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Tracer Rounds with LTC Ret Michael Payne · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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MBR giving veterans a voice. And welcome back to the Teresa
1:09
Rounds Podcast. And you're on NPR, where we're
1:11
giving veterans a voice. And yes, I'm usually on a
1:13
Tuesday night, but it is a Sunday night.
1:15
And we do special interviews on Sundays.
1:17
And my guest is Michael Payne. Welcome, Michael.
1:20
Hi, Terry. How are you doing today?
1:22
Doing good. I'm so excited to have you on
1:24
the platform. I know you've been interviewed
1:26
on a couple of our other shows and your message just is very
1:31
timely for the situation and then the times we are in.
1:35
And so I'd love to have our audience take advantage of your
1:38
lessons learned and your wisdom and leadership and then just in
1:43
general and communication. So welcome to the podcast
1:46
tonight. But I was hoping before we got
1:48
started with talking about your leadership and talking about
1:51
your book, that you could tell us just a little bit about your
1:54
military background, what branch, what, how many years,
1:59
and maybe some of the deployments or maybe some of the
2:02
highlights of your career, if you don't mind.
2:04
Yeah, not a problem. So I served for 23 years.
2:07
I started out enlisted. I went to basic training in 1991
2:11
and. Same year I did, yeah.
2:13
See, they look at that, it's a great year.
2:14
It's why. So, yeah, Fort Knox, KY in the
2:19
summer of 91, right? That was, that's always fun.
2:24
But I was in the National Guard at the time, West Virginia
2:28
National Guard. I was in a engineer utility
2:32
detachment, made the rank of Sergeant, and then I had the
2:37
opportunity to get Commission. And so I took that opportunity
2:40
in December of 93, I became a Commission officer and the Army
2:45
in its wisdom branched me active duty engineer.
2:49
So I got to have a lot of fun for the another 20 years on top
2:54
of that. And I've been all over the
2:57
world, right? It started out Fort Jerome, New
2:59
York and they deployed me right away to Haiti, came back from
3:04
Haiti, went on a training mission down to Panama, which
3:09
was a lot of fun. And then we stayed for an extra
3:12
45 days because we were garden a canal for a little bit.
3:16
And then, yeah, so then I hit Bosnia, Kosovo, Turkey, and then
3:25
four tours in Iraq. Most of my career has been
3:29
either training for a deployment on deployment or recovering from
3:34
a deployment. So it's been an absolutely
3:37
exciting career. I I got to command 2 Battalions
3:42
and I commanded the 36 Engineer Brigade rear detachment and I
3:47
took over 30 minutes before the shooting on Fort Hood in 2009.
3:53
So I 30 minutes into my command, I had 11 wounded and three
3:59
killed at Home Station. So, yeah, so all that 23 years,
4:06
all the different deployments, all the all the different ranks
4:11
that I held really has opened up one thing for me, and that is
4:17
pressure does not reveal your character, right?
4:21
And what it really does, it reveals it, right?
4:24
It doesn't create your, I'm sorry, pressure doesn't create
4:27
your character. It reveals it 'cause you, you
4:30
have, you know, your character comes through in the hardest
4:34
moments, whether you keep going or you fall apart or whatever it
4:38
is, right? Like that's the breaking point.
4:41
And then that point right there, even if you break, that's not a
4:45
breaking point. That's just a, a stepping stone
4:49
to collect it all and move forward, right?
4:51
And that builds resiliency. So, well, that's the biggest
4:56
lessons that I got. Yeah.
4:58
So what is the hardest part about leadership in general,
5:04
especially military leadership? I mean, from that standpoint,
5:08
you're in charge of a company, a battalion, whatever size you're
5:12
leading and you've got all these personalities to deal with and
5:16
you have to bring them all into line.
5:18
And so how is that that? What does that leadership look
5:22
like? How do you how do you structure
5:26
your communication to go across the bandwidth of of your
5:30
organization? Yeah.
5:31
So that's a great question, you know, and that's why we start
5:35
out, yeah, in, in leadership. We started as a platoon leader
5:39
with 30 soldiers. And that's really where the
5:42
foundation begins. Because, yes, you have a platoon
5:46
Sergeant, you have, you know, 3 squad leaders, you have team
5:50
leaders, You have an NCO corps, which is the backbone of our
5:54
military. You have an NCO corps that is
5:57
really, they want you to succeed.
6:00
They really want the young officer to succeed.
6:03
If they like you, if they don't like you, they're going to make
6:05
you fail, right, 'cause I was that kid too, right?
6:08
So I, I wanted my platoon leader to do well, unless you made me
6:12
really mad. And then, but communication is
6:17
key, right? It's giving people the
6:19
authority. First of all, they're all
6:20
adults, right? They might be 18 years old, but
6:23
they're all adults. You know, I was what 2223 was a
6:28
platoon leader. I mean, I was a baby what behind
6:30
the ears, but what I had is I had great NC OS that pulled me
6:36
aside before I had to make any major decision or tell the
6:40
platoon what was going on. They prepped me ahead of time.
6:43
So that's number one is trust your non commissioned officers,
6:46
trust your junior leaders, right and let let listen to them and
6:51
let them let them guide you. Now you still have to make your
6:54
own decision from there, but you got, and you know, your platoon
6:58
started to spend in what, 17 years, maybe 16 years, they got
7:03
a lot more experience and a lot more understanding than we do,
7:07
right, as a young, as young leaders.
7:11
But then you got to move that all the way up, right?
7:13
Commanding up at the brigade level was, was arduous, right?
7:18
Because you're this, you know, I was a rear detachment commander
7:21
I but I still had 4 battalions in CONUS across 5 different
7:28
states. Oh wow.
7:31
I had five battalions across 5 different states, 4 outside of
7:37
outside of Texas. And so that was hard.
7:42
You know, I was a brand new Lieutenant Colonel.
7:44
These are already, you know, sitting battalion commanders.
7:48
And that conversation had to go delicately, right?
7:52
You have to explain like, yes, I know you outranked me.
7:55
However, I am in a position of higher authority at this point.
7:59
You know, let's work together. And so when you, when you, when
8:03
you work together, you accomplish much more than a
8:07
single person dictating what to do.
8:10
That's true. Right.
8:12
So and then you have to do that with down the lane too, right?
8:15
So I was moving companies in and out of combat, right, certifying
8:20
them for combat, testing their abilities, making sure they are
8:24
ready to go and then sending them off, right.
8:26
So I was traveling a lot to different installations, looking
8:29
at how we can best, you know, rotate guys in and out of combat
8:34
whole units. And that takes communication
8:39
with the commander down range, that takes communication with
8:42
the commander on the ground here.
