Episode 526 Brian Kelly Total Force Plus Making Military and Veteran Connections Transcript

This transcript is from episode 526 with guest Brian Kelly.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] When you leave the military, it’s easy to wonder if the community that you counted on is still out there. The truth is that it is, and some people never stop working to make sure that veterans and their families are supported long after the uniform comes off. One of those people is Brian Kelly.

After 33 years in the Air Force, he now leads the Military Officers Association of America, an organization focused on protecting benefits, helping families, and stepping in when veterans face crisis. In this conversation, Brian shares how MOA is fighting for the military community at every stage, whether it’s scholarships for kids, resources for transition, or making sure that veterans have a backup plan when disaster strikes.

Scott DeLuzio: Hey, Brian welcome to the show. Really looking forward to this conversation. Looking forward [00:01:00] to you know, hearing more about what you guys are doing with the the Military Officers Association of America and everything, and, and the, the conference you have coming up. But welcome to the show.

Brian Kelly: Yeah. No, thanks Scott. I appreciate you having me on.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I, I mentioned military Officers Association of America which, you know, you’re obviously a part of. And, and the conference, the, the upcoming conference, Total Force Plus, that I definitely wanna get into. You know, you know, in, in just a minute here. But for the listeners who maybe aren’t as familiar with you and your background, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself kind of who you are, how you got involved with the the organization and all that kinda stuff?

Brian Kelly: Yeah, thanks. You know, so, I spent 33 and a half years in the United States Air Force. I went to reserve Officer Training School, ROTC scholarship at the University of Notre Dame out in Indiana. And I did so like, you know, many of us in the, in the world, in the country, I needed money to go to school.

And so it, it was a good way to get some, some school money. and I honestly thought I would go to the, you know, school in Notre Dame and repay my [00:02:00] four years. I had a four year obligation for taking the scholarship and my firm plan was spend four years in the Air Force and then go out and see the world do other things. As it turned out I just loved it, right? I, I loved the idea of serving. I loved the idea of being as a part of a team. I always loved team kind of things, and I kept telling myself after each assignment, all right, I’ll take, I’ll take one more assignment. If they gimme another good assignment I’ll stay.

And lo and behold, I thought every single assignment I got was great. The experiences were fantastic and you know, before I knew it. I was 33 and a half years and did my last couple years in the Pentagon as a three star General and Lieutenant General in the Air Force where my last job was.

I was basically the, the head of all the human capital for the Air Force. So, over 700,000 people active duty, guard, reserve. Civilians. and so my responsibility was for the policies and oversight of that group and advocacy for the budgets really to shape build and, and drive the Air force’s human capital needs.

And [00:03:00] so, you know, great way for me to culminate my career in the Air Force which was fantastic. And then you know, after 33 and a half years, you’re rolling out Scott, you’re saying, what, what am I gonna do now? Right.

Scott DeLuzio: Right, right.

Brian Kelly: I was sitting down with my wife. I was getting lots of advice from friends and everybody was, you know, giving you their thoughts on what you should do next and stuff.

And I sit down and took inventory with my wife and I said, what are the good things we have in our life? And when we thought about it you know, she and I met in the Air Force. She was in the Air Force as well. A lot of our friends were from our time in the service, in the military, all, all branches. You know, the things we had seen, experienced, the things that we got out of our, our lives were really a result of that. And so. Somebody approached me with this opportunity to join the Military Officers Association of America. They were looking, for a new president and CEO, new Chief Executive Officer, and they were gonna be. You know, having an a resume and a application process. And so I put my name in the hat, and thought, you know, well, if I’m lucky enough to get that job, what a, what a good connection with this job to what I had been doing.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Brian Kelly: I was lucky enough to get the [00:04:00] job and, and was hired here by the board of directors and, and I became the president and CEO in January of 2023. So I’ve been here about two and a half years now, and just, you know, what a, what a great opportunity for me and what a great opportunity and fit for me to, to take the things I had learned and done in the military. My passion for giving back on this case, like I, I wanted to be able to say like, I have all these great things that came to me as a result of my service, and how do I make sure I can pass it on to other folks and take care of other folks?

And taking the role here at MO has provided me that opportunity.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and it seems like, like just such a great transition from your military service and then into, you know, not. Still in the military, but still serving the military community and the, the military, the veteran community and, and the folks who are all involved in that. That’s. Just a, you know, like you said, that that’s such a big part of your life, a big part of, you know, your friends, where you met, your, your wife and all, all these things.

It, it’s obviously very important to you. And so being able to continue serving in that capacity just seems like it’s a, a great fit. So I, [00:05:00] I think they think they hit the nail on the head when they they picked your name outta the hat and and, and grabbed the right guy. So,

Brian Kelly: Well, I felt fortunate for sure. And, and you know, you know, and then you, then I’ll just say a little bit about MOAAs got right, like, so,

Scott DeLuzio: yeah.

