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Introduction: Alston Cobourn
Moderator: Detachment Commander Lieutenant Colonel William Dye
Panelists:
General Gary North (retired)
Major Michael McShane (retired)
Lieutenant Colonel Elenah Kelly
Colonel Derrick Floyd
Joan Phillips

Joyner Library
September 22, 2023

Alston Cobourn (00:00)
Have veteran alumni in case you're interested in learning about that, and maybe contributing to that in the future, or know someone else who's been in school here who might be interested. And I also placed some business cards out there to my cards so that if you happen to have things from your time here, as the students that you you know, think you might be interested in attitude University Archives, we'd be happy to talk to you about that. And then lastly, after the discussion up here, I want to make sure everyone knows that we do have an exhibit on the first floor from about the the provides an overview of the detachments history, and it's sort of in two places, there's some cases near the front entrance, and then the side hallway there and then also the main big hallway when you come in, on the wall. There's some some panels with some other information and photographs. So now, I will hand it off to Commander guy, and he's going to Oh, I guess I also say, so we're going to have a panel discussion. He's going to do introductions, ask questions, and then we'll have some time for q&a at the end is the plan.

William Dye (01:11)
Awesome. Welcome, everyone, to the 75 years of detachment 600 East Carolina's Air Force panel discussion. My name is Lieutenant Colonel Billy di, the current Air Force ROTC detachment commander, and I'm also a proud graduate of ECU and commissioned out of Det. 600. I want to start by thanking this Coburn for helping get this panel together. Thank you very much. Today we have five panel members whose experiences at detachment 600 span a good chunk of our 75 years. I'll start by introducing them and then we'll roll into questions. Mr. Michael McShane class of 1966, Mr. McShane served for six years in the Air Force as a P 52 pilot. Following his Air Force career, Mr. McShane went on to serve 40 years in Washington, including two White House's congressional staff served on Henry Kissinger staff as a Foreign Service Officer, founder and CEO of the Policy Institute. He was an ECU Outstanding Alumni Award recipient 1998 and won the virtual Clark Distinguished Service Award and to 2023.

General retired Gary North class of 1976 general North was a distinguished graduate from detachment 600 as a command pilot, he amassed more than 4700 flying hours and the F four F 15 and F 16. General North retired from the Air Force in October of 2012, culminating his career as Commander Pacific Air Force's Joint Base Pearl Harbor head worldwide. General North was a 2008 vcu Outstanding Alumni Award recipient was the spring 2009 commencement speaker and was inducted into the ECU distinguished military service society in 2014. Colonel retired Derrick Floyd class of 1997 Colonel Floyd served in the Air Force for 26 years, he served in various command and staff level positions to include Commander 19 Mission Support group Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. His career culminated as the director of manpower personnel and services for nine Air Force. Colonel Floyd was also the spring of 2023 Det. 600 commissioning speaker. Lieutenant Colonel Elena Kelley, class of 2000 Lieutenant Colonel Kelly is the deputy commander of the 960s mission support group at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Prior to her current assignment, Lieutenant Colonel Kelly served as the commander of the 512 Memorial affairs Squadron at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Last but not least, Miss Joan Phillips. Miss Phillips served as the det 600 administrative assistant from 1980 until she retired in 2007. Miss Phillips had previously worked as a civilian for the Army Signal Corps at Okinawa airbase in Japan and with the army intelligence at the Pentagon. Okay, so we'll dive into questions and we'll start down the line. We'll start off with Mr. McShane and then we'll we'll move down the line and the first question for everyone. But Miss Phillips is why did you decide to enroll in the Air Force ROTC program at East Carolina? And for you, Miss Phillips, your question is what brought you to ECU and Det. 600. So we'll start out with Mr. McShane Why did you decide to enroll in the Air Force ROTC program at East Carolina sir.

Michael McShane (04:33)
Let me take that. I think we need to reverse the question a little bit. I came to East Carolina because it had Air Force ROTC. I am seeing a lot of shaking heads here. Yes, yes. I had decided that I would like to try to make it a career. And I knew some people who were coming here and just really had it. It was a it was a remarkable experience and we'll get into a little bit later on. As to Well, how it prepared myself and every, all the other distinguished people in the panel, prepare them to be effective and leaders in the Air Force.

Gary North (05:15)
Well, long short of this, I grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, and about a mile and a half from UVA. And I didn't want to go to a school where my mom could come up on Saturday morning and see what had been doing Friday night. Also, there's a little lady in the back somewhere who's going to Lewisburg college and I didn't want somebody else to sneak her while I was up in somewhere else. So East Carolina, I had some friends that were going here. They said it was a great school, I came down and looked at it, I went and then steal some thunder that tell later tonight. Family's military background. early on. First couple of weeks of school, I saw a portion of the Air Force go across the campus about 500 feet formation. Probably a former East Carolina graduate, former ROTC detachment guide, laid it down each show the colors and so I looked up at that. And I said, Yep, found found a cadet uniform. So what's this all about? And he said service to our country. And if you get a scholarship, you get $100 A month and that's good beer money. The rest is kind of issue. enjoyed every minute of it.

