College Isn't Enough! Set Yourself Apart! SDSU Army ROTC Cadre Dr. Michael Brantley Tells Us How?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
KP (00:00):
This episode is powered by Act Now Education, go to

(00:03):
www.actnoweducation.com for freecomprehensive educational
resources and opportunities foractive duty, veterans, military
spouses, and children.

Dr. MIchael Brantley (00:17):
I say hey before I decided to enlist, I'm
going to get my degree first Iwant to get my associates. I
might transfer to San DiegoState. And then I'll say, well,
here's here's the opportunitythat you possibly can, you know,
you can commission in two years.

KP (00:35):
Warriors fall in, it's time for formation. So if you're an
avid listener of The MorningFormation, you recall that I sat
down and had a conversation withone of my previous battle
buddies while I was in the army,who is now a professor of
military science, LieutenantColonel Michelle Parlette. She
is now currently the professorof military science of the Army

(00:56):
ROTC program down in San DiegoState University.
Well, talking to her actuallyled me to her recruiting
officer. And I've been followingthis gentleman for a while. And
I've been seeing like all theposts that he'd been putting out
all the information about theSMP program, the Green to Gold
program, the three yearscholarship. You know, all these

(01:18):
great, great pieces ofinformation that are out there
and are available to peoplegraduating from high school,
folks that are maybe first yearin college, second year in
college, folks that are in themilitary looking to transfer
over to the officer side whileyou know obtaining their their
bachelor's degrees.

(01:39):
So today, we're going to learnwho the, who the recruiting
officer is for San Diego StateUniversity. And he's going to
take us even deeper into themany opportunities that are out
there for young adults seekingto challenge themselves beyond
just a college education. So Iwant to welcome Dr. Michael
Brantley. Thank you for joiningus to The Morning Formation
today, sir.

Thanks for having me. Taking the time to be
with me.

KP (02:00):
The honor is all mine. I really appreciate it. And I
really appreciate all theinformation you put out. Because
I constantly tell people all thetime about my own experience
because I was an SMP, asimultaneous membership program
cadet, where I was enlisted inthe Army National Guard.
And then my junior year Itransitioned into becoming a

(02:22):
cadet. So I went from being anE4 to a cadet. And then the day
that I graduated with mybachelor's degree, that was the
day that I went technically,active duty, as a second
lieutenant in O1 in the UnitedStates Army.
So it was a very proud day toget my diploma, but then also
have my father who had served 20years in the military enlisted

(02:43):
pin on my bars. So thank you forwhat you do, I really appreciate
you and not just holding theposition, but actually owning
that position. And putting somuch information out there.

No problem. That's what we're here
for. It's so much informationout there. There's just
it's untouched, I think I think.
A lot of us, SMP, I still had tokind of learn about that when I
started the role, but SMP,Ed-delay, there's just so many
different options. And I didn'tyou know, my background is Navy.
I knew nothing about ROTC atall. So, now that I kind of got

(03:19):
into the regulations, and I'vebeen able to, you know, award a
number of different, you know,scholarships, it's you just
learned more and more every day.
So

KP (03:28):
Yeah, you know, I find that pretty fascinating about you. I
had assumed that you were priorservice in the army, but it
turns out, you're in the Navy.
So would you mind telling usabout your own background? Where
you're from originally anddescribe your own military
career for those of us out heremeeting you for the very first
time?

Okay, yeah. I actually,... I enlisted
in the Navy. I grew up inCompton.
South Central, you know, fromCalifornia. End up moving to
South Central LA. I had no plansat all and joining the military.
You know, it wasn't in thecards. You know, the plan was to
get out and, you know, graduatehigh school, go to college. And

(04:08):
I did that I went to Long BeachCity College, and had a couple
of jobs.
I remember worked at a PortaPotti company, and I'm where I
worked at AMC theater. Yeah, itwas pretty tough, and they just
weren't panning out. And I wasjust trying to figure out my
next move. And I remember I hadthis real crap car and where the
AMC theater was was right by therecruiting center. So you know,

(04:32):
Air Force, Army, Navy, had arecruiting centers there and I
was taking a bus because my carbroke down and the bus had
stopped right in front ofrecruiting center.
And right when I got off theArmy recruiter. He said, "Man,
you look like you need to changesome things around." And I ended
up taking the ASVAB for theArmy. Went into the Navy, and

(04:53):
you know, did my 20 years.
Initially was a what they call aship servicemen. They've changed
it in out to retail specialist.
But when I coined it, it's kindof like you're the Walmart of
the ship, barber shop, vendingmachines, ship store, laundry,
all that stuff. But you haveadditional duties where you're
in to where you can become likea divisional departmental career

(05:18):
counselor.
So once I got towards the latteryears of my career, I was I'd
retired as an E6. I was acommand, career counselor. So I
did that for like, the last fouryears. And, you know, I retired
and then just kind of, you know,took advantage of the education,
it's been a free ride for themost part, and, you know, wanted

(05:41):
to get into higher ed, because,you know, I saw that it opened
doors for me, and took anadditional role at a university
once I got out, and then I endedup here at SDSU.

