
  And there's some really, really good speakers in the bunch.
• 1:42
  But you and one of our members, our membership chair, Jamie Robbins,
• 1:47
  y'all were the two that everybody was the most struck with.
• 1:50
  And everybody afterwards said, hey, the secretary needs to run for president.
• 1:56
  Yeah. They were really just very struck by your remarks.
• 2:00
  And I don't think I've seen that happen in years at the convention.
• 2:04
  And Jamie also has a military background. He does. Maybe it's a military.
• 2:08
  Ah, there you go. Jamie was also, he's never stood up and spoken,
• 2:12
  to my knowledge, at convention anyway.
• 2:15
  I know he's a listener. Hey, Jamie. Thank you. He's our one listener.
• 2:19
  So we did have several members come up, and they were very excited about your
• 2:23
  speech. And you talked a lot about your backstory in the speech.
• 2:27
  Can you give us a little taste of it here on the podcast of your backstory growing up?
• 2:31
  Sure, yeah. Well, thank you all so much for having me again,
• 2:34
  and thank you for those kind words.
• 2:35
  I really enjoyed being at the convention. It was my first one,
• 2:38
  obviously, because I've been the secretary for all of nine months.
• 2:41
  But it was fun to be there. A lot of energy and excitement in the room.
• 2:44
  And so my background, I am a military brat. I'm a third-generation veteran.
• 2:48
  My grandfather served in the Army, enlisted for 26 years, and retired as a First Sergeant.
• 2:54
  My dad was an officer in the Air Force for 30 years, and then I served for 10
• 2:58
  years on active duty in the Air Force after graduating from the Air Force Academy,
• 3:01
  thanks to a nomination from North Carolina Congresswoman Eva Clayton.
• 3:06
  So I am a third-generation veteran, but also come from a family that has a combined
• 3:11
  service history of 198 years.
• 3:14
  Wow. And so that's why— I know, right? And we didn't know that was the number
• 3:18
  until I got this job because I was doing an interview for a magazine.
• 3:22
  It was about generational service.
• 3:24
  So I called my dad and was like, hey, can you call your brothers and these cousins?
• 3:27
  And we added it all up and it was 198.
• 3:30
  So very proud of that. But because of that, I mean, that's why I said yes to this job.
• 3:36
  I don't think I said this at the convention, but I did not apply for this job.
• 3:40
  I was called and asked by the Stein transition team to interview for it.
• 3:44
  And I did not say yes right away.
• 3:46
  But obviously I ultimately said yes because of the mission.
• 3:49
  So after I graduated from the Air Force Academy, I served a one-year special
• 3:53
  duty assignment as an admissions advisor, telling young people about opportunities
• 3:57
  at the Air Force Academy.
• 3:58
  And then after that, I had taken Arabic while I was in school,
• 4:02
  and that helped me get a slot as an intelligence officer.
• 4:04
  So for the next couple of years, I was researching threats in foreign countries
• 4:08
  and briefing our pilots before they flew into war zones.
• 4:11
  And then I cross-trained into the JAG Corps through what's called the Funded
• 4:15
  Legal Education Program. I went to law school at Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill,
• 4:20
  and then joined the JAG Corps.
• 4:22
  And so I was a prosecutor in the JAG Corps for two years.
• 4:26
  And then huge plot twist. I was diagnosed with a sleep disorder. I have narcolepsy.
• 4:32
  And so I was medically retired. Wow. I know.
• 4:35
  People are like, Jocelyn, how do you have so much energy but also a sleep disorder? Exactly.
• 4:39
  And I'm like, it's just my excitement, the adrenaline. I love my job.
• 4:41
  So then after I got out of the military, I clerked on the state Supreme Court
• 4:46
  for the Honorable Barbara Jackson and then went to work at an international law firm.
• 4:50
  So I was at McGuire Woods for six years, made partner and then realized just
• 4:55
  how tired I actually was. Not because I have a whole sleep disorder,
• 4:59
  but also I got married by then, had two small children. They are six and four now.
• 5:04
  And so I quit, quit my job at the law firm, didn't have another job in hand.
• 5:10
  One of my clients was like super surprised and I remember him calling me and
• 5:14
  saying like so are you going in-house I was like yeah to my house I am tired
• 5:20
  right and so it was a real moment to like
• 5:23
  pause, to be still and know, and to just reset.
• 5:29
  I mean, I loved working at McGuire Woods. The work was really challenging. The people were great.
• 5:33
  But I realized after six years, I wasn't feeling as fulfilled as I had wanted to be.
• 5:38
  And I think what was missing was that overarching mission and goal.
• 5:44
  Team spirit, right, that I felt when I was in the military.
• 5:47
  And so some of the habits that I instilled into my daily schedule while I was
• 5:51
  on sabbatical to just, like, keep myself healthy mentally, physically,
• 5:56
  spiritually, and emotionally that I've carried through into this job are,
• 5:59
  like, the reason why I'm sane in this current job.
• 6:02
  But it also gave me that space to be able to say yes to Governor Stein's team
• 6:06
  when they called and asked me to interview.
• 6:08
  So that's the backstory. Awesome. Wow. So let's back up just a little bit briefly.
• 6:13
  Why did you choose the Air Force Academy? Oh, so my dad was in the Air Force
• 6:18
  and I knew like we lived in an apartment in a high rise in Germany for three
• 6:24
  years and we would get home from school before he got home from work.
• 6:29
  And I remember being in like third grade, staring out the window,
• 6:32
  waiting for dad to walk on the sidewalk to come home. And he was obviously wearing
• 6:36
  his uniform and just always wore it with such pride.