8:45
And then that takes communication with higher
8:48
headquarters, right? To tell them, yes, I personally
8:51
have certified these guys. They are, they've met all the
8:54
requirements. And so when you're talking to
8:56
those young company commanders and those young platoon leaders,
8:59
you're talking to them as an adult and you're giving them all
9:03
of the information. Hey, this is the reason why this
9:07
is This is why we're testing this way.
9:09
This is why we've changed the scenario because down range now
9:13
or seeing new things from the enemy, whatever it may be.
9:16
But you give them that, that honest, transparent, clear
9:20
communication and then they get to have skin in the game and
9:24
they because they you've told them everything.
9:28
You don't hide anything. Yeah, communication is key.
9:32
And if you if you don't tell people the why, then a lot of
9:34
times you don't get by and you have to tell them the why you're
9:37
doing something, even if it seems like you really shouldn't
9:40
have to. These are my orders.
9:41
You just follow them. But you do have to tell people
9:44
the why because it does, it does drive the buy in and it does get
9:48
them on the same page. And they're like, oh, I
9:50
understand. So let's do this.
9:53
You know, you technically you shouldn't have to, especially
9:56
not when you're in a military situation.
9:58
It's like the commander said, this is what we're doing.
10:00
It shouldn't matter the why, but but it does get buy in.
10:03
So it does help. Yeah, yeah, you get the buy in
10:06
and then you, you know, you also build trust.
10:08
True, right. Those young, those young adults,
10:14
they're looking at you from your rank and your experience level.
10:18
They're looking at you to to you know, you're asking them to go
10:22
out there and put their life on the line.
10:25
They need somebody they can trust.
10:27
And the only way they can trust you is if you're honest with
10:30
them. Yes, there is times when I, when
10:33
I have said I'm the commander, the end right period or I said
10:37
so yeah, there's times for that. But in order to build trust, in
10:44
order to say that and they go out there and trust you, well
10:47
then you have to build that in the in the training environment,
10:51
in the Garrison, so that when you, when they're in combat,
10:54
they hear your voice and they know that when you're on the
10:57
radio and you're saying, hey, I need you to go execute this,
11:00
they're not even going to question you at that point.
11:02
They're just going to execute. Right, Yeah, Somebody asked me
11:07
once. I had an officer in my unit and
11:10
they did. We're doing a background on him.
11:12
And they were like, you know, what do you value his
11:16
leadership? Do you believe what he says?
11:18
Like they were just asking these types of questions.
11:20
And I said, if he told me to go walk 20 miles in that direction
11:24
and not look back, I would, I mean, because I, I trust in him,
11:28
I believe in him. I, whatever he told me, I know
11:31
was in my best interest or was for the good of the
11:33
organization. So, you know, I understand what
11:36
you're talking about. If you have that level of trust,
11:38
you're just going to do it. You're not going to question
11:40
why. You just know that you have your
11:42
best interest at at at heart or your best interest is at stake,
11:46
so it's best to listen. Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.
11:49
Yeah. That's a great, that's a great
11:51
testimony. There.
11:52
So when you decided to retire, then I know that in the book you
11:58
talk about, and we're going to get to that for sure.
12:00
But you talk about, you know, like changing one set of weight
12:05
to another, you know, because you have the weight of the
12:07
command and then you're transitioning to the weight of
12:11
family and figuring out what's next.
12:13
And so how did you really develop?
12:15
What was next for you? What, what did that look like?
12:17
And was that a hard transition? Or was that like, oh, this is
12:20
easy, I got this, I can just roll right into something else?
12:25
So yes to all of that, right? It's a big weight, right?
12:31
When you decide to take off the uniform.
12:34
You know, even though I didn't let the uniform define who I
12:37
was, it wasn't my identity, but it was somebody I was for 20
12:41
plus years. Right.
12:43
Right. And a lot of people knew me that
12:44
way and a lot of my friends and acquaintances were, are, are
12:48
still military, right? They're veterans now.
12:50
And so you have this external persona, right?
12:56
And when that, when that uniform comes off, I literally was like,
13:00
who am I? I didn't let it define me, but
13:04
who am I? Who is Michael?
13:07
And, and on top of that, I had the stress of wow, I had a full
13:11
paycheck. Now I don't, you know, what does
13:15
that look like? What, what do I need to support
13:18
my family? I had a daughter, she was in a
13:22
when I retired, she was a senior in high school, my youngest and,
13:27
you know, off to college and I'm like, oh, here we go, right.
13:31
Like all these things. And then how do you make sure,
13:34
because yeah, I can, we can cover her tuition, but then it's
13:37
all the ancillary expenses, right?
13:39
Which as we all know, if we, if we have children in college,
13:43
it's expensive. And so, you know, I had to
13:50
figure all that out. Plus I wanted to like enjoy my
13:53
life too, right? So we wanted to travel and do
13:55
all the things that I didn't get to do while we were in the
13:57
military. And so I had to really figure
14:02
that out. My wife said one thing to me and
14:04
this is, this is in the book. She said, babe, you don't need
14:08
to find another 20 year career. You need to find something that
14:11
makes you happy, right? And I'm thinking to myself, the
14:14
military made me happy, right? I loved what I did right?
14:18
I love supporting my country. I I enjoyed what I was doing,
14:24
but I was tired. I was done.
14:25
It was a lot. It was, you know, 88, a total of
14:29
8 deployments which is a. Lot.
14:34
It is a lot. And then 4042 months in combat.
14:39
Wow, out of the four deployments in combat, 42 months is total 42
14:45
1/2. And we want to get technical,
14:47
but yeah, so, you know, you, you start adding up that and the
14:52
stress of that and then coming home and going back and, you
14:55
know, I was tired. But how do you handle all that?
15:02
Is, is I, I had a great spouse. I still have a great spouse,
15:06
right? She's a good, she's an amazing
15:09
lady. I, I would have divorced me a
15:11
long time ago, right? I couldn't be married to me.
15:14
So she she's an amazing, amazing woman.
15:18
And, you know, now we work together.
15:20
So I'll figure that one. So it's good.
15:23
So. So what did you choose to do
15:25
since you were transitioning? What was your What was your
15:29
vocation of choice? So I had three.
15:34
The first one I went into was managing a construction company
15:39
and so they were doing commercial construction phases
15:46
1011 and 12, which is all like kind of fit and finish stuff.
15:51
So not not the major construction, but the end all be
15:54
all of pretty kind of stuff. So everything from, you know,
15:59
bumper rails in the in the hospital hallway to wall
16:03
protection for rooms that needed to be sanitized all the time so
16:07
they can get wet to fire extinguisher boxes going in
16:12
right. So all the things just kind of
16:14
stuff. And that was fun.