KP (05:53):
Yeah, that's quite interesting. So, talk to us
about how you became arecruiter. And also I find it
quite fascinating that you are ayou have your doctorate in
education as well. So, talk tous about that. Because did you
start your educational journey?
Like while you were in activeduty, or was that something that
happened later on in life?

Oh, yeah, I started when I was in, um,
the, the role came up, I used towork at National University. I
was an Admissions Advisor, andthen I transitioned to an
enrollment advisor. And I lovedit. It was like, probably five
minutes from my house. You know,you got to meet with a different
demographics. The student ismore so adult students, veteran
students, I enjoyed doing it.
And I remember, one of thestudents came in with his

(06:35):
daughter, and she went to SanDiego State, he was starting
school. And she was like, yeah,they have a job opening up at
San Diego State for HumanResource assistance, the same
thing you're doing here. I waslike, alright, so USA Jobs is a
little different.
So I looked. And I think theannouncement for the job popped,
maybe two weeks later, so Iapplied. And I went in, and I

(06:57):
had an interview with LieutenantColonel Parlete. And I thought
it was exactly what I was doingat Nationals.
So I said, I'm in San DiegoState. So I ended up getting an
offer than it wasn't, it wassomething totally different. It
was a lot. It's a lot like, youknow, because you went to the
program, there's just so muchthat's involved with, you know,
enrolling someone in theprogram, contract and

(07:18):
commissioning, pay grades andthings like that.
And yeah, it's very rewarding,but it's just so much to it. Our
recruiting operations officerhad moved on to another
position. And, you know, thisspot opened up and, you know,
kind of mutually agreed upon ifI wanted to do it, you know, I
had to take a physical, do someother stuff. And I've been doing

(07:39):
the role for probably, it'll,it'll be almost two years.

KP (07:41):
But yeah, so I understand, you know, how, how much
opportunities out there and allthe ins and outs to some extent.
And it kind of makes it easy totalk to you about these kinds of
things, because I have thatbackground right now.
But from where you stand, youknow, in layman's terms, like,
how do you explain to parentsout there who have never been in

(08:03):
the military themselves, anddon't understand what ROTC is?
And how military service worksafter college? How do you how do
you talk to them and get them tofully understand because it's
like a complete differentculture completely, completely
different language? Right?

Yeah, it's from a place of passion. And
just more so the opportunity togo back, I was able to get my
education, 10 years into when Iwas in. I took full advantage,
tuition assistance, BOG waiver,fafsa, all those things,
different things. I found aloophole in order to get an

(08:39):
additional year of post 911 andall that stuff, in order to get
multiple degrees, because Ididn't quite know what I wanted
to do. So when I started thisjob, I didn't know that they
were just paying for college.
So, you know, my strategy is tolet parents know, I kind of ease
them into the process. Yes, youknow, your son, daughter,
whomever will ultimately enlistactive duty, National Guard, or

(09:02):
Reserves, but have theopportunity, you know, to go to
college first. You're studentfirst. And, you know, that's
what I can't explain and, and I,I will never, you know,
discredit my time served as anenlisted, you know, E6. It was
kind of tough for me to advance,but I tried to go officer twice,
and it was just so complex, youhad to do so much.

(09:22):
So I explained just thesimplicity behind it. If you
just do certain things and youmeet certain requirements, and
just give all the details. Youknow, it's all about just giving
the details and I just make sureI'm available. Most of the time,
like when I meet with parents orwhomever, I respond to an email
within five to 10 minutes. It'sa blur, just to have all the

(09:43):
information out there. I tookthe extra step of creating a
website until SDSU. You know,they have a new webmaster.
So until you know, we canactually get our school's edu
account up to par. You know, Ihad one created and it's just
kind of easier on the eyes andears just explains everything in
detail. It's just about havingthe information. If I can get

(10:05):
the information out to a parent,and just know exactly what
they're looking at, before Ihave time to sit with them, you
really were just, you know,closing the gap on a lot of
those questions that they mighthave.
The military has changed. Since,you know, you and I were in. I
joined in 98. So it was adifferent place. It's a
different type of applicant forthe military now. So we try to,

(10:27):
you know, just focus in on whatit has to offer. There's a lot
of bad press when it comes tothe military.
Now, sometimes, you know.
Veterans that are struggling totransition and stuff is scary.
But you know, you always got tomake sure you have the right
information. Have the rightresources provided. Give the
right examples.
Yes, I was enlisted. I did 20years, I retired as an 6, but

(10:50):
the military got me exactly towhere I am and paid for 10
degrees once I finished mydoctorate, so it just, there's
just so much out there that Ithink a lot of us don't know
about. And the focus tends to beon you know, the bad stuff. So
we kind of stay away from thatand just focus on the
opportunities,

KP (11:07):
who you are and who you become in your trajectory in
life. Sort of is all about whoyou surround yourself with.
Right?

Yeah.

KP (11:14):
So can you talk a little bit about the environment and the
culture of the our Army ROTCenvironment that a cadet might
experience while they're likewhat's a typical week like?