Brian Kelly: you know, what do we do here at the Military Officers Association? So the. Officers Association. Mo has been around for over 96 years now. We’re about to go over 97 next February. Approaching a couple years. We’ll be around for a hundred years. But the mission of the organization is, is really special and it’s tied to exactly why I came, which is preserve and protect the earned benefits. Those benefits that those folks who raise their hand and serve and wear a uniform that they earn by virtue of those service preserve and protect those earned benefits for those who are currently serving. Those who have served. So veterans and retirees, their families. I think those who are around the military and veteran community know the families serve as well,

Scott DeLuzio: Hmm.

Brian Kelly: and their survivors. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have you know, losses and their survivors are out there, but they’re still part of that military and veteran community and family. And [00:06:00] we do that at MOAA across all ranks, all services. So, I like to say often you know, the O in MOAA stands for officers. It’s an association. For which being an officer is required to be a member, but it’s not an association that’s only about officers. In fact it’s focused across all ranks all services, all branches, if you will, more often than not.

And one of the things that attracted me is the work that we do which is primarily advocacy and legislative support to both the Congress, the DOD and the va ends up helping and purposely so. Our junior enlisted folks, that’s tends to be the places where folks need more help from time to time, resource wise, financial security, and help, those kind of things.

And so it’s really a rewarding opportunity to do that. And you know, so at Moer we’re, we’re doing that through our advocacy, but we also have, have our, our mission for education and philanthropy. Sorry, excuse me. And philanthropically, we have two charities, Scott, which is really helps us do even more good. We have one [00:07:00] charity called the MOAA Scholarship Fund. It’s been around for 75 years now. And it’s, it’s formed on a basic premise that it, children of military families often move around from place to place. You know, they’re, they’re stationed in all different parts of the world and all across the country, and they’re often not in communities for very long and sometimes. when you’re trying to compete for scholarships or it’s time to go to school, having these community standings and, and community. Interaction is helpful, right? People know a family that’s been in the community for 20 years. Well, when you’re a military family and you haven’t been there very long, sometimes it’s hard to compete for those scholarships.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Brian Kelly: MOAA has been through the scholarship fund, been looking to help help the children of military families with grants and interest free loans for over 75 years. And this last year we’ll do $18 million. Out to children of military families about 1800 children, about $10,000 each to help them go to school, right?

Help them get their secondary education and do that, which is really [00:08:00] rewarding. and then we have a second charity which we call the MOAA Foundation. And it’s premise, not as, not as old as the scholarship fund. It only been around for about 10 years. But its premise is that veterans need help to protect and prevent them from getting into crisis from time to time.

And so. We do things like transition assistance, helping a veteran make that transition from uniform service o over. I certainly recognize everybody doesn’t get the opportunity to, to leave like I didn’t and take a job like I did. And so we want to help folks in those places. We educate folks about spouse, employment financial education, then probably most importantly, we do things to help local communities.

One is through some local grants that we do where. MOAA organizations and there are you know, almost 380 or so MOAA organizations around the country who are out in the various communities. We give them grants year to year so they can help in their local community. Sometimes food banks for veterans, sometimes clothing drives sometimes help with local homelessness, a variety of things that [00:09:00] they can do. then our probably biggest area in, in the MOAA Foundation, Scott, is something we call the Crisis Relief Program. Just have to watch the news on a daily basis to see the natural disasters are out there. It fires and floods and tornadoes and, you know, we’re in hurricane season again. And, and what we find is you know, through no fault of their own there are veterans out there who find themselves in crisis in those situations.

And as it turns out, there’s about 12 million veterans. Who are not necessarily eligible for relief from, in, from the individual services, you know, from the Army, Navy, air Force, Marines, space Force, coast Guard, et cetera. and they’re also not connected to the Veterans Administration, to the va. And so when those folks get in trouble through no fault of their own, through these, you know, natural disasters or other kinds of crisis the MOAA Crisis Relief Program can help them out, you know, short term kind of thing.

We don’t, we don’t step in and rebuild their house. We don’t, we don’t have the kind of resources to do that yet. I hope maybe someday in the future. But you know, it’s really helpful if you’re, if you happen to lose a home or you’re temporarily displaced to get some money to carry over a couple [00:10:00] weeks until other aid and other things kick in.

And so, Mo is really proud and, and, and you know, excited about the opportunity to help those veterans get outta crisis when they find themselves through into those different crisis situations.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, and I’m. Sure. Anyone who’s been in that type of situation can attest to the fact that any little bit can help. And so if it, you know, even if, if it gets them a couple weeks before, you know, like you said, other benefits kick in and, and stuff that, that just takes such a, a huge burden off of their shoulders that, that they don’t have to worry about, you know, where’s my family gonna sleep tonight?

And, you know, how, how are we going to get food and other essentials that, that you might need. Just basic things that we take for granted every day are. A struggle for a lot of these people who are in those types of crisis. So that’s that is just a, you know, a great you know, benefit that, that you guys offer.

