Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Heyo five here at fifty five ker CD talk station.
By the time, it's wishing everyone at very very happy Friday,
and please as I can be, and I'm sure my
listening audience is happy that I have him on right now.
Thanks to Joe Jacker for lining up Doctor Colonel Josh McConkie.
He is an award winning best selling author, an estemed
emergency physician with more than two decades of clinical experience,
(00:22):
also as a professor at Duke University and maintains Board
certification in Emergency Medicine. The twenty fwo years of military service,
Doctor McConkie now commands the four hundred and fifty ninth
Aero Medical Staging Squadron in the US Air Force Reserves.
He also has a military service which includes providing critical
medical support in both wartime and peace time operations, more
than three hundred and forty hours as a flight surgeon
(00:45):
and ninety combat hours in rotor wing medical evaluation and
air assault missions in the Middle East. He's an Air
Medal and Army Commendation Medal recipient for exemplary service during
Operation Iraqi Freedom. I mentioned he's a best selling author,
worked here to have doctor Conki doctor Colonel McConkie talk
about his best selling book, Be the Weight behind the Spear.
(01:05):
Doctor Colonel McConkie, it's a pleasure to have you on
the fifty five Carosee Morning Show and thank you for
your service to our country.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with
you this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, you actually perform surgeries in helicopters.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So you can, Yes, a lot of it is just trauma,
trauma and life support. But yes, it's a it's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But if you have to yes, oh my word, and
so you were in the thick of it, if you
were flying wounded individuals and in combat, that's a that's
I would obviously say, that's a very dangerous proposition.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, that was before my before marriage and children, So
I would probably, uh, it would have to be a
World War three level scenario for me to put myself
in a situation like that for an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You can get a young person to do anything. Doctor anyway,
Be the Weight behind the Sphere I obviously from the notes,
and I think anybody can observe we are not exactly
a very unified country or quitely divided country. And I
absolutely think I've noted on the air and observed many
times over. I think that there are some you know,
evil forces out in the world that intentionally stir the
(02:15):
pot of division in this country. Obviously, we being the
most successful country that has ever been, Thank God for that.
We're the source of envy and greed, and of course
we've got enemies in the world, and it does them
a lot of benefit to divide America. I used to
look at the American flag and view it as a
symbol of unification. It stood for freedom under which anybody
can stand and enjoy their own life pursuits. But at
(02:37):
every turn we seem to be yelling at each other
about every minuscule problem in the world. I guess is
that concept as at least I observe it one of
the reasons you wrote this book.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
That has a major part to play. You know, it's
the most divided politically and generationally in this country that
I've seen in my lifetime. You know, I'm forty seven
years old, and you know, I'm hoping that we can
find something in common to focus on. And if people
would just focus on developing our future leaders and engaging
their communities, America would be a much better place and
(03:12):
try to bring us back together.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Well, and you would think, because future leaders are going
to be running the show, we want the best and brightest,
that we would all work collectively for the benefit of everyone,
regardless of stripes standing beneath that flag, to advance these
people and help them out along the way. But in
this society, part of the reasons we have so much divisions,
these so called current leaders actually foster and encourage the
(03:35):
division that we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It really is detrimental to our future. The best resource
that we have in this country is our people. It's coaches,
it's teachers, it's volunteers and mentors. That needs to be
the focus instead of the political division. And you know,
right now you feel like you have half the country
that's just missing the plot completely.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, you do, well, I wrote as I was, you know,
think preparing for this interview, I wrote down the three
profound you know, the type of folks that were most
profound in him having an impact on my life. My
parents first and foremost, they gave me the gift of education,
and they really encouraged and insisted that I get a
good education. So and they helped me to get through
(04:19):
college in law school and I went on to practice
law for sixteen years. They able to build a family
and take care of them thanks to the education. But
also education included certain of my educators, my teachers in
K through twelve and of course college. Some of them
stood out and were truly inspirational. Thank you, Chuck Barkholtz,
you're out there listening. He was a brilliant man and
(04:39):
one of the most influential teachers of my life. And
then my mentors, the people that I worked for, the
partners at the law firm who taught and trained me
and gave me all the tools of the trade I
needed to be successful. That's the kind of people we're
talking about. But moving aside from my personal experience, everyone
I think is an expert at something and can pass
that along to the next general of people. If we're
(05:01):
all thinking about, you know, building these future leaders.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Everybody has an unique skill, everybody has something different to give,
and what they do every single day matters. They need
to realize that and they need to get out in
their community. It can be something different for everyone, right
coaching little league or soccer, or volunteering in your church
or your school. And some people that don't like working
with people. That's fine, get out there in your community.