• 6:39
  And I was like, I want to be really proud of whatever I'm doing.
• 6:43
  So I knew that I wanted to join the military.
• 6:46
  I have four uncles who are Marines, a couple uncles who are Army,
• 6:51
  and they all told me to go Air Force. Yeah.
• 6:54
  So I listened. But it was really, I only applied to three schools when I was
• 6:58
  in high school. I applied to the Air Force Academy, Duke, and Carolina.
• 7:01
  Got into all three, but got partial ROTC scholarships to Carolina and Duke.
• 7:05
  I knew that I wanted to serve in the Air Force and not incur a lot of debt.
• 7:09
  So. Awesome. Yeah. Which is the Air Force. That's just, that question was just
• 7:12
  for, strictly for my purposes.
• 7:14
  I think all young men would love to be flying planes. It is interesting why
• 7:18
  people choose the branch. But it's also interesting, since you talked about
• 7:23
  the cumulative service of your family, that it wasn't just cumulative service.
• 7:27
  It's in more than one branch. Oh, yeah.
• 7:29
  Three branches, officer and enlisted. Oh, interesting.
• 7:33
  It's awesome. Okay. North Carolina is dubbed the most friendly state for the
• 7:38
  military. Talk about that for a minute.
• 7:40
  Why? So I don't know if I talked about this at the convention.
• 7:43
  Probably not. Because when I saw this question, I was like, hmm. Hmm.
• 7:47
  So the governor gave each of his cabinet secretaries 15 minutes to deep dive
• 7:52
  our respective agencies during our first like two months of cabinet meetings.
• 7:56
  And so it was my turn to deep dive DMVA.
• 7:59
  You know, the trial attorney and me wanted to start with an attention grabbing
• 8:02
  statement. So I said, good afternoon, governor, fellow cabinet secretaries.
• 8:06
  I want to start by telling all of you that North Carolina is not the number
• 8:10
  one state for military and veterans.
• 8:12
  And I would ask all of you to stop saying that effective immediately because
• 8:15
  it makes you look out of touch.
• 8:17
  And after that, the governor said,
• 8:19
  well, Secretary Millett, what are other states doing that we are not?
• 8:21
  I said, respectfully, Governor, you're giving me 15 minutes.
• 8:24
  And it would take all that time and then some if I were to tell you all the
• 8:28
  things that other states are doing that we are not yet doing in North Carolina.
• 8:31
  So I gave him two, and then we've talked about the rest, several of them later.
• 8:35
  But I love this story for two reasons. One is we have a competitive governor
• 8:40
  in a great way for our state.
• 8:42
  He immediately wanted to know how can we get to number one.
• 8:45
  But he's also a governor. And the second reason why I love this story is he's
• 8:48
  a governor who's not going to, like, carelessly spout statistics and say that
• 8:52
  we're number one when his cabinet secretary says we're not.
• 8:55
  And so he has, in fact, stopped saying North Carolina is the number one state
• 8:57
  for military veterans. He now says we're a great state.
• 9:01
  And we are, but we are not yet number one. But I can tell you that my team has
• 9:06
  an amazing plan to get us there.
• 9:08
  And so my three priorities are sector collaboration, transition support services,
• 9:13
  and economic opportunity.
• 9:15
  And I think if we really are able to carry out those three things,
• 9:19
  we truly will be the number one state for military veterans. That's a great answer.
• 9:24
  Who's military unfriendly? Yeah, exactly. What state that needs national protection
• 9:30
  would ever be unfriendly to the military?
• 9:34
  Yeah, I don't know if I would say unfriendly. It's just that some states are
• 9:37
  more friendly because of specific programs and legislation.
• 9:42
  They cut more on property taxes. They have better in-state tuition for military
• 9:48
  or they offer in-state tuition to all military spouses and veterans.
• 9:52
  And some of the things we do in North Carolina, which is why we are a great
• 9:55
  state, but there's still some more work to do.
• 9:58
  And some of it also is not like structured and formalized, right?
• 10:02
  It's just more of an accepted awareness of what the military and veterans bring
• 10:08
  to your state. And so I think part of that is on my department.
• 10:12
  I think we should be the hub agency with all these groups that are doing great
• 10:16
  work for military and veterans.
• 10:17
  I think that some states do a better job of transition support services,
• 10:22
  helping families transition out of the military into the civilian sector.
• 10:26
  And we have 20,000 transitioning service members just in North Carolina every year.
• 10:31
  And I just think there's space for us to do more. But part of becoming the most
• 10:35
  military and veteran-friendly state is having the right resources to do that,
• 10:39
  right? Like people and money.
• 10:41
  And so my department is the smallest cabinet agency by far, both in FTEs and budget.
• 10:48
  In fact, there are four divisions within the Department of Environmental Quality.
• 10:53
  Divisions, okay, within DEQ. Within the overall department. That have more people
• 10:57
  and money than my entire department.
• 11:00
  And every single division within the Department of Transportation is
• 11:05
  has more people and money than my entire department.
• 11:08
  So I don't know how we can say with a straight face we're the number one state
• 11:11
  for military and veterans when I have a very small staff and a very small budget.
• 11:17
  But we are doing, we're small but mighty.
• 11:19
  We're bridging out and working with other organizations that support us.
• 11:22
  Well, I don't think there's anything wrong. I think that would be your job to
• 11:25
  say we're military friendly, but we shouldn't pat ourselves on the back until
• 11:30
  we've reached the pinnacle for all of our military folks.