16:18
The company I worked for did not follow the same ethics that I
16:22
had. So I, it's amazing how ethical
16:27
the military really is. And this company didn't follow
16:33
some of that and we were just not aligned anymore.
16:35
So I left them and I took a job with the Department of Public
16:40
Safety down in Austin, TX and I, I found something I I had a
16:46
passion for. Of course, state government and
16:51
any government moves slower than molasses in January, but.
16:54
It does, you're right. But they gave me a mission to
16:58
come in and be a change agent and kind of change some things
17:01
up and, and and energize some things.
17:04
So I worked in the regulatory division for DPS here in Texas
17:10
and I had 13 regulated programs that I managed and I had a great
17:14
team. It was awesome.
17:17
And I brought in some, just some newer stuff, right?
17:21
Like how like, you know, how to make things a little bit more
17:23
efficient because they were still running, you know, 1980
17:26
technology and we, we got them back up in the 2000s at least
17:30
so. Oh wow.
17:32
So that was fun. I did all that.
17:34
I worked for them for 2 1/2 years, literally.
17:37
Then I was like bored out of my mind and I, and I said to Sandy,
17:41
I said to my wife, I said, babe, I need a year off.
17:43
Like I just, I didn't take a break after leaving the Army.
17:47
I should have taken six months. People all told me to do that.
17:50
I'm like, I'm good, I'm good, right?
17:52
Like I was going to get in and because everything was
17:54
financially driven at that point, right?
17:56
And it wasn't I just, I was, I just needed to be the head of
17:59
the household and everything was financially driven.
18:01
So we took a step back and we said, OK, I took a year off and
18:07
we bought some property and, and I cleared the entire property.
18:11
And it was very therapeutic for me, right, to, to try to shape
18:16
the landscape, right? And it was good.
18:20
We got to 11 months and six days, five days, something like
18:24
that. And I'm like, all right, I'm
18:25
done. Like I need to go back to work.
18:28
OK, it's time. It's time I'm good.
18:30
I'm feeling really healthy and like let's go.
18:34
And I worked for Dell Technologies for 6 1/2 years.
18:39
Dell Technologies down in Austin Gate like their their work
18:44
ethic, their customer focus was on alignment and I managed North
18:52
America well. I didn't manage all of North
18:54
America operations. I had a portion of North America
18:56
operations. I had the same business day
19:00
network, so I had Dell's highest warranty repair replace and so
19:08
in a technician and a part aligned within 4 hours across
19:14
the across the North America. So that was fun.
19:18
I had a bunch of warehouses that I managed and it was a really
19:23
good job. And then I got promoted and had
19:26
a global job where I had defective returns coming back in
19:29
globally. Oh wow, which was great.
19:32
It was awesome. I, you know, we, I was able to
19:35
recover about 35 million my first year and 30 million my
19:41
second year, which was really good.
19:44
So we, we reduced the deficit, got old components or broken
19:50
components through the repair system, which reduced the amount
19:54
we needed for new stuff, while simultaneously be able to take
19:59
care of our customers and give them the high quality parts they
20:02
needed. But I was working 20 hours a day
20:06
because it was global. So I'm from like China, you
20:09
know, 2:00 in the morning and you just go around the globe and
20:14
I'm not a person that like goes and takes a nap in the middle of
20:17
the day, right? Where they're like, you just
20:18
take a nap in the middle. And then I'm like, I don't know
20:20
how to. Can't do that, yeah.
20:22
So I did that for two years and and that was enough, right?
20:26
So I said to Sandy, I was like, OK, we've got we got over 30
20:31
years of service going right. We're like at 35 years, Let's
20:34
let's figure this out. And she's like, come work for
20:37
me. Now.
20:38
My wife's a as a real estate broker and she's like, come work
20:41
for me. So I get paid peanuts, but I
20:49
haven't lost some time doing it right.
20:51
Anything that she supported me in, all of my all of my careers,
20:55
all my journeys. Like I said earlier, I would
20:58
have divorced myself a long time ago so.
21:01
She gave you grace. Yeah, Oh yeah, big time, right.
21:04
And if she so. So now it's yes, dear.
21:07
And hey, have you thought of this, dear?
21:10
And what else do you need, dear? Right.
21:13
So it's really good. We have a very good working
21:16
relationship and it's a lot of fun, so.
21:18
That's awesome. It's sometimes a challenge to
21:21
work for a family. Do you find yourself like
21:24
saying, well, we need to separate the work side and the
21:27
personal side? Like we need a little bit of
21:29
space there because we're in a little too much encroachment.
21:33
So we for the first couple years we had an office in Harker
21:37
Heights, TX, which we just closed this year.
21:41
And now we work out of the house.
21:43
So in going to the office, I live on on some acreage.
21:46
And so when we crossed the cattle gate at the street, I
21:50
said we can talk work. But as soon as we pull in the
21:53
cattle gate, we're not allowed to speak about work.
21:57
We're husband and wife's and we have family and yes, did work
22:00
get involved? Absolutely it did.
22:02
But we had boundaries and we now that we're working out of this
22:07
in the house and we have an office like it's, it's a
22:11
reminder one of us is like, hey, it's lunchtime, let's go take a
22:15
break. Or hey, it's 5:30.
22:18
We're done for the day. Because you can work 24 hours a
22:22
day when you live in when it's 5 feet from you, you know so
22:26
right. And that's and that's not
22:27
healthy for anybody still. No, it's not.
22:29
That's what they said about remote work is they, you know,
22:31
they, they did the studies between people going into the
22:34
office and then the people working from home.
22:37
And they found out that people working from home actually work
22:39
more and longer hours than people that work in the office.
22:42
Because they're like, oh, let me just do this one little thing.
22:45
It just take me, you know, 20 minutes, then I'll be done.
22:48
And then an hour later they're still working.
22:50
Or like you said, if you're if you have filled offices and
22:53
other areas where the time zone is different, then you're maybe
22:57
communicating with somebody that just came online and you're
23:00
answering their questions. So yeah, there is like you do
23:05
have to put it down and walk away because it can encroach.
23:09
Yeah, And like even today, right, Like Sundays.
23:11
I mean, my wife's a realtor, so we're at a house getting things
23:15
moved out and cleaned out of the way for them.
23:17
And, you know, we got a cleaning team going in there this week
23:20
and the house will be on the market.
23:21
But you know, it's like we had we took a Wednesday afternoon
23:27
off the two of us and went on a little date night.
23:29
So, you know, you got you got to balance things, right?
23:32
So it's very yeah, it's very important that we don't over
23:39
indulge in anything, right? And I'm I'm speaking to
23:41
everybody, right? You, you have to have a balance
23:45
in your life, right? And so for me, that's faith,
23:50
right? I have AI start every chapter of
23:52
this book out with scripture. And the reason I did that is
23:57
it's been a a guiding foundation for me, right.