Um, they are you know, I like to
emphasize that they are studentsfirst but we have a great cadre
I've been there enough to see arotation from one regime to
another and both have been youknow, good. Being Navy and
seeing army, that was a littledifferent at first. The language
and things like that, but justthe... it's just a melting pot

(11:51):
of just different experiences.
People from all over the place,different MOS's, different
branches. Just you know, you cansee it. And it definitely helps
in you know. Somebody that'sjust you know, SMP Cadet that's
probably enlisted in the Guardor Reserve, will have more
experience than somebody that'sjust a national scholarship

(12:12):
Cadet that's coming in straightout of high school. And their
only exposure to it is probablywhat they know, maybe a family
member served the parent orsomething like that.
And JROTC. So for somebodythat's coming in, I say straight
off the street, into theprogram, the exposure for it,
it's just, it's just so much ofit. It is there's, there's a lot

(12:32):
of different examples. Even myyou know, we have a boss was
intern, and he went s&p, buthe's actually you know, he's a
first lieutenant he'll beputting on his captain here, I
believe in February.
And he's a ranger, he went toRanger School. So there's an
example we have, you know, ourSergeant First Class he, he's
actually he's in, you know, SanMarcos or whatnot.

(12:53):
But he's a 42 alpha. So heunderstands the the HR side of
it. We have another staffsergeant that's a 42 alpha, just
so much. Yeah. And so if someonehas a question, when it comes to
what it is that they possiblywant to do on the army, you
know, long term, they will havean answer no matter what. We do
have some that that go throughthe program, and they say, You
know what, I think I want to goenlisted, and I'll say, Man,

(13:16):
we'll do that as a joke.
But then I was, you know, we canexplain. And we, we actually, we
have a great relationship withall the recruiters in the area.
That was one of the first thingI did when I started the job is
I went to the differentrecruiting offices, and I
introduced myself.
And it wasn't that I was tryingto push numbers or anything like
that. It's a one for one thingwhen it comes to the smp. And I
explained that and I sent oversome slides. So you know, if

(13:38):
ROTC isn't something that's foryou, we're still a family here
to where we can still helpsomebody if they decide to move
on from the program. So it's,they're well taken care of, when
When I when we go to theseevents, you're supposed to go to
they do come here.
like the service academies eventor a West Point event, you're
supposed to say, "Hey, this iswhy ROTC is the best, you know,

(13:58):
and this is why you should pickus." I never really said it,
always just say, apply for themall.
Give yourself enough options, towhere if one doesn't work out,
you'll have the you know, theopportunity for the next thing.
And when it comes toscholarships, you're not
committed to it. So if you applyfor all those different things,
all you have to do is just dono, like, all you have to do is
just go in and you decline,whatever the scholarship is. So

(14:21):
just make sure you apply forthem all.
And then soon as you you know,we know who's going to come in
to the program early on, likethe national scholarship and
things like that. So we reachout, there's a few kids that I
talked to that don't even planon coming to San Diego State or
were lower on their list, I'llstill make sure I reach out to
them and help them because I'mthe type of person you know,

(14:41):
when I have something that I'mworking on, if it's a goal that
is kind of keeping me up atnight. I like to make sure that
I get that information outthere.
So I can I can get that so I'llmake sure I'll take care of
them. I wake up kind of early towork out so sometimes I'm
running the stairs sendingemails or and things like that,
but it's just about gettinginformation out there and making
sure that they have it.

KP (15:02):
yeah, you never know where that conversation.... I mean,
even if a student is looking atgoing to a different university,
you never know where thatconversation will take you
because that great experiencewill be shared to others.
And someone else may beinterested in coming to San
Diego State, but it's all aboutjust being good to people,
right? You seem like you seem tobe like a...., you seem to be a
tremendous mentor when it comesto that. And that's probably why

(15:23):
you got offered the job, youknow, almost immediately, right,
the next day after youinterviewed for this job?

buddy, that's what I'll be telling...

KP (15:31):
Is that right? No, I can tell you have the personality
that despite your Navy and notArmy, I mean, you have the
personality, the glowingpersonality to really be
intriguing. And, and, andprovide a lot of information for
folks out there, easy to talk toas well. So, you know, for
parents out there, or anyone outthere who's thinking about, you

(15:52):
know, what's going to be my nextstep in life, you know,
approximately how much money istypically saved. And would you
mind talking about theleadership that's earned by a
cadet versus just a regularcollege student attending
college?

