WEBVTT 00:05.150 --> 00:07.372 Hi , my name is Lieutenant Colonel Ryan 00:07.372 --> 00:09.594 Noonan . I'm currently the commander of 00:09.594 --> 00:11.706 the ninth civil Support team . It's a 00:11.706 --> 00:13.761 seaburn task force prior to that , I 00:13.761 --> 00:15.761 was the squadron commander of the 1 00:15.761 --> 00:17.983 96th attack squadron , uh with a combat 00:17.983 --> 00:20.206 mission and about 100 personnel . I was 00:20.206 --> 00:22.428 the do or formal training unit prior to 00:22.428 --> 00:24.150 that . And I was also the TF I 00:24.150 --> 00:26.819 commander of a F-16 squadron . 00:28.260 --> 00:30.482 I'm here today to talk to you about the 00:30.482 --> 00:32.189 Air Force Corps values and my 00:32.200 --> 00:34.689 interpretation and how it applies to us 00:34.700 --> 00:38.569 as leaders and to mental health . So 00:38.580 --> 00:41.659 core values in the Air Force , our 00:41.669 --> 00:43.836 integrity first service piece for self 00:43.836 --> 00:46.340 and excellence in all we do . And these 00:46.349 --> 00:48.460 have been described to me in the same 00:48.460 --> 00:50.460 way as when I first came in over 20 00:50.460 --> 00:52.627 years ago and integrity first is doing 00:52.627 --> 00:54.627 the right thing always , even if no 00:54.627 --> 00:56.905 one's looking s service before self is , 00:56.905 --> 00:58.738 you know , acting selflessly and 00:58.738 --> 01:00.960 putting mission before your own needs . 01:00.960 --> 01:03.071 And then excellence now with you , of 01:03.071 --> 01:02.599 course , is always having that eye for 01:02.610 --> 01:04.900 detail and perfection and , and being 01:04.910 --> 01:07.550 as accurate as you can be . I would 01:07.559 --> 01:09.726 argue that a better interpretation . A 01:09.726 --> 01:13.190 more useful interpretation is to look 01:13.199 --> 01:15.199 at these core values as integrity . 01:15.199 --> 01:17.489 First means first things first is you 01:17.500 --> 01:19.778 need to make sure that you're integral , 01:19.778 --> 01:21.944 that you are whole , that you have all 01:21.944 --> 01:24.449 the things that you need in order to be 01:24.459 --> 01:27.750 able to put service before self . And 01:27.760 --> 01:30.080 then once you do that , now we can 01:30.089 --> 01:32.680 apply for excellence in everything we 01:32.690 --> 01:35.580 do and aim for sort of transcendence if 01:35.589 --> 01:38.040 you will . And a calling , there's also 01:38.110 --> 01:41.470 the saying of people first and mission 01:41.480 --> 01:43.800 always . And this is kind of hard to 01:43.809 --> 01:45.976 put into a concept . It sounds great . 01:45.976 --> 01:48.198 But what does that mean ? And I'll tell 01:48.198 --> 01:50.420 you my interpretation of that as well . 01:50.420 --> 01:52.309 Back in the forties , there was a 01:52.309 --> 01:54.839 psychologist named Abraham Maslow at 01:54.849 --> 01:57.709 the time , the common trend in 01:57.720 --> 02:00.389 psychology was to find what was wrong 02:00.400 --> 02:03.440 with people and fix them . And Abraham 02:03.449 --> 02:06.860 Maslow had a more optimistic view of 02:06.870 --> 02:09.789 humanity . And basically , he wanted to 02:09.800 --> 02:12.889 find what made people reach their 02:12.899 --> 02:16.130 optimum and instead of patience , he 02:16.139 --> 02:18.361 called the people , he was working with 02:18.361 --> 02:20.550 clients as he went to find their 02:20.559 --> 02:23.190 strengths and how to optimize their 02:23.199 --> 02:26.259 behavior and performance . He came up 02:26.270 --> 02:29.539 with a model called the hierarchy of 02:29.550 --> 02:31.661 needs that looks like a triangle . If 02:31.661 --> 02:33.828 you've ever seen a diagram and down at 02:33.828 --> 02:35.589 the very bottom , there is the 02:35.600 --> 02:37.489 physiological needs that you need 02:37.489 --> 02:40.750 before you can care about anything else . 