24:03
So I mean, if you read the Bible, there's wars in there.
24:07
They talk about soldiers in there.
24:08
They, you know, they, they talk about recovery, they talk about
24:13
there's is PTSD in itself mentions in the Bible, but no,
24:17
but you know, what to do in difficult times and stuff like
24:21
that. So for me, it's, it's been a
24:22
guiding foundation. And you know, I, I take 20
24:27
minutes with God every day, every morning, right.
24:30
And if you, when you read the book, I call it Hot Tub
24:32
Revelation and you'll get a kick out of that.
24:34
So yeah, I got there, Yeah. So why did you decide to write
24:39
the book or how did it come about and and tell us about the
24:42
book? I mean, like we I have the cover
24:44
right here and I know, I know you have one handy, but there's
24:47
the cover on shake and resolve and I have my copy handy too.
24:52
I have it right here as well. Awesome.
24:55
I go, I, I always have a copy on my desk kind of like we can see
24:57
there we go. So it, it's so I am in the
25:03
middle of a not in the middle on the end of a PhD right now in
25:07
business. I, I absolutely love learning
25:11
and I've, I just find it really good.
25:16
What do I need a PhD at 5556 years old?
25:19
No, I don't need a PhD. Do I want one?
25:22
Absolutely only only because I love learning, right?
25:27
It's really good for it, but I was at a it was it was Super
25:34
Bowl weekend, 2026 Super Bowl weekend, and we're at a
25:39
conference up in Frisco and we're at the star Dallas Cowboys
25:46
headquarters, Jerry Jones's office, big Conference Center.
25:50
So we're in the star and somebody asked me to get up and
25:55
and speak about a person that had so much influence on my life
26:02
that you wish you can tell them who that was now, like tell
26:06
them, hey, you have influenced me, right?
26:09
And so the the MC goes, Michael, I'm sure you got something.
26:14
Get up, right. So somebody hands me a mic and I
26:18
talked about my grandfather and my grandfather is was a Sicilian
26:23
immigrant, came to the United States by himself at the E maybe
26:28
9 or 10 years old. You know this story I.
26:31
Himself. Oh.
26:32
My goodness himself yeah they had family in New York that had
26:36
already come and my great grandparents could only afford
26:39
to send a child at a time or a relative at a time.
26:44
So my grandfather was born in 19 O two or nineteen O 4, depending
26:53
on what story is true. I've never seen the birth
26:57
certificate, so I don't know. But, you know, he comes to the
27:02
United States and he opened up in, he only went to school,
27:08
formal education, third grade. Oh wow.
27:11
Yeah. And then he he owned his own
27:13
picture framing business. He was a excellent, excellent
27:17
Craftsman, furniture maker. And then he also painted and
27:23
then repaired statues or plates that were broken and he would
27:29
redo it and reglaze it and everything.
27:31
You would never see the the repair work.
27:34
And so he made a, a very good living doing that.
27:37
And then when he retired and they moved and I say retired, he
27:40
was probably 80 and they moved to Albuquerque, NM because he
27:46
finally said I need to go somewhere dry.
27:48
My bones hurt. And they were living in
27:51
Philadelphia, in South Jersey at the time.
27:53
And so they moved out West. And as a young, you know, a
28:00
young teenager, I was sitting there and I said, he was talking
28:04
about volunteering. He's going to go down to the art
28:06
Academy and volunteer. And I said, Grandpa, why don't
28:09
you get paid? Like, I don't understand.
28:10
Like, you have all this knowledge.
28:12
He's like Michael, if I don't pass down my knowledge, it dies
28:19
with me. And that those words have
28:23
impacted my life. And so I tell that story at the
28:28
at this conference. And I said, I really wish I
28:33
could tell him like in person how he changed my life, right?
28:38
Because I was just, you know, I was a young teenager.
28:40
If if that maybe I wasn't even a teenager yet, but you know, it
28:47
really impacted me. Well, we're Fast forward.
28:49
It's Sunday, the the conference ended, it's lunchtime and
28:56
everybody's kind of going their ways.
28:57
And there was probably about fifty of us out of the 150
29:00
people that stayed to watch the Super Bowl together.
29:05
Well, my wife is in, in Fort Benning, GA.
29:08
Our grandson was being born. So she had flown out there.
29:13
And I said, all right, I'll drive there.
29:17
So I said, I'll, you know, I'll leave on.
29:19
I'll go home Monday, pack up everything up.
29:21
And then Tuesday I'll hit the full penny.
29:23
Well, we're sitting at lunch, Super Bowl Sunday, and three of
29:28
my buddies come up to me and their spouse sits there like,
29:30
dude, you, you got such great stories.
29:33
Like you need to write a book. And I'm like, yeah, that's
29:36
funny. I'm not writing a book, all
29:38
right? I'm like, I'm writing a
29:39
dissertation. And I still had a couple classes
29:41
to take before that. And I'm actually in my
29:43
dissertation now and I was like, I don't even have, I don't even
29:48
have time to do what I have to do, let alone write a book.
29:51
So I get home on Monday, Tuesday morning, about four in the
29:57
morning, I jump in the hot tub like normal.
30:01
And the Lord literally put 13 verses in my head and I'm like,
30:09
I, I'm like, Lord like one or two.
30:11
That's cool. I can remember those 13 And like
30:14
he, I don't know where he was just going.
30:15
And I was like, I got to get up. So I get up, grab the piece of
30:18
paper, wet hand, you know, and I grab a pencil and I'm writing
30:22
down, writing down 13 scriptures.
30:24
Well, I didn't know what they were for.
30:25
I teach, I teach a Bible study. So I thought, well, maybe that's
30:28
for that, you know, So and then I get up, you know, finished
30:34
packing up and hit the road. I'm driving to Georgia and I get
30:38
to the first fuel stop and of course it was a Bucky's.
30:44
Right. Oh, of course.
30:45
Yeah. Got to be Bucky's.
30:46
Got to be Bucky's. So I get to my first fuel stop.
30:48
I stop at Bucky's and I kept hearing like, dude, just open up
30:52
your computer and dictate this book.
30:56
And I'm like, I don't know if I can do that right, like kind of
31:02
playing it off right Go in the Bucky's, I grab something to
31:04
eat, filled up all the things ready to hit the road.
31:07
We're going right, my truck a whole 48 gallons and I can I can
31:12
drive right. So let's go.
31:15
And I literally got back in the car and I in my truck and I put
31:20
Microsoft Word, I hit Dictate and I started talking.
31:25
Oh wow. I dictated 11 chapters in 16
31:28
hours of driving. That's amazing.
31:33
Yeah, and it came out like really good.