Um, money wise, is ...of the whole tuition
and fees, room and board. Youget extra incentives, like a
book stipend for $1,200. You getyour monthly stipend, our
nursing cadets, they get a $650It's kind of like a supply

(16:28):
stipend for like scrubs andthings like that. You got to
think of our five schools SanDiego State, Cal State San
Marcos, Point Loma Nazarene,UCSD and USD USD is a very
expensive school. So abachelor's degree there can be
upwards of $150,000. And that'sfree.
So, you know, there is that forSMP cadets, if they choose not

(16:51):
to opt in for what's called aGRFD scholarship, you know,
Guarantee Reserve Forces Dutymeaning if they once they you
know, assess and commission theywill have to go National Guard
or Reserve, they decided to gonon scholarship because they
ultimately, you know, decide tomove on from the Guard or
Reserve once they assess itsactive duty, then, you know,
they're they're able to usetheir educational benefits or

(17:13):
post 911. So there's thatoption. It's just so much money
save, which is why there's sucha press on, you know,
contracting fast.
There is the President, that thewhole non deployable thing
that's money saved. I mean, it'sjust yeah, that's I can say
that's emotional. That's save,because I've worked with a

(17:35):
number of our cadets that wehave some right now as a matter
of fact that we're trying tofigure out how to get them, you
know, contracted sooner becausewe're having some issues with
the whole DOD merge situation,in order to get them contracted
because you know, it's looming,the deployment is looming.
So there's a lot of money saved,there's a lot of stress, you
know, that's kind of relieved,you can focus in on finishing
your degree and being a studentand focusing on the program. On

(17:59):
the leadership side, themilitary science classes for
what I've seen, are awesome.
Army leadership, customs, andtraditions.
They do have health and fitnessto where they go out. And they
PT with the cadets and thingslike that Applied Leadership,
military history, and thingslike that. So, you know, I wish
that gave me some experience. Ican teach some of those classes,

(18:21):
but it's all there. But asidefrom the courses that are
taught, you actually have thatmentor, you actually have that
leader that's been in for thoseyears that you can, you can ask
those questions so they couldshare their experiences. So it's
all just right there. And I tellhim about applicants, the
hardest part is just gettingaccepted into the school. And we

(18:43):
take it from there. So

KP (18:45):
and so that's something to take into consideration for
folks out there who are thinkingabout enlisting, there's nothing
wrong with enlisting. But at thesame time, if your immediate
goal is to get your college outof the way, nice and early, this
would be a great, a greatdirection for you to take into
consideration.
Because you're not losing outtime. At the end of the day, you

(19:06):
are accomplishing something. Andthe one thing that I loved about
the ROTC program that I was apart of, and I'm 100% positive,
the battalion that you're atdoes the same thing, but they
kept me honest, as far as theclasses that I was signed up
for. I was on target to graduateby a certain date.
Because we all know it's a fouryear degree, but some people

(19:27):
take five to six years to getthat four year degree. Right.
And so for me, they laid it outfor me, like for this semester,
this is what you're taking thisyear, next year and the year
after and this is your projectedgraduation date. So yeah, I
mean, it's you've got you'vekind of got someone sort of
watching over your back makingsure that you are staying on

(19:49):
track with you know, your yourgoals overall, right.

I mean, it's like we even get, we have a
number of Air Force ROTC cadetsthat come to us. Their structure
is a little different, you know,there's more, more of a manning
thing sometimes. So sometimesthey, you know, they kind of
have to cut a few. And we'll goand we'll brief and we'll talk
And the cool thing is that theclasses, because they're their
to them.

(20:14):
military science classes, theyalign. So MS1, military science
1 freshman, 2 sophomore. Theirare a little different, they're
named different. But they willcome over to us in the classes
that align. So if someone comesin, like I have some right right
now. She's a she's at, she's inher second year for the Air
Force, but she wants to come tothe Army ROTC, we happen to have

(20:36):
the funds right now.
So I'm working on a scholarshippack. And now when she starts
her third year, she'll you know,she'll continue on calm. When we
have somebody like that, becauseyou mentioned you know, just how
you ask somebody to kind of, youknow, watch your back, when it
comes to that, I like to sendpeople to what's called Basic
camp, you know, that way to getan exposure to it to kind of see
what it is, you know, they wereacclimated to the Air Force, and

(20:58):
now they're coming over to thearmy are, you know, those are
the ones that can attend FTX.
Just kind of get that out there,just to see what they're, you
know, get a feel for it andthings like that. So, your
academic academic alignment isyou have to have, make sure you
have a strategy for it. But youcan't just come in and saying,
Hey, I'm going to go to collegefor this many years, you have to
make sure your military sciencerequirements are met.

(21:20):
And, you know, there's waysaround it or to, you know, to
So we have to, you know, maybeput them in MS 2 courses to
expedite the process. SMP sosomebody that's went to basic
align them that way, when theybecome a junior, then they'll,
training at, they canautomatically come in and be an
MS 3, which is ROTC Junior, orwhatnot. prior service, somebody
that maybe served in the Navy,or served in the Air Force, Air
Force, and they went tobootcamp, they can come in as an

(21:40):
MS 3, but if they come in as asophomore, for the academic
level, we have to make sure wealign them.
you know, they'll take the MS 3courses. So there's a lot of
different unique situations thatwe kind of run into. But it's,

(22:01):
it's fun, sometimes, sometimesit's a headache. Head scratcher.
But at the end of the day, wejust got to make sure we put
them in the right classes, andthen let them know about those
extra opportunities like nursingstem, believe it or not, they
get you know, if you put it inearly enough, sometimes those
programs run over to five years.
So it's what's called anextension of the benefits. So a
lot of kids that might thinkthey'll have four years of

(22:23):
college paid for, they mightultimately have five. And that's
something that you have to kindof catch in the you know, in the
early stages, just knowing.
Which is why you make sureacademic academic alignment is
on point. So you're asked one ofthose little nuggets that's in
there, you know, a lot of ournursing and STEM students don't
know about like, hey, well, ourprogram might end up being five
years, what am I going to do?

