CMSgt (Ret.) Bryan Blue retired after 30 years of honorable service in the USAF and has been the Community Support Coordinator for Los Angeles Air Force Base, California since 2013. He served as the Installation Resilience Education Program Manager, Executive Director of the Community Action Board, Chair of the Community Action Team, and Employee Assistance Program Manager. Mr. Blue is a certified Sexual Assault/Suicide Prevention Trainer, Master Resilience Trainer, Unconscious Bias Awareness Trainer, and Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Instructor. We talk about his routines, what drives him, the paying forward concept, and being flexible in asking for help.

This episode features Major Rigby, a Senior Combat Systems Officer for Air Force Global Strike Command with 900+ hours in the B-52H Stratofortress bomber. In 2014, after returning from a deployment, Maj Rigby’s husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the following three years, she learned first-hand how to find harmony between her career and her enduring commitment to her husband. Major Rigby credits her resilience to a strong support network of family, friends, and teammates who provided a strong safety net and peace of mind, and she encourages others to nurture and strengthen their support networks. Her experiences have shaped her as a leader as she uses empathy, compassion, and story-telling as tools to educate others on resilience.

Episode 41 is one of the most important conversations aired on The Blue Grit Podcast. I interviewed Dr. Bonnie Kaplan, who is a professor emerita in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and a co-author of a recently published book The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition (April, 2021). Dr. Kaplan, along with her co-author Dr. Julia Rucklidge, published over 300 peer-reviewed publications and textbook contributions about a paradigm-shifting approach to treating mental disorders with food and nutrients. In this episode, we discuss how to create a more resilient brain and improve mental health in the face of trauma, how nutrition is the safest, most effective treatment, how the gut and the brain are intertwined, and much more!

https://bonniejkaplan.com

https://www.TheBetterBrainbook.com

Michelle Padgett is the Director of Warrior Wellness and Policy Integration, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Office. She is responsible for leading transformation efforts with a multi-disciplinary team of experts to enhance human performance and advance quality service and experience for warfighters and their families. In this interview, we talk about the power of community resilience. We also discuss the use of artificial intelligence for prevention/operational readiness and grit, challenges of being a military spouse, habits of resilient people, and more.

We all have our stories. Some are more unfathomable than others. MSgt Maria Seyborne shares her story of overcoming a harrowing hostage situation, PTSD, and why mental health advocacy has become her life mission.

Episode 38 is an interview with CMSgt Lisa Arnold, who is the Command Chief Master Sergeant, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles California. We talk about Chief Arnold’s toughest moments, sexual harassment, surviving deep desperation, rekindling friendships, facing glass ceiling, being a good human and an optimist, her grit, her biggest fears, the importance of sleep, and much more.

The topic of this podcast is a form of resilience: heroism. Christopher McDougall, the author of Natural Born Heroes, describes heroism as a skill that can be practiced, rather than a virtue or personality trait. My guest is Dr. Alan Ogle, an operational Air Force psychologist and firefighter who, among many accomplishments during his military career, developed an alcohol prevention program that became the model for use across Air Force and DoD. He also implemented the 360 multi-dimensional assessment for Military Training Instructors in BMT. In this episode, we discuss heroes and heroism in the military, courage in every day life, compassion as the driving force behind heroism, embedded mental health teams, and applying 360 multidimensional assessments when selecting those to positions of power, including political leaders.

Blue Grit Podcast episode 36 is a special edition. For the first time, it features two guests on the same show. And for the first time, the topic of discussion is domestic violence. My two guests are Pam Collins -- who is the Clinical Director of Air Force Family Advocacy Program -- and Deidra Saina who oversees and directs Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy services at the Air Force bases around the world. We discuss elements of Family Advocacy in the Air Force, the nature of domestic violence, power and control cycle, types of abuse, clients rights for self-determination, risk factors for potential victims, resources available to victims, and treatments available to perpetrators.

Photo Credit to Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank [downloaded 18 Oct 2020 from https://www.dvidshub.net/image/1935152/illustrative-face-domestic-violence-third-place]

Episode 35 is an interview with SMSgt Jamie L. Britt, the First Sergeant, 61st Air Base Group (ABG), Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.

SMSgt Britt and I met for this recording of the Blue Grit Podcast episode just 2 months after his father committed suicide. In this interview, SMSgt Britt talks about coping with suicide of his father, while helping airmen and commanders in the midst of COVID-19. We discuss what he had to let go in order to become the best version of himself. He is honest and humble. He is not ashamed to look in the mirror and give a name to the reflection he sees. Despite chaotic childhood, battles with alcoholism, and an almost failed marriage — through struggles, deliberate work, and thoughtful choices — he transforms as a better leader, husband, father, and wingman.

Episode 34 Col (Ret.) Richard Tatem by Anya Fedotova