Derrick Floyd (06:37)
Well, first and foremost, I'll tell you, services in the Air Force, specifically what to the country is family business. I'm a military brat son of Master Sergeant, the United States Air Force. And all of my uncles everybody served in the Air Force. So Air Force was kind of what I wanted to do that was a hero. He said, Listen, if you're gonna do it, here's where you really need to go. And so my father was born and raised right here in Greenville, North Carolina. I had been to DC LED seeing the cadets. And I was a four year Air Force, our Junior ROTC cadet, and I just knew that it was what I wanted to do. So when I got here, and I saw it, and I had already seen it, and saw how professional events were, I just knew it was what I wanted to do. It also helped that we had a D one football program here that I thought I could walk on to. We did it. The rest is history. And I absolutely love being here with my dad 600 brothers and sisters in the pirate nation. Absolutely.

Joan Phillips (07:31)
Well, I'm also an Air Force brat, my father was a chief minister. So we came here because my husband had finished his doctoral work and was offered a job. I had three small kids or just wanted to work part time. This was the only part time job on campus at the time. And he said, When I walked in, saw those uniforms, I felt so much at home and stay there for 27 years because I looked at

Elenah Kelly (08:01)
well, my story's a little different. Everyone sounds so chivalrous, I needed money. I was one of those just not quite enough, if that makes any sense. I was not quite enough smart enough to have a lot of scholarships waiting for me. My parents were both college educated. So I was quite poor enough that I could get grants or anything like that, but I wasn't quite well off enough where they had money saved up for us. And so I was stressing about money with a friend of mine who was headed to Chapel Hill. And he said, I'm trying to get an ROTC scholarship. And I said, Well, what do you mean by that? And so long story short, his father was retired Army. He explained to me the whole gamut of what it like what it's like to be an Air Force officer, and about five minutes and he said, You should call up the detachment which I didn't even know what that meant. I went to a 71st high school in Fayetteville military town, incredible ROTC program. I told people I am a cheerleader. I did well on the ASVAB they would call me I laughed at them. I said, I'm a cheerleader. I never do in the military. And long story short, I called Captain wayhome, who happened to be in the detachment at the time. I called him up and said someone said you all give ROTC scholarships. And he said, Well, we've already given out all of our scholarships for this year. He said, Well, you need electives anyway, so why don't you sign up? See if you like it, and maybe you can try for one of our three year scholarships. Well, there's a colonel de Floyd that Stan is sitting right there over there. Miss Phillips can attest to this. He took me under his wing taught me everything he knew I did not know anything about marching saluting, you name it and I just fell in love with it forgot all about the scholarship. And the detachment took it upon themselves to submit me for a scholarship and I didn't even realize that I was being submitted for I did win that and the rest is history have loved every bit of being a part of our detachment. But it started off because I was a broke college student.

William Dye (09:52)
Awesome. All right, we are off and running. And we'll we'll go with our next question. And this is for everyone. Here we'll go back I can order starting with Mr. McShane what was campus and Det. 600 lifelike during your time here?

Michael McShane (10:08)
Well, that's a very interesting question. And thank you for sharing the questions with me beforehand because I've been able to give it a great deal of thought. In 1962, in August, when I showed up on campus, East Carolina had a student population of 4000 students. It was bachelors and masters only the football stadium was right behind Chris and very gymnasium. And it said it sad about 6000 kids. And that was the high school Teddy my played in was Chris Bigger, bigger than that. It was very, it was very small. Greenville was a town of about 15 or 18,000. Very, very small. So everything tended to be focused in moron on campus. And it led to a to a lot of a series of camaraderie, because you understood, and you knew certainly everybody who was in the Cadet Corps, but virtually everybody on campus. The detachment life was was it was those of us who went through all four years and were commissioned. We used to refer to it as our fraternity. We were We were literally everybody's everybody's brothers, because we we knew, and we hung out, we hung out together. The detachment was much different than it is today. First of all, there were no women. Women were not allowed in ROTC, I law until probably in the 70s. I would, I would think if anybody's got this specific data, I'd like to like to do it. And we also had a drill team, which I think was done away with at some time in the past. I don't know when I walked into the first practice session, and I somebody gave me a weapon, and I started flying it around. And I said this is really nifty. And I spent four years on the team and was commander my senior year, we won two state championships in drill. And we were invited to the national championships. Where we did we did well, but we were up against purchasing rifle teams who were really supported by the either regular red the regular army. It was small, it was a great camaraderie. The my friend the freshman year, we had about 450 Kids volunteer cadets in the program. It was a very large program. And what surprised me is that is that there was no mandatory two year ROTC program, which did exist and land grant universities. So NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, everybody who went to that school had to do two years of ROTC. The Supreme Court was very high. And I'm looking forward to kind of explain the things that I've learned and how it changed me and made me a much better officer much better to this and helped me extraordinarily in the life that I've led. Thank you, gentlemen.