(22:45):
Well, we just need to make surewe have all those classes listed
on you know, the 104 theacademic roadmap. That way, when
that year comes up that you haveto do that extra year and get it
paid for? Well, you'll just hitthe button. And if you don't do
it in the beginning, then youhave to do the paperwork and in
the back end. You Army guys andyour packets, there's so many
packets that we got to do foreverything.

KP (23:03):
Right? It's yeah, I've I've known quite a few people that
tried to go into the air forceor the Navy as an officer and it
can be quite stringent as far aswhat it takes they can be very
selective and that's why Imentioned earlier the army being
the biggest branch out there andhaving the most MOS's out there.
It's it's a little easier to gointo the the Army as an officer

(23:26):
and to get commissioned andwhatnot. But let's talk really
quickly about you mentionedbasic camp.
All right, so what we're nottalking about here is, you've
got somebody sort of watchingover your shoulder making sure
that you are on target tograduate by certain time they're
checking your GPA as well makingsure that you know you are
staying within that level of youknow being part of the program
and keeping you're keeping yourgrades up.

(23:49):
Then you have these other socialclubs or these other... I don't
know what to call them andreally. But you have like Ranger
challenge, the rifle team.
Trying to think of what else

Color Guard

KP (24:02):
The color guard and then there's also still opportunities
to go airborne right betweenyour junior and yours...
Airborne, Air Assault. I'veknown people that have gone I
think sapper before sometimeswill send you for Cadet troop
leadership right? But what typeof training is involved before

(24:23):
you actually get yourcommissioning?

Basic camp isn't really a requirement. It
it's more so it helps withalignment. And it's a it's a
developmental tool. I like touse it as that somebody that you
know might be on the fence aboutthe program summertime comes up
there or transferring in fromone of our community college or
maybe they're a sophomore aboutto start their, their their

(24:49):
junior year. I use basic campfor that.
I want you to get early exposurebecause your junior to senior
year you'll go to what's calledadvanced camp. And that's when
you're kind of assessed. You'llbe going through all those
different tactical elements thatare required, you know, for you
to actually go on and commissionlater on, after your senior
year. Also, in that you have totake a physical and things like

(25:12):
that. So all those things thatthey're practicing, when they go
to labs, land nav and thingslike that, they'll they'll be
really honing in on those thingswhen they go to Advanced camp.
Basic Camp though is is veryimportant.
When I, when I first started, Ithink historically, we were
spending maybe two to three, Ithink this last summer passed,
we spent nine, I used it as a asa recruiting tool. The numbers

(25:37):
will always rise, I think it'sjust personal opinion when it
comes to transfer studentsbecause we, you know, all of our
surrounding San Diego communitycolleges, they're still in a
program and they work with themso we can get the information
out there. You know, that rightthere is a goldmine, when it
comes to just thoseopportunities. there are plenty
of people that are in a lot ofthese community colleges that
want to enlist, and they mightnot want to go, you know,

(26:01):
enlisted like I did.
Or they might say, Hey, I'mbefore I decided to enlist, I'm
going to get my degree first I'mgonna get my associates I might
transfer to San Diego State. Andthen I'll say, well, here's
here's the opportunity that youpossibly can, you know, you can
commissioned in two years, butthe only way you can do it is if
you don't have prior service,you're not, you know, enlisted
in the Guard or Reserves, thenyou can go to basic camp.
And basic camp is just like alower level version of advanced

(26:25):
camp gives you a little spoonfulof what to expect in advanced
camp. But it also gives you anidea of what the program, you
know, has to offer. you go outthere, you're supposed to that
you'll meet some other greatcadets from all over the
country. And I always, you know,I think is good.
We had, you know, out of thosenine, I think two decided to
move on. I think one was justlike, I can't do this every day.

(26:47):
And I was explaining that's notexactly what it is. And another
way, he just decided to dosomething else. But it still was
a great, you know, developmentaltool. And a lot of them. We had
one that we had sent, she was onthe fence about the program.
She was like, I don't know ifthis is something I really want
to do. We'll see when she wentto basic, she came back and she
loved it. She's like, how do Igo to air assult? And you know,

(27:08):
how do I do I go to AirborneSchool, and just like, okay,
hold tight, we have to progressto the program. So

KP (27:14):
that's exciting. So where does basic camp take place? And
how long is it?

Fort Knox, Kentucky, it's about a month, 4
weeks.

KP (27:23):
Four weeks, okay. All expenses are paid, the
university will send the theprospect to basic camp right?

Only only fee is the stress of our HRA,
Mr. Jones, because he has to goin and book all those flights.
But yeah, everything's takencare of, we'll get the pay
information once we put them inthe system. And they'll they'll
even make money for being outthere. They'll get training pay,
sometimes it's upwards of $1200.
It just depends.