31:37
I'm like, all right, next story. And I didn't like, I didn't know
31:40
chapter and like just next story, right?
31:43
And it just kind of flowed and I was like, wow, so I get there.
31:48
Of course, my grandson's born. So like all that went away,
31:51
right? I got, you know, I got to see my
31:53
wife and my daughter and my son-in-law and this brand new
31:57
baby, right? So all that kind of went away
31:59
where Sandy and I are driving home and I was like, guess what?
32:03
She's like what I'm like, well, I think my wife's a published
32:07
author. She wrote many, many years ago.
32:10
And I said, I think we're going to have two published authors in
32:12
that family. And she's like, she didn't even
32:15
think me, right. She goes, well, our son's not
32:19
going to do that. And now she's what, Rebecca, I'm
32:22
like, no, me. And she's like, what?
32:28
I said, yeah. And I just kind of shared with
32:31
her the story. And then like, she's like, all
32:33
right, there you go. And I, we got back and I
32:37
finished it up. So 100 days later.
32:41
So from that Tuesday after the Super Bowl to May 22nd of this
32:46
year, I wrote it, talked to a publisher and an editor, and
32:52
then I self published on Amazon. And yeah, the rest is Sissy, but
32:57
100 days? That's crazy.
33:00
That's quick. It was quick, but it was
33:03
inspired, right? So when it's inspired it, it
33:06
literally flows. And then here's the best part
33:10
every the the scriptures that I got.
33:13
Yeah. In order are the chapters of the
33:16
book. Oh wow, yeah.
33:19
So. That's God ordained to do that.
33:22
I mean, obviously you like very inspired as you say.
33:26
Yeah, it was definitely inspired, right?
33:27
And so I got to play around with it, right.
33:30
And I'm like, all right, here we go.
33:31
Like, you know, chapter 1 is is changes the environment, right?
33:38
And we look at, you know, military career, I mean, every
33:41
day you can't plan for the day, right?
33:44
Especially in combat. You didn't know what was going
33:46
to happen. But the the the first verse I
33:50
was given was Ecclesiastes 3 verse one.
33:53
And that reads, there is an appointed time for everything
33:58
and there is a time for every event under heaven, right?
34:04
And I was like, yeah, that's so true.
34:07
And so I talk about changes in the environment.
34:10
And really, you know, my dad, my dad's a huge influence on on my
34:14
life. My dad's a retired New Jersey
34:16
State trooper. And so growing up with structure
34:21
and discipline was mandatory in my house, right.
34:25
Yes, I. Can I can understand that for
34:27
sure? But, you know, when he put on
34:31
that uniform, I was just like, in awe every time, right?
34:35
And then when he would work plain clothes or as a detective
34:38
and stuff, and my dad, when you put that uniform back on, you
34:41
know, like, and he would Polish everything.
34:44
And it was just that structure and discipline.
34:47
Well, my dad would always tell me change is the only thing that
34:52
remains constant in this world and you need to be prepared for
34:56
it. True.
34:57
Yeah, that's good advice, Yeah. And so that stuck with me,
35:01
right? So I got my grandfather telling
35:02
me that knowledge, it needs to be passed down.
35:05
And I got my dad telling me that prepare for change because it's
35:09
the only thing that remains constant.
35:12
And so those, those two men in my life really influenced who I
35:18
became. And you know, to write a book, I
35:23
first of all, I never thought I'd publish, right?
35:25
So, but to write the book really I, I took all these lessons and
35:32
broke them down in a very simplistic manner.
35:35
And I personally lived every one of these these lessons so that
35:40
it's not theory, right? A lot of leadership books talk
35:43
about theory. I'm talking it from lived
35:49
experience. Now I can back it up with theory
35:52
and doctrine, but it's, but it's all based off of lived
35:57
experiences. And that's where I don't even,
36:01
Yeah, I refer to it as a book, but really, it is a manual to
36:06
lead. And I personally believe every
36:10
every person on this earth is a leader.
36:13
Now, a lot of people will disagree with me, but I want you
36:16
to hear this. Does anybody tell another human
36:22
being what to do 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
36:26
And then answer is no, right. So we lead ourselves.
36:31
That's number one. If you're a parent, you, you had
36:35
the ultimate leadership responsibility because you're
36:39
not, you're not designed to, to you're not raising children.
36:44
You're raising children to become productive members of
36:47
society and good active adults. So that that changes right
36:53
there. So if you know, I taught a
36:55
leadership class years ago, years and years ago, and I asked
36:59
everybody who is a leader and everybody, you know, I'll say 15
37:04
people out of the 100 raise their hands and they're like,
37:07
I'm the CEO or I'm the director or I'm this.
37:10
And they all, they all told me their title.
37:13
And I thought, OK, great. And I asked a question.
37:17
I said, you all sit down please. And then I said, if you're a
37:21
parent, stand up like 90% of the room stood up.
37:25
I said now, now if you're, if you told me you're a leader,
37:28
raise your hand. So there's 1015 people raised
37:31
their hand and I said, what about the rest of you?
37:34
He's kind of looked at me. I said you have the most
37:38
important job in the world, and that's to raise that child to
37:42
become a productive member of society.
37:44
Yeah. So if you're not a leader, what
37:47
are you? Well, it changes your perception
37:51
of what a leader is. Sure does.
37:53
Right. And same, same, same group of
37:59
people. The next day I came back in and
38:02
I was running a small group and I asked everybody here to stand
38:06
up and raise your hand as high as they could.
38:09
So they all did right hands way up there, right?
38:13
And I said, now I need you to give me a little bit more.
38:16
And everybody stood on their tippy toes.
38:19
They all gave me that extra, little bit more than I asked
38:21
for. But then I said, OK, please sit
38:24
down. And I said, I asked you, I said,
38:29
what was the question I initially asked?
38:30
And somebody said, you know, raise your hand as high as you
38:33
can. I said, great, stop right there.
38:37
Then why did you all give me a little bit more when I asked
38:39
when you should have been at 100% Max maxed out from day one?
38:47
Well, and I said, this is the, this is what we have, right?
38:50
So we as leaders, we have to explain exactly what we're
38:55
looking for. We have to tell them why in, in,
39:00
in a manner, right? Raise your hand as high as you
39:03
can. Give me everything you got.
39:08
Because we want people to give us 100% every day, but we, we
39:11
leaders aren't giving 100% every day.
39:13
Well, why would they exactly, right.
39:17
But again, everybody in this world is a leader, right?
39:22
So, right. Wow, That's, that's interesting.
39:25
Yeah, it is because, you know, you're right.
39:28
I mean, if we're not showing leadership in our own homes, if
39:30
we're not showing our kids what it looks like to be a a
39:33
responsible adult and what it looks like to be a contributing
39:37
member of society, then we're failing our leadership
39:40
responsibility. And so you're absolutely right.