And you know, all, all the things that you guys, you just mentioned are, are incredible as well. But there, there’s just so much so much to unpack there really. I think we could, we could probably have a whole episode just on, you know, that type of stuff too. But I do want to kind of switch gears just a bit [00:11:00] here and talk a little bit about the, the, the conference, the Total Force Plus conference that you guys have coming up. And tell us about the conference. Tell us what, you know, kind of your vision behind it and what, what it’s all about. And you know, what folks can expect for it from it if they are you know, in attendance,

Brian Kelly: Yeah. You know, so, one of the unique things about MOAA is we sort of straddle both sides of the communities. There are

Scott DeLuzio: I.

Brian Kelly: called military service organizations, MSOs, and there’s ones called Veteran Service Organizations veteran, you know, veteran focused. MOAA happens to be both. MOAA is an MSO and A VSO.

And we like to say we’re, we’re around and helping people from the time they raise their hand and volunteer through their service, through their transition. Through their VA time and support healthcare from the VA all the way until you know, at some point in time maybe they get a headstone from the VA and they’re given honors and laid to rest. And one of the things that we discovered in there is you know, that ecosystem is really interconnected. If you think about how the experience goes from somebody while they’re serving in their current, current service, whether they’re, you know, [00:12:00] active duty, reserve, or guard their treatment and how they serve during that time matters.

Their transition and how they go from, after having uni where the uniform to their next phase of life matters, and then how they’re taken care of after they serve, you know. Are there benefits maintained to them? Do they get good treatment by the Veterans Administration? Can they find healthcare in that second phase? and the interconnection of that whole system means that somebody who is taking care of well is going to recommend to somebody else that they meet on the street or somebody that comes and talks to ’em when they say, Hey, you know, should I serve? The, the experience that they had while they were serving, while they’re transitioning, while they’re in VA is what colors their answer.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Brian Kelly: Right. And we want that answer to be, yes, you should serve because we as a nation we as a community, take care of those folks who make the sacrifice to raise their hand and, and serve on behalf of all of us as Americans. And so we wanted to help on that whole ecosystem. We thought about can we do that in a helpful way. And we thought about maybe we can create a [00:13:00] conference and an opportunity in this conference to look at that whole ecosystem a little bit. Create a place where we can collaborate together nonprofits, the government you know, department of Defense, the Veterans Administration. Industry who has you know, capacity and capability and ideas on how to help in those various places. Academia, subject matter experts, and then of course the people who are serving you know, both in uniform and in the civilian capacities. Could we create a forum to bring all those people together and have an opportunity to talk about and look at all the, maybe the challenges that are in there? we like to say advanced solutions. How, how do we help people advance solutions for the military and veteran community? And not that we at MOAA have all the ideas for that, but we wanted to create a forum where we could bring ideas together and bring thoughts and capabilities together so that perhaps when DOD or the VA sees a challenge, or perhaps when the rank and file members are challenged by something. This kind of conference and this kind of collaborative opportunity could give them a chance [00:14:00] to advance a solution and hear about something that you know, maybe they didn’t know about before that would really improve that entire life cycle from the time they raised their hand all the way through VA transition and beyond.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And I, I think you touched on an important point there that you guys don’t have all the answers. The DOD doesn’t have all the answers. The VA doesn’t have all the answers. Any individual

Brian Kelly: Okay.

Scott DeLuzio: or group of people, they’re, they’re not gonna have all of the answers. But when you can bring those people together in a setting, kind of like this conference that you’re, you’re describing here.

That’s when you can put the, these, these minds together who might be facing similar issues or maybe I’ve faced this issue in my organization and I figured out a way to, to kind of handle it, and somebody else is dealing with this same issue in their organization. And hey, if we get together and we talk about it, maybe I can share some ideas with them.

They could share some ideas with me and we, and we can kind of help each other out. And it, it really just makes everybody stronger. And, and better that way because you’re, you’re sharing [00:15:00] ideas, you’re kind of collaborating together. There, there’s no there’s no competition, if you will like it. It’s not like.

Hey, I own this idea and this, I’m, I’m going to, I’m gonna trademark this and I’m, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m gonna capitalize on all this kind of stuff. It’s like I, I want other people to, to benefit from this. And I, I look at it the same way with with this podcast. There’s other military veteran podcasters out there who, who have a similar audience that I have.

I don’t look at any of them as competition. I look at them as we’re all trying to accomplish the same mission here and, and we’re trying to help out. The, the veterans with getting access to resources and, and get the things that they need. So, like you were talking about before, that we don’t get in that crisis situation and, and we don’t have those types of issues you know, going forward and, you know, if someone gets that information from some other podcast, great. That, that’s, they got the information mission accomplished. Right. And, and I think, you know, similarly with this conference, the Total Force Plus conferences, you’re, you’re bringing these people together and ideas are gonna be generated, they’re gonna be shared, [00:16:00] things are gonna, are, are gonna start happening.

Connections will be made, I’m sure. And that’s one of the beauties beautiful things about in-person conferences is those, those in-person connections that get made, you get that? I, I feel like a lot, a lot better in person than you do virtually or, you know, through a maybe just listening to a webinar or, or something like that.