(05:28):
There's plenty of organizations, animal shelters that become emotional support
animals for somebody. There's this is a team sport America,
and life is a team sport.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So in writing this book, how do you how do
you frame it in the sense that to get like
people to to to answer your call to action along
these lines, because again, with all the division immunity of people,
I think people just like ada, hell with it, I
just give it up.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, unless you recognize the problem, you can't fix it.
So our bad policy decisions over the past four or
five years are now coming to roost. As an emergency physician,
I see this generation. They're coming in with a huge
mental health crisis. I see anxiety, depression, and very sadly suicides,
(06:17):
and it rips your heart out every single time. These
kids are so young. The mental health crisis is very real.
And then as a military commander, I see the same generation.
They lack the simple resiliency skills. They fold at the
very smallest of obstacles. And I was so concerned that
I sat down and I wrote this book. I need
(06:38):
Americans to get engaged and this is the call to action.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well it sounds like you speak Pete Hegsath's language. Defense
Secretary of Pete Tegsath. Because I worry as much. I
do anything I can, by the way, sir, to help
and support the American veterans, because I have so much
respect for them. But I saw the recruit numbers declining dramatically,
and now of course you have physical fitness problems in
this country with hopefully RFK Junior may help to deal with,
(07:04):
but we'll keep our fingers crossed. But also the American
military becoming this woke entity. There was nothing but an
extension of the k K through twelve and college education,
identity politics, vehicle and in doctrination camp. What does that
have to do with killing people and breaking things? Which
is always my boiled down look on what the military
(07:25):
should be.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, it is a terrible and horrific job. I
have been on the front lines. I have flown metavac,
I did one aerosoult, scariest thing I've ever done. And
that's our job. Nobody wants to do that job, but
when you're called upon, you have to be able to
execute that job and deliver that lethality with no questions asked.
So if what your government, if what they're asking you
(07:49):
to do, does not help you do that, then you're
wasting our time. You're literally deteriorating our capabilities. And I
am so thankful that we have this current leadership in
office that getting us pointed back in the right direction,
because the last four years have been very, very hard.
As a military commander, it's been very difficult. I follow commands.
(08:10):
We have civilian led you know, leadership for our military,
and you know, I'm proud to follow, you know, our
civilian elected leaders. I just disagreed with a lot of
the policy decisions. And I'm very thankful that we have
p tag staff at the Helm now.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So you saw this firsthand because you're still in an
active role, I guess, can can you explain to my
listening audience did it really? Was it really pervasive? These
DEI woke policies if I can call them woke policies
and get away with it, I mean, was it that pervasive?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It was very pervasive. It almost became a singular focus,
and they were dividing people. They were dividing like my airman.
So when you would sit down, you know, with the
quotas and the DEI, and they were literally different awards
that you would submit members for some of you know,
at a wing or Air Force wide level, and meetings alone,
(09:02):
they were separating. Here's the African American contingent, and here's
the Asian contingent, and here's the LGBTQ. It defeated the
entire purpose of building unity in the military. It was separating.
And when you try to build your morale and you're
spree to corps and then you look at people that
were willing to join the military, those numbers were deteriorating.
(09:25):
That's a direct reflection of those bad policies you saw
immediately in December with one election in less than thirty days,
those December recruiting numbers ramped up exponentially because the men
and women that you asked to serve this country and
lay their lives on the line, they just want to
be able to do their job and execute. The DEI
(09:47):
initiatives were degrading that capability.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So you're answering your question, I was going to ask
you there are still patriotic young Americans out there that
still believe in the message of freedom and liberty that
are Cory stands for that probably would have signed up
for military service maybe in earlier times, but under this
woke governance and this woke ideological concept that was going on,
they wouldn't do that. But they're still out there.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
They are still there. I am proud to serve with
many of them. I have one hundred men and women
under my command, best war fighting medics in the United
States Air Force, and I'm glad we are back on
the right track because the world needs a strong American military.
