Eran is the Ramat Negev Regional Council of Southern Israel. The largest jurisdiction of land in Israel with the smallest population. Eran has been busy in his four years at the helm of the local municipality. The constant struggle of keeping the feel of the desert alive with constantly improving the lives of the citizens who live there. The demographics of the region are interesting in that it is a 50/50 split between Jews and Bedouin Arabs. 

We talk about why Eran moved to the Negev, the challenges of dealing with Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Force training area, and the integration of the Bedouin population into mainstream Israeli society. 

This is part of the Negev series within the Israel podcast series on the podcast.

Erik and Ben have known each other since the late 90's while attending High School in Heidelberg, Germany. Their lives have had similar trajectories such as serving in the US military, working in the Oil and Gas industries overseas, and now both active in local politics. This interview was intended to talk with Erik about his upbringing and bring more nuance to some of the positions he is running on. We had an hour with Erik and intend to get him back on the show to discuss other matters. 

Bio from Erik's Website: https://aadlandforcolorado.com/

Erik was born into an Army family as the son of Major General (Ret) Anders and Sandra Aadland.  Moving over 21 times, Erik graduated from High School in Heidelberg, Germany, then went on to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Graduating in 2002 not long after 9/11, Erik was commissioned an Army officer and went on to serve with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, during which he received two Bronze Stars (one for valor).

Aadland left the Army as a Captain in 2011 to pursue a career in the Oil and Natural Gas Industry, which culminated as a Project Manager managing the onshore construction of the Leviathan Project in Dor, Israel. After leaving his company in 2020, Erik finished his Master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Depth Psychology and chose to dedicate himself to the political arena.

With the country’s future imperiled by a corrupt establishment, Aadland once again feels called to honor his oath to defend the Constitution by running for Congress, committed to putting Colorado first.

Erik’s proudest accomplishment is his marriage of 15 years out of which he has three children (including a newborn).  He currently resides in the lovely front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and never intends to move again.

I thought it would be important to bring a few people together that I respect to go over the recent events in Israel and the surrounding areas. Yoni Alon, Aaron Benderski, and Kate Davis are well-versed in the region, and we collectively have all lived in the region. We talk about what has made this recent conflict different from the previous attempts and a myriad of other things relating to the region's geopolitics. An authentic and open conversation about our thoughts and the ways ahead for the region. 

Jordan and Ben discuss the Q1 earnings from the market and how the tech sector is still booming, especially, Google and Facebook with their advertising platforms. We talked about how the hardware and App store continue to give Faceboook fits on their business model but Jordan, who runs a small business, mentioned that it is not as bad as Facebook is making it out to be. 

Jordan and I get serious in this episode talking about the change of work forever and the solopreneur might be the future. We also talk about some tech companies entering the space of government contracting and challenging the status quo on the big titans of the military-industrial complex. Finally, Jordan mentions Bitclout as something to keep an eye on, basically, an NFT platform designed to buy and sell personal brands. 

Rarely am I completely 100% immersed in the moment, but Jerry was a humbling moment for me. Jerry is originally from Pittsburgh, and he became an engineer at the University of Pittsburgh. He began his oil and gas career in west Texas and suddenly felt compelled to serve. He was enlisted into the US Army and part of a secret program of bomb disposal teams the US created. This unit was the precursor to what is known today as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). This 98-year man seemed to leave everything on the table and has no regrets in life.  We talk for a good hour plus on his journey, and I am happy to know him and call him a friend now. People like him are the reason I started to capture these oral histories from my fellow veterans. 

Eddie has been in Denver for a while now and joined the Army back in the 1960s in the draft. After his service, he went back to University in Denver at DU. After college, he began working for his father-in-law in the package delivery service for medical companies. He soon after took over the business and worked for the business up until recently. He is an advocate of being outdoors and volunteers with the Sierra Club, a national movement that takes kids out into nature. He enjoys being a grandfather and volunteers with the VA to drive other veterans to their appointments. 

Alan is originally from NYC and was drafted into the US Air Force. He was assigned to the Air Force Academy and spent four years there. After his time in the service, he migrated back home to NYC but realized that Colorado was for him. Alan then moved back to Colorado and found a job working for the Government Accountability Office (GAO). After thirty-five years of government service, Alan retired in the area and has been enjoying Colorado ever since. 

The consulting world is always filled with folks that have different reasons for being there. I get joy out of meeting folks that see the world differently. Jordan and know each other from a few years ago in the consulting world, and he seemed always to be thinking about things differently than the other folks. He had savvy business acumen, and the more you talked with him, the more you realize he was a macher (mover and shaker). A family man who started his own insurance company talked a little bit about the market and some of the headlines coming out of the world in finance, markets, and life in general with how it all affects us. We even put out some stocks that we like; I mentioned Palantir and Jordan are big on energy and commodity stocks at the moment. 

Unfortunately, Sid Shafner is not with us any longer, but I had the opportunity to interview his kids about their father. Sid was a World War Two veteran, and his unit was one of the first to visit and liberate the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich. Sid met one of the concentration camp survivors as he was running away from the camp, and since he spoke Yiddish, he was able to tell his command to stop the patrol to Munich. They ended up being the first Americans to see the devastation and genocide of Nazi Germany. I met Sid several times in his 90s and loved always talking with him. It was a great discussion listening about Sid through his children's eyes.  Sid actually became friends with the guy that ran up on the unit patrolling and made him a cook in the unit. Eventually, Marcel Levy moved to Israel and lived a life filled with family and friends. The two kept in touch all their life and at the age of 94, Sid went on an eight-day trip to Poland and Israel to see his friend one last time.  Simply google Sid Shafner and national news will come up about his trip. These are the types of stories I want to be out there.