Where, where maybe you’re only hearing this one person talking, but you don’t get access to all the other participants necessarily. And so, so this is I think a great opportunity for, for folks to come together. Share ideas, get, get access to resources and, and other, other things like that. And I, I think it’s really you know, an awesome, awesome idea that you guys have.

So, you know, what, what is your, your hope, your goal or vision for addressing some of these challenges that, that you’re just discussing through through the conference

Brian Kelly: You know, so, Scott, you know, if I was the professor today, I’d give you the a plus on the grade,

Scott DeLuzio: conference?

Brian Kelly: takeaway already, right? Which is this is really about collaboration, right? But there’s the hope for us is that you know, industry [00:17:00] is gonna be there and, and demonstrate some capabilities that they have, but that perhaps somebody in the DOD or VA wasn’t aware of, right? And that opportunity to network with them or, and see them and make the networking connection and collaboration is gonna lead to you know, a chance to solve some issue or improve something. That’s been a challenge across the DOD or VA spectrum in a way that, that improves the overall experience for those members. You know, so we’re hoping for that. We’re hoping for you know, we’re, we got four pillars for the conference Scott one, one is about talent management innovation, right? How, how is DOD taking care of and, and developing folks and utilizing the forest so that they can maximize. The work that they do.

We want, we all want the strong national defense, and we all want the, the DOD to be you know, it’s most le lethal self. It can be, right? And so, talent management and innovation at the individual people level is important. another pillar is about leadership development and personal performance.

How do you maximize the performance of each, each soldier, each airman, each sailor, each marine each guardian [00:18:00] that’s out there, right? How do you maximize that? Everything from nutrition. Through you know, the power to, to, to make sure that people can, can use their brain power the best they can. The third pillar for us is gonna be about quality of life. It’s really apparent and I think, you know, DOD embraces it, the Congress embraces it. of life is really not just an individual if issue for the service member, but for the whole family. So

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah.

Brian Kelly: housing, and childcare and medical care you know, spouse, employment, all these different things that we know are really critical. Helps our service retain and recruit people and it helps us from a readiness standpoint make sure that the individual uniform member can focus on their job and, and they’re not worried about, you know, what’s happening day to day at home. You know, do they have chi, affordable childcare? Do they have medical care for their families? Those things are so important to maximizing the readiness and capability of the services that we have to focus on those a little bit. And then the fourth pillar for us about the veteran [00:19:00] retiree about everything from transition to how their healthcare goes and, and, and what their experiences after they hang up their uniform.

And making sure that that experience starting with day one transition and taking care of them is, is the best it can be. So with those four pillars, our hope is that we will have. already do have lots of content in each of those areas. and there’s gonna be somebody, you know, from the DOD or VA who needs help in one of those areas or is focused in one of those areas. And to your point, the idea will be that they make those networking connections, they have collaboration opportunities, they meet new people and most importantly, they get exposed to new ideas. they contribute a piece to the puzzle, somebody else puts a puzzle piece down and sooner or later, you know, you have the whole puzzle solved because you were able to network and bring these capabilities together.

So, MO’S goal would be that, you know, leaving that conference that people see these great opportunities to, to further their work on whatever, whatever challenge, whatever problem they’re trying to solve because they made some great connections and, and were exposed to some great things at Total Force Plus.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:20:00] Yeah, for sure. And I, that’s, that’s one of the things I, I like about these in-person conferences. Is the fact that you are able to network and connect with people that you otherwise wouldn’t likely be able to get in front of and, and get to talking to. And I know I’ve, I’ve been to several conferences that, that have had that type of effect and it’s not always an immediate connection that, that always.

Takes place. But you know, even six months, a year from now someone might look back and say hey, you remember that person that we met at, at that conference? And yeah, that they were doing that thing and, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for now. And, and then they, they find their, their information, they, they look ’em up and they, they make that connection.

And so, you know, the more of that. Type of interaction that we can have the better. And, and I, I like the, the, the four pillars, the way you broke that out. I think those are all equally important to, to the, the military and the veteran community. Because you mentioned the quality of life aspect that we we’re, we’re talking about families too, because if you have family [00:21:00] issues you’re not gonna be the best.

Service member that you can be, you know, because you’re gonna be focused, your mind is gonna be focused on what’s going on at home, what, you know, my, my kids are having issues. My, my wife is having issues, or, or whoever. They’re, you’re, you’re gonna be worried about those things and you’re not gonna be a hundred percent focused on your, your job or your mission, whatever it is that you’re, you’re tasked with.

So, yeah, definitely taking care of those things is, is super important. And you know, oftentimes that kind of gets. Push to the side because, well, that’s not directly focused on the mission. That’s not, you know, the, the lethality of, you know, military service and that’s not focused on that type of stuff.

It’s, it’s more the, the soft side, if you will. That, that it, that’s focused on, and, and, and sometimes it gets, it gets just kinda swept under the rug and, and that’s not the right way to look at it. And so I, I’m, I’m glad that you guys are looking at that as, as one of those, those pillars because you know, without the family holding down the fort back home, I mean, it, it, it’s gonna make job a whole lot harder for, for those service members [00:22:00] to, you know, go overseas and do their job and, and.

