This episode of Wild Blue Yonder On the Air features two speakers from the Air War College General Henry Hap Arnold Outreach program, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. To open the episode, Dr. Elizabeth Woodward provides an overview of the program and the life of Hap Arnold, the five-star general and first general of the Air Force for whom it is named. She also explains the threefold goals of the program: to share the mission and vision of the Air War College, create a bridge between the college and the American people, and connect to those they are serving alongside.

Next, our first speaker, LTC John Harvey, tells the story of the October day in 2019 when his life as a high-achieving battalion commander changed forever. It was that day he and his wife got the call that they had been selected by a birth mother to raise her brand-new baby girl as their own and had four hours to drive ninety miles to the hospital to pick her up. The chaos of that moment led to the most challenging but rewarding time of his life, and bringing up his daughter alongside his two sons has provided many lessons on how to be a better leader. These include the importance of calculated risk-taking instead of sticking to the status quo and of leaving the organization better than you found it to benefit those who follow. He also highlights how adopting a child born in challenging circumstances transformed his view of the world and made him more empathetic, a skill he now brings to his leadership approach.

The story of the second speaker, Colonel Marty “Metro” Smith, begins in January 2007, when he was a new aircraft commander in the C130H Hercules. He and his crew were getting close to the end of their flying window when they were asked to fly to Baghdad, a call they weren’t happy about. However, when it turned out to be a mission to retrieve the remains of an Army Specialist killed in an explosion, they agreed to make the flight. The speaker recalls that, on the flight back, they discovered the Specialist’s name, Brandon Stout, which coincidentally came up again eight months later during a broadcast by the President. The speaker realized he knew that name and felt compelled to learn more about Brandon and keep him in his memories, which he has done by wearing a bracelet in honor of Brandon every day for the last fourteen years. He says there are three lessons he learned from this experience he wants to share: to know the possibilities that come with going the extra mile, to connect with the people in our lives, and to actively remember the wisdom from those who are no longer with us.