Gary North (13:13)
So recollections 51 years ago, coming into the university, and looking at our TC cadets, you got to remember in 1972 we were just starting to come out of Vietnam. You know, the our nation was divided in a lot of ways, not unlike our nation today. It was those who supported you know, the US military and those who did not. This university, unlike others, supported detachment 600 men and women who were cadets. Patriotism was very strong, but a large portion of the campus did not. So if you walked across the campus in your uniform, you get a few. You know, why are you doing it, maybe kill or things like that, etcetera, etcetera. It's also a time in our nation where there were a lot of people exploring a lot of different drugs. Night Live in the dorm. And sometimes you knew which dorm was waiting because of the smoke cloud that came out of the dorm. So it was quite interesting. You had your academic life and I was a political science major. You had your dorm life with the folks that you hung around with in the dorm. And you had your ROTC live with detachment 600 We did a tremendous amount of things back then just like you do now. Supporting the March of Dimes. A lot of the cadets at least in the in the male dorms served as room floor advisors, dorm advisors, and we were a very tight group when we drilled down on the drillfield at the bottom of the hill going up to the dorms you know, It was a phenomenal event because we learned what precision was all about. And in our US Air Force, besides the drill team, and marching teams, you know, it is the precision with which follows on to make your air force what it is then, and what it is today. The downtown life, you know, we drove around, and I've come back multiple times over the years, you know, long some of the older folks will remember this loves the crow's nest Rathskeller. You know, all of that Friday night was a roaring place. Downtown Great. I'm sure it is today in its own right. But what I remember most of what you will remember most are the folks who said left and right of you and ROTC class, your dreams, your vision, your focus of where you want to go in our Air Force, in the relationships that you are making right now, that will last you a lifetime. Again, so it is quite interesting, when you see a East Carolina graduate somewhere in the world today, you know only takes two of us to get fired up about our nation. And when you see an East Carolina graduate, who's an ROTC graduate and an officer in the United States Air Force, it only takes two of us to take on the world. So the years that we all spend in the University prepares us academically, physically, emotionally, for the greater tasks that you're going to have in your future. And, you know, the theme of what we're what we're talking about tonight, is heritage to horizons, you know, you've got the heritage up here you are the horizon. And your horizon is going to be much different than ours was. But we're excited, because we know that the detachment is going to graduate phenomenal officers for some things change, but leadership never does.

Derrick Floyd (17:11)
Well said, sir, I will tell you that detachment was a home away from home, it honestly was you step out of here in the world or in ECU, pirate nation, and there's a little bit everything going on across this entire campus, and it's busy, but there was continuity and the detachment, you come upstairs, there was a way that things were going to happen. Everything was going to be in water, it was extremely professional, if you went back there and we were around the table, you know, doing what we do. It was okay there. But there were just certain rules, and it was professional. And it was a place for you to really expand your horizons and your aperture and really figure out what you were going to do. I say it was family oriented, because for me, I got here had a tragic accident with my grandfather and my sophomore year, I sat at a school for almost a semester trying to get myself together. But the detachment even though I wasn't a cadet during that portion of time, provided a safe haven, if you will, you know to go in and always have Miss Johnson at that front desk. Hello, good morning, how are you? And for the cadets to still take care of you. And to make sure that you get to a moment meant and a whole lot. I mean, an immense amount of time was spent in that detachment, making sure that we were prepared and squared away. And that was in life. And also in your your ROTC life and just in life in general. And I will tell you that it was those kinds of things that happened in the detachment. People like a Vanessa smalls, Brian, who retired as a chief that was currently a staff sergeant. And so I see that make sure they wrap their arms around cadets made sure that you had a place and you knew where you needed to be in what you needed to do. That quiet is kept we actually could register for our classes, you know up at the detachment instead of sitting in the line that was start here and ramp all the way around the registrar's office. But I mean, literally, the ROTC detachment was a place where you could come in, you could talk about your dreams, people would support you in what you wanted to do. We had tutors, we had our own little I guess it was a first wave for a flight simulator that we built. We got downtown, we worked in the city. We actually started up the drill team again back in 1992. And actually, there's some competition. So I will tell you that the ROTC detachment was everything. And what the judges spoke about as far as two pirates been in one place. That's all you need. I promise you what you're learning right now in that 600 is putting your head and shoulders above so many of your counterparts right now. And you'll see when you get out there I know you don't know yet but trust me, I have parents sitting all around this room that I've served with. And it's a beautiful thing because if you got one pirate, you got all you need. It's the connection He says the network. So it's great to see all of you in the room together today to share and to just commemorate the 75 years.

William Dye (20:08)
As Philips, I know that detachment is probably changed over time, in the time that you are here, but what was I guess? What was the evolution of change? Like from your first time, your first experiences here to the winter?

Joan Phillips (20:21)
There were only a few women they did have Angel Flight. Anybody here even remember that flight when you were here? Yeah, yeah.

Michael McShane (20:34)
Yes, I remember it.

Joan Phillips (20:37)
They did a lot of the social stuff when there was a commissioning ceremony, any kind of a thing going on, they would just have a kitchen. They would be in there fixing brownies and cookies. And you'd have to smell that while we were working. That would just be there. I think that sort of resolved in time, because as more women come into the program, they were more interested in getting into the program. I forgotten about the duty to settle in. And I got to do that, by the way, it kept crashing and I was no longer allowed to go in there. That's basically when I remember something changes for women coming into the program. Now there's a lot more.

Elenah Kelly (21:29)
Well, I feel like everyone has kind of alluded to and touched on what I was going to say. But I will kind of just pick up where I kind of left off. I was mentored in this detachment. Once again, I came in brand new and never had any didn't come from military background didn't have any background, specifically in Junior ROTC. And people took me under my wings under their wings. And I remember being marched in the building seems so much smaller now. To me when I went back up last year, but I would mean being marched down the hallways just to working on my right and left faces my at this one cigar in Chrome floor. He's always seem innocent right there. But he was down my neck, about getting this right to the point where you mentioned chief us Vanessa smalls, Brian named it the godbolt glide. That's my maiden name is Godbole. And I got it down to the point he was he taught me that I needed to be able to put basically a glass of water over my head and not bounce as I march. But I was mentored I was taught everything. There were things I was signed up for, I didn't ask to be signed up for but my name somehow made it on the list, because they wanted me to be exposed to this culture. And it became it immediately became such a part of me, I couldn't imagine myself without it, I took a five year break in service, I'll just kind of say this. I came off of active duty took a five year break and service had to have my children. And what detachment 600 had put inside of me wouldn't allow me to let it go. So I came back into the reserve after five years, because of what was taught to me. And so I feel like even the event that we're having this weekend is a testament to detachment 600, I was actually sharing with the colleague that I was going back to my you know, my home, behind my homeschool to detachment 600 For anniversary. And they said you know, there's attachments in our state who wouldn't ever be able to even pull something like that off. But to see this room full to know that this after this evening, the auditorium is going to be filled with people who want to come back and celebrate what this attachment did is a testament to what attachment 600 really is. I might end up seeing it later. But I actually got a chance when I was deployed in 2006, and seven, general north, as well as general Holland were the actually the commanders of the chaos. And I worked in the chaos and got a chance to be the Exec. And when I found out that they were ECU grads, and I let them know, once again, I got embraced and they had me up there in the executives in the Zixi teach me everything they could teach me in that short period of time. And that's the type of spirit that ECE brings to the Air Force.