• 11:33
  And when you think about it, your department has an opportunity to affect millions
• 11:38
  of people in this state, family members of— Oh, my gosh.
• 11:42
  Yeah, Fort Bragg is like the largest military base in the country,
• 11:46
  right? So if Fort Bragg were a city, it would be the fifth largest city in North Carolina.
• 11:52
  Good grief. We have the fourth largest military population out of any state,
• 11:56
  and we have the seventh largest veteran population, and we have 20,000 transitioning service members.
• 12:03
  But we are not the number one state for military and veterans simply because
• 12:06
  a lot of us live here, right?
• 12:08
  Like, what are we doing to support all these people that we're so proud to have in North Carolina?
• 12:13
  Well, that would really power the economy if you could keep those 20,000.
• 12:18
  So the defense sector, like I'm talking about paychecks to people who work on
• 12:23
  military bases, civilian and otherwise. I'm talking about disability payments,
• 12:27
  retirement checks, VA, money coming into the state.
• 12:31
  The defense sector is the number two economic driver in North Carolina after agriculture.
• 12:37
  Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the smallest cabinet agency. And the smallest cabinet agency.
• 12:43
  But we are doing what we can to change that.
• 12:46
  But I really appreciate that question. Well, we have similar cases in all over
• 12:51
  state government, though, right? I mean, yeah.
• 12:53
  Yeah. Well, I mean, Commissioner Troxler would tell you he always wants us to
• 12:56
  put more into our agriculture sector. So I think, you know, a lot of the folks
• 13:00
  who lead the charge for whatever their mission is always want to see.
• 13:06
  Absolutely. Want to see us improve and do the most we can. But your employees
• 13:10
  specifically, let me ask you real quickly about them.
• 13:13
  Many times the public has no idea.
• 13:16
  What public employees at different agencies are doing. And the idea of we just
• 13:21
  need less government employees is a very popular one in theory.
• 13:26
  People don't love it when they lose public services, but they like the idea
• 13:30
  of getting rid of public employees.
• 13:31
  And it seems to me your agency has people working on things for active duty,
• 13:36
  for reserve, for veterans that
• 13:38
  probably the public would be very supportive of if they knew about it.
• 13:43
  Can you tell us about your employees at the Department of Military and Veterans
• 13:46
  Affairs and what they do for the military and for taxpayers here in North Carolina.
• 13:51
  I would love to tell you about my small but mighty department.
• 13:55
  So first, our mission is to serve and support all the military in North Carolina
• 13:59
  and their families, veterans and their families, and all of our military installations
• 14:02
  in surrounding communities.
• 14:04
  We operate 13 veteran service centers all throughout the state.
• 14:08
  And so those are locations where veterans and retirees and family members can
• 14:13
  come in and we can help connect them to the benefits and resources that they have earned.
• 14:17
  We also operate five state veterans' homes all throughout the state where veterans
• 14:21
  and their family members can receive great health care.
• 14:25
  And then we operate four state veteran cemeteries to provide a dignified and
• 14:30
  honorable resting place for veterans and their families.
• 14:33
  And those are separate and apart from the federal level cemeteries.
• 14:37
  We have four state veteran cemeteries as well.
• 14:39
  But in addition to that, we have our Military Affairs Division,
• 14:42
  and the folks who work in that division bridge out wonderful relationships with
• 14:47
  all the military installations in the state.
• 14:50
  And we're also intimately involved in what's called the NCCC,
• 14:53
  which is the North Carolina Commanders Council. So we're all the commanders
• 14:56
  of all the bases in the state get together on a regular basis,
• 14:59
  and so we're involved with that.
• 15:01
  And we also have two commissions that fall within the department,
• 15:04
  and our advisors to me and the Digital Assembly and the governor.
• 15:07
  And that's our Military Affairs Commission and our Veterans Affairs Commission.
• 15:12
  So my department does a lot. And when you talk about the benefits that we provide
• 15:17
  to the state, one of the biggest pieces is the transition from being in the
• 15:22
  military and becoming a civilian.
• 15:24
  And I've already talked about those 20,000 service members, but they refer to
• 15:28
  the year that you get out of military service as the deadly gap because military
• 15:33
  members have a higher suicide rate than civilians,
• 15:36
  but veterans have an even higher suicide rate than active duty members.
• 15:40
  And so if we are doing a better job of more quickly connecting veterans to their
• 15:44
  earned benefits, then we can make the deadly gap less deadly or just close the
• 15:49
  gap and not have a gap at all.
• 15:50
  But back to this original question of having less government employees and about
• 15:54
  how small my agency is, my transition service— When you say small,
• 15:58
  you may have said the exact number of employees.
• 16:01
  124. My goodness. But you're ready for this? So how important transition is?
• 16:05
  I mean, it's 124, give or take. It's around four. So 124.
• 16:09
  My transition services division, guess how many people work in that division?
• 16:13
  It can't be many if it's 124 total. One. What? Wow. Explain, please.
• 16:20
  Wow. Yeah, I don't know how she does it. What can that one person do? She's amazing.
• 16:25
  First thing I did was when I realized she was a transition services director,
• 16:28
  but she was doing all these outreach things with different cabinet agencies
• 16:32
  and different organizations all throughout the state.
• 16:34
  Her name is Andrea Allard, and she can only be in one place at a time.
• 16:37
  But I changed her title to outreach and transition services director because
• 16:42
  she does so much outreach, which is really important.
• 16:44
  But I'm just helping her connect with like, I mean, she has amazing relationships
• 16:49
  throughout the state, but she cannot do it all.