02:41.080 --> 02:43.570 These are your need for food , 02:44.360 --> 02:47.929 water sleep and shelter . If you don't 02:47.940 --> 02:49.884 have those four things , it's very 02:49.884 --> 02:51.996 difficult to care about anything else 02:51.996 --> 02:54.162 in the world . And so therefore , that 02:54.162 --> 02:57.710 is the baseline foundation of your 02:58.619 --> 03:01.529 uh of your needs structure . Luckily , 03:01.539 --> 03:03.650 in the armed forces , we are provided 03:03.650 --> 03:06.479 for , in that we have money for food , 03:06.490 --> 03:08.679 we have shelter or housing or money 03:08.690 --> 03:11.080 provided for that and we should be 03:11.089 --> 03:13.089 getting enough sleep . So generally 03:13.089 --> 03:15.200 speaking , for the most part , people 03:15.200 --> 03:17.145 in the armed forces have that most 03:17.145 --> 03:20.229 bottom layer satisfied . Obviously , 03:20.240 --> 03:22.073 the the solution when that isn't 03:22.073 --> 03:24.190 satisfied is if a person's house gets 03:24.199 --> 03:26.421 blown down in a tornado or a tsunami or 03:26.421 --> 03:28.477 an earthquake , et cetera is to give 03:28.477 --> 03:30.949 the airmen time to uh rebuild that and , 03:31.050 --> 03:33.119 and get that hole again above that . 03:33.130 --> 03:35.500 The next level is your safety needs and 03:35.509 --> 03:38.860 that is a person needs to feel safe . 03:39.119 --> 03:41.341 There are two types of safety . There's 03:41.341 --> 03:43.397 a real objective safety , how safe a 03:43.397 --> 03:45.397 person actually is in reality . And 03:45.397 --> 03:47.619 then there's the perceived safety , the 03:47.619 --> 03:49.470 emotional level of safety and 03:49.479 --> 03:51.312 unfortunately , or not , that is 03:51.312 --> 03:53.423 generally the level of safety that we 03:53.423 --> 03:55.590 are concerned with because that is the 03:55.590 --> 03:57.590 level that we act on . So even if a 03:57.590 --> 04:01.229 person isn't safe in real terms , if 04:01.240 --> 04:03.309 they feel safe , they will consider 04:03.320 --> 04:05.153 that need met and they can start 04:05.153 --> 04:07.098 focusing on other things whether , 04:07.098 --> 04:09.098 whether that's appropriate or not . 04:09.098 --> 04:11.449 Conversely , if a person is safe but 04:11.460 --> 04:14.070 doesn't feel safe . For example , in a 04:14.080 --> 04:16.320 person who has suffered from PTSD or 04:16.329 --> 04:18.385 something to that effect , they will 04:18.385 --> 04:21.299 need help or assistance um and time and , 04:21.309 --> 04:23.850 and energy put into making them feel 04:23.859 --> 04:26.026 safe so that they can move to a higher 04:26.026 --> 04:28.192 level . The third need that we'll talk 04:28.192 --> 04:31.450 about is the belonging and love need . 04:31.720 --> 04:34.269 We need to , we are hardwired to belong 04:34.279 --> 04:37.859 to a group over the course of 04:37.869 --> 04:40.619 evolution . We had to , for years and 04:40.630 --> 04:42.797 years , we had to operate in groups of 04:42.797 --> 04:45.859 about 20 to 50 people that are tight 04:45.959 --> 04:48.809 knit who put the group's needs over the 04:48.820 --> 04:51.619 above their own uh in order to survive 04:51.630 --> 04:54.000 and they operated in a highly in a high 04:54.010 --> 04:56.559 trust relationship . In order to make 04:56.570 --> 04:59.040 that happen , we are hardwired to seek 04:59.049 --> 05:01.049 out those relationships and to find 05:01.049 --> 05:03.105 pleasure in them because it benefits 05:03.105 --> 05:05.940 our survival as a whole even though we 05:05.950 --> 05:08.061 live in the modern