Gary North (24:04)
Can I just add one thing to that? To have three East Carolina's graduates running the year war in Iraq and Afghanistan? And then the third telling us what to do? You should be very scared.

William Dye (24:26)
That is awesome. Okay, the next question, it'll be one for the panel and then Miss Phillips a separate one for you. But for for everyone else. What was the most rewarding accomplishment you had while in the Air Force? And for Miss Phillips? The question for you will be what is the most memorable experience that stands out in your time in the detachment so we'll start with the secret shame. Most rewarding accomplishment you had while in the airforce.

Michael McShane (24:54)
Before I went to flight school, I was a missile maintenance officer. And I was a first I'm Lieutenant. And the my boss major had just been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He was sent to headquarters sec. And I was made the off the officer and I was the OYC, an 85 guys working for me. And we were responsible for putting the missiles in the silo, fueling them going all into electrical connections with the nuclear warheads. And we got to we were selected to take one of our missiles out of the silo, which takes 10 days to two weeks. And then we put it on a plane, we floated the Vandenberg Air Force Base, we reverse the procedures, and we put it in a silo. And we launched it, it worked and hit them the target down, unfortunately. And we came back and the Wing Commander has to see me the next morning. And I went in and I saluted nice, and he said, Lieutenant that you did a hell of a job and he pinned a Commendation Medal on my chest. That was, that was quite quite a quite a moment I get chills when I think about it.

Gary North (26:12)
It's hard to pinpoint one thing and 36 and a half years in uniform. I'd say in in the phases and I'm sure it will has been the same for everyone will be the same for you. Getting commissioned. I think a job. Not a job but a career. The start of a career where literally the horizon is your future. You'll hear me talk about this a little bit more tonight. Having the senior enlisted person in your unit. Stop calling you the lieutenant. Like it's a dirty word. And it's my lieutenant who now has ownership to teach you how to be an officer. And the Master Sergeant here in the ROTC detachment to forever for me will be the bellwether of a professional NCO was Steve Job mo quest, who mentored taught lead, kicked and controlled cadets to be lieutenants. Churchill said this would be in shot assets and missed is pretty rewarding. In so flying combat in several different wars, in knowing that being shot at and this means you've got lousy gunners going after you. But more importantly, the training and the teamwork and the camaraderie and the technical skills and capability that your Air Force in industry that provides the capability to your Air Force gives you to wear when you go off to do go out to do combat. It's the muscle memory of training that allows you to step away from the fear and the challenge of what you were going to do to be successful. And then perhaps the most rewarding in a generation and I am second generation military, but our son is that we tend to curl in the Air Force. The most rewarding part is seeing the legacy of heritage to Verizon and you're watching him phenomenal officer Air Force. Lots of lots of rewarding things that you will all have throughout your Air Force career.

Derrick Floyd (28:55)
I would say your career is going to be filled with great accomplishments. It's it's part of your DNA as a pirate, it's going to happen. But the number one thing for me has truly always been about people. I'm a leadership guy. I'm a force support officer. I've been taking care of people for 26 years, and every interview that I've ever had, but I would say my greatest accomplishment would be what I've done for other Airmen, helping an airman who didn't see himself as an officer one day, understanding that if I can get him to OTS that, that changes his flight, his trajectory, his career, the Air Force is quiet because now he has a larger platform to operate and work from. It changes the plight of his entire family, his kids, what they'll have an opportunity to do throughout their lifetime because of just a quick flip or a switch and changing what they do. I have two people that I often talk about one of them is now Captain Mark C. Who is is actually out of Illinois as a MSG deputy. Exact And he was a young staff sergeant, extremely sharp, very capable leadership, just who's from that kid. But nobody ever told him, you could go be an officer. Nobody ever told him we had a bigger, larger platform for him. And it took me two years when I got in there. And like I said, now he's been a long Captain here very shortly. And what I will tell you is, as you go out throughout your career, there are going to be 1000 opportunities for you to get somebody from one place to another doesn't have to be from enlisted to Officer, it can be from staff sergeant, the chief, you will have an opportunity to use what you have the things that are in front of you, your rank your presidential leadership, to improve people. And I always stood on three things throughout my entire career, culture, if you create the Create, Create the right culture, for everybody to operate, and to actually be able to be the best version of themselves, you're doing the right thing. And that's first, then to develop everybody that you've come in contact with, develop them personally, develop them professionally. It's not enough just to the professional side, you got to take care of personally too, because people that have personal issues or challenges, if you don't help them with that, they're not going to be their best paying job either. And then third, we're short on everything that we need. There's never enough time, there's never enough money, there's never enough people, you have got to innovate. So you've got to trust people and allow them to do what they do best, which is their job, listen to other people figure it out. And then let them work. When you do that people have a chance to actually self actualize, and be the best version that they can be for themselves, or their families and for the Air Force. So my accomplishment leads definitely back to the people that I mentor. And then I've led. And I will tell you that when it's all said and done, and you take it off, all those people will still be around you. And that is your tribe, and the tribe that you've always had. And if you can do that you will be successful, successful in your career, no matter where you finish four stars, Chairman, major captain, wherever you decide to let it go and continue to serve in another way. You will have been highly successful, and you will have changed the airforce for the better.

