Welcome to this webinar on youth savings, experimentation for a new generation of savers. I'm Rani Deshpande with Save the Children, and along with my colleague Grosena Ramirez with Freedom from Hunger, we are delighted you are joining us for a discussion on youth savings mechanisms that are being tested in this emerging field. This webinar is part of the second day of discussions on savings for the poor that is taking place through the current USAID microlink speakers corner. By focusing on the emerging area of youth savings, we hope to set the stage for a broader discussion on savings strategies. Over the past few years, there has been a flurry of projects and initiatives targeting youth by financial service providers or FSPs, non-governmental organizations and funders, especially to provide saving services to young people. There are multiple factors that play behind this trend. First, development and microfinance practitioners see savings as a way for youth to safely keep their savings, which in turn can help them accumulate the necessary resources to acquire assets. The long-term expectation is that the accumulation of savings is a mechanism for investing towards the future of youth and for low-income young people to break the cycle of poverty that is passed from generation to generation. There is also a rationale for FSPs to focus on the youth market. Youth saving services could build consumer loyalty among target youth as they grow up and access a wider range of financial services. There is also an expectation that when youth become clients and learn about financial services, FSPs could cross-sell to their parents or other family members. And finally, reaching out to youth is part of a broader social mission and CSR strategies of many FSPs. Although it is too early in the field to tell conclusively what strategies are most effective in youth savings, we are at a good point to examine what is currently taking place in this field and to take a look at early evidence unaffectiveness. But first, it might be helpful to clarify what we mean by youth savings, especially since definitions of youth vary so widely. In some countries or projects, youth refers to anyone from early adolescence to early adulthood. In others, the official definition of youth starts at the age of majority to distinguish youth from children and may even go as high as 40 years. Most of the initiatives cited in this presentation target young people between the ages of 12 and 24, although not necessarily all young people within that age range. Many FSPs segment youth into finer age categories. The market research conducted on youth savers through these initiatives reveals some broad commonalities in young people's needs, preferences and behaviors with respect to savings. It might therefore be easier to work with a functional definition of youth savings rather than a client-oriented definition based on what we know about what youth want. We know, for example, that youth want savings that allow them to save very small amounts often from irregular income. We also know that many youth want to save for long-term goals but can often only manage to put aside money for short-term needs. They therefore value savings tools that will help them accumulate larger amounts over a longer term. Additionally, youth want to be able to access their savings whenever they need them for a variety of needs, including programmed expenses such as school fees and unexpected expenses such as health emergencies, as well as for contributions towards household expenses and their own personal needs. Last but not least, young people want their savings to be safe, especially safer than their other informal savings options. If these characteristics sound familiar, that's because they are. Such preferences are not very different from the types of savings that low-income adults want. Still, there are critical particularities in the savings needs of youth which have to be considered when offering them savings services. For example, youth want to be able to manage their savings and decide how to spend their funds. But in many countries, there are financial regulations that keep miners from owning and or operating their own savings accounts. This has implications for both autonomy and child protection, as it makes it difficult to give miners the independence and privacy they want with respect to savings. Given the legal framework, this often calls for setting up additional policies or processes to mitigate against the risk of adult abuse of the youth and or their savings. Another distinguishing feature is that young people are especially mobile, as many are forced to migrate either for work, education or marriage, and as a result need savings that they can use wherever they move. This phenomenon can be even more pronounced in rural areas. Finally, youth respond to different types of marketing and incentives than adults. Marketing to young people obviously needs to use language and imagery appropriate to their age and stage in life and the aspirations that go with it. But anecdotal evidence has shown that youth can be less sensitive to financial incentives than adults and more responsive to in-kind incentives such as gifts and giveaways. These unique characteristics call for experimentation with different approaches that can specifically address young people. Now that we've established a framework for understanding what we mean by youth savings, we'll turn our attention to sharing examples of youth saving strategies that are being tested around the world. Since this field is still in the early stages, it is difficult to claim any particular intervention as having proved conclusively successful. However, based on what we do know of youth needs and behaviors, we have identified examples that seem very promising. For this discussion, we will provide examples that focus on product design, marketing, delivery, and sustainability. In the microfinance industry, there is an explicit recognition of the importance of designing financial products that match the needs and preferences of the poor. Since savings accounts are relatively simple financial instruments, the experimentation taking place in the design of youth savings is primarily with mechanisms that enable youth to build significant sums from the sources of income that are even smaller and more irregular than those of adults. Lowering what you might call the barrier to entry for a savings account is therefore even more important for youth. A good example of an FSP addressing this barrier is PAMICAS in Senegal, a participant in the UNCDF Youth Start Initiative. Due to its cooperative structure, all PAMICAS members have to pay membership fees amounting to US$11 and by a share worth US$7.5. PAMICAS realized that this was too high an amount for youth to pay as a lump sum and could represent a major obstacle to youth uptake. So they decided to allow youth to join the institution and open a savings account while saving up the required membership costs over time. Restrictions on withdrawals can also provide the assistance with asset building that some youth want. As part of the YouthSafe project, HFC Bank in Ghana prohibits withdrawals from their youth savings account for the first three months and limits them to one per month after that. The idea is to facilitate and encourage self-control, which can be a particular issue with youth because of their lack of experience with money management and their developmental stage. Through its youth invest initiative in Morocco, MEDA is seeing evidence of the value of building the financial capability of youth through a very extensive training program called 100 Hours to Success, in which youth are required to open a savings account. MEDA has found that six months after the savings account is opened, 88% of trained youth were still using the account. Another way to encourage the accumulation of lump sums is to build a commitment mechanism into youth savings groups and group savings accounts. For example, in Mali, through Freedom from Hungers' Aim Youth initiative, youth commit to saving a specific amount on a weekly basis over a period of 9 to 12 months. Although amounts being saved are very small, they accumulate over the course of time to add up to more substantial amounts. As part of their weekly meetings, youth participate in financial education sessions and establish specific goals that can be met with their savings. But even with the best design products, we have to ask ourselves, if we build it, will they come? Marketing strategies are important for getting clients to learn about financial products, but it is not yet clear what specific marketing efforts offer the most value for money when targeting youth in developing countries. Common types of marketing efforts include community-based events, such as street fairs and meetings, which can incorporate fun events for youth like dramas, dancing, and games. When conducting such events, it is important to schedule them when youth as well as their parents are free so that the interest they generate can be effectively converted into account opening. This is especially true in countries where minors are not allowed to own or operate accounts by themselves. Many FSPs are also using mass media, such as TV and radio advertising, with messages specifically tailored for youth. However, evidence to date indicates that such expenditures are often unsustainable on a recurring basis. Moreover, they need to be supplemented with mechanisms that provide a personal connection between the FSP and the youth and their parents, which is critical for translating interest into account opening. There are also some new marketing initiatives involving virtual entertainment, such as online video games, but these are limited to developed countries. For example, the Doorway to Dreams Fund in the US utilizes video games to promote financial capability among youth. In developing countries, some FSPs are beginning to establish a presence in social media spaces, as with the cooperatives in Ecuador. But these efforts are very preliminary and have not yet been fully rolled out. Marketing campaigns also include incentives for youth to open up savings accounts or make deposits. A variety of different approaches are being tested. Some incentives, such as piggy banks or savings diaries, reinforce the goal of the product. Others are items that are popular with youth, for example, simple rubber bracelets that are being given away by Banco Caja Social in Colombia. In Ecuador, drawing from market research findings that pointed to cell phone airtime as one of the most common expenses for youth, cooperatives are providing airtime recharge cards when youth open up savings accounts or achieve a certain level of savings. Lessons from several girl savings initiatives funded by the Nike Foundation indicate that while such in-kind incentives for account opening are very popular with youth, they may also entail certain drawbacks. First, while providing incentives creates an expectation among youth, they can also be relatively high cost, which in turn can limit the number that can be distributed. Also, while providing incentives up front may encourage account opening, it does not necessarily incentivize continued account usage. We now turn to delivery channels for youth savings. Identifying appropriate strategies where services can reach youth can be challenging because of the constraints youth face, such as parents who limit where youth go outside the household or limits on their time due to obligations with school and household chores. For these reasons, many organizations are reaching out to schools where youth can be reached in large numbers. For example, Afla Tune has established very popular savings clubs in schools where children also receive social and financial education. Similarly, Women's World Banking and its partners Haas Bank in Mongolia and Banguaido Bem in the Dominican Republic promote their savings products at schools where they can also engage in financial education sessions. Involving schools and savings initiatives is also very promising because early evidence suggests that setting up transaction points in schools has been successful in stimulating transaction activity in accounts. However, the cost effectiveness and risk implications of such systems need to be further studied. Another limitation of traditional schools is that school children tend to be on the younger end of the spectrum. In order to address this, Plan International in West Africa is tapping into vocational schools to reach youth over 18 to form savings groups. School-based strategies are also more effective in places where school enrollment is higher, such as in Latin America. So in West Africa, where school enrollment levels are much lower, Freedom from Hunger and its partners, Kaib and Lutonius, are organizing youth savings groups in villages where it's easier to engage hard-to-reach youth through the Saving for Change for Youth initiative. Advances in technology could also prove to be very useful in making savings products more accessible to young people. East Africa is at the forefront of using technology and financial services, especially mobile banking. For example, Equity Bank is utilizing cell phones to enable youth to manage their accounts and receive financial education messages. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Finca and UNCDF's Youth Start are installing point-of-sale devices at local merchants so youth can access their accounts for withdrawals, deposits, and balances. In Ecuador, Freedom from Hunger has partnered with Cooperative San Miguel de los Bancos to utilize smartphones to capture savings in the field. These initiatives are making it easier for youth to access their savings and creating the conditions for youth to make deposits in their accounts more frequently. With all this experimentation taking place in the field of youth savings, there are still many outstanding questions that we as practitioners want to understand better. Some of the main questions being asked are, in what context can youth savings be offered sustainably? How do we reach scale with formal youth savings products? What level of account opening can be expected from various types of financial education? How can we ensure that youth savings accounts remain active? And what strategies are most effective for central banks to modify current and know-your-customer requirements to serve vulnerable populations? The many initiatives that we have cited in this presentation will undoubtedly offer a great deal of rich experience to inform these questions. And we look forward to learning from them in order to understand how to offer young people more attractive and sustainable ways to build their savings. With this webinar, we have attempted to provide a snapshot of where the field of youth savings is with respect to strategies being tested. We hope that you will bring your own questions and perspectives to the broader discussion on savings for the poor that is currently taking place in the USAID MicroLynx Speakers Corner. Thank you for participating in this webinar and we look forward to hearing from you.