And not even just overseas, but even just going, you know, for a week or two or a month or or so for, you know, different types of training or, or whatever it, it, it’s hard to do when you have kids at home and if, if those kids aren’t being taken care of, that, that’s tough. Right?

Brian Kelly: Yeah. And you know, there, there’s an old adage, you know, so it’s, it’s not me coming up with something new here, but it’s absolutely true. You know, our, our services recruit individuals, but they retain families,

Scott DeLuzio: Sure, sure.

Brian Kelly: You know, once, once that, once that service member starts a family. You know, rightly so, spouses and kids play into the effect and, and decisions are made, family decisions are made on whether are we gonna stay and serve four more years?

What are we gonna do? Are we gonna accept this PCs, this change of station, if you will, to move to another part of the country? And you know, rightly so, ’cause they’re serving as well, the family has a vote in that. And we, we wanna make sure, I think all of us who are supportive of that military and veteran community wanna make sure that that experience and quality of life for the overall family is positive.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, for sure. [00:23:00] Now one of the other pillars that you mentioned was the, the veteran and retiree kind of experience and, and what goes on there. And that’s, that’s a big part of what. I’m focused on with this show is, is kind of that post-service life and, and the things that affect the, the veterans because it, it just, it, it kills me to see people who, you know, served honorably.

They, they may be deployed, did, did their, their time. They, they did all the things that they that was asked of them, and then they get out and they feel like they’re. Lost that they’re, they’re alone. They’re, there’s a sea of resources out there, but they don’t know what to grab onto because there’s just, it’s almost like drinking from a fire hose.

You get too much information. Too many things coming at you all at once. You know, how, how do you see that that the veteran and retiree experiences kind of being supported by, by the by the conference?

Brian Kelly: Yeah. You know, we’re gonna have a variety of things. It’s gonna start with the first thing that happens to you, which is transition, and how do you do transition? So, there is a networking lunch we call the brunch and learn. And the brunch and learn is gonna be for those folks who are coming [00:24:00] up on transition. And it’s gonna be about some folks from the industry who are gonna talk about how, how can AI help you? And so if you’re searching for all this information that’s out there and you’re trying to you know, decide what to, to follow, what not to follow, and it’s overwhelming there are AI capabilities now that can help you, help you with your resumes, help you with your search, help you narrow down information.

So. We’re gonna have a big networking event that’s gonna be a, a brunch and learn to do that. We’re gonna have some discussions about hard topics in the veteran space. So one of the hardest topics in the veteran space, unfortunately, is suicide. And so, you know, our, one of our platinum sponsors is USAA.

I think everybody in the military veteran community, very familiar with those guys and all the work that they do. But one of the things they, they work on is this thing called Face the fight that has to do with veteran suicide. And so they’re gonna sponsor a panel. From a group group called One Degree of Separation and one degree of Separation are folks who are dedicated to trying to help in the mental health space. And they do it in what I would say is a little bit of a non-conventional way. They bring humor, they have some comedians, and they bring [00:25:00] humor, which doesn’t always, you know, equate to when you think about suicide. Certainly not a funny topic. But they, they, they try to help tamp down the stigma of needing and, and seeking mental health. Support and help and so they’ll be there. There’ll be a group that’s in the same space that has virtual reality capabilities to teach people scenarios about suicide prevention. And like, what are the signs? And it’ll, it’ll walk you through a scenario. I, I put these goggles on the other day, Scott and, and did a test. You know, it’s like you’re talking, just like you and I are talking now. It’s, it’s fully realistic and the person is trying to give you every reason about why they don’t need help. and you’re, you’re responsible for giving answers and depending on what answers you give, the scenario goes in different places and you get, you know, sort of real time feedback at the end.

You know, did you do the right things to get this person to help? You know, did you recognize the signs that were around you know, a person in distress? Those kind of things that’ll be there. So they’ll be there doing that. They’ll be folks from the Veterans Administration themselves, from their experience office [00:26:00] talking about how to navigate. And you know, what customers should expect and how they try to maximize the customer experience. When you go on to va.gov and you go through you know, the website of Dreams, if you will, with all the different places to go, it can be pretty daunting. I don’t know if, if you’ve been on that

Scott DeLuzio: Oh yeah.

Brian Kelly: Yeah.

You know, there’s a lot of stuff there and so we’ll have folks from the VA there that, that talk about how they’re trying to make that easier for everybody and how best to navigate those resources in the veteran space. that to your point you know, you’re not overwhelmed with all the things that are out there and you, and one, you could become unaware.

