All Episodes

July 22, 2025 16 mins

Send us a text

Healthcare and service converge powerfully in the journey of Colonel Lakisha Wright, Command Nurse for the United States Army Cadet Command. Her story reveals how a profound moment in an emergency room—witnessing injured soldiers more concerned about their battle buddies than themselves—transformed her civilian nursing career into a 23-year military commitment.

Colonel Wright's responsibilities span across the nation as she oversees nursing cadets throughout the United States and territories, working to bring 210 qualified nurses into Army service annually. Her perspective on leadership resonates deeply: "Leadership is about growth and development. You don't just become a leader overnight." This philosophy drives her approach to mentoring future healthcare professionals, emphasizing that leadership requires recognizing your unique value, communicating effectively, and continually developing both personally and professionally.

For students considering healthcare careers, the military offers surprising pathways many haven't considered. From ROTC scholarships covering tuition or housing to programs enabling debt-free medical education, Colonel Wright outlines numerous opportunities for advancement. The Army's commitment to family support stands out through programs like the Exceptional Family Member Program, which ensures military families receive necessary specialized healthcare. Most inspiring is Colonel Wright's passion for helping young healthcare professionals discover their potential: "When I get to work with them and can help them find a pathway, I think that's the greatest thing ever." Her story demonstrates that combining healthcare with military service creates unique leadership opportunities that benefit both individual careers and our nation's healthcare system.

Want to explore how military service might enhance your healthcare career? Listen now to discover pathways you never knew existed, and consider how your skills could serve both patients and country.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the HOSA Future of Health podcast live at
the HOSA InternationalLeadership Conference here in
Nashville, tennessee.
Today.
I am honored to have with meColonel Lakeisha Wright.
Lakeisha Wright is leading theway with the US Army and I'm so

(00:25):
grateful for your service, andso is the organization.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you, colonel Wright.
Would you kindly share I knowthis so much but a little bit of
insight into your role ascommand nurse in the United
States Army Cadet Command and,if you may, what your day-to-day
looks like?

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes.
So, being the command nurse,I'm responsible for all of the
nursing cadets that we have innursing school across the US
Puerto Rico, guam, hawaii,alaska.
So we have a mission each yearto bring in 210 nurses to the
Army and I have a team ofbrigade nurse counselors that

(01:09):
are stationed across the US whogo do the day-to-day grind of
going out and visiting thesenurses to make sure that things
are going well between ROTC andnursing so we can get them
through.
I supervise them.
I also make sure that my nurses, that I'm mentoring them so
that they're getting what theyneed to grow in their careers.

(01:31):
I also do the nurse summertraining program.
So our cadets, between theirjunior and senior year go to one
of our military treatmenthospitals and they get 120 to
160 clinical hours for thatsummer.
So I put all of that togetherto make sure that they get what
they need to have.
That you know that clinicalexperience on top of traveling
to national conferences and youknow speaking and you know being

(01:54):
out there to recruit so that wecan get more Army nurses.
So day-to-day is a lot of beingon the phone, on the computer,
in the office, of course,meetings, but then you know
figuring out who we can partnerwith so that we can bring more
nurses into the Army.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Incredible.
And so what inspired you topursue both nursing and military
service, and how have thosepaths worked or converged in
your career?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
So it's interesting, I'm an Air Force brat.
So my dad was 20 years AirForce, grew up in Colorado
Springs, colorado, and alwaysthought I was going to join the
military, got married early,started having kids and then I
was like, well, maybe no moremilitary service, became a nurse
.
9-11 happened and I worked atone of our downtown hospitals

(02:50):
and there was actually a tankrollover at Fort Carson and
those soldiers had to come inbecause we were a trauma center
and being in the ER that nightand watching the soldiers and
they were worried about theirbattle buddy.
They were like how is John orhow is whoever, and I'm sitting
there, like we need to take careof you, like I wait a minute,

(03:10):
you know.
And I saw the camaraderie and Isaw what was happening and I
was like I want to serve.
So 9 11 happened.
I joined the Army March of 2002and really thought it was going
to be a four-year career.
I was like I just want to do mytime, I want to serve, and 23
years later, I'm still here andnursing has always been my love.

(03:35):
Well, I shouldn't say that.
That's not totally true.
I thought I was going to be adoctor but I switched to nursing
, but I've just gotten so muchmore in my nursing career being
in the military than I couldhave ever gotten in the civilian
world.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
You know.
Thank you for sharing that.
That's just so inspiring.
Just sitting here listening toyour story is amazing, and what
you describe with thecamaraderie and what it is to
serve our nation, it's truly aprivilege and we are grateful.
Thank you again for yourservice.
Leadership and service are abig part of both nursing and, in

(04:10):
fact, and the military.
What do those values actuallymean to you, colonel wright, and
why are they so important forstudents to learn early?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Leadership is about growth and development.
You don't just become a leaderovernight.
You grow and you develop intoit, but you're also bringing up
the next generation.
You're bringing up who's goingto be taking care of you know my
parents, me, my children andeverything else like that.
So we have to be out front, youknow, in order to do that, to