This study found that participants who followed a total diet replacement program, TDR, were more likely to achieve successful weight loss outcomes than those following a calorie-restricted, food-based, FB, diet. Additionally, the TDR group showed greater adherence to their meal plans and increased fluid consumption. This article was authored by Jami Dyard, Christina H. Lewis, Sarah S. Cohen and others.


Hi everyone my name is Toy Burton and I am the Founder and Executive Director of the Roxbury Unity Parade. Today we are doing a caravan to celebrate Ms. Sarah Ann Shaw. I believe that we should give our community gyms their flowers why they should smell them and that is why we are here today. Hey everyone my name is Dr. Brandi Brooks. I'm originally from the south but I moved to Boston in 2003 and I've lived here ever since. Why this is important to me regardless of whether I'm a Bostonian you know born and raised it's important because Sarah Ann Shaw means something to this community and by community I mean people of color. She was the first and you always have to celebrate the first. You have to celebrate the trailblazers while they're still here and they can celebrate with you. So this is important it is historic and I'm glad to be a part of it. My name is Reverend Liz Walker. I am now a preacher. I'm pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church but for about 25 years I was a television journalist in Boston at WBZ TV and I worked with Sarah Ann Shaw whom we're honoring tonight today so I'm just excited to be a part of this. Sarah Ann Shaw is a warrior woman who was one of the first black women on television in Boston way back in the 70s right after busing and so she was at that point breaking ground you know just doing something just that had never been done before in a city that wasn't that open to African Americans at least in positions like journalism. She came in as an advocate for the community and in her many years on television she never changed she never strayed from that so she knew she had an obligation as a reporter to report the news she was a street reporter but she felt that she had a bigger obligation to represent her community and to make sure that there were lots of different kinds of stories coming out of the black community. We're right now in the middle of a mess where we're trying to make sure that people are treating our stories fairly and that we can tell our own stories. Well Sarah was one of the first people in this country who knew how important that was in media and so she's a hero. She's a huge hero and at this point in her life at this chapter in her life when she's slowing down we want to pay homage to her we we want to lift her up we want to say this is good news in a in a world where there's so much disturbing news these days. My name is Paul Goodnight I'm an artist in Boston Massachusetts and I'm here to celebrate Sarah Ann Shore who has been a rock in this community for a long time doing the news she's no nonsense she's perfect for the job and she had to go to a lot just to get into position that she was in so I know her nephew we work together he's out in the west coast he told me to make sure that I come here and I'm here it's not so often especially when she was coming up and that they would give her the kind of her reverence and in the job that she's doing and I'm sure she had to jump through hoops to get there to do what she had to do so I you know you have to appreciate somebody who's a trailblazer. My name is Alfred Harris lifelong resident of Roxbury Massachusetts I'm very proud of it and I've known Sarah Ann being as though she's also what we call an original all my life and so I'm here today to help celebrate her and to say hello to her and to wish her the best and like I said it's nothing like the Roxbury folks the original Roxbury folks who grew up together who love each other who care about each other and will do anything we can to help them. My name is Elizabeth Nagaraja and I live right here in Roxbury lived here for most of my life and I'm here to celebrate Sarah Ann Shaw on behalf of the friends of the Roxbury branch library. Sarah Ann has been a part of the friends long before me she was one of the original members starting the friends and I'm here representing the group and it's just exciting that the community is coming out to honor her. Hi my name is Michelle Wu I'm a Boston City counselor and a candidate for mayor. I'm here today because I have not yet missed a Roxbury Unity Parade we've been through I think 90 plus degree heat one year we've been through a lot and and this year is incredible is especially special because we get to celebrate and say hi to one of my heroes and mentors Dr. Sarah Ann Shaw who's just been I'm gonna open the doors for so many in this community and continues to make sure that we have representation that we're talking about the issues head on that we are building community and joy into everything that we do. I remember when I was growing up I didn't see a single person who looks like me on TV right with the exception of Michelle Kwan who was a figure skater in the Olympics one year and that was it and so I never thought that I could or should be in any of these places or rooms where people had power or making decisions and I think that that it matters who we see on the news who we see on TV who we see making decisions and it's not just about those people making decisions right it's about how are we changing the system so that everybody has a say everybody has a voice and can help shape our future together and Ms. Sarah Ann was there decades ago doing that as a very first African American woman to be a television newscaster in Boston she made sure that she was changing the narrative about the community that it was lifting up stories of joy and achievement and opportunity and community making sure that people could see themselves reflected people of color would see themselves reflected in all the good that was happening especially in neighborhoods like Roxbury today went well today went very well um more people showed up than I expected which is always a beautiful thing um the main thing is that Sarah Ann is happy and she loved it and I'm glad that we were able to present her with her flowers why she could still smell them and um and I just want to thank everybody for coming out but I know it's because of her because she's such a phenomenal woman that's why people showed up and um I just want to thank the community for doing that definitely want to thank um Reverend Liz Walker for helping out she called and said what do you need how can I help and she was definitely there definitely want to thank um John Keller for um announcing it on air letting people know about the parade um definitely want to thank the rest of the Roxbury Unity Parade my um director of operations brandy Brooks my grandson Anton that was my driver and my roadie and he helped me with everything and thank you to you just for capturing this moment because I mean I'm just overwhelmed right now I am I'm very happy thank you thank you everyone thank you definitely got to say thank you to her daughter Claire for helping me with this so I appreciate Claire what you're doing is important really to get older younger people understand how how important it is for them to be part of this project this program yes yes I always say Roxbury stand up we are a proud people this is our gem right here and we got to make sure she is shining


Welcome to AirmanVision, where we cover all things about Air Force Life, whether you're somebody that's joining or currently in the Air Force, or you have a loved one that's joining or is currently in. We focus on trying to make content for everything that deals with Air Force Life. So if you have somebody in mind that you think should be on this channel and share their information and their knowledge, be sure to comment that person down below so we can reach out and get in contact with them so we can have them on for an episode. Looking for even more Air Force information, be sure to check out AirmanVision.com, where we have a ton of information on the website as far as blog posts go, but then we also have courses and books for purchase and merchandise. So do not hesitate, be sure to use the links in the description below. My name is Kyle Gott. I'm a six year Air Force veteran and I'm the owner of AirmanVision, and today we're guest hosting Peaches from OnesReady podcast. This is a group of guys that are all in special operations jobs and Peaches specifically is combat control. He's been in the Air Force for 25 years. He's a chief master sergeant, and today he's going to be sharing with you some of his experience and answering some of the questions that you guys have commented on our social media posts recently. So if you're not following us on our other social media platforms, be sure to do that. So when we do these Q&As, you guys can post your questions so we can utilize them in the video. Without further ado, I'm going to let Peaches introduce himself more and then we're going to jump right into the Q&A. Alright, so Peaches, welcome to this first episode where I'm having a guest speaker on. Oh, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. The first, huh? Yeah. I'll take it. So if there's anything that you want to introduce yourself, you're a part of OnesReady. I'm actually going to swap these so we're above the right people. Alright, there we go. So if you want to introduce yourself a little more and then explain a little bit about OnesReady and what you guys do, and then we'll jump into the Q&A that people had commented. Yeah, absolutely. So act of duty right now, Chief Matt Sardin, Jared Peaches, go by Peaches. That's how most everybody knows me.  I can't speak for the DoD or the Air Force or even special warfare. But so yeah, came in when I was 17. I originally came in to be a PJ because I didn't know about what combat control was until I got to INDOC, which was the old pipeline. And I was there with PJs and CCT candidates. And then kind of got to learn about what CCT was or combat control. And they offered us a chance to swap over. So I decided to swap. Ended up going through the rest of the pipeline, which was about two and a half years. And then got to my first assignment. And this was, well, you already said I've been in for 25 years. So I guess everybody can kind of do the math. But I came in came in pre 9-11. I was a 99 guy. So yeah, anyway, so finished, finished the pipeline, went to my first unit. And then 9-11 happened and then actually 9-11 happened while I was in the pipeline. But then went out, did did all the deployments that everybody else did and all that kind of good stuff. Then spent eight years in the United Kingdom, which was an amazing assignment. You said eight years? Eight years since I stayed over there for eight years. Like it was amazing. I just I loved it. And that's actually where I met Aaron, who I'm on the podcast with. OK. And then kind of went back and forth on like these last 10 years. I think I've been at five different locations, you know, Las Vegas, two different locations in Florida, Washington State, and then back to Vegas. So here I am. I'm on Nellis right now at the Weapon School. Nice. Oh, and that's right. You were asking about the podcast. I forgot to plug that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So one's ready right above there at one's ready on Instagram at one ready. One's ready or it's one's ready channel on