world where we can 05:08.061 --> 05:09.894 get along by ourselves and order 05:09.894 --> 05:12.117 anything we want online , that level of 05:12.117 --> 05:14.130 fraternity of brotherhood of team 05:14.140 --> 05:16.880 making is important for us to be able 05:16.890 --> 05:19.112 to progress above it makes us feel part 05:19.112 --> 05:22.220 of a community and as leaders , we can 05:22.230 --> 05:25.309 do things like anti harassment policies , 05:25.549 --> 05:28.399 uh transparency , ethical policies 05:28.410 --> 05:30.632 where we can include and make sure that 05:30.632 --> 05:32.799 we have equal , equal treatment to all 05:32.799 --> 05:34.688 and make sure that no one's being 05:34.688 --> 05:36.688 sidelined in your unit and that can 05:36.688 --> 05:38.966 help uh satisfy those needs above this . 05:38.966 --> 05:42.070 We have esteem needs , esteem needs are 05:42.700 --> 05:45.359 both self esteem and esteem that we 05:45.369 --> 05:49.230 feel from others . Uh That is how we 05:49.239 --> 05:51.739 feel that other people perceive us and 05:51.750 --> 05:55.190 how they uh how much the level of trust 05:55.200 --> 05:57.256 that they have in us . We want other 05:57.256 --> 05:59.478 people to trust us . And this goes back 05:59.478 --> 06:01.644 down to the previous level . If people 06:01.644 --> 06:03.811 don't trust us , we can't feel part of 06:03.811 --> 06:05.922 a group if we don't feel trusted . So 06:05.922 --> 06:08.070 as leaders giving people uh rope , 06:08.540 --> 06:10.373 allowing them to make mistakes , 06:11.100 --> 06:13.100 resisting the urge to micromanage , 06:13.510 --> 06:16.410 giving them a task , telling them that 06:16.420 --> 06:18.587 you trust that they can do it and then 06:18.587 --> 06:20.769 rewarding them even when they may fail 06:20.779 --> 06:23.001 a little bit and then helping them find 06:23.001 --> 06:24.890 those solutions and that learning 06:24.890 --> 06:27.112 experience . So the next time they will 06:27.112 --> 06:29.335 make fewer mistakes but that trust that 06:30.220 --> 06:33.410 ability to take control of their own 06:33.420 --> 06:35.420 environment and their situation and 06:35.420 --> 06:37.587 their mission is important for them to 06:37.587 --> 06:39.698 be able to move past that . And to an 06:39.698 --> 06:41.698 even higher level , everything that 06:41.698 --> 06:43.753 we've talked about so far are called 06:43.753 --> 06:46.179 deficiency needs . And those are things 06:46.190 --> 06:48.023 that motivate us because we lack 06:48.023 --> 06:50.190 something . We're motivated because we 06:50.190 --> 06:52.523 lack food , water , shelter , and sleep . 06:52.523 --> 06:54.523 We're motivated because we lack the 06:54.523 --> 06:56.579 feeling of security because we don't 06:56.579 --> 06:58.801 feel like we're part of a group because 06:58.801 --> 06:58.549 we don't feel good about ourselves or 06:58.559 --> 07:00.726 we feel other people don't trust us or 07:00.726 --> 07:02.837 feel good about us . We are motivated 07:02.837 --> 07:05.209 to act in order to satisfy those needs 07:05.220 --> 07:07.489 and get to a level , a neutral level 07:07.500 --> 07:09.500 where we have a strong base beneath 07:09.500 --> 07:11.556 beneath us . And that is where I say 07:11.556 --> 07:14.329 integrity first matters . We need that 07:14.339 --> 07:16.850 integrity at the base of our triangle 07:16.929 --> 07:19.220 in order to move forward and , and do 07:19.230 --> 07:21.397 anything successful with our mission . 07:22.760 --> 07:24.927 Above this line , we have what we call 07:24.927 --> 07:27.100 growth needs and these are our 07:27.109 --> 07:29.220 cognitive needs . These are the needs 07:29.220 --> 07:32.500 to research , to expand our knowledge , 07:32.600 --> 07:34.711 to expand our understanding , to find 07:34.711 --> 07:36.544 out and research things that are 07:36.544 --> 07:38.711 interesting to us and to get better at 07:38.711 --> 07:40.989 things . We've got our aesthetic needs . 