How did you make sure people at different levels felt comfortable speaking up? And then outside of those debriefs, what did you find about getting feedback and making sure people felt comfortable sharing feedback when, you know, again, you have the chain of command?

Yeah.

You know, it's interesting.

I've seen a shift.

When I joined the Air Force over 30 years ago, there was definitely a culture and a climate where You didn't go talking to folks above you, right? Like you went to your supervisor and that was it.

And matter of fact, if you had ideas on how to make the Air Force better, it may or may not have even went past your supervisor, right? Like there was definitely kind of that chain of command and there still is a chain of command.

But I tell folks all the time now in present day, don't kind of, you know, confuse the chain of command with the chain of communication, right? Because we're in a very different world today where information flows, you know, in seconds.

And since, you know, taking off the uniform, as you said earlier, how your view of that may have evolved, if at all.

Can you speak a little bit about why that's important and the mentors that led you? Absolutely.

You know, one of the questions I normally always get asked is like, who was your biggest mentor? And I can never say just one person because there were so many people that influenced who I am.

And that's from, you know, supervisors that I had, neighbors that I had, and other leaders.

I, you know, one of the other things my mom taught me is to always learn from people.

And so I was very observant and I would watch and learn some people who communicated well and they would be my mentor in that.

And oh, by the way, they never knew that they were my mentor.

I would just watch and see how they communicated or I might see another leader who connected well with their workforce and how can I connect in that same way.

Where have you seen that growth and what do you think we have left to do?

And Chief Bass, as the first woman to reach the military's highest enlisted rank, what was your personal why that drove you three decades of service that resulted in such an incredible achievement?

So what inspired me to serve for 31 years? First off, I am the daughter of an Army officer.

There's a lot of Army in the house, by the way, so the Air Force definitely needed to represent on the stage.

But I'm the daughter of an Army officer.

I grew up seeing nothing but service, lived out.

And so as an Army brat, just like most Army service members, they send their kids to join the Air Force.

And so...

Certainly in the military, you know, when we

Mm

...

if only 1% serve, what I share with people broadly is we can't count on just the 1% serving to figure out our recruiting challenges.We need 99% of America who knows that this is their military.

And by the way, I share that often with people.

I don't, this isn't my Air Force or, or my Army or, or my Marine Corps, my Space Force, right? Like this is America's Air Force, America's Army, America's Navy, America's Marine Corps, America's Space Force and Coast Guard.

You know, but it's, it's America, so how do we start to educate and inform? I think it's platforms like yours that really do that.

People, again, by and large appreciate and, and, and what their service members do for them.

Hmm

Mm

... my Marine Corps or my Space Force, right? Like, this is America's Air Force, America's Army, America's Navy, America's Marine Corps, America's Space Force and Coast Guard.

You know, but it's, it's America, so how do we start to educate and inform? I think it's platforms like yours that really do that.

People, again, by and large, appreciate and, and, and what their service members do for them.

They just sometimes don't know the how.

And so now as I've transitioned out of uniform in the last 20 months, that's part of some of my how, is I know the power o- of our military service members and their families, but I think it's important that we really do educate America on, on the value proposition of a strong military.

And, and Mick, one of the things I, I do call our service members America's greatest, um, competitive advantage.

Mm-hmm.

Mm

... my Marine Corps or my Space Force, right? Like, this is America's Air Force, America's Army, America's Navy, America's Marine Corps, America's Space Force and Coast Guard.

You know, but it's, it's America, so how do we start to educate and inform? I think it's platforms like yours that really do that.

People, again, by and large appreciate and, and, and what their service members do for them.

They just sometimes don't know the how.

And so now as I've transitioned out of uniform in the last 20 months, that's part of some of my how, is I know the power o- of our military service members and their families, but I think it's important that we really do educate America on, on the value proposition of a strong military.

And, and Mick, one of the things I, I do call our service members America's greatest, um, competitive advantage.

Mm-hmm