YouTube. We're on all the Spotify, Apple, YouTube and the Graham. I should have all the links should be in the description on YouTube at least not on Facebook, but on YouTube. They should be in the description of this video. So if you guys want an easy way to click and get straight there, you guys can go check that out as well. So we're going to jump into some of these questions that people had commented when we did some posts earlier this week asking people what questions they had for you. So I'm going to get these pulled up. And first one is actually going to be from me. And it is what is combat control? Like what do they do? So it might not be a common or common knowledge to most people. So it's definitely not common knowledge because I remember even as a senior NCO or senior non-commissioned officer being at school with a lot of other senior non-commissioned officers, somebody saw my beret, which is a scarlet beret. And it was like, all right, so I've been in the Air Force at that point. She had been in the Air Force for, I don't know, 18 years. And she's like, what are you? Like what is this? I've never seen you before. Then I had to go through and explain what it is. So you have four AFSCs or Air Force Specialty Codes within the Air Force that fall under Air Force Special Warfare. Yeah, CCT or Combat Control, which has a scarlet beret. You have Parasque or PJ, which have a maroon beret. You have Special Reconnaissance or SR that have a gray beret. And then you have TACP or Tactical Air Control Party, which are where Black Beret. So Combat Control is, man, there's not very many of us right now. There's right around 396-ish of us. And that ebbs and flows based off people's retirements, people graduating the pipeline, people just separating on normal separation. And we go into austere locations, whether that's in a combat zone or even in a humanitarian like, think hurricane relief and earthquake and stuff like that. And so we will go in, whether that's jump in or drive in or fast rope from a helicopter or anything like that and set up airfields or set up drop zones so that resupplies can get in or so that we can land planes, get people out, even like we can do rearming and refueling of the aircraft by landing them certain places using other aircraft to fuel those planes and rearm those planes and then get them where they need to go. So that's one aspect of it. So you kind of make like MacGyver air strips in a way.  So it's like, it's things like that. And it's not just A-10s, you know, we'll do C-17, C-130s, some other aircraft as well. You know, that so it's, there's a whole bunch of different capabilities that we provide. And it's, you know, it's a placement and access that we are able to get planes, people, equipment into areas that are otherwise kind of cut off. And then the other aspect of CCT is the Joint Terminal Attack Control or the JTAC, where we are able to nominate targets, talk to planes and call in air strikes on targets. Okay. And so that would be when you're like more on the forward front lines. I guess if you're setting up an airstrip as well, you might be as well. But the JTACs are what people would know as far as like the combat side of things. Right. And the airfield stuff is in combat, especially when you start talking about distances that have to travel or another capability that Special Tactics has, which is, you know, Special Tactics houses all four of those AFSCs. There are some nuances when it comes to para-escue men and TACP, in terms of other major commands that they can belong to. But Special Tactics that falls under Special Operations Command or does house all of those. So there's other capabilities where, you know, it is forward. Some of those airfields are forward and we can bring in, you know, like I said, some of these distances are too far for some helicopters to get to. So we'll set up an airfield midway through in the middle of nowhere, bring in planes, bring in the helicopters so that we can refuel them and then get them to where they need to go. We will also put Special Operations Surgical Teams there as well so that in case any of us get hit on the target, we can get a quick helicopter ride from the target back to there so that they can do surgery and operations. So you definitely have to have some nerves of steel to do CCT. That's what the pipeline does for us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely not for the faint of heart. No. And you know, it's a pretty high attrition rate right now. It's sitting at around 89% in terms of attrition rate. It's only 11% make it that go through. Yeah. Like in my class, I think we started with 120, 140, and then it ended with me and another dude. Dang. So that's more than 11%.  So yeah, and that's actually some different bonds than other jobs in the military. Like the military in general has a bond, but your guys' jobs and special operations creates like a whole another layer to that bond. Yeah. And it's not tangible. You can't put your finger on it. You can't describe it, but you know it when you see it. You know it when you feel it.  That's why a lot of times we think that we're sneaky and that people can't tell who we are in the airport or something like that. And it's like, yeah, I know exactly who you are. So it's just, yeah, we interact a lot differently than other folks. Cool. So that should be a pretty good answer on what CCT is. So the next question we're going to jump into questions that other people had asked on our posts earlier this week. And so the first one is going to be what is training like to become part of special operations? Could you talk about some of your experiences and the demands of the training? So you had just mentioned how high the attrition rate was. You started with 120 some and you and another guy were left at the end. So could you kind of go deeper into that? Like how long is it? What, like what stages do they have possibly and just overall encompass what that's like to go through the training for that? Sure. So special operations covers a bunch of different pipelines, if you will, right? You know, the SEALs have buds. Gray Berets have the Q course and some other courses thrown in there. They're SFAS. So we have a bunch of different, I mean, we call it the pipeline just because it's the entire thing, which usually takes around two and a half years depending on injuries and school dates, school starting in dates. But so you go into basic training while taking a step back, brand new recruits get a chance to work with developers.  That's usually six to nine months. So there you can't just hop right in, you know, come in on a Friday to the recruiter and then leave Monday morning. You're not shipping out. That's not the way it works. So you're going to be six to nine months with the developer on average. It could be a little less. And then you're going to go to an Air Force or AFS, AFSW, Air Force Special Warfare, Basic Training Flight, like they have their own flight that usually allows a little bit more time to eat, sleep, a little bit more physical training time, PT time. Then you're going to go to SWIC, Special Warfare Candidate Course, which is like an eight week prep that they're going to help build you up for anything that you did lose during basic training. They're going to help build you back up and then also teach you some of the skills that are going to be required for the next phase, which is assessment and selection or ANS. So that's, that is where the no kidding, like we lose people in SWIC or the Special Warfare Candidate Course, but we lose a lot of people in SWIC or in ANS. So ANS is- Just physically prepare people for selection, assessment and selection? It is a training aspect and it used to be called PREP because it's made to prepare you. But I mean, a lot of people quit there too just because it is, we do a lot of pool work a lot. So there's a lot of drowning, my words, drowning that goes on. Like I passed out a couple times as well. So we do lose a lot of people. A lot of people are like, you know what, I know that this is going to get harder. So this is just, it's not for me. So they'll just bail right then and there. Then we lose people during assessment and selection. Assessment and selection is also where they get a chance to kind of pick their job. So we have coming in, it's a Special Warfare Open enlistment and essentially they get a choice of all for the AFSCs. And then once they get through ANS, if they're going to get selected, they say, all right, I want to be a CCT, PJ, SR, TechP. And then they generally get what they want. The only time they don't... This is a new program that they started doing the last few years, wasn't it? Because before it used to get slotted for a specific job and then go to basic training and then go straight into like assessment and selection. But then I think they were realizing, oh, we could probably prep these people a little bit better and get more people to pass rather than watching out as many people. Have they seen an improvement in numbers since they switched to this new model? Improvement in numbers, yes. But the attrition rate is the exact same. We're getting more people in, which is great. So we're getting a larger graduating class, but the attrition rate is still the same. But instead, like the idea is instead of jump into the pool or jump into this program and you just need to survive, and your central nervous system spiked, your adrenal system is spiked and it's just like, it's crazy, which there's value to that. Don't get me wrong, there's value to that. But now it is, okay, we're going to slowly build a nice foundation for you and slowly ramp it up to where they're going to end exactly where I ended. But at least they should be better prepared for it. Okay. So yeah, so. So up to this point, you haven't even technically officially became CCT or a PJ or anything because you're talking eight, nine months after you swear in of training to prep to even get accepted to go to basic training, then you have eight weeks of basic training, eight weeks of SWIX, and then you have how many weeks is the assessment and selection? I'll just say it's four. Four weeks. One is it changes and two, they try and keep it a bit of a mystery. Okay. And so, and then it can also depend too, because if people are struggling, can't they get help back or wash back and then have to go to the program again. So I personally knew somebody that was in Sear and was in for like a year of training and he failed at a portion and they were like, you can start everything from day one or you can get reclassed. He ended up choosing to get reclassed. But they were like, they don't offer people that part of the program to start over from day one if they don't think you can actually make it all the way back. And he was like mad about it after the fact because he was just like, oh, I can't do it. But they were like, that's, they believed in you. But it's like, that's how demanding it can be. Like it can feel after like literally after everything we just said, you went through all these stages and you finally get to a spot. And if you get washed back, it could feel like an eternity because you're like, I was almost there. And then, yeah, I can't, I can't imagine like the mental like gymnastics that you have to go through just to keep pushing yourself every day through all of that training. Yeah. And we haven't even gotten to pre dive. So if you get selected at A&S that you didn't go to pre dive. And then after pre dive, which is, you