Joan Phillips (32:08)
I come from a different perspective. That's for my children. And watching them come in so young, and commission. I was a softy, I got choked up with every condition. It was hard sometimes just to get through. And I'd always sit in the back. And that was that was never but was every one of those. And it's always fun to hear back from them later. Find out what they were doing, how they were going on in their jobs. So that moves every commission.

Elenah Kelly (32:46)
All right. And then once again, I think that as has been said before, there's going to be a lot of successes that you will have along the way things that you're grateful for. I had a couple of step promotions that has that happened for people that it especially in the reserves, there are people there's you know, there's limits sometimes as to where people can go, it's a step promotions are very important for people who are somewhat stuck. And so just being able to ensure that these individuals got what they really deserved was very important. But I actually just completed command that was in my in the intro. And honestly, the biggest I feel like the greatest accomplishment I could have ever done was to command a squadron. And honestly, I can I delete tomorrow and know that I've done the greatest thing I could because it includes as current fluid, as said, taking care of people in so many different ways. I'm talking being there for them when they've lost loved ones, ensuring that their their EPRs are written properly so that they can go forward in their career, spending the extra time to cultivate to craft to even admonish them so that they can get to the level that they want to really get to. And I'd say just cultivating people is going to be probably the biggest thing that I could probably ever considered me an accomplishment. But I'd say that right now off the top of my head. My goddaughter just joined the Air Force, she is enlisted. And she is at her first duty assignment at Travis Air Force Base. And the fact that she calls me almost weekly to ask me for advice lets me know, I did pretty good. I think that's probably one of the biggest accomplishments that I was able to go to her graduation at Lackland and there's nothing like it if you ever if you've not ever been to a graduation down at Lackland especially because obviously we went through you know, Officer will for us, you know, it was considered me not OTS what was it returning? Future field training, thank you field training. No one was at my graduation we would do you know summer type scenario. But to be able to tap out my god daughter after that, at that completion, it almost reblued me if that makes any sense. And that was an incredible accomplishment for me. Because I felt like she saw something in me that I exhibited and that's all a result Hold on What was in me? So to be able to just share that with others? It's a great accomplishment. Thank

William Dye (35:05)
you. Okay. We'll start down at the other end now with Colonel Kelly. So this is a interesting question here. But what does it mean to you when you reflect on the fact that Det. 600 is 75 years old?

Elenah Kelly (35:19)
Wow, I kind of alluded to this earlier. But I feel like what it means is, is that there have been some incredible individuals over the years who have ensured that this organization is continuing in the way that it is. We know that there are detachments that closed down almost annually. And it's because there's not enough involvement, there's not enough viability of the program. And so that lets me know that if it's 75 years old, first of all, you can see the legacy that is represented even on the panel today. But there's a there's there's been some individuals who have truly invested in this program. And this legacy is going to continue on as long as we continue with that level of engagement. And so I'm proud of you to be a part of this detachment. As I mentioned before, I was talking to I said a colleague, it was actually a she's a colonel she's about to retire. And she used to be a detachment commander. And, and I'm just going to be honest with you, she was an attachment commander at a university in this state. And she said, I could not ever imagine that university being able to pull something like that off, you ought to be proud, and I let her know that I was. Thank you.

Joan Phillips (36:33)
Well, I think one of the reasons that it's existed so long to is the administration has always been very, very supportive of the program. little trivia thing, but not know, when Dr. Jenkins went to the Pentagon asked for an ROTC woman who wanted a navy, because he was a former Marine. So he went there to get a Navy ROTC. And they said, Hey, can't give you that. But we've just started an Air Force ROTC. So we were one of the first detachments in the country. So anybody would hold on him that. That's really

Derrick Floyd (37:17)
when I think of 75 years, I think 75 years of excellence, I mean, really going all the way back. It's been amazing to me even leaving absent just retiring a month or so ago, there were three East Carolina University pirates working in those areas in all in significant positions. I was sitting in a one, I had one in the executive staff office, and one sitting in another director, chair. And when I think about all that we've done in that AOR, in the last 10 years, and I think about pirates being there. And I think about being able to reach out to them and actually network or call another pirate in another location and be able to get work done. It's amazing. And I think it's a testament to what we started here in Det. 600. And so for 75 years, I know there's been pirates all over the world, taking care of the nation and keeping it safe. And it just, it provides a certain solace. I know you, you could ask they're sitting here right now, don't really get it don't understand it yet. But you'll see, once you commissioned and you get out there and you start working, you'll be in places, some of you were probably going to open up for 911. But to be serving at that time, and to have something devastating like that happen, and to be able to reach out to other pirates who are doing the same thing. I got married four days after 911 and half the folks that were supposed to be on my wedding party, were in the service. And so I mean, their pirates, called them up, hey, where are you at? Well, I'm in a chaotic, I'm not gonna be able to leave, I'm not gonna make your wedding. You know, I didn't know if I was gonna make my wedding at that point. stint at Langley Air Force Base. It was 1819 hours later. But I say all that to say that the people that you connect with right now, there's something very special about the experience that you're getting right now. And they may not, you know, it may not hit you right now. But trust me, by 10 years after your service in the Air Force, and you're moving along and you continue to see pirates that you've been school with, that you commission with, and that you go to ASBC SOS or air war college or any other professional military education. It'll work and years from now. You'll come back to come to ball games together. Major Curtis Smith back there with staff sergeant when I met him at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and I will tell you since 2006, when I met him, there hasn't been a single thing that has happened in our families or in our careers that we have not attended. He lives in San Antonio, Texas right now. I'm in South Carolina, but promotions, retirements, you name it, funerals. We have done it all together. And all of that wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for that succession.