There’s so much stuff you can become unaware of. You know, one of the things that we find is everybody, when they’re first transitioning, the thing that they’re most aware of is to file for a disability claim. But there are so many other resources and so many other things that the VA has. So we’re excited that some of these sessions. And this session in particular will make some, some people aware of and talk about how to navigate those things and maybe some of the best practices to making sure you can be aware of and maximize your veterans resources that you earned.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, [00:27:00] and I think that’s a key thing. The last thing that you just said right there is that the, the resource or the benefits that you’ve earned because a lot of people have the, this the stigma, this, this mindset about the, the benefits that, that are available to them as if they’re taking something away from some other person who in their mind, oh, the.

They’re worse off than I am. So, you know, I’m, I’m not even gonna bother applying for this benefit or that benefit because somebody else needs it more than me. Which is, is the wrong way to look at it because like you’ve, you’ve earned those benefits, you. Those benefits are available to you without taking away from somebody else.

It’s not like there’s a, a, you know, a pool of money. And as soon as that, that money is tapped into, and it, it, the, the amounts out for the, the year nobody else can get access to it. You know, it’s, you know, if you’ve, if you’ve earned those benefits, you, those benefits are, are yours and no one’s gonna take them away from you, just like you’re not gonna take away from somebody else.

[00:28:00] So, you know, like. When it comes to things like disability benefits and stuff like that, like apply for it. If, if, if that’s you know, something that you have a disability from the military you know, apply for it and, and get what, what benefit you deserve. And I know from my personal experience when I got out, I didn’t think I was eligible for things like that.

And, and so I just had a big misunderstanding of how that whole process worked and. It wasn’t until I talked to somebody who, who told me it was like, oh no, actually you do, you are qualified for, for this, that, and the other. And I was like, oh, gee, I didn’t even realize that. And so, you know, there’s just a lot of misconceptions or bad information or, or things like that, that are out there.

So it’s, it’s just great to be able to have people out there to clarify that information for, for folks too. Right.

Brian Kelly: Yeah. And, and you know, I mean, again, you, you hit the nail on the head this idea of, of you’ve earned them, right? Like, these aren’t, these aren’t government programs and there are other government programs, you know, social programs in some cases for [00:29:00] good reasons that are given to people because they’re in, in, you know, bad situations, but. These, this isn’t that result. Everybody’s worn, the uniform earned what they’re, what they’re entitled to. And to your point, when, when you go to the VA and apply for those things, you’re not taking away from anybody else.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Brian Kelly: you know, it’s the, it’s the job of our government and it’s the job of folks like me and, and other associations, you know, and our VSO and MSO community to make sure that the government keeps their promise. You know, it should never be. That everybody who earned a benefit somehow has to share it because too many people earned the benefit, right? The, the social contract between the nation and the, and their volunteer is you raise your hand, you serve, and then sometimes you know, you may, may be put in a position to give the ultimate sacrifice, but in return, you know, our government’s going to take care of you and honor your service in a way. That, you know, when you’re done serving and your family’s done serving regardless of how long that is, they’re gonna, they’re gonna make sure that you are able to get all the benefits that you earned and, and can honor the service and the sacrifices that you [00:30:00] made. Not, not that you just deserved, but that you earned. Right?

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Brian Kelly: earned those things. And, and so, like you said, we, we want everybody to apply for those things and everybody to get the things that they earned. And folks like us will make sure that there’s enough money there to make sure that they get, get their just desserts.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And you know, for the folks who, who do that, like if, if you think about it, they’re really only hurting themselves by not applying for those benefits. But in addition to, you know, hurting themselves by not getting those benefits, financial or whatever benefits that might be available to them, it also in a way, is also gonna hurt the, the next generation of folks who are, are coming through, who are seeing people who.

Are maybe disabled, but not getting, getting financially compensated or getting the medical treatments or, or things like that from the va because they’re just not using it. It’s available to them, but they’re just not using it. And so other people are gonna start seeing that who maybe aren’t familiar with the whole process and the whole system.

And, [00:31:00] you know, hey, my, my neighbor is a, you know, he’s a Afghanistan war veteran. He’s, you know. He got a purple heart and, and you know, he had all these, these issues, but he’s not getting any help from the, from the va. So, I don’t want to serve in, in that kind of condition. Why would I sign up for something like that if they’re not gonna take care of me?

If I, if I get injured or, or, you know, even worse, why would I, why would I want sign up for that? And so that. Could start to become the mindset of, of some people. And then, you know, to your point earlier, we, we wanna encourage people to join and not discourage them and, and kind of push them away from the service, right?

So.

Brian Kelly: Yeah. And, and like I said, this is all interconnected, but you know, we, that’s why it’s so, so important for this conference of things that we’re doing here, to, to show the connection there and to show that we’re all working together. To maximize that experience. So, you know, you served, I served Scott, like you wouldn’t say every single day is, is cotton candy and puppy dog tales, right?

Like,

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Brian Kelly: ser service comes with sacrifice. There was plenty of hard days for me, and I’m sure there’s plenty of hard days for you and others who have served, right? And, [00:32:00] and some have had harder days, right?

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Brian Kelly: those folks that you mentioned who may have been injured badly in combat or those kind of things have, have, have even more reason to earn their benefits.