07:40.989 --> 07:43.156 This is the needs that we have to make 07:43.156 --> 07:42.959 our surroundings more beautiful that we 07:42.970 --> 07:46.010 can appreciate nature and hikes in the 07:46.019 --> 07:49.600 woods or the ocean side or uh a sunny 07:49.609 --> 07:52.089 afternoon on the grass with your kids . 07:52.230 --> 07:54.174 And then above that , we have self 07:54.174 --> 07:56.341 actualization where all of those needs 07:56.341 --> 07:58.452 below you are taken care of . And now 07:58.452 --> 08:00.619 you're just working on making yourself 08:00.619 --> 08:02.841 a better person and more altruistic and 08:02.841 --> 08:05.063 just giving even more of your energy to 08:05.063 --> 08:07.339 the group that you belong to . And then 08:07.350 --> 08:09.572 finally , above that is transcendence , 08:09.572 --> 08:11.760 which is this sort of ultimate goal , 08:11.769 --> 08:13.880 uh which I couldn't even begin to try 08:13.880 --> 08:16.609 to explain to you what it is . All of 08:16.619 --> 08:20.380 these things are a spectrum . It's not 08:20.390 --> 08:22.649 a one way path we can exist at multiple 08:22.660 --> 08:24.716 places in the triangle . At the same 08:24.716 --> 08:26.827 time , our work life may be up higher 08:26.827 --> 08:28.993 above the triangle . Our personal life 08:28.993 --> 08:31.049 may be a little farther low . We may 08:31.049 --> 08:32.993 feel safer or unsafer at different 08:32.993 --> 08:35.216 times of day , at different locations , 08:35.216 --> 08:37.438 whether at work or we're off work . All 08:37.438 --> 08:39.493 of these concepts are things that we 08:39.493 --> 08:41.438 need to be aware of as we focus on 08:41.438 --> 08:44.130 energies in our lives and for uh the 08:44.140 --> 08:46.280 people that we work with . One of the 08:46.289 --> 08:48.830 things that we need to keep in mind as 08:48.840 --> 08:52.359 well is that as we teach our 08:53.229 --> 08:57.039 airmen mental first aid and how to 08:57.049 --> 09:00.679 recognize levels of stress and 09:00.690 --> 09:03.609 despair and trauma in other people and 09:03.619 --> 09:05.786 be there for those individuals to make 09:05.786 --> 09:08.219 a more cohesive group . We also need to 09:08.229 --> 09:10.929 realize that the cultural sense of 09:10.940 --> 09:14.229 strength and impermeability and you 09:14.239 --> 09:18.080 know , can do no wrong is detrimental 09:18.520 --> 09:20.409 to the growth of your personnel , 09:20.609 --> 09:23.070 sharing your mistakes , sharing your 09:23.080 --> 09:25.630 experiences , sharing the fact and 09:25.820 --> 09:28.869 being humble . These are all things 09:28.880 --> 09:31.130 that will build your trust , the trust 09:31.140 --> 09:33.440 of your personnel in you and it will 09:33.450 --> 09:36.039 help them realize that they can follow 09:36.049 --> 09:40.000 your lead , trust in our 09:40.010 --> 09:43.150 leaders and our peers leads to trust in 09:43.159 --> 09:45.590 the community , builds our fraternity 09:45.650 --> 09:47.706 builds our brotherhood makes us feel 09:47.706 --> 09:49.761 part of our group and it strengthens 09:49.761 --> 09:51.872 our pyramid as a whole . Likewise , I 09:51.872 --> 09:54.039 would highly recommend as leaders that 09:54.039 --> 09:56.630 we try to explore all of these tools 09:56.640 --> 09:59.179 that we have to offer our airmen . One 09:59.190 --> 10:01.246 of these things being military , one 10:01.246 --> 10:03.320 source , you know , we talk about 10:03.330 --> 10:05.440 mental health . We talk about the 