Gary North (40:05)
Okay. Chief Staff of the Air Force, you'll see Keith brown just got confirmed this our next German. So it's the first time in 19 years after the jump deck virus was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that we have an airman and that their health. I forgive him because he's a Texas Tech graduate. But his, his ethos in his emphasis on what is important, is encapsulated with accelerate, change or lose. Pirates have been accelerating change, because losing is not an option. It's not an option for our nation, it's not an option for our Air Force. It's not an option for any of us in the room. In a world today, where there are very few people who put on the cloth of our nation to serve, and many are, have a great deal of empathy, if you will, for service you stand out in this unit stands out is a unit that has from day one, one year younger than our United States Air Force stands out for excellence. It has the huge support of the University. It has the huge support of our Air Force. It has the phenomenal support of graduates. And that is the strength with which Bond's us all together. Whether you were, you know, service in the first several years, or those of us who are here on the panel and those that are not but have served alongside with us. But it's really important as you go through your careers. Knowledge Base is really important. What you learn in trade world, from your technical training is really important. But you have to become well read and well understanding look at in history. There's a great book called wire forces fail. It's you can carry that out, say why nations fail, why detachments clothes, things like that. The reason this detachment has gone on for 75 years, and we'll continue to go on is we go out and recruit people, the school recruits people, ROTC recruits, people, our Air Force recruits, people people want to serve. And so each one of us is a recruiter. Whether you're a formal recruiter or not your story of pirate nation and dead 600 propagates to those that you serve with those who've served before you those that will come after you. What makes us strong is the bond that we all have. So those of us who have gone before you charge you to continue to measure. You know, the army calls it, Charlie Mike, we do need to continue the mission of bringing young men and women into the uniform of our country and entities Carolina to grow baby pirates into full fledged pirates who will take no quarter against our adversaries. And that's, that's our collective job. History shame.

Michael McShane (43:34)
I've got two things. One is one is personal. When I look back, and I jumps off the page, I mean, this attachment is 75 years old. And the reason it jumps off the page is I'm five years older than that attachment. Which makes me eighty that's we're getting very personal. The second thing is I don't I want to talk to the to the cadets and the people, the young guys, gals who are in the room. One of the things that you're going to learn as a junior officer, and even if you don't make it a career, when you go into private sector or government is the whole issue of how do you sustain excellence? How do you sustain the willingness and the spirit to triumph? How do you sustain the good things that exist in an organization? And it would be very interesting. The Colonel died, but maybe there was there's kind of a detachment context of some time where the cadets as they're leaving or maybe then their junior senior years, they've got to write down what did they learn from from their time here, and how do they think they're going to be able to take that and apply it in their junior officers or or company grain or or field raid or flag, great officers, it would be very interesting. So you just think when you're taking take mental notes, young guys and gals learn learn what makes this organization and then take those things and apply them to any organization you're assigned to. And you will not go wrong.

William Dye (45:26)
Excellent. So at this time, I'd like to open it up to everyone here. If you have a question, please just raise your hand, you can ask any panel member, and we'll go from there, we'll do a few of those.

Audience (45:39)
So ancient Cadet London dinos. Each and every one of you are sexism successful in your own right. So what separated you from everyone else? And what steps did you take to catapult your career to make you successful, as each and every one of you are right now.

Gary North (46:08)
We're in luck.

Derrick Floyd (46:17)
I'll take luck, timing, determination, believing in something bigger than yourself. You have absolutely got to know that no matter what you're doing as a leader, that it's really not about you. It's about the people. And if you keep the people first, you generally will tend to do the right things. Because if you genuinely care about people, and the people that you're leading, they're going to force you to be great. Because you're gonna have people who are going to aspire to do the job that you're doing, they're going to want to do it, they're gonna want to follow you. And the last thing that you want to do is leadership in the wrong direction, right? So you have to be competent, and first and foremost, be humble. Able to listen. And just as much as you lead, you'd have to be able to follow. And if you can do those things and just have just a little bit of determination on yourself to be him, then you will be

Michael McShane (47:16)
I think that's a it's a great question. And I think it's, it's, I think you have to be successful, you have to treat people with respect. There's a, there's a term that you will learn about, and that is that you you've got to take care of the truth. You don't you've got two times on a missile site and working eight o'clock in the evening, late o'clock in the morning, shift. And we were two meals short. And I didn't eat, you got to take care of the troops, the troops, got the meals and I and a very senior NCO didn't didn't get one. We weren't being heroes. That's just part of it. I think you also have to learn to treat people. As I said, with respect. They know you're an officer, I will tell you a story. I was in the missile squadron. And I was the ICU of this organization maintenance. And one of the NCOs came into me very senior E9. And he said, Lieutenant, he said, the men have noticed that you are the only officer in the squadron who stands up when they approached the desk. And they they noticed that and they appreciate. And I said it's a matter of respect. They said they understand that they appreciate that. So just tuck that away, guys.