know, five or six weeks, something like that, then you go to dive school, which again, is still, you know, running six minute or less miles. Oftentimes, you know, just getting drowned in a pool, doing 50 meter underwaters and doing, you know, doing stuff with tanks and getting knots tied in your, in the air hose to where you've got to take the tanks off and you got to unfoul. And this is, you know, you've got a blacked out mask and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, it's, it's not easy, which is the point because if it were easy, sounds like they're trying to spark panic. Well, so that in a way they are, they're trying to, they're trying to stress inoculate you is what they're trying to do. Because if the first time I ever got tested mentally, I panicked and it happened to be underwater, more likely I'm going to die and the team that I'm with, I'm endangering them. So I need to be able to handle stress at different levels and be able to still react and operate in somewhat of a calm fashion and be able to problem solve and work through that whatever the issue is that's going on. Dang. So after dive school, then where do you go and train? You're going to the Army's airborne school, which is three weeks. You'll go to survival school, which is another three weeks, I believe. And then that's where things kind of go different ways. So for combat controllers, we will go to air traffic control school because, you know, we're worse. I don't want to say we're the same. We are not the same as the folks that are in the tower, but we learn those same kind of, of FAA skills. You know, PJs will do medical stuff. You know, so it's those kind of, those kind of, that's where we split off. And then we'll go to those schools and then we'll hit combat control school, PJs, Paris U School, special reconnaissance goes to special reconnaissance, which is integrated into combat control school. Then we all graduate with our berets. Dang. So this is, that's well over a year from when you initially even went to MEPs and signed up well over you. And you're physically training and mentally training that entire time. There's not many breaks in between when you finally go to MEPs and you start your preparation to physically prepare just to get the basic training and get a job slot. But then that's when your physical training really ramps up after BMT. It's, it sounds like it's just like, like, you know, pedal to the floor until you make it through.  So if you get in trouble or you're sneaking, you know, down to the, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, when you're not supposed to be in a cadre member sees you, which they are always that they're everywhere. The cadre are everywhere and inevitably somebody sees you and you better believe you're getting an early morning, Saturday or Sunday morning, for some extra training. So, but yeah. And so after it is, it's tiring.    Now that is not necessarily a selection. That is not, I mean it's, it's tough, but it is where we take the basic level skills that you have learned and we just increase them by doing full mission profiles and live shooting and, and all that kind of stuff. And those are the people that have already proved physically and mentally that they're able to push through, that they can handle it. And so now you guys are giving them more responsibility on top of, on that they've already made it, right? And now we're going to really double down on your training. Yeah. And we're putting forth more resources and money and more effort to make sure that you are trained at a level so that when you do graduate that course, you know, kitten could go out the door and deploy and we're not worried about you. That's awesome. So this actually ties into the next question. So this question we just answered from Tess Libby on YouTube, but then we have Jayvon Singleton that said, what was the hardest part about assessment and selection? So you had mentioned a little bit about the, you know, the rigorous training options that you have to go through, but what was the hardest thing specifically for you? Because I'm sure there's different aspects that other people struggle with. But you personally, Peaches, what was your, what was the hardest part for you? Yeah, you nailed it. Like different people struggle with it. Like I went, I went through INDOC with some polo players that the water was just like, yeah, whatever. They were, you know, collegiate swimmers and they're like, yeah. People say like high school swimmers, even like some who still struggle, even in that, but sometimes people that are used to the water to them, they're like, Oh, no big deal. But they'll struggle with something else that like everybody else is like, Oh, this is the easy part. That's exactly right. So I was relatively comfortable in the water. What I didn't like in the water, though, were something called 10 ups. I hated 10 ups. And part of it, like for all of our viewers on ones ready, they all they all know that I'm pretty short. Like I am a short dude. And it's pretty funny to see me in pictures next to some of average, average human beings, because I am that short. They say like, a lot of people think you have to be like massive and jacked. But I actually went to, I went to basic training with a guy that became a para-rescumen. And he went through everything. And he was like five foot six weighed like 150 pounds. And yeah. And like, but he like, he could do everything. And he like mentally pushed through it. And he did 10 years and he just recently got out because of injuries. But now he's training people to join. Yeah.  But then you'd be surprised. Some of the guys like that I've even met that you're like, Oh, that's awesome. Yeah.   And a lot of time they are some of the first ones quit and you're like, so you start comparing beforehand, you're like, well, if he's quitting, man, I've got no chance. And that's it's not the case. It's 80% mental 20% physical. Yeah, most of the skinnier kind of folks do make it. Me, I'm a short dude that shortened stocky. So I'm, I can lift a lot of weight, but I can't run very fast. And which also means that in the pool, where it would take somebody like Aaron, you know, three and a half strokes to get across the pool, it takes me no kid around 12 to get across the pool underwater. So I'm using a lot more oxygen. It's just taking me a lot longer. So doing 10 ups, which is where you're on the width of the pool on each side, you have a group on each side, and you're in the pushup position with your hands on the gunnel on the edge of the pool. And you're doing pushups. And then once you get to either a certain number or they tell you go, you sling yourself into the pool and you go subsurface to the other side, and then you can pop up, get back on there and you start doing pushups. That right there, it wasn't the pushups. Pushups is hard enough. Then that does to swim after doing pushups. I can't even imagine that was by far the worst for me. But how many times would you do that back and forth? Tell it was, uh, tell it was over. Oh my gosh. I can't imagine like, I feel like I would do like one of those and be like, please no more. And they'd be like three more later. You'd be like, okay, I'm done.  Well, like your whole body, swimming's a whole body workout, but like, like your shoulders and your chest get a good workout from swimming. So I can't imagine doing pushups and then having that like tightness already in your chest and then having to, and like swimming too creates cramps a lot of times. Oh yeah. And I'm like, oh, that just sounds, it sounds like a lot of, a lot of not fun things. Yeah. It's, um, as for as much of it is a selection and it sucks, right?   So it's, it can make for some really good times. Something that a lot of people will say is like BMT is like the most fun that you never want to have again. And I'm like, I feel like you guys just get that experience multiple times because of all your training where you're like, oh, it's like the most fun I've ever had that I never want to have again.  But at the end of the day, you're like, those are some good memories, but it's like in the moment, it probably didn't feel like this is a good memory. Yeah, grueling and tough. But then after it's one of those things where you look back on and you're like, oh, I'm glad I'm glad I got through that. I'm glad that's always great when it's over. Yeah. I was like, well, it's something to be super proud of too.  Instead of look back, you're like, yeah, I did that and I made it through it. Yeah. So that's, that's an awesome thing. So yeah, it sounds like it wasn't just the water aspect. It was, they're physically trying to make you tired and then have you get in the water is what makes it even more difficult. Well, it can get you out of breath and all that kind of stuff.  So that's why they go do it.  There's not many of you guys or they have lots of eyes on you. So if they see somebody trying to take it easy, it's kind of like the gas chamber, like, I don't know if they still do that a basic training, but you know, they made everybody take your mask off. And then you have to say like the airman's creed and like, you have to take a breath, but you can't do that long winded thing and not breathe in. So it's like, they make sure that you don't, you're not taking it easy. Yeah, I don't know. I'm sure they do it at basic still, but I mean, we, we do it to each other in the pipeline, you know, just these massive cans and all of a sudden you hear a a pin getting pulled in the spoon go flicking. And then you're like, Oh no, here it comes. You know, that's awesome. So this next question kind of ties into the like hardest things that you've done. This is from Ashley Young on YouTube and she had said, did you go through any moments where you regretted joining the Air Force? I was going to kind of add to that question and say, did you ever have any moments where you were on the edge of quitting or giving up? As in like separating kind of thing and saying, I'm done with the Air Force or quitting? Yeah. So like, because this doesn't specify if it was during training or in your whole 25 years, I guess it can incorporate any segment of your career up to this point. Have you ever felt like that? So I originally came in on a six year enlistment and I always told myself I will continue to do it as long as I'm having fun. And I figured, okay, I'll at least do 10 years just because I'm not too old at that point.  So I got to six years, still having fun. So love and life got to 10 years, same thing. And that's, that's kind of how I've been doing it now. At a certain point, I was definitely like, okay, well, I'm going to do 20. Yeah. You know, for the retirement, but that, but again, I still was like, am I having fun? Oh, I am. Okay, cool. Well, I'll continue it. So that's, that's kind of what I went with. I can't think of any point in time where I was like, dude, I should probably get out or, or even retire. Now I say that fully knowing that like it's coming up soon, right?  I mean, it's, it's coming more than enough. Did it, did the time for retirement? So now it's just a matter of whenever you want to say, okay, it's now. Yeah. So that's, but no, I've never regretted never, never thought about like, dude, screw this, I'm out. The Air Force has given so much to me. Yeah. You know, and, and you know, this is, haven't done six years, you know, it, it's the people you meet, the experiences you're going to have, the places you get to travel, the, and you can't, the skills that the Air Force has helped provide, match all of that up. And it's just an amazing experience. Now, everybody's not, experience is not the same. There are obviously some, some negatives that people have had out there. So it's not, it's not like I'm just saying everything's perfect.  