• 16:51
  And so she's just really holding hands with and helping support other organizations
• 16:55
  and their projects because she is a team of one.
• 16:58
  But we're really excited because both the House and the Senate,
• 17:02
  hopefully when we have a budget, this will come to fruition,
• 17:05
  but both the House and the Senate put it in their budgets.
• 17:08
  It was to give us an interagency coordinator, which we would be so grateful
• 17:12
  for, and someone who could help Andrea really bridge out these relationships.
• 17:17
  Because that's my first priority is that sector collaboration piece.
• 17:20
  Because there are great organizations who are doing wonderful work for military
• 17:23
  and veterans all throughout the state, but they're not all really talking to each other.
• 17:27
  And the legislation that stood up our department 10 years ago lists the words
• 17:31
  collaborate, coordinate, and outreach eight different times.
• 17:35
  So we should be the hub to collaborate, coordinate, and outreach,
• 17:39
  but it's hard to do that with one person in that division. So hopefully it'll soon be two.
• 17:43
  But that sector collaboration piece is so important, and it's my number one
• 17:46
  priority because I've learned that no single organization can meet the complex
• 17:51
  needs of a military and veteran family.
• 17:53
  But that when universities share insights and government aligns policy and nonprofits
• 17:58
  deliver services and businesses open doors, that's when you really create a
• 18:03
  support system that's greater and stronger than the sum of its parts.
• 18:06
  So that's why sector collaboration is super important to me.
• 18:09
  Well, I'm still processing 124.
• 18:12
  Well, state government has a veterans preference. It has for decades.
• 18:18
  And that's in their hiring and all their employment practices.
• 18:21
  Do you think that this link between our veterans and government jobs is one that's important?
• 18:27
  I do, absolutely. And I would take it a step further and say not just veterans
• 18:31
  and government jobs, I would say spouses of veterans and military spouses and government jobs.
• 18:37
  I'm really trying to help companies and government agencies understand the importance
• 18:42
  of looking past whatever a military member's job was when they were in the military.
• 18:47
  And this speaks to my third priority of economic opportunity,
• 18:51
  because a big piece of that is workforce development.
• 18:53
  But what I'm trying to get government entities and companies to understand is
• 18:58
  that you don't have to think of it as hiring an infantryman or hiring an aircraft mechanic.
• 19:05
  You're hiring someone who has these intangible soft skills, who is punctual
• 19:09
  and professional and works well under pressure and is a good team member.
• 19:13
  So then you do hire infantrymen and aircraft mechanics.
• 19:16
  And that's just the active duty member. The spouses, like my comms director, Stephanie.
• 19:21
  Like my mom who traveled and followed my dad for 30 years all around the world,
• 19:25
  the spouses are the ones who pack up a house on one side of the country and
• 19:30
  find a house on the other side of the country and make that house a home and
• 19:33
  unpack that house and register the kids for school and get themselves a job
• 19:36
  and then do it again in two years.
• 19:38
  And also, sometime in that two-year period, they're probably going to get a
• 19:40
  phone call and their spouse says, honey, I got to deploy to an undisclosed location
• 19:46
  for an uncertain amount of time.
• 19:48
  And so when you look at these resumes of these incredible military spouses who
• 19:51
  have a different job every two years, that's why.
• 19:54
  So you need to look past that also and recognize that we need to hire them and support them.
• 20:00
  And they're not just job hopping. They're not job hopping. Yeah. They're pretty.
• 20:04
  And they're being very, well, what is it in the job description?
• 20:07
  You always want someone who can adjust easily, but there's another.
• 20:11
  Multitasking. Yes. Oh, my God. All the things.
• 20:14
  Yeah, they can do all the things. I think I was looking up your speeches,
• 20:18
  and there was one where you said, you're looking at me funny.
• 20:22
  Well, it's not stalking.
• 20:24
  Oh, no, I'm just like, oh, God, which speech did you see or hear?
• 20:28
  I don't remember which one it was, but you were saying that someone had thanked
• 20:33
  your dad for his service and your mom was like, you're welcome.
• 20:37
  I love that. I love that because honestly, yeah, the whole family does serve. The whole family.
• 20:43
  But I definitely had not thought, though, about the veterans preference in hiring.
• 20:48
  Maybe should extend to the spouses because they do have to develop.
• 20:51
  I know I'm looking at Sammy because her mom had to do similar things for years.
• 20:56
  And we talk about that. If you have to handle that whole household and your
• 21:01
  job and everything else,
• 21:03
  And like you said, you may do all that just to get a call that you're getting
• 21:06
  ready to do it again or that you don't know where your spouse is going to be for a while.
• 21:10
  I mean, I can't even imagine if you can handle that pressure,
• 21:12
  you can do any job. Exactly.
• 21:14
  And so my friend, Kimberly Williams, she's the founder and CEO of an organization
• 21:19
  called NC for Military Employment or NC for Me.
• 21:22
  And the way she says it, which like really resonates with people and makes them
• 21:25
  pause, is if you can trust them with your country, you can trust them with your company.
• 21:32
  That's a great point. So I guess I'm kind of a military family, too. My dad is a veteran.
• 21:37
  So veteran affairs, and in particular, like when you think of veteran affairs,
• 21:43
  a lot of people just think of, you know, the medical and the health benefits and things like that.
• 21:48
  And that's usually a federal responsibility.
• 21:50
  So what is on the state level is available to veterans that makes maybe makes North Carolina unique?