Elenah Kelly (48:46)
So I'm going to simplify it to a place where everyone should be able to recognize integrity first, service before self excellence in all that you do. They're very simple core values, the airforce laid it out, but very few really, truly apply that to their careers. And I believe very strongly that if you apply those core values, you're going to see yourself in the place that you probably intend to see it, I would absolutely I'm going to piggyback on everything that's already been said, You got to take care of the people. The people are who you're there to lead if we're supposed to be leaders, if without the people, you can't lead them. And so I took and I'm just gonna keep piggybacking because I feel like I've almost almost given an opportunity to always say thank you. That's one of my core values is gratitude. And I want to thank the individuals that are in this room, I can literally thoughts came back with Miss Phillips measuring me for my service code, which I still wear today. I just want you to know where you're at. But measuring me taking that time I was I was mentored I was cultivated. So I just took what was given to me and gave it to other people the same level of attention the same level of Time, currently didn't have to do that he was a senior. He was one he was the cadet commander is about if I'm not mistaken, but he saw that he had an eager individual who wanted to learn more about the Air Force. And he marched me around the hallways, taught me everything I needed to know, put me in the places I needed to be in. That's what I do for other people, whether they like it or not, I volunteer I fallen, this is going to be a good opportunity for you. So we're going to put you there, you need to be doing so my daughter, she's getting all of this, but people that I commanded in a squadron. You know, when I left my squadron, I feel like I left about a year too late. But in that year, there were multiple things that happened for the members of my squadron and a few people have called me, I talk to people all the time. That's just part of my personality. It's people call me up and one one individual call me up and say, ma'am, do you realize that you had three people to get AGR position to my job talking from a reserve perspective, okay. But ultimately, these are three reservists who are now on active duty orders. And two of them PCs, add three new recruiters, multiple people have gone on to do incredible things that they never thought they would do. But it was because I let them know I believed in them, and I supported them along the way. Once again, I can lead tomorrow. And I'm happy because I know I spent the time and do what I was supposed to do for people. And my career just happens to flourish as a result of it. When people see you take care of people they want you in your organization in their organization, because they know you'll do that for their people. And we need you in that organization to help take care of people.

Gary North (51:42)
You know, gratitude that's telling us, gratitude is exactly what all of us should have gratitude for our parents for raising gratitude for our friends, family, spouses, brothers, sisters, the brothers and sisters that we shared with in uniform, many who have been wounded in combat operations or suffered challenges. We've been at war, most people go to war for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Our nation has been at war. Since Thomas Jefferson was the ambassador to Paris, and this group called the Barbary pirates. And we're going after our merchant ships, and the US Marines, Iran ships supporting them. That's where the Marines got the term leather neck from because they wore leather around their neck. So they did get their heads chopped off while they're supporting us commercial entities in the Mediterranean. That's where the song, you know, from the Shores of Tripoli comes from when the United States Marine Corps. So gratitude is a perfect word for what we feel about the leadership of our nation in our Air Force and our Department of Defense for giving us the opportunity to serve. Also for East Carolina for giving us the academic rigor to be able to use the skill set that we've learned. In the Dewey it's our duty. A quick vignette story. Some people the old people here will the mature people here will remember the the adage of a bus to Abilene. If you don't know what road you're going on any road will get you there. Many of us start out with a vision and a hope and a desire. But we're not sure where that roads going to take us. In our business, there's no such thing as a successful person who only cared about themselves careerism, if you will. But when I was a young lieutenant, I had a major who flew f 86 s and Van air in Korea, who sat down said Lieutenant Where do you think you're going in life? And I went, sir, I don't know, paycheck to paycheck. You know, I'd like to survive. Somebody's not killing me while I'm flying. Because, you know, the accident rate was pretty heavy in the early days. And he made me sit down. He said, you've got three days to map out our horizontal timeline, what your 20 year career is gonna be. And what was for no idea he goes exactly. So if you don't know where you want to go, any road will get you there. As I had a chance to talk to some of the cadets before we started. There. Everyone has a dream. Everyone has a focus and a vision of where they're going to go. The question is how to get there, find a mentor. Study, Learn and while you're your flight path, your roadmap may change. Once you draw her out, in you know, now spreadsheets or project or whatever you want to do, and on, once you draw it out, it's going to change. There is a flight path and a career path and our United States Air Force for every group, and it's changing every day because we have to accelerate, change or lose. The fight that you are going to fight is completely different than the fight that we fought is still a fight. And we still must prevail. And we cannot give away anything or, or ensure that the adversary is better than us. So as you go through what you're doing and how you're doing it, find someone who's gone before you latch on to him, then find somebody that's coming after you latch on to him. Because we can't do this together individually, we have to do it together. And think hard about what you want to do and how you want to do it. And, as we say, Never stop learning. Because learning education is the tool in your sheath that will allow you to be better than our adversaries, that's critically important. And pay attention to your leadership and detachment. They're here for a reason. The challenge is how to graduate men and women to become the future. It's not an easy challenge. But the challenge is something that, you know, our ROTC leadership or university accepts, and brings forward great leadership to ensure that our Air Force is always ready. And so people can sleep safely at night, because we know you're watching.