(04:48):
help people see what theirpotential is.
If I didn't have people that hadbelieved in me, I wouldn't be
where I am today.
You know, because sometimes youknow life happens and you just
don't think you can make it.
But when you have that support,then you know you can, and I
think that's what being a leaderis.
Service is just about givingback, because there is always
something better than us andsomething bigger than us, and I

(05:11):
think you know, when you thinkabout serving, you want to make
the world better.
You want to make it a betterplace for your children, for
your grandchildren, and we haveso many privileges in the United
States that if you travel toother countries, some of them
don't have, and so we only havethat because of the fact that we
serve and we lead, and we haveto continue that so that we can

(05:32):
continue to even get into thefuture.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, that's so true.
It's so true.
And I'd like to shift to one ofour favorite topics, I know,
which is soft skills.
Yes, because those soft skillsare all around you when you are
anywhere near a host of futurehealth professionals, and you
know exactly what I'm talkingabout.
It's communication, it'sdiscipline, it's what you just
referred to as teamwork Allextremely essential, of course,

(05:59):
in the military and inhealthcare, and in business and
in government, and on and on.
How can students start buildingthose critical soft skills
right now?

Speaker 2 (06:13):
So a lot about developing the soft skills, I
believe and it goes into alittle bit of like after the
practitioner is you got torecognize who you are and what
skills we even bring to thetable and then be willing to
showcase that, show people youknow what you bring to the table
and how valued you can be for ateam, not being scared to speak

(06:36):
up because your idea may be agreat idea or it might stimulate
another idea that's going tohelp lead a team or lead a new
development, new technology orany of those other types of
things.
So, starting with your yourselfand recognizing that, building
your own communication skills,knowing how to communicate to
people, learning how to write Imean all of those things are

(06:58):
important and foundations thatwe all grow up on.
You know, and that's whatcontributes to a team when
you're doing all of those typesof things.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
You know that's so incredible to hear from you and
it's so true.
That's what's really semanticabout you.
Know what we're talking abouthere, and what advice would you
give to a host of students whomight be interested in combining
what you did healthcare withmilitary service?

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Don't be scared, it is a little bit scary.
I honestly I did not join themilitary until I was 27 years
old, so I was a little bitalready in my box, and you know.
And then you have to changethings up.
But be willing to try newthings.
Be willing to be adventurous.
Don't let people hold you back.
You know, recognize like that,there are mentors out there,

(07:51):
there are people that do want tosee you succeed.
And don't don't let no be theanswer.
When I first was about to jointhe military, I was told that I
had a bee sting allergy.
That's actually a disqualifierfor the military.
And so I said well, let's justtest me.
Maybe I grew out of it, youknow and all that.
So I went through allergytesting and I was cleared.
But if I had to take a no thefirst time, then I wouldn't be

(08:12):
in the military today.
So sometimes you have toventure out, even when people
tell you no, or find a wayaround no.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
And so overcoming challenges.
I mean, that's one exampleright, and never taking no for
an answer.
Right and just never, everstopping right, just continuing
on.
How does the Army then preparefuture nurses and healthcare
professionals for what areobviously potentially very, very

(08:41):
high pressure environments?

Speaker 2 (08:43):
The Army teaches you to strive for more.
We give you the education notonly for you know, nursing,
physician, whatever you'rewanting to be in the military
but also on the leadership.
You go through leadershipcourses.
You do a basic officerleadership course, then you do
the captain's career course,then you do an intermediate
level course and it's giving youall of those skills to continue

(09:06):
to grow.
We're going to teach you to gospeak.
A lot of the things that we doput you in front of people so
that you have to learn how tospeak.
You have to learn how tointeract with higher individuals
colonels, generals andeverything else.
We're going to teach you how towrite.
We're going to do all of thosetypes of things and we're going
to give you more education.

(09:26):
We're not going to let you juststop at a bachelor's degree In
order to continue to go up inrank.
You have to continue to geteducation and we pay for it.
So we're going to make sure youget graduate level education to
do all of those things that youwant to achieve.
And we even have some peoplethat say, hey, I love being
nursing, but I really realizedthat I wanted to be a physician.
We have avenues for you toswitch a crossover into other

(09:50):
areas if that's something thatyou want to do too.
So it's continually aboutgrowth and development, not just
stopping where you are.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
So the Army has and instills a growth mindset.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
I love that.
That's incredible.
And so what kind ofopportunities then exist in the
military, and specifically inmedicine, that students, host of
students, might not know about,especially when it comes to
advanced ed, education andleadership?