The American people demand one, and we are now heading
back in that direction.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
One subset of this, and I know you're outspoken on
this whole renaming of Fort Bragg Fort Liberty. Can you
address that and tell me what an impact that had,
just specifically.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So that right there, it is always going to be
Fort Bragg. It has always been Fort Bragg. Everyone in
the world knows of that name. That there's in pop
culture movie references, Rambo. Everybody knows what Brag stands for,
and it's the men women that have served. It had
nothing to do with a World War two general over
(11:04):
one hundred and fifty years ago. That has to do
with the men and women and the mission that is
going on at Fort Bragg, you know, the heart of
airborne operations, of special operations, the JFK Special Warfare Center.
I was not happy with that name changed to Fort Liberty.
Nobody in Fayetteville. I live in North Carolina, and nobody
called it Fort Liberty. It was always Fort Bragg. And
(11:27):
we're very happy that it's back to being Fort Bragg officially,
and in doing so, they've actually named it after a
World War Two veteran from the greatest generation, Roland Brag,
So it's a win on both fronts.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
The name of the book, The Weight behind the Spear,
written by my guest today, impressive. He is doctor Colonel McConkey.
Who did you write this book for? Is it literally
for anyone, anybody in any capacity to pass along their
own knowledge and experience from life or career to young people.
I suppose the audience for this book is far and wide.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It's far and wide anybody that deals with this younger generation, teachers, coaches, parents,
business leaders, business leaders don't realize that this is still
their problem. These kids are coming to you looking for jobs,
and if they lack these skills, your business will not
be successful. So really, everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It's been a real pleasure having on the morning show
again on behalf of all of my listening audience, my family,
me personally thank you for your service to our country
and for writing this inspiring book be the weight behind
the sphere what we've done for everyone's benefit. As my
producer has put your book on my blog page at
fifty five care sea dot com with the link to
get a copy and it will strongly encourage them to
(12:42):
do that and then share the book with a friend
who you think might help out as well. Doctor, it
has been a Colonel, I don't know what you prefer,
but doctor, Colonel Josh McCaughey, it's been a real distinct
pleasure having in the program. And thanks again for spending
time with my listeners in me this morning
Heyo five here at fifty five ker CD talk station.
By the time, it's wishing everyone at very very happy Friday,
and please as I can be, and I'm sure my
listening audience is happy that I have him on right now.
Thanks to Joe Jacker for lining up Doctor Colonel Josh McConkie.
He is an award winning best selling author, an estemed
emergency physician with more than two decades of clinical experience,
(00:22):
also as a professor at Duke University and maintains Board
certification in Emergency Medicine. The twenty fwo years of military service,
Doctor McConkie now commands the four hundred and fifty ninth
Aero Medical Staging Squadron in the US Air Force Reserves.
He also has a military service which includes providing critical
medical support in both wartime and peace time operations, more
than three hundred and forty hours as a flight surgeon
(00:45):
and ninety combat hours in rotor wing medical evaluation and
air assault missions in the Middle East. He's an Air
Medal and Army Commendation Medal recipient for exemplary service during
Operation Iraqi Freedom. I mentioned he's a best selling author,
worked here to have doctor Conki doctor Colonel McConkie talk
about his best selling book, Be the Weight behind the Spear.
(01:05):
Doctor Colonel McConkie, it's a pleasure to have you on
the fifty five Carosee Morning Show and thank you for
your service to our country.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with
you this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, you actually perform surgeries in helicopters.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So you can, Yes, a lot of it is just trauma,
trauma and life support. But yes, it's a it's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But if you have to yes, oh my word, and
so you were in the thick of it, if you
were flying wounded individuals and in combat, that's a that's
I would obviously say, that's a very dangerous proposition.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, that was before my before marriage and children, So
I would probably, uh, it would have to be a
World War three level scenario for me to put myself
in a situation like that for an hour.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
You can get a young person to do anything. Doctor anyway,
Be the Weight behind the Sphere I obviously from the notes,
and I think anybody can observe we are not exactly
a very unified country or quitely divided country. And I
absolutely think I've noted on the air and observed many
times over. I think that there are some you know,
evil forces out in the world that intentionally stir the
(02:15):
pot of division in this country. Obviously, we being the
most successful country that has ever been, Thank God for that.