KP (27:48):
Yeah. And that's, and that's a good way for them to determine
whether or not this is for me ornot, right.

Yeah, I've had Yeah, the ones that I had
sent out there. It was academicalignment thing, but it was just
like, you know, just go outthere and be exposed to it and
see if this is something thatyou really want to do. And yeah,
it definitely it helps.

KP (28:07):
Yeah, that's that that's really, I mean, I guess that's a
great eye opener for folks outthere who don't know anything
about the military, to sign upfor something like that, you
know, go to Fort Knox figure outin four weeks, if this is
something you'd like to do forpart of your career, or for a
majority of your career.
And so I think that's great. Ididn't go to basic camp, I
actually went to Fort LeonardWood, to basic training, when I

(28:29):
was 18, straight out of highschool. And that was an eye
opener for me, I would imaginebasic training is completely
different than basic camp.

It's way more intense, like for if I have
somebody that's coming in, andthey're requiring about the s&p
program, when I when I explainFTX and certain things, they're
like, yeah, so yeah, it's forthose guys. It's, you know,
it's, they're already coming in,in a more senior role anyway,
because ending, you know, justbeing enlisted, going to basic

(28:59):
training, ait and things likethat. So when we're mentioning
ftX's and advanced camp andthings like that, they're
already ahead of the game. So

KP (29:08):
I had a great time, when I went to advanced camp, we got a
chance to Well, I got a chanceto work with a lot of cadets
from all over the country andbeing prior service that I was,
I mean, it was kind of a, it waskind of a cakewalk in itself and
a good time, because there wasother prior service folks there
as well. And we all just had areally, really great time.
And, and Dr. Brantley, you know,just want to ask you really

(29:30):
quick, you know, can you helpassess and knock down some of
the stereotypes that are outthere? Or any of the myths that
are out there about the ArmyROTC program that maybe you've
heard over the years?

Yeah, on social media, I try to do like a
question and answer thing. And Ilike to focus in on a lot of
myths. For one, like when we gowhen we go to the high schools.
ROTC Army ROTC at a universityis not the same as JROTC at high
school, there's certain elementsor certain similarities, but

(30:04):
it's totally different. Sothat's, that's just one thing.
As soon as you enlist into theprogram does not mean that
you're enlisted into the army,and you won't just go off to
fight a war or some things likethat, that I, you know, I heard
once the whole thing whenUkraine, I don't want to get
into all that.
But once that happened, I wasmeeting with, you know,
applicants and they were like,you know, if I sign up for this

(30:26):
class, do I have to go toUkraine, I was, I thought it was
playing like a couple of them,but no, they, they thought they
were going to Ukraine. It's not,you know, that's not what it is
actually, you can enroll intothe program, you can participate
in the program. And, you know,you don't have to commit and
contract until later down theline. And I like to do that.
Also, the upside is still youget elective credits, you can be

(30:50):
exposed to the program. And ithelps you make a you know, your
decision, it might be somethingthat you're still into, to go
back another myth, you are yourstudent first.
So if you still want to play oryou are selected to play, or you
have a scholarship, you stillwant to do sports, you still
want to be a fraternitysorority, be in clubs around
campus, still go out and party,you still can you, you have

(31:16):
that, you know that opportunityto still do that and have the
experience like exposed to thethe you have the college
experience, as I call it. Likeas a young sailor in San Diego,
I didn't have the collegeexperience of sitting in
classes. But I used to hang outon a lot of these campus.
Like I went here at these likethat. So if you come into the
program, you you actually havethe college experience. More so

(31:39):
as far as like, what'savailable, there is no unlimited
pot of money. Sometimes we dohave applicants come in and they
say I want a scholarship and Iwant to commission ,or contract
right now. And no, there arerequirements that you need to
make be there are alotted offunds that we have.
But the program does his best tomake sure you know that we try

(32:00):
to take care of every you knowCadet that is eligible and is
rewarding of it. So I think fromJune to now, we've given out
maybe 2526 I was if we hadn't ifwe had to make sure you know, we
had the applicants that made therequirements. You know, that was
one thing that we made sure thatwe took care of. I can't think

(32:22):
of any off the top of my head,but there's a bunch of them.
And as people go through, youknow the program or as they're
exposed to it, they tend to comeup and they tend to ask it a lot
of in the Navy, we call them seelawyers, but there's a lot of
word of mouth sometimes when itcomes to just information just
bad gouge. So it's always idealto ask questions. And like I say

(32:43):
I keep odd hours. So sometimes Iwill get an odd question in the
middle of it like right when I'mwaking up to workout. And I'll
look I'll have to look at ittwice. Does this mean that I
have to, you know, go fight? No,you just means you have to go to
Ms 2 class and you know, passthe class.

KP (33:01):
Right? Yeah, we call them barracks, barracks, lawyers in
the army. There was a lot ofthose. And so you know, if
anyone out there is listening,it's definitely worth, you know,
following Dr. Michael Brantleyon his social media platforms,
or contacting him and asking himand getting the actual, real
information about what it iswhat it's about.