39:42
We are all leaders in some form or fashion.
39:45
Even if we don't have kids of our own.
39:46
We may be somebody's mentor or somebody's looking up to us, you
39:52
know, because they're watching what we're doing, right?
39:54
Absolutely right. And more people are watching us
39:57
than they are. And to see what we're gonna do
39:59
than we ever will realize. Yeah, right.
40:03
So cause a lot of a lot of people take time and, and think.
40:07
And so writing this book is not, it's not a military memoir.
40:11
It's not, it's not a, you know, working for DPS or the military
40:18
or, or corporate America like how to be a better leader.
40:21
This is a like. I think we froze on the screen,
40:35
but hopefully he'll be right back.
40:37
Hopefully it'll reset itself. Michael, you may want to refresh
40:46
your screen. You may want to jump out and
40:48
jump back in, but you can, if you have any questions, put them
40:53
in the chat. You can go to Michael's website
40:59
and it is michaelalexanderpayne.com and
41:03
you can order a copy of his book and it is on Shake and Resolve.
41:08
And I wanted to say this with him being able to see me but or
41:14
hear me but in the book, if you're, if you're reading
41:17
through the book and I do recommend it, I do have it right
41:20
here. I, I do recommend it on Shake
41:22
and Resolve. There we go.
41:24
He does do the army foot stomp in here.
41:27
If you're familiar with the Army foot stomp, if there's something
41:31
important that you need to know, you know, whoever's teaching the
41:36
leader, the the Sergeant, the drill Sergeant, the, you know,
41:40
commander, whoever will stomp his foot and say, you know, this
41:44
is important. Remember this.
41:45
So in in the back of the book, you'll see these takeaways,
41:49
these foot stomps, as I like to call them, that kind of drive
41:53
the message home. That's the way we're used to
41:56
learning as military members is, you know, somebody's stomping
41:59
their foot and then we know that's important.
42:01
So we need to take notice. So the book is kind of filled
42:04
with that. It's a very easy read.
42:07
It has action steps, things you can do.
42:10
And so we were talking about, you know, raising your family
42:13
and being the leader in your home.
42:15
And that is so important. If we're not modeling what it
42:19
looks like to be a good leader, then we're missing the mark.
42:24
It goes back, here we go. So I was.
42:26
I'm so sorry. We had a, we had a power outage.
42:30
In Oh, no, yeah, well, that's OK 'cause I just went on to talk
42:33
without you. And so I said I wanted you to be
42:36
on the screen to to kind of talk about, we talked about a little
42:40
bit before the show. But in your book, you have foot
42:43
stomps like you used to get for, you know, the drill Sergeant
42:47
that was teaching or the the NCO, the instructor, whoever
42:50
would always stomp his foot and say, OK, these are the important
42:53
things you need to take away from this.
42:54
This is things you need to remember.
42:56
And so in the book, in my opinion, you've got some foot
42:58
stomps for people to remember and to kind of take it to heart
43:02
that, you know, OK, these are the important takeaways.
43:04
These are the Nuggets of wisdom that you need to, you know, take
43:09
notice of. And so we were talking about
43:11
too, because I really found a lot of value in what you said
43:14
about, I mean, I found a lot of value in your whole
43:16
conversation, but truly in leadership for the kids in the
43:21
family. Like if we're not modeling that
43:24
and we're not showing them what it looks like to be a good
43:26
human, then we're missing the mark.
43:28
And so, you know, some of these leadership lessons that are in
43:31
this book you can use in your own home.
43:33
Even if you don't run a corporation or you're not, you
43:36
know, the head of a, you know, a big, you know, Fortune 500
43:40
company, you can still use these in your home as trying to get
43:44
your kids on the right path to being productive humans.
43:48
Yeah, no, yeah. So I have action items and
43:52
takeaways at the end of every chapter.
43:54
And I am a, I'm a very visual learner and I like to have a
44:02
little bit of, OK, what did I get out of reading?
44:07
So that takeaways are important, right?
44:09
And I might add, you know, they're there.
44:12
These are my takeaways that I want the audience, the reader to
44:16
to get. You may take away three times
44:20
the amount. And then I have action steps
44:24
like if that if this goes on in your life, this is how you
44:27
handle it, right? So, you know, just out of
44:30
chapter 1 and that changes the environment.
44:34
I literally have action steps like name the change that you
44:39
are in or you see coming, and then write down the top three
44:43
changes affecting your life. And then next to each one, write
44:47
down what's at stake and who's impacted.
44:50
Now, why do I say that? Because when you can, when you
44:53
can visualize what that's going to look like, you can then take
44:58
the steps necessary to make sure it it gets a very success or it
45:04
prevents risk, right? You can mitigate some risk.
45:07
So having action steps like that for me is vitally important
45:14
because I'm, I'm a visual guy and it tells you exactly what to
45:17
do. Yeah, so.
45:20
Yeah, that is good because for me too, and I think a lot of
45:23
people in the military, they want to see it seen as the proof
45:25
in the pudding, as they say. So, you know, show me, show me
45:28
the the lessons learned. Show me what it looks like, you
45:31
know, model that for me. And then, you know, let me do
45:34
it. Because it's hard to learn
45:36
something if somebody else is doing it and you think you
45:39
understand. But then as soon as their hands
45:41
are off and you're doing it, you're like, I don't know, No, I
45:43
don't get it. I'm to be doing this myself so
45:46
that I could, you know, do it without help, without guidance.
45:50
The training wheels came off. I needed to be able to do it.
45:53
So I love that you know that you do put those in there for people
45:58
that are needing that coaching or needing that set of
46:03
instructions basically because I'm, I'm that way too.
46:06
I mean, you can tell me all day long, but until I do it myself,
46:10
and I'm really putting myself in that position, I'm probably not
46:13
going to retain everything I need to know.
46:15
Yeah, that's good. Thanks.
46:20
So do you go around speaking and bringing your book to different
46:25
conferences? And do you how?
46:29
How are you relaying your wisdom?
46:31
Like how are you teaching the next generation?
46:33
I know this book is a long way towards that, but what else are
46:37
you doing? Yeah, well, so.
46:39
Next for you. So I just started getting out on
46:43
the speaking circuit. So I was asked to be the keynote
46:48
speaker and on 9/11 in Gulf Shores, AL.
46:52
Oh wow. So I got to talk to 1st
46:55
responders and 9911 let's let's talk about 911 for a second and
47:02
I'll answer your question. So 911 changed who I became,
47:07
right? I was a company commander in
47:08
Germany 2 1/2 hours by car away from my family out in the
47:15
training area of Grafenveer and my task, so I was stationed in
47:21
Bomberg. My task force was in feel sick.