• 21:56
  Yeah, that's a great question. So one of my mentors is a fabulous woman named
• 22:01
  Wanda Wright, and she was the Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs in
• 22:05
  Arizona for eight years.
• 22:07
  And she gave me a great piece of advice because I asked her,
• 22:10
  how can I hit the ground running? What's one of the first things I should do?
• 22:13
  She told me to go visit all of my field offices, which I've been to all 22 of
• 22:17
  them, all the homes, all the cemeteries, and all the veteran service centers.
• 22:20
  But she also said, introduce yourself to all the executive directors of every
• 22:25
  VA medical center in your state.
• 22:27
  She said, you should disregard the notion of people are telling you,
• 22:30
  oh, they're federal, and we're a state, and they do their thing, and you do your thing.
• 22:34
  Because she was like, that's silly. We're serving the same population.
• 22:37
  And so I did that also. And I can pick up the phone and call any executive director
• 22:42
  of any VA medical center in our state.
• 22:44
  And in fact, I probably do that, what, Stephanie, once a week.
• 22:48
  And it's been so, so helpful. So even though the 60 veteran service officers
• 22:53
  that are in my department and the 200-plus county veteran service officers who
• 22:58
  are amazing, and we train them and work closely with them.
• 23:00
  So we are the ones who are, like, submitting the claims. We're not the ones
• 23:05
  who are making determinations. That's the federal level.
• 23:09
  But we work so closely with them. In fact, my state service officer or my state
• 23:13
  service office, which is run by a Marine named Lee Abersault,
• 23:17
  I always hesitate because, like, Marines don't say I'm a Marine veteran.
• 23:21
  They're like, once a Marine, always a Marine. Well, this Marine runs my state
• 23:24
  service office. He's a civilian.
• 23:26
  But and so it's actually co-located, like physically, geographically located
• 23:31
  in the same building as a VA regional office.
• 23:34
  And so they work so closely with them and they work on appeals when cases come
• 23:39
  back and the veteran is trying to appeal and say, no, I should get a higher rating.
• 23:43
  So we work really closely with them, but they are separate and distinct in that way.
• 23:48
  Huh. It's funny. You talk about the Marines. We have so many Marines in scenic.
• 23:54
  It is bizarre. Okay. Are you ready for this statistic about Marines?
• 23:58
  I found this fascinating. But my dear friend, General Ralph Rizzo,
• 24:01
  who's a commander of Marine Corps Installations East, Mickey East, and so he's at Lejeune.
• 24:06
  He told me that one third of the entire United States Marine Corps is stationed
• 24:12
  in North Carolina at any given time.
• 24:14
  Well, that might make a lot of sense as to why we have a...
• 24:18
  They're everywhere! And of scenic members who are Marine.
• 24:21
  I mean, we have them from all over. We have a tremendous number of veterans
• 24:25
  in scenic, period, because state public work tends to attract folks who've done public service.
• 24:34
  Is that just at Camp Lejeune or are there other? So it's two Marine Corps air
• 24:38
  stations, New River and Cherry Point. Yeah, that's right. Okay. Okay.
• 24:42
  So you mentioned the county offices. Yeah. And I did want to ask you,
• 24:47
  is that a county-level employee or is that a state employee?
• 24:50
  They're county-level employees, but we work closely with them.
• 24:53
  We train all of them. We do continuing education together with them.
• 24:57
  And again, back to that first priority of sector collaboration,
• 25:00
  I've asked my director of veteran services, like the person at my department
• 25:04
  who's over all of our VSOs, to meet on a monthly basis with the president of
• 25:09
  the North Carolina Association of County Veteran Service Officers.
• 25:12
  So they can make sure we're in close collaboration with each other,
• 25:16
  sharing best practices, sharing challenges.
• 25:18
  Maybe they worked through something previously that we're facing now,
• 25:21
  and they've been doing that, and it's been really, really wonderful.
• 25:24
  So they are county employees. Yeah. So for my father, I've worked with the one
• 25:28
  in my county, and that was a great, great, they did a great thing.
• 25:32
  So I was just wondering if, but now the state veterans home, is that through your?
• 25:37
  It is, yeah. Okay. The five state veterans homes are in my department.
• 25:40
  But they are contracted out to a contract management company.
• 25:43
  So all of the nurses and providers who work at the homes are all contracted
• 25:48
  employees, except for I have a veteran service officer who is my department's
• 25:54
  employee at each of the homes.
• 25:56
  And then I have two people in my department who run the home statewide.
• 25:59
  I have a state veterans homes administrative director named Jeff Calloway and
• 26:03
  a state veterans homes operations director named Kat Banks. Seems like that's
• 26:08
  going to be in huge demand in years to come because of the aging of veteran
• 26:12
  or population in general, right?
• 26:14
  So that's probably going to need a lot more investment.
• 26:17
  It does. Yeah. And so we're actually on a list right now to see if we can get
• 26:21
  funding to build a new state veterans home in Wake County.
• 26:24
  Oh, wow. And that funding is purely...
• 26:27
  State funding or is it a mixture of state-federal? It's a mixture of federal and state, 65-35.
• 26:32
  Okay. That's just my side, but I thought that was an interesting tangent. Okay. So wait a minute.
• 26:37
  So since part of the funding, and probably a lot you do, is federal,
• 26:42
  is the shutdown affecting anything in the department?
• 26:45
  It is. So the biggest impacts are things and processes that are administratively
• 26:51
  slowing down on the federal VA side.
• 26:54
  The only direct impact is that state service office that I was talking about
• 26:58
  that's geographically located with a VA.