Or just, or maybe not this sucks, but like a, you know, I'm, I'm having a rough season or a rough path. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so that's not the, that's not to say that that didn't happen. It hasn't been all, all roses the entire time. But you also know that it's not permanent either.  And you're like, man, I just got to wait this person out or maybe I can't wait this person out. I just try and initiate a move or something like that. So. So actually, uh, I'll touch on it because I only did six years and I ended up getting out. But one of the coolest things that I got told, um, I got paperwork at like my three year mark again, LOR, and it was given to me from a senior master sergeant. And after he gave me my paperwork, he was like, Hey, sit down. And he's like, what's going on?  And I was just like, Oh, so I like explain stuff. And I was just like, yeah, I'm just like frustrated with this and that, you know, it's like I'm discouraged. And he was like, I agree with a lot of those things. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it like blew my mind. That was the first time I'd had like upper supervision really like agree with me. Like, Oh, not everything is amazing. You know? And so then he said he had done, I think at that point he was at 19 or 20 years. And he was like, you have to, he's like, everybody's going to be different. You have to look at the Air Force has pros and cons, but for everybody that list is going to be different. Some people, their list might have more cons than pros. Other people, it's going to be opposite. They're going to have way more pros and cons. And he said, for me, there are very few cons. He's like, there are cons to the Air Force. Not everything's amazing, but there are a lot more pros for me personally. And he's like, that's why I've chosen to stay in.  So I'm going to choose to get out. It's not to say that the Air Force was a mistake or regret it joining because I still don't even regret joining. But it was one of those things where I'm glad I did it. But for me, it wasn't something that I wanted to do longer than six years because I just had more cons than pros. But he had explained to me, like, while you're in, you don't have to like all the rules, but we get paid to follow them. And like, that was what really blew, like for my next three years that I was in until I got out, like, like that changed the way I thought about everything. Because I was like, Oh, I can, I can not even, I can show up and be like, I don't like this. I will do this for you. And I will do it the best I can. But I don't like it. Right. And like, then nobody had a problem with me because like, I was going to do it before anyways, but like, before I would just like, I wouldn't really like handle it in the best way, I guess. Like, if I got frustrated or discouraged about stuff. And then after that, I was like, Oh, well, I signed a contract, I get paid to do this. So just show up and do what I get paid to do. I don't have to like it. But I mean, I do like getting a paycheck every two weeks. So I was like, you know, and it was just a really cool, like a really cool thing to get. So like when you said, you know, not everybody's experience is the same, me and the senior math sergeant were both the same career field. But for him, he absolutely loved maintenance. And so like a lot of the pros stemmed off of that for me. I didn't really care for maintenance. It wasn't what I was passionate about. It wasn't what I want to do. Am I thankful that I learned a lot of maintenance stuff? Yeah, because I didn't know how to do a lot of that stuff before I joined. But I'm like, it's not what I'm passionate about. So like for him, he had this huge like list of pros, you know, and like we had the same career field, but he was just like, that's totally cool. If you want to get out, he's like, there's nothing wrong with that. No, there's not. You served. You served just like everybody else did. And a lot of people don't know that just because you pick a job and you get trained in that job, say you do it for a couple of years, you can do a different job in the Air Force. Like you can, if you came in as a maintainer, you can try and be an Air Force Special Warfare. You can go from being, I don't know, security forces to go, you know, do CE or Red Horse, or C or whatever. Like you can, especially critically made career fields is you can leave dental and then go to I believe they just updated recently the policy on that too. I'm not 100% certain. Because before when I was in it was like, oh, we were critically manned. So they were like, nope, you can't cross train out. Because that was something I was looking into. But they were like, nope, like it's not happening for my career field. But recently, then they change it to like all critically, like man career fields can transfer to another critically man. Or if you're in like a fully manned career field, you can go to any other career field that's like critically manned. There's some nuances to that. And there's some little like gotchas in there. But yeah, for the most part, that that is correct. It sounds like they made it a little bit easier than it used to be. Because before a lot of the guys in maintenance, because I even knew a bunch of guys that were in I was aircraft structural maintenance. And then there were guys that were in metals technology, we kind of share the same shop. And I knew a guy that was in the process of cross training, like he had already been accepted for boom operator, all this stuff. Then they canceled his orders because the career field was like put on a freeze for being critically man. So they like nixed his package across train. And he was like, Oh, my gosh, like he was like so excited because he finally got accepted. He had gone through some stuff like, but he hadn't got like his official like, you're going to tech school yet. And then they're like, Nope, program's done. And so I was like, that was tough. So it seems like they're trying to get away from that because like, because I don't I don't know if that kid stayed in or not because he PCS after that. But like, they could have possibly kept him in the Air Force. But he might have gotten out now because he wasn't able to cross train. And so I think maybe they're they're realizing, Oh, maybe we should let some people move around a little bit just because or at least not make it as difficult. Obviously, the Air Force needs come first, right? And so the Air Force isn't just going to let anybody be like, I want to move jobs tomorrow, you know, there's a lot of processes involved there. And especially coming into what we do, like there's, there's, you know, what's called the initial fitness test that folks have to take.  And yeah, it's a process. And that's what I try to tell a lot of people to this is kind of like, I'll subject a little bit, but with job selections, like, you can't just like, go to a company with zero experience, zero education, zero experience and say, I want to be an engineer, right, they're going to be like, no, like we have, we have other people that are more qualified. And so like, that's kind of how the Air Force is, but the Air Force is literally like being like, we'll take people to have zero qualifications. But the stipulation to that is Air Force needs are going to come first, right? Like, we're going to train you, we're going to give you a skill, we're going to give you the education, we're going to give you the job training. And so that's something where like you said, like you're, it's an obligation you're signing up for and like, one of those things has to be like, one of the biggest reasons people join is to serve their country, right? So they're going to serve the United States. That typically needs to come first and foremost, even above like, I want this specific job and this job only, but it's like, how much experience do you have with that job? Like you want that job, but are you actually like a top tier candidate for that, right? Or do you just want it? And most of the time it's a lot of people that are younger with no experience, they just, here's the job list, here's what I want. And so it's definitely difficult in that aspect. And so I'm glad to hear that the Air Force is trying to make it a little bit easier to change once you're in because that's the best case scenario for people that decide, I like the Air Force. I just don't like what I'm doing in the Air Force. Like you want to keep those people in because they're still proud of serving. They just, they feel like they'd be a better fit somewhere else. So I'm glad to hear that the Air Force is trying to change things a little bit to make it easier to try to keep some of those people in that wouldn't instead possibly get out if they can't change jobs. So this next question comes to us from the Italian job and says, let me pull it up real quick. It says, at what point in your career did you fully leave the theater slash missions if applicable and become full-time decision-making? Was it a sudden change or did you develop as you promoted to become less of one and more of the other? So like you were saying you were out going and setting up airstrips, you know, and it's like, do you still do that? Or now because you've been in so long 25 years and you're senior leader, are you more, you're making decisions and other people are going and doing that work or are you still involved in the on the ground like aspect of that? Unfortunately, I'm not out on the ground anymore. I would love to be, I would love to continue to do the mission stuff. It doesn't mean that I still don't go out with some of the folks and do some of those training events and stuff like that. But like if I am the one that's going out and doing those things in real world, like we are hurting really, really bad. Something has gone terribly wrong. But again, I miss it.  Our officers, although they do deploy, they are not the tactical experts like our enlisted are, which means that we as enlisted members, we get a lot more time on the team doing, doing the job. So most of us will do it for about 15 years. You know, on the team, you, it's not an age thing. It's a rank thing. And you will kind of promote yourself out of doing the job. So depending, you can kind of control your destiny with that in terms of, okay, well, you are with promoting, right, right. And that doesn't mean that you can't go take a break in by a break.  