47:25
And so we're out the back gate of field second in the
47:29
Grafenbury training area and we're doing platoon and company
47:36
situational training exercises. And we got a guidelines call for
47:44
all the company, all the commanders to report into the,
47:48
in my, in my case, it was the, my task force commander's office
47:51
back, back on and feel sick. And, you know, I was actually
48:01
kind of close there. So I, I get in and I watched the
48:05
second tower get hit as I walked in.
48:07
It was up on this on the TV, you know, big, big screen TV.
48:12
It was like 32 inches right back then.
48:15
And I just looked and the staff is all sitting there and the
48:19
commander's giving guidance and I, you know, I'm covered in
48:22
camouflage and nasty dirty and, and I was like, are we under
48:29
attack? And they're like, we think so.
48:30
Oh. Wow.
48:33
And so my task force commander was then Lieutenant, Lieutenant
48:41
Colonel Sean McFarlane. He he's a retired Lieutenant
48:43
General now. And he just kind of looked at
48:47
me. Well, he's like, yeah, we're
48:49
going in the base defence plan. And, you know, all the
48:50
commanders come in in case we're going on a base defence plan.
48:54
And Michael, just yeah, you're not included.
48:58
And I was like, Sir, I have 96 sappers out there that if I
49:03
don't give them a mission, that will be ugly.
49:07
And I said, let me take over headquarters, headquarters
49:09
companies responsibility on the on the base defense plan and
49:14
then let them go do beans and bullets and all this stuff.
49:18
My home station, right? Bomberg was short a company,
49:21
right? So because I was at the training
49:23
event, well, they kicked in their base defense plan.
49:27
You don't get the chance to talk, right?
49:29
You know, cell phones were far and few between back then.
49:32
And you know, I was more worried about taking care of soldiers
49:37
and worried about like, if we're going to get attacked on in
49:39
Germany. And like, I had no idea what was
49:41
happening, right. And so I it was 6 1/2 weeks
49:46
later before I went home. Oh wow.
49:49
Yeah. And so on 9/11, you know, is
49:53
that evening for us in Germany, afternoon in the States.
49:59
And I finally got a hold of my wife.
50:01
And I was like, hey, babe, everything's good.
50:05
You know, she's like, what is going on?
50:06
Like, I have no idea, right. Like you're, you probably know
50:09
more than I do. I haven't even really watched
50:11
the news. So like, you probably know more
50:12
than what's going on. And I didn't know the Pentagon
50:16
got hit and I didn't know that the plane went down in
50:19
Pennsylvania. So she filled me in on that and
50:22
she said, babe, I got to tell you something.
50:24
She's like she's going to bring tears in my eyes.
50:29
My 3 year old she was she had just turned 3 August 31st.
50:34
So September 11th is not even 2 weeks, right?
50:37
So she's not even a full 3 year old yet, right?
50:41
And she says mom must be a really sad day in America.
50:46
And my wife turned around and said, what for baby?
50:50
Like not knowing this young 3 year old, she didn't know
50:55
anything about geopolitics and what was going on and stuff.
50:58
And she said, mom, luck. And then at this point, the
51:01
firemen raising the flag out of the rubble.
51:06
And she said, mom, the the flag's crying.
51:11
My goodness. Yeah.
51:14
So, yeah. So I'm I still get chills 25
51:19
years later. I got them too.
51:22
I got them too with the story. And you know, here's just the
51:28
out of the mouth of babes, and you get the most profound
51:34
statement. Yeah, well, that statement
51:37
changed who I became because now I wasn't mad that our country
51:41
got attacked. I was determined it would never
51:43
happen again. Right.
51:46
Right. I could have been mad, I could
51:48
have been upset, I could have been fired up, whatever you want
51:50
to say. Instead, I became determined
51:55
that that little girl was not going to grow up in a world
51:59
where the United States of America was ever attacked again.
52:04
And became a mission. And for my son and my, and my
52:09
wife and my parents in the States and all the things right.
52:14
And the biggest thing I learned out of that, right, and I
52:20
didn't, I didn't even realize I learned it until I was writing
52:22
this book, was people fall back to their level of competency,
52:28
which is really their level preparedness.
52:31
Right. And as a leader, when, you know,
52:37
when I reflected back on writing those words, how prepared were
52:42
we? You know, we were, we were
52:44
again, we thought we were still fighting a Cold War, right?
52:47
You know, we were going to the Middle East to fight terrorists.
52:50
Right. Not on our home turf, yeah.
52:53
Yeah, We thought we were going to fight a Cold War.
52:55
You know, I was training like the Russians and the Chinese
52:58
were, you know, like that, that massive threat, that that
53:01
armored threat. And that all changed.
53:05
And then I realized, we're not prepared to go fight in the
53:09
desert, right? I mean, all of our equipment's
53:12
green. Yeah, wrong, wrong uniform for
53:16
for that environment, Yeah. And so, you know, as a, as a, as
53:22
a company commander, I had to learn to shift and allow my
53:30
soldiers time to shift while emphasizing the importance of
53:36
everything that was going on, right?
53:38
Because it changed that fast. Yeah, definitely.
53:45
And so we had to be, we had to train and be prepared for a
53:51
mission that we haven't even thought of yet.
53:54
Right at that, at that junior level, right, that Italian task
53:58
force level. We weren't ready for that type
54:00
of fight yet. We click, we got there, but we
54:04
weren't ready right up front. I mean, that's why it's so
54:08
important that we train. Now I said all that to say, OK,
54:12
as we get on the speaking circuit, right, 9/11, on 9/11, I
54:16
get to talk to, to veterans, Gold Star family members,
54:22
dispatchers, paramedics, firemen, police officers, name
54:26
the canvas nurses, doctors, right, custodial workers and I,
54:37
I, I mentioned dispatchers on purpose because the dispatcher
54:42
takes in the stressed call, rests high, they get situational
54:53
awareness as best they can gather.
54:55
They have to calm the other person down so that they receive
54:59
and transfer information and then they also have to notify
55:04
the first responder. All this happens simultaneously,
55:09
and then what happens? That dispatcher never knows what
55:11
the rest of the call is. Right.
55:13
Yeah. So they live with that high
55:15
level of pressure to calm the other, the person down the other
55:20
line who's yelling, screaming, crying, whatever, and get them
55:25
in a state so that they can literally let the first
55:29
responder do their job. And so they're to me is they're
55:34
one of the unsung heroes of the first responders that that we
55:38
never talk about. And then in my speech on 9/11,
55:43
some of you may or may not know, right?
55:45
They the 911 Center was in the, I believe the North Tower in New
55:53
York City for the New York City first responders.
55:56
Oh wow. So guess what happened?