(33:24):
You know, don't talk to someonewho knows someone who knows
someone. Because that's that'sthe worst type of information
that you could possibly get outthere. And with that being said,
you know, I want to finish thisup and talk about the
scholarships that are becomingavailable within the next coming
year. So, you know, and wouldyou suggest a site visit for
anyone out there who might beinterested in the San Diego

(33:47):
State University Army ROTCprogram, to meet the CADRE and
to observe the overall structureof the battalion itself?

I would.
Right now we're in the middle.
We're closing on the middle ofthe second board of the national
scholarship process. That is onething that always say if you're
a high school senior, apply forthe national scholarship.
Apply now it can't hurt yougoing through that process. It's
only a little it's a littletedious, because you have to go
through you have to you know,type your essay, you have to

(34:17):
upload your document, you haveto do a PMS or if she can't do
it, then I can do the interview.
You have to take care of yourfitness test. But apply. And
those kids that reach out to forus to do their, their their
interview, if we're on theirlist of schools stop by get you
some swag, and we can tell youexactly what it is that you want

(34:39):
to know about the program. Ifyou're considering a school
that's on the east coast, butyou're on the West Coast still
reach out to that school.
On the page that I had made asocial media page, I have an
"ask a cadet" option . So you goin there and you drop your
questions and I'll send it offto our APMs or I'll reach out to
somebody if this is a specifictype of Cadet And it'll have you

(35:01):
know, male, female nursing, whatyear you're in your major, any
questions that you might have?
It's always just, you know, pokearound and and get those
questions. But yea right now,the national scholarship, you
know, even if you're coming intothe process, late, apply for the
national scholarship, we go to alot of these high schools, and
people have no idea what it is.

(35:23):
Or sometimes people will tellyou that they know what it is.
And they don't you get into theconversation and be like, Yeah,
I'm doing it. I'm like, Oh, howfar are you? How's your profile
look? And give me your name? AndI can look it up? See if you
need any help? Well, no, I mustnot be I must be talking about
something else. Well, no, it'sonly one, but I'm gonna help
you. So one thing I did was Iwent in and I had made a fake

(35:45):
account, it's like this, thisSDSU buffer. So the guy he calls
me like it was this person, Isay, That's me, I had made it in
order to, you know, have theprofile.
So I can see, step by step wasneeded. Instead of me just
telling somebody to go in thereand apply. I know exactly what's
required in there. So you know,for the second board, it comes

(36:06):
up in January, I'm on socialmedia, I'm really pressing it
out there every other day, makesure you're going there,
especially since the holidaysare here, we're you know, things
are going to slow down a littlebit. Go in, make sure your your
application is good to go.
We had a couple of people, wewere still able to, you know,
award scholarships to, and theyonly went to one board, the
board March. But you know, justgo through it. Just just have

(36:30):
the opportunity, or Yeah, giveyourself the option is to have
that opportunity, and it'll workout. But national scholarship is
always top tier when I when Italk to the high school seniors,
those that aren't, you know,they're a little further on past
that maybe they're considering,you know, they got past the
whole March the last board, andthey're just coming in as a
college student.

(36:52):
Take some of the classes firsttake Ms. One to see if it's
something that you're in to seeif it's something that you you
can see yourself doing for thatduration of your college, your
time at college. And if it is,then we can sit and we can talk
about opportunities forscholarships. I'm gonna be
honest with you, I don't playwhen it comes to scholarships,
if they're deserving, and ifAPMs is there deserving, we're
going to get that paperworkagain.

(37:13):
And we'll be working back andforth. When it comes to that
scholarship requirements inorder to be met. Here are some
you know, the 104, which isacademic roadmap, there is a you
know, you have to make sureyou're doing your job or
physical and things like that.
But when it comes to once weidentify somebody that's up for
scholarship, we do. I do also, Istressed the whole smp,

(37:33):
simultaneous membership programoption. Because some people,
they're coming to San DiegoState or one of these other
schools, and they're alreadyNational Guard, or they're
already reserves, or they'reconsidering it. I don't shy away
from it. I don't ever say hey,you know, we'll you know, Do
this, do this. Now I'll sayokay, well, it's this is what
you're doing. Have you heardabout this program?

(37:53):
And then these right here arethe potential opportunities for
that. I'm real big on the wholeed delay thing. Because you
know, the more you pursueeducation, there is this, you
know, the conversation right nowis your student loan debt
forgiveness, and I haven't hadany of that. So ed delay, where
you can become a Jag lawyer andgo to med school. I remember a

(38:15):
year ago, maybe a couple ofyears ago, we sent somebody for
their doctorate in physicaltherapy, all this stuff is paid
for. And nobody really knows.
And, you know, we say what wewant to be when we grow up, you
got the opportunity to do thiswithin a short amount of years,
if you just follow the rightpath. So it's just, it's a lot
like I don't, you know, I'mpassionate about it, because I

(38:37):
didn't know about it.
Like, if I knew, I probablystill would have worked at that
portapotty place because I was Iwas, I was a knucklehead. But as
I got serious about, you know,my career in the Navy, if I knew
about a lot of new stuff, thenyeah, I don't regret anything
that I did. But I think, for myown personal reasons, and
probably just money too after Iretired. going officer would

(39:00):
have been very beneficial. SoI'll always, you know, make sure
I share that information. So Iknow a lot of people that I
serve with and their kids,they're thinking about just
enlisting. I'm not I'm nottrying to stop you from doing
that. But just know that thisopportunity is out there. So
Right.