10:05.450 --> 10:08.909 ability to give our airmen these tools 10:08.919 --> 10:11.197 to like , oh , if you're having issues , 10:11.197 --> 10:13.419 if you're having marital problems or if 10:13.419 --> 10:15.530 you're having personal issues at home 10:15.530 --> 10:14.820 or financial problems , you go to 10:14.830 --> 10:16.941 military one source and they can help 10:16.941 --> 10:19.760 you as leaders unless you've reached 10:19.770 --> 10:22.549 out and found those resources for your 10:22.559 --> 10:24.940 own uses and for your own benefit . How 10:24.950 --> 10:28.280 can you be a credible reference for 10:28.289 --> 10:30.960 your airmen ? I would highly encourage 10:30.969 --> 10:34.479 you to , to reach out to them and make 10:34.489 --> 10:36.656 an appointment . And even if you think 10:36.656 --> 10:38.822 your marriage is going great , try out 10:38.822 --> 10:40.989 some marriage counseling , even if you 10:40.989 --> 10:43.211 think everything's right in your life , 10:43.211 --> 10:42.789 try out some personal stress counseling , 10:42.799 --> 10:45.340 learn some techniques . And that way 10:45.349 --> 10:48.359 you are a credible reference when you 10:48.369 --> 10:51.359 are referring your airmen to these 10:51.369 --> 10:53.591 resources and you can share with them . 10:53.591 --> 10:55.758 Look , I called them up . I made three 10:55.758 --> 10:57.925 appointments . It was no big deal . We 10:57.925 --> 11:00.147 sat down , we talked about this . I got 11:00.147 --> 11:02.258 some tools and it made me feel better 11:02.258 --> 11:05.090 that will destigmatize these things for 11:05.099 --> 11:07.570 your airmen . Finally , I would say 11:07.739 --> 11:10.090 that it's very important that we try to 11:10.099 --> 11:13.200 keep tabs on all of our personnel that 11:13.210 --> 11:15.409 we check in on how their foundation is 11:15.419 --> 11:17.659 doing on their family . These are all 11:17.669 --> 11:19.780 easy questions that we ask on a daily 11:19.780 --> 11:22.002 basis . Hey , how's your family ? How's 11:22.002 --> 11:24.225 your weekend ? How's this going ? How's 11:24.225 --> 11:23.700 that going ? But we can get into 11:23.710 --> 11:27.080 further depth . We can ask them , hey , 11:27.159 --> 11:29.280 what makes you really happy ? When's 11:29.289 --> 11:31.567 the last time you were able to do that ? 11:31.570 --> 11:33.681 Is there something that I can do as a 11:33.681 --> 11:36.880 leader to help you find time to do that 11:36.909 --> 11:39.309 or find space to do that ? If an airman 11:39.320 --> 11:42.780 loves being in charge of projects , if 11:42.789 --> 11:45.669 they find a , a natural satisfaction in 11:45.679 --> 11:48.770 completing a task , then maybe put them 11:48.780 --> 11:50.947 in charge of something that's a little 11:50.947 --> 11:53.469 bit above what you would consider their 11:53.479 --> 11:55.479 responsibility level and watch them 11:55.479 --> 11:58.500 thrive and then let them fail or let 11:58.510 --> 12:00.679 them succeed and then let them do it 12:00.690 --> 12:04.359 again . Overall , going back to the 12:04.369 --> 12:08.210 core values and the phrase of people 12:08.219 --> 12:10.275 first mission always , if we put our 12:10.275 --> 12:12.489 people first , if we put integrity 12:12.500 --> 12:14.989 first and we take care of our people 12:15.000 --> 12:17.000 and make sure their needs are met , 12:17.000 --> 12:19.219 then they can put service , be support 12:19.229 --> 12:21.590 self . The mission will always get 12:21.599 --> 12:23.989 accomplished and we will perform with 12:24.000 --> 12:26.280 excellence in all that we do . My name 12:26.289 --> 12:28.400 is Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Noonan and 12:28.400 --> 12:28.789 thank you .