William Dye (56:51)
In general, you know, I'll throw in Cadet Adams, you know, passion for people. And I think we spoke about that already. Passion for people is key. Perseverance, also maybe stubbornness is been a key as well. And then general North mentioned that luck. You know, I was told once upon a time that nothing is owed, nothing is given. And timing is everything. And I truly believe that that's that's a lot of it as well. And to speak to general North's point, as well, when you when you have that goal, and you all have heard me talk about it. It's the process. What is my process to get there? So I've always tried to look at this is what I want to accomplish. But what am I going to do to put myself in a position where the timing could possibly work out?

Alston Coburn (57:42)
I was gonna say one thing, often, but going back to Mr. Machines question earlier was talking about the beginnings of women joining the detachment here. We believe we remember from when we were putting the caption together for the exhibit downstairs, because there is some stuff about that in the exhibit, I think of 72. We think so. First first commissioning, yes, first commission line officer, so back it up a couple of years for that, but there is some information about that in there. And it is notable that it was either one of five or one of six and I forgotten but this detachment was chosen to be one of five or six detachments and the whole nation that that piloted doing that at the time. So that was a really big deal and an exciting achievement for this program.

Gary North (58:31)
I will say this. So one of those early females was Gabby Langan, who married Tom Schuber, and you talk about somebody who could bust your chops on making sure your uniform was perfect that you march properly in her photo, and to this day, she with her time in the Air Force, she scared me and Tom Schuber learn how to say yes, ma'am pretty quick. But she was the exemplary officer in our detachment in her year group, and scared the heck out of all this youngster because we did not want her in your face. So again, one of the points that I always make in our air forces led diversity since the very start. Diversity is why we are so good in our military. Now, when you think about we haven't talked about our allies that we serve with. This is why we're so strong is because we accept everyone from all faiths, all religions, all colors, all genders, and we drive the very best of each other to ensure that we're successful. On the battlefield in the battle space, whether it's air underwater, whether it's see platforms don't know what gender you are. The enemy all knows. The only thing Amy knows is that you're an American airman or you're you're a soldier States Air Force Space person, and that you are bringing the best technology we've got. So never let anybody in frankly, our nation is, again, kinda divided. Never let anybody say that diversity doesn't make our Air Force stronger. It makes us huge. And it drives our force to make us the most feared force in the world. Everybody wants to be like us. They not everybody can be, but they aspire to be what our Air Force is all about. So that's really important to remember. Thank you.

William Dye (1:00:37)
I believe we have time for one more question from the audience. General north,

Gary North (1:00:43)
so I'm gonna quit. So a little bit about me. So I transferred here to DC as my first semester. majoring in physics, I really wants to be a Air Force fighter pilot, is there any advice you would give me on working towards medical graduate

it's not tongue in cheek. So it applies to every every career that you want to be, you've got to be physically fit. So get in shape, one of you wants to go be a combat rescue officer. You know, that's a physical job. You want to be a fighter pilot, that's a physical job or be 17 pilot, that's a physical job, you want to drive UAVs that's the future. If you want to be a you know, whatever, engineer scientist, security forces, transportation, personnel want to write speeches for leadership. You'll hear me say this tonight, be technically and tactically proficient at the job that you're in, you will never move to the next job. Unless you're really good at the job that you're in, and the position you're at. We are a very select force. So being good at what you do is important. You can never study enough. So when you've got a spare moment, like many of us do, dream, eat, sleep, digest everything you want to do in our force. In and it will come to you, it may not come at the time you want it, but it will come to you. And if what you want to do doesn't work out completely, go do something else. Because there's a path for each one of us. You know, that's in our DNA that is maybe not completely foretold from birth to death. But whatever you do, do it so well that everybody goes I wouldn't be like that person. Whether it's flying, fixing, floating, or fighting to be the very best that you can be at it. It's what makes us different. And we can talk later about it with any of you throughout the night or at any time we'll leave are all of us will leave our dresses, because one of the things we want to do is latch on to East Carolina graduates and help you through the path that we've all been to. They've been through. So mentorship is really important. And oh, by the way, along the way. Have fun. Because when we do it's pretty cool. I mean, think about this. What service can give somebody an $80 million tool or $100 million enterprise in space and say go flying. We got staff sergeants to fly the GPS constellation. Think about that. You can go home and go. I rule the world because if my GPS constellation goes off, nobody will know where they're driving. Everybody's gonna have to work. Nobody's money will transfer and you cannot register on your app for East Carolina University. Thank you.

William Dye (1:04:18)
Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Mr. Hicks, Shane, general North crow Floyd and Miss Phillips. Kelly. What an incredible start to our 75th anniversary weekend. It's gonna continue this evening at the ball and then at the game tomorrow, rain or shine. We'll be there for it. But again, thank you all for being a part of this panel. It means a lot for you to come back. Share your wisdom, share your testimony and give back to our cadets and we very much appreciate it

if you haven't seen it the the exhibit is downstairs on the first floor. There's one near the main entrance and then there's a hallway with a few other Are pieces as well. So be sure to check that out. And thank you again, Miss Coburn, for you, the curator and for the library putting on an exhibit to display. Thanks for your attendance.

Alston Coburn (1:05:10)
It was wonderful to do it. I really learned a lot. And when you think about it being three fourths of a century, like that's really impressive. Thank you for letting us be a part of it as well. Awesome.

William Dye (1:05:25)
Thank you. All right. Well, this concludes our panel. Thanks again.

[End Of Recording]