• 27:01
  Regional office because that office is closed right now.
• 27:05
  There are some things that are staying open, not impacted at all,
• 27:08
  like veterans should still be going to their hospitals, still going to their appointments.
• 27:11
  But one of the things that has stopped is the regional benefits offices are closed.
• 27:17
  So that means we had to move our employees out of that building and to give
• 27:20
  them the equipment that they needed to either work remotely or at one of our
• 27:23
  neighboring offices, which is in the Clements, North Carolina office.
• 27:27
  Okay. And we are recording this, by the way, more than a week early from when it will air.
• 27:32
  So hopefully there will be no shutdown by the time. Hopefully it's over.
• 27:36
  Yeah, but just in case. Yeah.
• 27:38
  So I don't want to be redundant with questions that you've already answered
• 27:41
  in are exciting, the collaborations that are happening, the outreach efforts,
• 27:46
  transitioning, trying to close that gap that you were talking about earlier.
• 27:50
  What's the most exciting thing you've got coming up?
• 27:53
  Well, this is not redundant because I haven't talked about this yet,
• 27:56
  Suzanne, so thank you. So my department is standing up a roadshow in collaboration
• 28:02
  with the Department of Commerce and NC4Me and the North Carolina Chamber,
• 28:06
  who else? NC Biotech, SAS.
• 28:08
  There are a couple of organizations, several organizations who are helping.
• 28:11
  But we are super excited about this. And this all started because a veteran
• 28:15
  named Dustin Heffel asked me a question at a panel I was speaking at at Kenan Flagler.
• 28:20
  And he said, Madam Secretary, how can we dispel the notion that hiring a veteran
• 28:24
  is a liability or a risk, that we're not all like broken?
• 28:29
  And I answered the question with an idea, which made my staff in the back of
• 28:33
  the room cringe. But I was like, I mean, it just came to my head.
• 28:36
  And I was like, we just need to tell our story.
• 28:38
  We need to take this show on the road and tell people all across the state how
• 28:41
  great veterans are. And so that's what we're doing.
• 28:43
  We're stopping in six different state or six different cities throughout the
• 28:46
  state. And it's really cool because one of our partners is the UNC System.
• 28:51
  And so the UNC System is going to actually host every single one of them because
• 28:55
  there's a UNC System school in every city we're stopping in.
• 28:58
  And so the idea, the target audience will be CEOs, HR leaders,
• 29:03
  hiring managers at companies.
• 29:05
  And we're going to assess and see where your company organization is right now
• 29:09
  in terms of recruiting, hiring, and retaining veterans and their spouses and military spouses.
• 29:13
  We're going to have a panel and we're going to have people share stories so
• 29:16
  you can really understand why this is so important.
• 29:19
  We're also going to have an interactive piece that's a workshop to talk through
• 29:23
  a resume and to help people see like, oh, this person got a new job every two years.
• 29:27
  That doesn't mean they're job hopping. Here's what they were probably going through.
• 29:30
  So like an interactive piece. And then at the end, there's a call to action by the governor.
• 29:34
  He's going to try to come in person to as many of them as he can.
• 29:36
  But he's already recorded a video with a call to action at the end.
• 29:39
  Because what I don't want is for people to like feel good about trying to help
• 29:43
  military and veterans during the day and then just like go back to business
• 29:46
  as usual. No, what are you actually going to do when you go back?
• 29:50
  And we're also going to help amplify the currently existing U.S.
• 29:54
  Department of Labor's HireVets Medallion Program, where a company has very strict
• 29:58
  and structured metrics to meet to say,
• 30:01
  and they can put this like medallion and their signature block or their email
• 30:04
  addresses or like on the business to say we're a place that is intentional about recruiting,
• 30:10
  hiring, and retaining military and veteran connected employees.
• 30:13
  So that is the most exciting thing that's happening at DMV.
• 30:16
  That's huge. That's pretty exciting. Yeah. And kind of goes into what one of
• 30:20
  my questions would have been, what can the public do to help your department,
• 30:24
  to help veterans in any capacity? Yeah.
• 30:28
  Yeah. You know, what can we do? What can. Because people really are appreciative, you know. They are.
• 30:34
  Yeah. Well, I think, you know, the idea that people say thank you for your service
• 30:38
  in November is really welcomed, but it means even more if there's action behind
• 30:42
  those words of gratitude.
• 30:44
  And my first thought, as my team and I were talking through these questions
• 30:47
  when they asked, is there anything members of the public can do to help with
• 30:51
  Veterans Day events and to support our military and veterans during the year?
• 30:54
  And my comms director goes, hire them. Hire them. That's what you can do to
• 30:58
  help. I was like, trust them to say.
• 31:00
  And it's true. Exactly like a comms director, just to cut to the time. And it's true. Yeah.
• 31:06
  And I think it's also nice for people to be intentional about utilizing veteran-owned businesses.
• 31:12
  And so, for example, I needed to get my house power washed. And I Googled veteran-owned
• 31:17
  power washing companies.
• 31:19
  And there's so many of them, one owned by a Marine.
• 31:21
  And so I was Googling that. But I also, I try to be very intentional about utilizing
• 31:26
  veteran-owned businesses. And that's another thing that's easy,
• 31:28
  I think, that the public can do to support. Oh, awesome. Good one.
• 31:32
  Okay, so I have a beef. I'm old enough to remember when it felt like everything
• 31:36
  closed down on Veterans Day.
• 31:37
  And now it's just not like that. So as a veteran, does that matter to you at all?