Speaker 2 (10:16):
So, starting just out of high school, going to ROTC.
If you do ROTC and you qualifyfor a scholarship, then you're
going to get a scholarshipthat's going to either pay for
tuition or it's going to pay forhousing, whichever is more
expensive.
You can choose.
You get a monthly stipend andyou get a book allowance while
you're doing ROTC and thenyou're getting mentorship and

(10:36):
guidance and leadership.
That already begins right incollege.
You get on active duty.
Then we're going to send you tosome other schools.
Maybe you want to go jump outof planes?
Well, you can go.
Do that, not me.
Maybe you want to go, you know,rappel out of helicopters, but
we're going to give you evenmore skills there, but then
we're going to continue to grow.
So let's say, somebody doeswant to be a doctor.
After ROTC you can do what'scalled an educational delay and

(11:01):
we have the health professionalscholarship program, which is
now you're going to go to medschool straight out of your
bachelor's degree, get yourmedical degree and then come on
active duty.
Or you can go to the UniformedServices University of Health
Sciences and get your degree andthen you can completely be
debt-free with a medical degree.
If you're on the nursing sideof the house, then we have
what's called long-term healtheducation.

(11:23):
The Army pays you for threeyears just to go to school and
get your degree and then you'regoing to come out and be a nurse
practitioner, be a clinicalnurse specialist, be a nurse,
anesthetist, whatever dreams youhave there.
And then there's even otheravenues for individuals, if they
don't want to, to go to schoolright out of, you know, high
school, become enlisted.
We have an army enlistedcommissioning program which you

(11:45):
can go become a nurse throughthat revenue.
Just lots of programs that areout there.
You know, be lawyers, you know,even if you don't want to be
medical public health we.
Any avenue you want to go, wehave all of those types of
things.
Any avenue you want to go, wehave all of those types of
things.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
And so, cronerite, you work closely with cadets.
Yes, specifically, whatqualities do you look for that
can help them be successful asyoung leaders?

Speaker 2 (12:13):
So we call it the SAL score.
It's Scholar Athlete Leader.
So of course we're in themilitary.
We do have to pass our physicalfitness test, so you have to
have some physical fitness toyou, but we can train you for
that, even for some individualswho focus more on.
You know being scholarly, andthen we want to start seeing
some leadership skills.
Are you volunteering out inyour community?

(12:35):
Are you doing something in theschool where you're the
president, vice president, eventreasurer, you know, or
different things on the danceteam?
You know we want to see thatyou know you're invested, you
want to be out there and thatyou have a strong background in
getting your education and thatyou want to progress and go on
to succeed.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Incredible and so balance and specifically family
balance.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
How does the military support families to balance
work, life, life work all of thethings that we see as
challenges in today's modernworld.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
So the Army.
The one thing that for me, hasbeen amazing in the Army is we
have what's called theExceptional Family Member
Program.
My oldest daughter was bornwith congenital heart disease.
She's had multiple open heartsurgeries and you know, just an
extensive health history.
The Army has made sure that I'mstationed at places where she

(13:34):
could get all of the health carethat she needs.
So she's had surgery at JohnHopkins, seattle Children's
Hospital, cleveland Clinic.
So they're going to make surethat in those aspects you know,
medically, your family's takencare of.
You have the housing allowancethat you can make sure that
you're providing housing foryour family.
They move you, you know theypay for you to move.
We have schools on ourinstallations, we have child

(13:54):
care centers on ourinstallations.
We have all of those things sothat you know that your family
is taking care of when you needto serve.
And even on the aspect of, youcan pass your GI Bill onto your
family so that they can go tocollege.
You know I did that with myyoungest child.
She has a bachelor in biologyand she's in vet school now.

(14:15):
So and we have scholarshipseven for that for your family.
So we make sure that you'retaken care of.
There are times, I'm going tobe honest, and we have
scholarships even for that foryour family, so we we make sure
that you're taken care of.
There are times, I'm going tobe honest, like where you have
to ask your family to sacrificea little bit, and then there's
times that you sacrifice foryour family so that you have
that balance.
But it was very rare for me tomiss volleyball or dance or any

(14:37):
of those other types of things,because I communicated the needs
and my leadership supported it.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
That's incredible to hear, that's just profound, and
so I'd like to end thisinterview.
We could go on for days withall of your inspiring
perspectives and insights, butwhat inspires you and excites
you the most about the futurehealth professionals and let's
even focus on hosts of futurehealth professionals what are
you most excited about whenyou're interacting with them?

Speaker 2 (15:04):
How excited they are.
For some, this is what theyhave and they can see a future
because they come frombackgrounds where they maybe
didn't see a future.
So it's exciting to see thatlight in their eyes, that
they're excited about the thingsthat they can achieve.
For others, that they alreadyknow.
Like I was just talking to ayoung lady and she's like, well,
I want to do public health andI want to do this.

(15:25):
And I was like, well, you cando it all.
Like you can combine publichealth and law and do
environmental law.
And she's like, wow, I nevereven thought about that.
She's like that's the greatestyou know need.
That's what we need for youknow the future and everything
else.
Like that is for thatexcitement for them to see that
they have a future and that theycan grow and develop into

(15:46):
whatever they want to become.
Because it starts with a dream,it starts with a pathway and
then they just have to find thepathway.
So when I get to work with themand can help them find a
pathway, I think that's thegreatest thing ever pathway, I
think that's t, Colonel Lakeisha.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Right U inspiration.
Thank you so service to ournation and.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.