When I brought up cadre, you know, those are active duty members that are at the schoolhouses, actively training folks, and those jobs are extremely important because if we don't, you know, feed the machine to make more CCT, PJ, SR, TACP, then we're just going to kind of age out and die on the vine. So we need folks younger, older, more experienced, less experienced to, to go be instructors. So a lot of times, you know, by, by the time somebody's on their, you know, fourth deployment, they're like, okay, I need a little bit of break or maybe I'm, I need shoulder surgery or something like that. And I'm having a hard time getting it at the operational unit, because we, we hardly ever turn down deployments, you give us a chance to deploy, we're like, okay, let's go. So the way to force that and enable, you know, me to get healthier than, okay, maybe, maybe let me go be an instructor. I get more downtime. Maybe I want to knock out some college. I want to get healthy again. And then I do that for three to four years. And then I go right back onto the team and continue to operate and stuff like that. So at what point you said, because it's more of a promotion thing. So at what point typically does that look like for you guys, where you guys are phasing out of the being like forward deployed to being more of the decision makers or like training? In terms of decision makers, you're looking at E eight or a senior mass sergeant and above. Okay. Yeah, our mass sergeants or E sevens are our job and it's still, and we're younger force than say the, the Navy or the army, like, you will have E nines or certain majors out there still running a team. Um, and part of it is because the army promotes quicker than we do. I mean, they do. It's, it's, you know, we just in the Air Force would promote differently. So it takes us longer, but we are typically rank wise a younger force than the army and Navy. So it sounds like actually compared to like other jobs, like I was maintenance, and if you're an E seven on the flight line doing a job, that is not normal. So even in like other career fields, typically once you hit tech sergeant, so you hit E six, that's typically when you're like phased away from doing a lot of like the forward work that we do, and you're more like running a shift. So you're in charge of that whole shift. So you guys actually, you seem like you're doing the actual work longer than some other career fields, possibly in the Air Force.  And then you eventually are like, Oh, I'm, I'm hands off now. You know, I'm in charge of people, not necessarily in charge of doing the jobs. There's a, there's a couple of different things with that, right? Like it's a mentality. I said, you know, we, we want to continue to deploy. We want to be relevant. We want to continue to be to provide value to a team or to a mission. So that's why we continue to get after it. We're obviously because of the pipeline and our mentality, we're also want to be prepared for everything. So being physically fit and healthy is important to us. Like a lot of times we will schedule training around the ability to work out and make sure that we get two hours a day. You know, most are not day to day, but you know, usually on a normal day at home station, when you have training, you show up at seven o'clock and from seven to nine, that is dedicated workout time. Like don't expect anything done before nine because we are in the gym getting after it.  So like physical fitness and preparedness is important to us. So that's why we are able to maintain that for so long. The other aspect of it is we have what's called preservation of the family and the force, which is a SOCOM program funded by Congress that puts sports therapists, strengthening conditioning coaches, chaplains, medical providers and social or operational psychologists as a team embedded in each squadron. So I have an expert that is, you know, kind of monitoring, providing fitness plans and strength plans for me and for each person.  I can just walk over to the sports therapist and go, hey, I tweaked this, something like that, and they'll, you know, dry needle or they'll do some work on us and in an attempt to keep us always ready to go. So it's a phenomenal program. I mean, it's, and it's spoiled, like fully acknowledged. It's spoiled. It sounds like you guys are treated like a pro sports team where you guys have your own like staff that's there to make sure that you guys are still performing at like peak performance levels. Yeah, I mean, it's not at the level of the Raiders or the Golden Rights, right? But I mean, yeah, it's phenomenal professionals. And those same folks could easily go work for an NCAA team or a pro team. In fact, we had somebody who worked for the Oregon Ducks. And it was weird because I was like, dude, how do you go from working Oregon Ducks? And now you're with us, you know, degenerates.  And it was a lot of work to get them to come in.  And I can't keep you out of the gym. I have to keep telling you to slow down because you just, you're just going to hurt yourself even more. So it's a mentality thing. Yeah. Yeah. But No, that's cool. See, like, I didn't even know that. And I was at Nellis for three years. And so I'm like, you guys train on the same base and have these same opportunities because we have a EOD unit there. There's a rescue there or CCT. Like, you guys have like the weapons school that you guys train with too. And so there's like so much stuff like that is integrated with special operations at Nellis. And I was there and like, I didn't even know that that you guys have like your own staff. Like, I thought you guys just had to go to the hospital, like everybody else.  Yeah, for some things. Yeah. But you guys actually have, yeah, like a physical therapist that's like there, like while you're training in your, where you could be like, Hey, I'm going to go over here. I got a cramp or something. Right. Like, oh, how we let's work this out. You know, I'm like, dang, that's actually like really cool because you guys do have such an important job.  Like a lot of other jobs, we just go in and sit at a desk half the day or we go out and do stuff. But like your job is literally based on like your physical capabilities. And so like for them to have a whole team.  And I'm like that, like to me is incredible, especially with like the mental health aspect of like just being in the in the military in general, there's a lot of mental demand. So I can't even imagine the special operations side. But that's like, that's huge. Like to even just have that in-house where you're like, because sometimes with mental health, even I went through mental health stuff when I was in and even trying to get appointment set up and all it like it was some of the stuff was a nightmare. And you're like, I'm already having a bad time and this is not making it easier, you know, and so I'm like, for them to provide that, I'm like, I just think that's really cool. Like I'm like, man, I wish, I wish multiple units would do that, even for normal jobs. And they kind of do here there because they do have what's, I can't remember the name. Well, the Air Force has True North. There's a like an air force for like psychologists, like family, something, the the inflect, the military liaison liaison counselor, I think is what it stands for. So they're a phenomenal resource. And they had started that like, I think it was like right around like the middle of my enlistment. It was like, started being more like prevalent and they were promoting it more. And so yeah, like anything that they can do to try to make things easier because they're so like you said, you're there's so much training that needs to happen. And you guys are like, I can't be injured. I got to keep training, right? Like it's it is a mentality thing where like a lot of people want to push through it. And so when it's difficult to go and schedule a physical therapy appointment or a mental health appointment, right?  Like they're going to have to bring those people to you. But it's the same way in a lot of other career fields in the Air Force. So Mike, that's to me, I'm like just hearing that is like it kind of made me like smile because I was just good. It's awesome. Yeah, knowing about that where I'm like, that that is extremely smart. And so it's like, it's good to hear that you guys are actually provided those opportunities so you guys can focus on your training. So this next question that we have is coming from YouTube, it was Priscilla Parker said, should I actually go into the Air Force or combat control, even if no other jobs interest me? I'm taking this as what if I don't pass? What if I go in as as a wall? I guess you can't even go in specifically as combat control anymore, right? It's open listening, special operations, special operations. So but I took this kind of as what if I go into special operations, and then I wash out. And so it's like, should I even do that if there's the chance of me not actually ending up in that job? Or like, I think this goes into the mental thought process of this. So it's like, what are your thoughts on that question? Well, when we get this question, you know, of like, should I and we always answered like, I don't know, should you, you know, because I don't like that's it's a not that Priscilla Parker is trying to trap me or anything like that. But it's, it's, it's kind of a load of question the way that like, I don't I don't know her background. I don't know her physical fitness level. I don't know a lot of things, you know, about her particular situation.  And we're like, I don't know, are you? Because you got to, you got to go try and find out. And if you, if you never try, then you'll never know. If you do come in though, and don't make it or get hurt or don't get selected, as long as you have a good what's called a 125 alpha, which is kind of like a training report. As long as there were no issues with integrity or anything like that, you will be allowed to come back. Right. As long as you're not, you know, DIY or anything like that, as long as you weren't caught lying and stuff like that. Or there wasn't some kind of psychological red flag that somebody saw, you will be invited to come back. You'll go do a different job, depending on how hurt you are, say it's an injury, right? If it's a small injury, and we can get you healthy here in a couple of weeks, or maybe a month or two, then, okay, you'll stay on staff. You'll see their medical providers and get strength and conditioning and stuff like that. And then get to retry.  We want you to come back. We want you to mature a little bit. Then you'll get reclassed into a different job. And maybe it's still kind of aligned, like it could be Sear or Special Missions Aviation or something like that, that's still kind of combat oriented. Or something else, you know, it is, that's where you do kind of fall into the needs of the Air Force. You know, I don't know, can you make it? The tough thing is like it's people, you know, it's like, but realistically, at the end of the day, like our military needs what it needs. And so like that comes first and foremost, because like, you know, as much as it would be awesome to have 50% of our force be working in the hospital. And you know, that that's not maintainable as a military. So you get so many people that are like, Oh, I want this job. And it's like, that's a really small career field. And you're one of like 3000 people that want that job this year.  And they're like, this isn't what I wanted to do in the Air Force. But like you said, like, if, if it's on a good turn, like if you're leaving on good terms, or if you're leaving on like an injury that is recoverable, but that you just need time, you might have that opportunity to progress yourself to a point where you're like, I know what to expect. Now I'm going to go round two, eventually maybe a year or two, three years later and be like, I know what to expect. I'm mentally better prepared. So I'm like, I think at the end of the day, it's maybe not even the worst case scenario to get possibly reclassed. And I don't know how retraining works to go back into special operations is it's a little different than normal cross training. Right, you still have to apply and all that kind of stuff, but say I'm a maintainer, and I'm just going to use that because, because you were, but I would apply for retraining through what used to be my purse. Well, maybe it is my purse.  