We're the source of envy and greed, and of course
we've got enemies in the world, and it does them
a lot of benefit to divide America. I used to
look at the American flag and view it as a
symbol of unification. It stood for freedom under which anybody
can stand and enjoy their own life pursuits. But at
(02:37):
every turn we seem to be yelling at each other
about every minuscule problem in the world. I guess is
that concept as at least I observe it one of
the reasons you wrote this book.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
That has a major part to play. You know, it's
the most divided politically and generationally in this country that
I've seen in my lifetime. You know, I'm forty seven
years old, and you know, I'm hoping that we can
find something in common to focus on. And if people
would just focus on developing our future leaders and engaging
their communities, America would be a much better place and
(03:12):
try to bring us back together.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Well, and you would think, because future leaders are going
to be running the show, we want the best and brightest,
that we would all work collectively for the benefit of everyone,
regardless of stripes standing beneath that flag, to advance these
people and help them out along the way. But in
this society, part of the reasons we have so much divisions,
these so called current leaders actually foster and encourage the
(03:35):
division that we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It really is detrimental to our future. The best resource
that we have in this country is our people. It's coaches,
it's teachers, it's volunteers and mentors. That needs to be
the focus instead of the political division. And you know,
right now you feel like you have half the country
that's just missing the plot completely.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yes, you do, well, I wrote as I was, you know,
think preparing for this interview, I wrote down the three
profound you know, the type of folks that were most
profound in him having an impact on my life. My
parents first and foremost, they gave me the gift of education,
and they really encouraged and insisted that I get a
good education. So and they helped me to get through
(04:19):
college in law school and I went on to practice
law for sixteen years. They able to build a family
and take care of them thanks to the education. But
also education included certain of my educators, my teachers in
K through twelve and of course college. Some of them
stood out and were truly inspirational. Thank you, Chuck Barkholtz,
you're out there listening. He was a brilliant man and
(04:39):
one of the most influential teachers of my life. And
then my mentors, the people that I worked for, the
partners at the law firm who taught and trained me
and gave me all the tools of the trade I
needed to be successful. That's the kind of people we're
talking about. But moving aside from my personal experience, everyone
I think is an expert at something and can pass
that along to the next general of people. If we're
(05:01):
all thinking about, you know, building these future leaders.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Everybody has an unique skill, everybody has something different to give,
and what they do every single day matters. They need
to realize that and they need to get out in
their community. It can be something different for everyone, right
coaching little league or soccer, or volunteering in your church
or your school. And some people that don't like working
with people. That's fine, get out there in your community.
(05:28):
There's plenty of organizations, animal shelters that become emotional support
animals for somebody. There's this is a team sport America,
and life is a team sport.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So in writing this book, how do you how do
you frame it in the sense that to get like
people to to to answer your call to action along
these lines, because again, with all the division immunity of people,
I think people just like ada, hell with it, I
just give it up.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, unless you recognize the problem, you can't fix it.
So our bad policy decisions over the past four or
five years are now coming to roost. As an emergency physician,
I see this generation. They're coming in with a huge
mental health crisis. I see anxiety, depression, and very sadly suicides,
(06:17):
and it rips your heart out every single time. These
kids are so young. The mental health crisis is very real.
And then as a military commander, I see the same generation.
They lack the simple resiliency skills. They fold at the
very smallest of obstacles. And I was so concerned that
I sat down and I wrote this book. I need
(06:38):
Americans to get engaged and this is the call to action.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Well it sounds like you speak Pete Hegsath's language. Defense
Secretary of Pete Tegsath. Because I worry as much. I
do anything I can, by the way, sir, to help
and support the American veterans, because I have so much
respect for them. But I saw the recruit numbers declining dramatically,
and now of course you have physical fitness problems in
this country with hopefully RFK Junior may help to deal with,
(07:04):
but we'll keep our fingers crossed. But also the American
military becoming this woke entity. There was nothing but an
extension of the k K through twelve and college education,
identity politics, vehicle and in doctrination camp. What does that
have to do with killing people and breaking things? Which
is always my boiled down look on what the military
(07:25):
should be.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know, it is a terrible and horrific job. I
have been on the front lines. I have flown metavac,
I did one aerosoult, scariest thing I've ever done. And
that's our job. Nobody wants to do that job, but
when you're called upon, you have to be able to
execute that job and deliver that lethality with no questions asked.