• 31:43
  Or is that just something that me as a civilian thinks would be important,
• 31:48
  but nobody's really concerned?
• 31:49
  Well, I tell you what, this is my busiest Veterans Day weekend ever as the secretary of DMVA.
• 31:56
  We actually looked it up in preparation for this, but my team is going to 25
• 32:02
  events in 15 different cities to celebrate and observe Veterans Day.
• 32:07
  So we're going to be working. I don't know what other people are doing.
• 32:11
  I mean, that's a little different.
• 32:12
  That's kind of, you know, honoring the day. Yeah, yeah.
• 32:15
  But I will say it's a great opportunity if we're not going to be at work.
• 32:21
  My only request would be that people would really observe and celebrate the day,
• 32:26
  whether it's going out in your community and volunteering somewhere and just
• 32:30
  pouring into your community and serving in a way that honors and respects and
• 32:33
  reflects what military members have done, that you like look up a local celebration
• 32:38
  in your area, whether it's a Veterans Day parade.
• 32:40
  And then also, like I said, just utilizing veteran-owned businesses.
• 32:44
  But also, I don't know if you guys have heard about Operation Greenlight.
• 32:47
  It's a national initiative.
• 32:48
  And the only ask is, like, get a green light bulb and change one of the lights
• 32:52
  out on your front porch of your house, inside of your house as a conversation starter.
• 32:58
  There are buildings, municipal buildings, all across the state.
• 33:01
  That'll be lit up green. And it's so simple, but it's just like,
• 33:05
  again, we're talking about those soft things that can make us,
• 33:08
  number one, like, look at us.
• 33:10
  All these green buildings, all these green lights is just a very simple way
• 33:14
  to show our appreciation and acknowledgement of veterans and what they have
• 33:18
  done to keep our country free. We've never done that before.
• 33:20
  Scenic needs to put some green bulbs outside. Yeah. You guys got time.
• 33:24
  Get some green light bulbs. Yeah. We'll do it. Okay. So your husband has pre-approved
• 33:28
  the last question, so we're going to talk about it.
• 33:31
  So your husband's an architect. So I had to ask you, is your house the coolest
• 33:37
  place on earth or is it like the cobbler's kids have no shoes and so he doesn't
• 33:41
  have time to deal with making your place the coolest on earth?
• 33:44
  I mean, it's a little bit of both, but it's more of the latter because our kids are six and four.
• 33:50
  So like I have this dream. He wants to design an Eichler house,
• 33:55
  which is this iconic style of house from California, but that's
• 33:58
  like down the road right but he has done like
• 34:01
  cool things inside of our house because he's an architect
• 34:04
  he wants this and this makes more sense and one of
• 34:07
  my favorite things that he did so one of the things i started on
• 34:09
  sabbatical which has kept me sane in this job is movie night with popcorn with
• 34:14
  my kids every friday in the playroom and we have this massive sectional with
• 34:19
  four ottomans pushed into it so we call it's like a couch bed but we call it
• 34:23
  the nest And there are no cell phones, iPads allowed in there.
• 34:28
  It's just like family time, rest.
• 34:30
  But my husband installed curtain rods on the ceiling of the playroom so that
• 34:35
  we can like literally shut out the world. There's blackout curtains.
• 34:40
  And so it's just like a movie theater, but just around, like,
• 34:42
  the sectional couch. And it's so, like, peaceful and relaxing.
• 34:45
  So that's my favorite. Right. A nest, truly. That's my favorite part about being
• 34:49
  married to an architect, like, that in the house project.
• 34:51
  But, like, really the thing is. It's like the blanket forts we made as kids. Right, exactly.
• 34:55
  Next level. Super high tech, yeah. But my favorite thing about him being an
• 34:58
  architect is actually not about, like, the actual architect piece.
• 35:01
  But he and one of his good friends, who's also an architect,
• 35:04
  they say, never trust an architect who can't dress.
• 35:08
  Uh-oh. Like if your clothes don't fit well, don't match well,
• 35:11
  your style is so stylish.
• 35:14
  Did you pre-approve this part? Oh, I did. I did.
• 35:17
  So here's the thing. I wore a uniform and like combat boots for 14 years.
• 35:21
  I don't know how to dress.
• 35:23
  My husband, like we talked through my outfits every Sunday.
• 35:27
  And so we'll go to, like, galas and events and be like, oh, Jocelyn and Harold.
• 35:31
  Oh, Harold, you look nice. You cleaned up well. Good job, Jocelyn.
• 35:33
  And we just giggle because I'm like, no, no, good job, Harold.
• 35:36
  Like, he did a good job helping me match these shoes to this dress. Is he military? No.
• 35:43
  That's why. How did you meet? So our sisters are best friends. Oh, okay.
• 35:48
  They were college roommates, his older sister and my older sister.
• 35:52
  And so they introduced us. Oh, okay. Yeah. But it was not love at first sight.
• 35:57
  It took a minute because he's younger than me.
• 36:00
  Like, what? And his dad's name is Harold. And his name is Harold,
• 36:04
  so they used to call him Baby Harold.
• 36:06
  That is not cute. Like an artist. It's hilarious.
• 36:10
  Baby Harold. So he's younger than you, so he had his eye on you for a long time. I mean, I guess.
• 36:14
  I was busy. I was going to law school. I was doing my own thing.
• 36:17
  But then he went to architecture school, and I was like, hello,
• 36:19
  you're not a baby anymore. Yeah. You got a job job.
• 36:24
  I love it. Awesome for you. So glad you could come join us today.