But. Having a network of those things that happen to make sure we take care of those folks is what sustains for us the all volunteer force. Right? I, I don’t know about you, but I don’t, I don’t wanna see our country go back to a, a draft. I think an all volunteer force ensures that the United States has a military that is dedicated, professional and fully committed to what it needs to be doing, right?

’cause people are volunteers in those positions.

Scott DeLuzio: Yep.

Brian Kelly: it certainly has served us well around the world. You know, when I watch the news and I see Ukraine and Russia go and I see some Ukrainian folks who are outnumbered out, you know, outsizing equipment, everything, but they’re holding their own because they’re volunteers who want to be there and, and believe in what they’re doing.

Scott DeLuzio: Yep.

Brian Kelly: Russian conscripted forces. In some cases we have superior numbers and superior equipment not doing as well. What it tells me is there, there’s power in having an all volunteer force of, you know, folks who raise their hand. And so we’ve [00:33:00] gotta work and for all the reasons that you just said and, and, and then what the conference is about, making sure those things happen to keep us going forward.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. For folks who are still in the military, maybe in, in that, you know, six, nine months or so out from, from their, time that they’re gonna be transitioning outta the military. If you had one piece of advice for them for that, that transition period to kinda make it as smooth as possible to give themselves the best chance of success after taking off that uniform what would that advice be?

Brian Kelly: Yeah, we, we used the word before, Scott, but, and it’s probably overused, but I, I’m gonna tell you, it’s a hundred percent accurate. Network, network and networks are more right. The, the group of people that you know, and the group of people that the people you know, know will get you information, will make connections for you. Things like LinkedIn is great. You should have that going on. You know, if you’re wanting to get a job if you want to know about your resources and how to apply for different things, that network of people that you can talk to, the people who have gone before you know, associations like MO and others out there, there are so many people [00:34:00] that are there. That are willing to help you if you just network to them and use your

Scott DeLuzio: Hmm.

Brian Kelly: I’ll just go back to my situation. I, I learned, you know, everyone who goes outta the military goes through the Transition Assistance Program, tap. I think I had, you know, a. 50 things on, on my desk that I had to get done before I was leaving.

So I was, I was going through tap, but I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. You know, and I had other things to do what got me through transition and, and, you know, got me signed up in the VA and got me to earn my benefits and got me, even the job opportunities here at MOAA was the network of people, right.

I, I didn’t, I didn’t get any of those things without having that network. And so. you’re talking to those people who are getting ready to transition, you know, networking is everything. And so at, at Total Force Plus, there’ll be some big networking opportunities. So, we certainly encourage anybody who’s in that, that, you know, six to nine month period or even even longer a year, year and a half out to be over there and, and to work on networking and, and hear about the transition resources. We talked a little bit about the Lunch and Learn before, but there’s gonna be another really cool event. [00:35:00] Scott, one of the nights, the, the first night of the conference, something we call the roast and Toast. It’ll be another networking opportunity, but it’s gonna be a fun opportunity as well. We have, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, an actor and comedian Rob Riggle. I don’t know if you are

Scott DeLuzio: Oh yeah.

Brian Kelly: Rob Riggle. He is been in movies and, you know, does a great things. He’s a, a retired marine lieutenant colonel. He’s gonna mc an event for us. We call the roast and toast. And in the roast and toast.

All the services will be there. We’ll rotate at service each year through the position. But this first year, my, my home service, the Air Force is in the, in the roasting seat. And so there’ll be a fun natured roast by the services against the Air Force. The Air Force will have a chance to rebut, and there’ll be fun natured back and forth.

There’ll be food, drinks, everything all, all provided for free. And then the, the Air Force will also get toasted. So we’ll, we’ll honor some airmen who are doing great things for them in the people space and organizations within the Air Force that take care of this community. We’ll have a chance to provide some honors.

Rob and others will provide some honors for them on the toast side. But [00:36:00] we’ll do the roasting part just to have fun and to network, right? There’ll be, you know, 500 service members in there at the roast and toast networking with each other, meeting each other you know, talking about the things that they need to talk to, to do great things.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And I, I think going back to the conversation you’re, you’re having before about the kind of using humor a along the, the, the suicide to topic, it’s. Not a funny topic, but sometimes humor could be the best medicine and, and, you know, having a you know, little, little bit of a thick skin and, and just, you know, understanding that, hey, it’s all good fun.

It’s, you know, no, nobody actually hates the Air Force. You know, we’re not, we’re not, you know, knocking on the air force like that, but, but it’s, it’s kinda like a sibling rivalry kind of thing where, where yeah, we’re, yeah, of course we’re gonna make fun of. The Air Force if, if, you know, I was in the Army, of course I’ll make fun of the Air Force, but I expect the Air Force to make fun of the Army too, and, and, and vice versa, you know, all the way

Brian Kelly: yeah, there’ll be, there’ll be equal barbs back and forth and all, all in good nature. But

Scott DeLuzio: right.