56:00
We had no chaos, pure chaos, right?
56:05
42nd Infantry Division, New York National Guard.
56:10
They're the ones that established communication and
56:13
got all the bandwidth and all the stuff for first responders
56:15
so they could all talk back on the same radio networks and
56:18
stuff. And it was all headquartered out
56:20
of the National Guard. Oh wow.
56:22
And it was up and running within hours of that tower getting it
56:28
right. So I mean, whether you're active
56:30
duty, reservist, National Guard or, or IRR, we, we have value
56:36
and we bring that value to the American people.
56:40
Like I mean I don't know how many people even know the 42nd
56:44
Infantry Division stood up and ran communications for New York
56:49
City and federally and everything else until it all got
56:52
re established. Yeah, I, I don't think I did.
56:55
I don't think I remember hearing that.
56:57
So that is, I mean that gives me chills knowing that they had
57:00
just jumped into action and taken over that application
57:05
piece to get every, you know, all the response started and
57:08
going and communicating. And so the speaking circuit for
57:12
me again, just just new, just started 911 was my first one.
57:21
But the passion that I have for our first responders in our
57:25
military, and let me add this, probably the most unsung group
57:32
not having a title are the spouses of those first
57:35
responders in our military, because they're the ones that
57:38
never know we can. I remember kissing my wife on
57:43
multiple deployments, right? I think this was like deployment
57:46
for now. I, I kissed her and I said that
57:50
it was the Plymouth. Oh man, I don't even know.
57:54
She said this to me a couple times, but the first time she
57:56
said it to me, I said, babe, I really don't want to go back.
57:59
I'm tired of getting blown up. I've been blown up a couple
58:01
times at that point. I said I'm tired of getting
58:03
blown up. And she said, babe, if you come
58:05
back with no arms and no legs, I'll carry you in a backpack.
58:11
Wow. And so, you know, I could have
58:14
taken that many different ways. And the way I took it is, man,
58:17
she's got my back. What?
58:20
No matter what, she's got my back, right?
58:24
And so I came back injured, right on one deployment, came
58:30
back pretty, pretty bad. Like immediately went in the
58:32
surgery when I got home and, you know, I got some bailing wire
58:38
and bubble gum holding me together and we're all good.
58:40
And nine months later, I was back in combat.
58:43
Wow. Surgery date to deploying again
58:46
nine months and I was back in combat and that's OK right I I I
58:53
don't regret any of that. I would do it all again tomorrow
58:55
in order for like I said I made it was very personal for me
58:58
right. I wanted my children and my
58:59
family to grow up in into a world where we didn't have to
59:03
worry about terrorist attacks ever again, right.
59:06
And I'm sure I'm sure the generation of World War Two said
59:09
the same thing right when Pearl Harbor act right, it became it
59:13
became a mission statement. And I want to bring that
59:20
passion, regardless if it's military or first responders,
59:24
that passion back to allowing our families and our civilians,
59:35
right? Made there's people out there
59:36
that have no military affiliation or no first
59:39
responder affiliation, right? To understand that they're part
59:43
of that as well, right? They they, they're the reasons
59:47
we do what we do. Absolutely.
59:50
And so I want to bring that passion and I was, I was signing
59:55
some books on 9/11 and this and I, you know, this, we were doing
1:00:00
the stair climb. So I, I did, I didn't do all the
1:00:05
stair climb right, because I was talking to people and stuff.
1:00:07
But you know, watching those firemen go up the steps.
1:00:11
I had this big hotel there was it was 24 flights and they're in
1:00:17
full gear carrying hoses, oxygen tanks, all the things and that
1:00:21
every lane they had the timeline of 911.
1:00:26
And so I'm walking there, lights are dim, right?
1:00:29
The guys are carrying all their stuff and I'm standing there
1:00:36
with all these. I'm in shorts and AT shirt.
1:00:39
They're in full gear and I'm watching this timeline.
1:00:44
And it was very surreal for me, even though I was nowhere near
1:00:48
New York City when the towers were hit.
1:00:53
But I in my mind, I could feel that walking up the stairs.
1:00:57
There's men, women. And so I, I was signing a book
1:01:01
for a medic paramedic and I said, thanks to your nation.
1:01:07
Thank you for your service to our nation, the great state of
1:01:10
Alabama and the city of Gulf Shores.
1:01:14
And he, you know, I put a couple other things in there and he
1:01:18
came back about 10 minutes later and he said, hey, Sir, I've
1:01:20
never served in military. I've never done anything with
1:01:22
our nation. I said, oh, young man, don't
1:01:26
make me laugh, right? And he's like, no, seriously, I,
1:01:29
I I'm like, no, you, you need to understand this.
1:01:33
I said, you're a firefighter. He said, yes, Sir.
1:01:35
I said, you're a paramedic. Yes, Sir.
1:01:37
I said, OK, I want to ask you a couple questions.
1:01:41
I already know the answers, but I want I want to hear them from
1:01:44
you. When you took your paramedic
1:01:46
exam, did you take a national and state exam?
1:01:49
He's like, yes, Sir, when you took your fire, when you
1:01:51
graduated fire Academy and you took your exams, they were a
1:01:54
national and state exam, right? He said yes, Sir.
1:01:57
I said don't tell me you don't serve our nation.
1:01:59
Exactly. Right, because in a time of a
1:02:02
major crisis, right, let's just say Gulf Shores wiped off the
1:02:06
face of the Earth, right? The ocean comes and takes it
1:02:08
back to barrier island or ocean can do that if it wants to.
1:02:12
And let's just say you go to Florida.
1:02:19
Does your national certification still work in Florida?
1:02:22
Does all your knowledge still work in Florida?
1:02:24
And he's like, yes, Sir. So don't tell me you don't serve
1:02:26
our nation. Well we're gonna have to wrap up
1:02:29
the conversation cuz we're a little over our time but I
1:02:32
appreciate so much you being on tonight.
1:02:34
I've enjoyed our conversation so much.
1:02:36
So much so I'm gonna have to have you back.
1:02:38
Absolutely. You know, right now if you're
1:02:39
looking to unshaken resolve, it's my she's got my e-mail
1:02:43
address up there or my website address up there.
1:02:45
Michael Alexander Payne, you can find me there.
1:02:48
The books also available on Amazon and if you're looking
1:02:52
somebody to come speak or or do some mentoring with you, please,
1:02:55
I'm available. I I would love to help you out.
1:02:58
So sounds good. Thank you so much, Michael, for
1:03:00
joining the show tonight. Terry, thank you very much and I
1:03:03
look forward to coming back on in the future.
1:03:05
Sounds good. Trace around you too.
1:03:08
Trace around signing off Hi I'm beaker with military broadcast
1:03:12
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