But then you also need to make sure that you have your class three flight physical already, already done, and that there's no issues with vision or scoliosis or anything like that. But then also, you've got to have a solid initial fitness test, which is the entry level of PT test for us, which has to be administered by somebody who is in the special warfare approved to administer that test.  And you got to have good enough scores. And then it goes up to the air education training command functional manager, and then they approve you to retrain or not. Cool. So I think this last question, and then we actually got a question on the live stream too, that I'm going to have you answer as well. Oh, we have two, two more questions. So this was from Raythage said, how difficult is it for females to make the cut in special operations? I mean, we have them in special operations. So that, that again, like how difficult is it? I mean, it's, it's, it's the same. The standards are the exact same, right? It's subjective. Right. So again, kind of like Priscilla's, I think it was the last one, like, I don't know your fitness level. I don't know anything like that. But I know that the standard is standard, whether you're male or female, and you're going to be expected to meet that standard.  That's just kind of the great equalizer for folks, because man, it's, it's rough. But I don't know, like I said, we hit, we have it, we have, we have females and males that do phenomenal. And then we have some that not some we have more than some that just don't make it. You know, that was, that was kind of one of those realization things like we do live events on discord and on Instagram and stuff like that. And we talking with folks and we were talking with some shippers that were about to ship out.  And it was just kind of like, oh, I was like, and again, I'm not, I'm not passing judgment on any of you. Maybe you'll have a higher percentage, but mathematically, most of you right now that we're talking to you aren't going to make it. And it was just like, it's, it's almost impossible for 50 plus percent of you guys to make it. And that's what I was like, it doesn't mean that you're any less of a person or anything like that. And maybe now, maybe this time isn't your time. Yeah. But like just to set expectations. It kind of reminds me of the like in Pearl Harbor, the movie, when they're like, step forward, they have the guys like step forward.  Who's willing to do this? And like these guys step forward, but they're just like, it's kind of like that same concept.   Because you're thinking, hopefully I'm the one still standing here. And there's literally no one to my left or right. But like you don't want it to like, it's almost like you don't want to be the guy to your left that's like, oh, I'm no longer here because I, I wash it out. And so then that's, yeah, it's kind of like a realization moment where you're like, oh, it's going to sink in. And then I'm sure it doesn't even fully sink in until it happens either where you're like, oh, this, this was the end of my road, right? And you're like, yeah, well, to be honest, dude, I don't know what that feels like because I wasn't in that, in that spot.  It's just a switch. Like they're like, I'm going, I'm going, I can, I can. And then all of a sudden it's like, nope, like as soon as you hit that, that, that breaking point, it's like, I feel like it's tough because like you're literally trying to flex as much as you can, like, oh, flex, flex. And then as soon as it breaks, you're like, I feel like mentally it's hard to come back from that. Like for some people, yes. But as soon as that little planted seed of doubt is in there, it just, it can grow really fast or it can just grow after time. But once somebody gets that in there, it's like, oh boy, you can, and you can see them just tank. Yeah. Well, man, I don't know why that just gives me like chills, just like thinking about like all that work that you put in. And the moment you're just like the slightest bit of doubt. And then you're like, then you're not only trying to push through all this stuff that you're going through, you're trying to push through your own mental battle as well. And so I'm like, now you're like taking on two stressors at the same time. And I'm like, oh man, you have this internal and external battle that you're fighting. So this is going to go into our last question that we had from social media. And then I'm going to answer a question from the live stream after this. But this one was from me. And it's just, I already shared with you earlier with the biggest lesson that I learned when I joined Air Force. And that was, you don't have to like the rules, but you get paid to follow them. It was the biggest lesson that I learned when I was in the Air Force. So what is the biggest lesson that you have learned in your 25 years that are in like, did you ever have a light bulb moment where you're like that sentence or that experience completely changed the trajectory of my life? And it was one of the biggest like learning lessons that you can remember. Well, there's a lot, but you have quite the career zones. The biggest one that I can pull. Yeah. The biggest one I can think of right now would be understanding that you can't do this alone. So one of the, the SOCOM or Special Operations has five soft truths, right? And one of them is, and they're all important, they all mean a lot to us. But one of them is, and I'm a butcher, so I can't say it verbatim, but you know, Special Operations forces cannot do this alone or cannot conduct a mission without support, being support personnel and outside SOCOM entities or outside Special Operations entities. And knowing that everybody from your security forces person to your contracting officer, to your maintainers, to your finance folks, and on and on and on, all contribute to the mission and enable us to do what we have to do. And it's just, it's a humbling experience. And you don't really see it when you're young, because you're just like, because of all that mental aspect, you're just trying to get after it and make it through and survive. And it takes a little bit and seeing that as when you go, ah, okay, now I get it. Everybody plays an extremely important role in making sure that the Air Force, the DOD at large is successful in getting after the readiness and the mission that it needs to do. The, I actually had a conversation with somebody several months ago about kind of that same thing, how every single job is so valuable. And it's, it's, it's almost cliche where it's like, no, you're like, your job is valuable, right? Like everybody says that, like, you need to view your job as important. And it can be tough sometimes because you can look at other people's jobs and be like, well, their jobs way more important than mine. But the conversation I had with somebody we were talking and, and the job services came up and they were like, man, it would be terrible to be services. And I was like, okay, you might not want to do it. But I was like, you realize that services is quite possibly one of the most important jobs in the Air Force. And they were like, wow. And I was like, imagine if tomorrow, like every day, imagine if just like a certain career field just never showed up. And I was like, imagine if the de facto was not like, just permanently closed, because services doesn't exist anymore, like how many single airmen that screws over. Yep. How many like airmen that are like there or have meal cards, or like even the gym, like, you know, I'm like, mortuary affairs. And so I'm like, it's what's crazy.  Yeah, it might not be the most glorious job. When you think about how important services is a job. And I'm like, it's kind of crazy. The more I thought about it, the more I was like, services is like, extremely valuable, like as a unit, like as a whole, right? Like every piece of the puzzle matters. Like, and it's easy for people to just write jobs off because they're not actually looking at we have to do this together, like everybody's contributing to the whole. Right.  It's just one wheel, like in general, but it's like, but if I took that wheel off your car, all of a sudden it's like a big deal, you know, and it's like, so each piece may not be, you know, as glorious as the other, but it at the end of the day, like they're all they all contribute to the car being able to drive down the road smoothly and safely. And so it was just that it was a really interesting because I never really thought deeply about that. And I was just like thinking about like random jobs, like in that conversation, like, oh, how can you actually think about certain jobs being important? And they have mentioned services. And then I just started like really thinking like, how valuable is that job? Right. And it's like, maybe, maybe he's not the most glorious, but it is extremely important. And you can, you can go that through every Air Force specialty code, everything I want them. So it's just cool, like a cool concept to see because it is like kind of cliche to be like, no, your job is valuable. But it's like, really, it is. But it's just trying to understand like the value in that. Because like, right, the value that you provide is a lot different than the value that services provides. You know, it's like, you guys have totally different concepts of a job. I can't do my job without them. Yeah. And so it's just, I don't know, it's just a cool concept because like everybody has their own, their own unique things and their own things that they're serving. Like you don't necessarily serve single airmen in the dorms, but services does.  Right. So the reason services even has a job could be attributed to you guys. But then like the only reason we have a strong military is because service is providing for these single airmen. And so it's like, a lot of people want to think like they want to do it all, right? They want to be the one that saves America. And it's like, you can't do that by yourself.  