So if what your government, if what they're asking you
(07:49):
to do, does not help you do that, then you're
wasting our time. You're literally deteriorating our capabilities. And I
am so thankful that we have this current leadership in
office that getting us pointed back in the right direction,
because the last four years have been very, very hard.
As a military commander, it's been very difficult. I follow commands.
(08:10):
We have civilian led you know, leadership for our military,
and you know, I'm proud to follow, you know, our
civilian elected leaders. I just disagreed with a lot of
the policy decisions. And I'm very thankful that we have
p tag staff at the Helm now.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So you saw this firsthand because you're still in an
active role, I guess, can can you explain to my
listening audience did it really? Was it really pervasive? These
DEI woke policies if I can call them woke policies
and get away with it, I mean, was it that pervasive?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It was very pervasive. It almost became a singular focus,
and they were dividing people. They were dividing like my airman.
So when you would sit down, you know, with the
quotas and the DEI, and they were literally different awards
that you would submit members for some of you know,
at a wing or Air Force wide level, and meetings alone,
(09:02):
they were separating. Here's the African American contingent, and here's
the Asian contingent, and here's the LGBTQ. It defeated the
entire purpose of building unity in the military. It was separating.
And when you try to build your morale and you're
spree to corps and then you look at people that
were willing to join the military, those numbers were deteriorating.
(09:25):
That's a direct reflection of those bad policies you saw
immediately in December with one election in less than thirty days,
those December recruiting numbers ramped up exponentially because the men
and women that you asked to serve this country and
lay their lives on the line, they just want to
be able to do their job and execute. The DEI
(09:47):
initiatives were degrading that capability.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
So you're answering your question, I was going to ask
you there are still patriotic young Americans out there that
still believe in the message of freedom and liberty that
are Cory stands for that probably would have signed up
for military service maybe in earlier times, but under this
woke governance and this woke ideological concept that was going on,
they wouldn't do that. But they're still out there.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
They are still there. I am proud to serve with
many of them. I have one hundred men and women
under my command, best war fighting medics in the United
States Air Force, and I'm glad we are back on
the right track because the world needs a strong American military.
The American people demand one, and we are now heading
back in that direction.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
One subset of this, and I know you're outspoken on
this whole renaming of Fort Bragg Fort Liberty. Can you
address that and tell me what an impact that had,
just specifically.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So that right there, it is always going to be
Fort Bragg. It has always been Fort Bragg. Everyone in
the world knows of that name. That there's in pop
culture movie references, Rambo. Everybody knows what Brag stands for,
and it's the men women that have served. It had
nothing to do with a World War two general over
(11:04):
one hundred and fifty years ago. That has to do
with the men and women and the mission that is
going on at Fort Bragg, you know, the heart of
airborne operations, of special operations, the JFK Special Warfare Center.
I was not happy with that name changed to Fort Liberty.
Nobody in Fayetteville. I live in North Carolina, and nobody
called it Fort Liberty. It was always Fort Bragg. And
(11:27):
we're very happy that it's back to being Fort Bragg officially,
and in doing so, they've actually named it after a
World War Two veteran from the greatest generation, Roland Brag,
So it's a win on both fronts.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
The name of the book, The Weight behind the Spear,
written by my guest today, impressive. He is doctor Colonel McConkey.
Who did you write this book for? Is it literally
for anyone, anybody in any capacity to pass along their
own knowledge and experience from life or career to young people.
I suppose the audience for this book is far and wide.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It's far and wide anybody that deals with this younger generation, teachers, coaches, parents,
business leaders, business leaders don't realize that this is still
their problem. These kids are coming to you looking for jobs,
and if they lack these skills, your business will not
be successful. So really, everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
It's been a real pleasure having on the morning show
again on behalf of all of my listening audience, my family,
me personally thank you for your service to our country
and for writing this inspiring book be the weight behind
the sphere what we've done for everyone's benefit. As my
producer has put your book on my blog page at
fifty five care sea dot com with the link to
get a copy and it will strongly encourage them to
(12:42):
do that and then share the book with a friend
who you think might help out as well. Doctor, it
has been a Colonel, I don't know what you prefer,
but doctor, Colonel Josh McCaughey, it's been a real distinct
pleasure having in the program. And thanks again for spending
time with my listeners in me this morning
Brian Thomas News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!