• 36:28
  And do you have anything else you want to talk about?
• 36:30
  I don't. I think I worked in everything that I wanted to say.
• 36:34
  And I'm really grateful for this opportunity and for Scenic.
• 36:37
  So thank you guys for having me.
• 36:38
  Well, we're going to put you on the spot right now because every week we ask
• 36:42
  a weird, wacky question.
• 36:44
  And so you want to play my theme song? I had a theme song. Oh,
• 36:47
  okay. She made it for me. John's Wacky.
• 36:55
  I hear you whenever you, whenever. It's so AI. It's like, it is AI.
• 37:01
  Made it, yeah. But anyway, so our question this week is, what is your favorite military movie?
• 37:08
  And I can come back to you. Who wants to go first?
• 37:11
  I'll go. Okay. I love Hacksaw Ridge.
• 37:14
  That's one of my favorites. Now, is that a new movie or an older movie? It's not old.
• 37:20
  Okay. Yeah. But I like the ones that are based on a true story,
• 37:24
  and that one is, and it's just a beautiful movie and a beautiful story. So that's my favorite.
• 37:28
  But is that the movie you were supposed to say?
• 37:33
  We're not going to talk about that. My favorite has relevance to Sammy's life. Okay.
• 37:41
  That's 12 horses. 12 strong. 12 strong. 12 strong.
• 37:45
  Well, they had 12 horses. They did. They did. 12 strong, such a cool movie.
• 37:51
  Never. I've not seen that. That is about the horse soldiers who were sent to
• 37:55
  Afghanistan after 9-11, the ones who were special forces, first groups that were sent over there.
• 38:01
  And my dad was one of those people.
• 38:04
  Wow. It is the coolest movie. Yeah. But it was really cool to learn that your
• 38:10
  dad. Yeah, and Chris Hemsworth was her dad.
• 38:13
  Wait, what's it called again? Twelve Strong. Twelve Strong. I always,
• 38:16
  always call it Twelve Horses. And what was yours, Sammy?
• 38:20
  Mine's Hacksaw Ridge. Yeah. You have one? So Sam's dad is kind of a folk hero on our podcast.
• 38:26
  Like a superhero. I call him Top Gun. He looks so cool. He just looks the part.
• 38:31
  Oh, you threw—oh. See, I had one the whole time. I was like thinking of Save
• 38:36
  It Private Ryan because that's everybody's favorite, right?
• 38:38
  Is that yours? But then you just said Top Gun, and maybe it's Top Gun. Wow.
• 38:42
  Yeah, I think it's Top Gun because as a preteen and teen, I love Top Gun.
• 38:47
  Airplanes and jets and fighter jets so yeah it's
• 38:50
  not really a military movie i mean it is
• 38:53
  okay i'll take top gun then suzanne you have one i do well okay so the cheesy
• 38:58
  one is pearl harbor because ben affleck but six triple eight the six triple
• 39:04
  eight oh and that's based on a true story i don't were they a battalion i'm
• 39:08
  not sure what the proper language is but they handled the mail that was a wreck.
• 39:13
  So not only were families not getting mail, but they sent them to Germany, maybe.
• 39:18
  Anyway, they had some beat up, run down building. They didn't have heat.
• 39:23
  They didn't have good food. They lost a lot of women.
• 39:25
  It was, they were all black women, but all women in this brutality.
• 39:28
  So really inspiring, but heck of a story.
• 39:31
  A heck of a story. Y'all should definitely watch that.
• 39:34
  I'm sure it's still on Netflix. I think it is. But what's really cool is there
• 39:37
  are a couple of the members, like the original members of the Six Triple Eight
• 39:40
  who are from North Carolina.
• 39:42
  And one of them is Millie Veazey. And she used to go to my church.
• 39:46
  Wow. And she was a member of the American Legion Post that I'm a member of, 157.
• 39:51
  And she's buried at the Raleigh National Cemetery. That's very cool.
• 39:54
  Wow. Very cool. So I have to roll by there occasionally. Okay,
• 39:56
  six triple A though. Because, yeah.
• 39:59
  So I think, oh, Suzanne, that might. Yeah, that's a good one. I know.
• 40:04
  That might be my favorite. So before this year, before six triple A, it was A Few Good Men.
• 40:09
  Because I was a jack. Oh, yeah. That's a good one.
• 40:13
  But now I think it might be 6AAA. But also, I don't watch, like,
• 40:16
  I watch more children's movies than anything else because of the Friday nest tradition.
• 40:20
  But I have a really hard time sitting still long enough to watch a movie.
• 40:24
  But, yeah. Yeah, I do, too. Yeah.
• 40:28
  Artis, you didn't say one. Did you? She did a 12-strong, which I thought 12-course.
• 40:32
  Oh, that's right. Okay, I'm sorry.
• 40:33
  I've added some to my watch list, so thank you. I just called out my boss for no reason.
• 40:37
  Sorry about that. Our pack chair, Junior Hewlin, is the one that first told
• 40:41
  me, you got to watch 12 Strong. Yeah. Because...
• 40:46
  Did he know Sammy was? No, I happened to walk into the room at that time.
• 40:50
  And that's when I was just like, oh, yeah, that's my dad.
• 40:53
  Wow. I really got to watch that. Yeah. Cool.
• 40:57
  Awesome. Well, it's so great to have you in the studio. And best of luck in
• 41:01
  your fight to make North Carolina the most military-friendly state.
• 41:05
  Thank you so much. My team and I are up for the challenge. So thank you guys
• 41:09
  again for having me. Great. Thank you.