And so yeah, it's really cool concept. So it does sound cliche, but even after getting out, I'm like, as I've like done job interviews with people, the more I learn about different jobs. And I'm like, I didn't know you guys did this and did that. And you're like, you start to appreciate stuff more. Because when you get in, and you're new, a lot of times people just, they don't see the full scope of things. And so that's been a really unique experience and cool thing. That's why I like talking to people about their experience and their jobs, because Oh yeah, it helps you have a more grounded like view of how things really are versus just like the shallow level of like, well, that job seems cooler. And you're like, oh yeah, it might, but you know, it's also not for everybody. So exactly. It is definitely not for everybody. My job, I mean, I mean, I think that goes with a lot of jobs in general, like, because even though you made CCT, like I'm sure there's some jobs in the Air Force that you probably be miserable in. Yep. And it's like, I'm not going to mention them though. How could you be CCT, but then like, but you can't handle being in this job. And it's like, oh, you could handle it, but like, you're not going to be happy or satisfied, right? And it's like, everybody has their own, their own mindsets on that. So, so the question that we're going to have now, let me pull this one up, take this down. And we have, it was how often do you PCS in your career as CCT? Well, there's a lot of variables in the military. Yeah. That's why I was like, oh boy. It's weird, right? Because there are some folks that have spent 12 years that that do my job that has spent 12 years at the same spot, which is super rare. I mean, just like that never happens. Then there are some people that move every three years, two and a half to three years. I, you know, I've mentioned that I had eight years in the UK, but that was because I went to overseas at the time they have changed it now. But at the time overseas, I could do what was an in place consecutive overseas tour. And I could just keep adding on and adding on. It's tough. That is tougher to do in the States. Like they do try and move you every three to four years in the state. There are jobs that will get advertised where you can apply for them and try and get out of some place earlier. You know, if you're, if you just don't happen to like the area or like, Hey, I love, I love the job that I'm doing right now, but that location with that different level of job is appealing. Let me apply for it. And then, you know, could be an interview process could just be, Hey, you're the right rank and the right skill set and skill level, like, let's get you on over there. So there's a lot of variables in that. I've, I've PCS seven times. Okay. So I'm probably, I'm probably missing. I'm probably missing there. Will that be three and a half years every four years ish? Yeah. Almost. But I mean, he's just shy of four. Yeah. And I'm, I'm just thinking assignments right? So I had Florida, North Carolina, UK, Vegas, Florida, Florida, Washington, Vegas. Okay. So I had a, if just eight different locations. Yeah. And then we have another question on here that we got. I'm going to pop this one up real quick. So it says, can you ask cheap peaches? There are a lot of rumors going around that cross trainees are performing poorly at selection and SWIX. Do you think that they will stop allowing cross trainees to come back? No, we will not. I can't speak to the rumors that cross trainees are performing poorly. I actually haven't heard that. There have been a few that we have had that have taken their IFT to cross train and then kind of throttle back on their fitness a little bit and then when they showed up, they couldn't pass or showed up and I don't know, got freaked out in their mind or something like that and decided to quit. But we will ever stop. We're critically manned. So we will always need folks to join. What we do though is we do typically cut it off at a certain rank though. We typically don't allow tech sergeants to cross tech sergeants and above to cross train because you think about a two to three year pipeline for a tech sergeant. They're going to be putting on mass sergeant more than likely, you know, after graduating and we expect our tech sergeant and mass sergeants are experts. They are the ranks where they are the most qualified. They've gone to all the advanced schools. They've gotten numerous deployments and they are running the team and to be a cross trainee, to hop right into that, it's just going to set you up for failure. It almost isn't beneficial to the Air Force because they have so much experience at that point. So many years of experience in leadership possibly that it'd be best case scenario to help them utilize the skills that they've earned over that time instead of starting back over at like filling the role of a junior enlisted. And it's like you're kind of above that, you know, at that point, like you need to start doing something like you say your decision maker at that point essentially. And so it's like you can't, we need to utilize your mindset, right? Like, yeah, our tech sergeants and mass sergeants are the ones that are kind of once guys are on team, they are setting the training pace, the training schedule and making sure that our new airmen and new new NCOs that are operators are trained. And as a brand new tech or master, you just can't do that. Dang. So I was thinking too, even with the cross training, like, because you guys already know that your your washout rate, like the attrition rate is high. So it's like, even though some like cross trainees might have a higher fail rate, as long as some of those cross trainees are passing every once in a while, I couldn't, I couldn't imagine why they would not allow people to keep doing it. Because a lot of times, don't they just wash people out if they if they try to cross train into special operations, and they fail out of it, they go back to their career field. Yeah, that's right. So like they're already trained and specialized in that they got a shot at this. And if they didn't make it, like, to me, it still seems like a good program for the Air Force, even when those people don't make it because they're already still trained. Yeah, go back to losing it's not it's not like they're getting out of the Air Force. They are hey, we have a critically manned career field that that needs people, you're trained in maintenance, you're gonna go there. If you get selected, great, you'll continue on a pipeline. If not, you're gonna come right back to maintenance. And again, if you don't have any integrity issues, and you don't promote yourself out of eligibility, you'll have a chance to retrain again. Yeah, it sounds like it's actually better than having those types of people wash out than having a brand new person wash out because they they still have to go to tech school and be trained in a new career field anyways. So like the Air Force has to invest more money into that person than they do somebody that's cross training. Yeah, because all they do is just go right back to their career field where they don't the Air Force doesn't spend any more money than what they did to just get them through the training process for cross training. So yeah, I would like it to me it seems like even if you have that the washout rate for cross trainees is still high. It seems like even if it's super high, it's still worth it for the Air Force to give those people a shot because they can go back and then they they still have a career that they're trained in. Yeah, so I don't know what the I don't know what the attrition rate is specifically for cross trainees versus new airmen. I would say that most of most of the cross trainees that go do make it or or at least have a less chance of quitting just because they are typically I mean they are older it's not typically older they are older whereas you know a 17 18 year old coming in fresh there's a lot of hey maybe it's their first time away from home so they're dealing with home sickness or they're that you know they're missing their girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever it is you know what I mean like so there's that aspect whereas but saying that like they are cross trainees that are married and have kids that are you know getting their their families buying and saying hey I'm about to go try this out and if I make it I'm gonna be gone a lot so I think as long as the family's on board and it's yeah as long as where the family's on board if you're doing what you love like if your family's supportive and you're happy doing your job like you can make it work there are people that don't have jobs that travel a lot and the relationship still don't work right yeah the travel aspect because I like I knew a few guys when I was in Japan that were para rescue that had families with multiple kids but they like it just depends on you know the support system that you have there and and if family's okay with that because like everybody has different needs and wants and so some people can deal with that distance at a time apart and some people can't but yeah there's some people have issues even if there's no distance involved so yeah it's definitely like there's no we kind of already mentioned this you said this a few times like there's so many variables right like oh yeah there's there's no one size fits all to any aspect of an Air Force career in general so that's one of the reasons why to like I love putting information out because the more information that we can get out there from different perspectives the more of a whole picture it creates for people because there isn't one cookie cutter answer because I could interview multiple people and in combat control that have different experiences or like we said oh yeah different things that they different lessons that they've learned different things that they thought were the hardest and so yeah like you said when everybody's like hey what what's the hardest part you know and you're like oh different well I mean and then you can ask Aaron and Trent for the guys the the Aaron's the PJ and Trent's the special reconnaissance that I do the ones ready podcast with and you know we've all three of us will give you different answers every single time and when we have guests on that do the same jobs that we do they are also given different answers it's just you know everybody has different experiences Aaron Aaron tried once as a young dude didn't make it went and he was arrow arrow medicine I think is what he was and ended up with a family and a kid and then tried again like you know and he had to get family buy-in you know yeah it's just that's how it is sometimes yeah that's that's awesome so this was the the end of this video we're going to be doing today I talked to you about doing a job interview diving deeper into the specifics of combat control and and possibly more about your training and everything and a video specifically on that and so that's something that people can look forward to in the future is seeing peaches again in another video and then on the screen you guys can see the links are in the description for ones ready podcast so if you're interested in anything special operations you guys have hundreds of episodes like yeah we've been doing kind of crazy like I like started going back and I was like holy smokes like you guys have been on a roll with this for years like it's pretty impressive so thank you a huge catalog of resources for anybody that's looking to go special operations so I don't know that's my life battery that's my life battery than me earlier too um so yeah if you're interested in special operations uh peaches and the rest of the crew on ones ready is definitely going to be your one-stop shop for all or all special operations information because yeah I was just like just came through a few videos here or there and I was like dang I guess it's pretty impressive so thank you you guys have a good service for a lot of people because I know it is like when I joined 10 years ago there was no information you know and so I'm like I can't imagine something like like special operations is way more rigorous than just a normal job in the Air Force so not having a lot of information was probably scary going into that because you're like uh I don't even know what to expect so yeah I mean being prepared is one of the best ways to you know to set yourself up for success so yeah you guys are doing a lot of good things over there so if you guys want to go check out them at ones ready and then we'll have them on a few other times doing some other videos and collaborations and then uh we will see you guys around so yeah thanks for watching this live stream and we'll see you guys another time thanks for having me