Brian Kelly: of fun. And again, it’ll be an opportunity to network and do great things. You know, [00:37:00] one of the things that’s gonna be great about the conference as well, Scott, is for those who are currently serving, so if you are currently in uniform, active duty, guard reserve, if you are a civilian working in the Department of Defense or the va. Or your spouse of one of those, right? Your immediate family member, spouse, it’s absolutely free.

Scott DeLuzio: Oh, great.

Brian Kelly: to come, right? You know, we’re gonna be at the Gaylord National Convention Center here in DC on 28 and 29 October. And if you happen to be in those, those categories it’s free including parking. If you come over and park over there, there’s, we, we pay for the parking. we’re gonna have food and drinks and things like that. And so, our goal is just to make it easy for everybody to get there and easy for folks to participate, you know, and, and really get value out of the two days that we’re gonna be over there on 28 and 29 October.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. And for the, the listeners who are interested in attending the conference, I know you, you’ve, you’ve kind of sweetened the pot a little bit here with with, you know, for the, the service members who, who can attend for free. But for the folks who wanna find out more information about the conference, where can they go to find out more?

Brian Kelly: Great, thanks. Yeah. If [00:38:00] you go to Total Force Plus, so T-O-T-A-L force, F-O-R-C-E plus PLU s.org, Total Force Plus.org. And you go there, you’ll get a whole sign up and it’ll let you see all the different categories If you don’t happen to be currently serving there are other categories of people to, to join and come. You know, depending on who you are and what and what category you happen to fall in. Just as an incentive plug, if you happen to be a MOAA member, you get a big price discount. You can, you can come and, and come and do those things and it’ll have the full agenda. You can see everybody who’s gonna be there.

You know, I mentioned somebody like Rob Riggle who’s gonna be there, but. We got some other really great folks who are veterans who are gonna come and talk about how their military service made them who they are. A guy named Nate Boyer, who is a, a former Army ranger. Nate was a University of Texas football player, army Ranger.

Ended up in the NFL playing for the Seattle Seahawks. And, and now runs another nonprofit doing great things in the community. And then a sailor. A guy by the name of B Taylor, who is now a r and b music [00:39:00] producer and artist himself on the Sony Music label does great things in that place.

He was a sailor and he would tell you, and he is gonna tell the group there that day about his journey and how he probably would never have made it to where he is in that industry and doing great things. How did he not you know, learned the things made, the connections the networking that he had from being in the Navy and just the things he learned about discipline. And work ethic and being able to do the things that he does. All, all traceable to his military service. So there’s gonna be a lot of great sessions. But if you go to Total Force Plus.org, you’ll be able to sign up and get information and you know, we hope to see everybody over there 28 and 29 October.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. And so this, this episode’s coming out, you know, roughly a month or so before that. So plenty of time for folks to. Get, get signed up, get, get their tickets, get their you know, travel and all that, accommodations, all that kind of stuff taken care of. But you know, I, I definitely encourage folks to go and check it out.

You know, especially those people who are in that transition period or, or you know, looking for those types of networking opportunities to [00:40:00] kind of help, you know, ease that transition. But also, like you, you were saying all those, those organizations who have people who are. In the veteran or military spaces just to be able to kind of help and share ideas and, and help each other out.

And, and I think it’s just a great opportunity for co collaboration and you know, really encourage the listeners if, if you’re in any of those categories definitely consider it and, and go check it out.

Brian Kelly: Yeah, no, thanks Scott. And you know what, and for even the, the folks who are currently serving, you know, if you’re wearing a uniform, even if you’re not close to transition the topics and things that are gonna be covered are gonna be important. And, and senior leaders, you’re like, so. The, the three star level leaders from each of the services human resources organizations are gonna be there.

The, the senior medical people, the surgeon generals from each of the services, the senior enlisted leaders, the top, the top senior enlisted leader from each of the services gonna be there to talk to the groups. And so, you know, what a great developmental experience and great opportunity for an everyday rank and file Soldier, sailor, airman, marine [00:41:00] guardian. Whatever you happen to be, to come over and, and learn about those things and, and get some good opportunity to network at the same time.

Scott DeLuzio: Absolutely. Well, Brian, I I really do appreciate you coming on the show sharing your, your experiences and, and, and also the types of things that people can expect from the Total Force Plus conferences coming up up here in October. Again all those links that you mentioned, I I’m gonna have all those links in the show notes for folks.

So, people can check that out real really easily. Just you know, click on the links there in the show notes and and check it out and if it seems like it’s the right fit for you. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Hopefully you’ll be there and I do appreciate you coming on and you know, just continuing to serve and helping improve the lives of those in the military community and, and our veterans.

So thank you so much.

Brian Kelly: Yeah. Well, thanks Scott. And our, our MOAA motto is never stop serving. And I certainly hope that there’s all the folks, like you mentioned, you included. By the way, thanks for what you do. Who are all, all out there caring about the military and veteran community. So, for from MOAA, we’re, we’re thankful that you had us on, and thanks for letting us talk about Total Force [00:42:00] Plus we’re excited about it.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much.