KP (39:15):
Right. And I always, you know, just like how you got
enlisted in the Navy. It wasjust circumstantial. The busstop
was there. The recruiting officewas there. You know, I hear
these stories all the time.
Well, I joined the Marinesbecause I saw a full metal
jacket.
I want to hear stories aboutpeople who are actually taking
the paperwork, laying it out onthe table. all the information

(39:36):
and making an informed decision,not signing up for things just
because the off the recruiterscould do more pull ups than me
and so I went and signed up tobe an Army infantry or I decided
to become a Marine, you know,and I want to get to a point
where these young adults aremaking informed decisions based
off of you know, where theircareers gonna go, but too many

(39:59):
timesLike, for me, for example, the
only reason I became an officerwas because my platoon sergeant,
and my company commander hadmentioned to me hey, why don't
you take it to the next level?
Why don't you consider likeROTC? And I'm like, I don't
know, I literally was for twoyears, I was on campus, walking
past the Army ROTC battalion,almost every, almost every week,

(40:22):
and I never bothered to stop,because I just didn't think it
was for me, the day that Iwalked into the recruiting
office, and I said, Hey, look,I'm interested, I realized that,
you know, hey, this opportunityis available to me.
So for folks out there who arelistening, and you think maybe I
don't know if this is for me ornot, there are many, many
opportunities for you to justcheck out one of the MS one or

(40:42):
MS two classes, there'sopportunities for you to just
visit the campus, visit theactual battalion area, meet the
professor, military science,meet the recruiting officer,
talk to him, get information,don't listen to someone who's
someone who's someone who mightknow, get the information
upfront, find out.
So that's why I'm so glad thatyou gave me the time, the time

(41:05):
today to talk to you because I'mvery passionate about this, too.
I want people to make thetransition into the military
being informed. But was thereanything during this podcast
that I didn't cover that youwould probably like to mention
any pieces of advice for folksout there who are listening who
are thinking about having theirson or daughter join the Army
ROTC program,

No, we've covered everything I would say
just depending on whateverschool you want to go to,
because there's a there's anROTC program in most of these
schools, that things like almost300, you know, reach out. And if
you don't hear back at an ampletime, reach out to me, or any,
there's a lot of recruitingOperations Officer, like I have

(41:47):
a lot of stuff on standby.
So most of the information isthe same, your programs run
things a little differently.
When it comes to like, you know,the structure of the courses,
and some might have battalion,some don't. But when it comes to
the grand overall plan of theROTC program, a lot of it is the
same.
So if you get that informationfrom one school, and you're

(42:08):
you're kind of spun up, by thetime you talk to your other
school, you know, you'll havethe information. I cannot
reiterate enough, but thenational scholarship is
something that is veryimportant. Like we went to one
school and this guy, you know, Ihave nothing like I say, I'll
never regret my time serving.
But when I do a post, I want totry to be as inform... I want to

(42:31):
have the information out thereright now. It's you know, I'm a
little older, I'm 43.
So we're seeing Tik Tokvoiceovers and all that stuff.
And it's just like, you know,it's hysteria, hey, gas prices
are high, Join the military! Idon't want that I want you to
know, the opportunity ofeducation, like I has not

(42:52):
steered me wrong, since I, youknow, pursuing my education. And
when I talk to people aboutthat, I am very passionate about
that, when I talk to peopleabout the whole fitness thing is
because you have to make sureyou meet the fitness
requirement. I'm very passionateabout that. But, you know, as I
say, we you know, we're leavinga lot of money on the table,
just because we're not informedon you know, what's going on.

(43:12):
And when you go to a lot ofthese high schools, the first
questions I asked, I say, Okay,well, who plans on going to
college? And a lot of hands goup? And I say, Okay, so who
knows how they're going to payfor college? One or two hands
up.
And that's what I'm I got I gotwhat I you know, you can, that's
when you can kind of get into itand you know, make the
information available. Like tome right now, I'm always asked

(43:36):
what the recruiting strategy is,everyone's doing this,
everyone's looking at theirphone, unfortunately, so no
one's looking at newspapers andbillboards or anything like that
anymore. Have the informationright there available for them.
Quick, accessible, easy on theeyes. It'd be colorful, like my
stuff that I posted. And I haveweird music playing in the

(43:56):
background. I'll put a crazyphoto of me as a little kid to
kind of get some laughs but Iwant the information to be out
there for you to know, thisstuff is here. And it's right
there. And it's waiting. And allthese programs have its offer.
So

KP (44:09):
yeah, I'll say that your social media is certainly
appealing. And I think that alot of Army ROTC battalions out
there could use a social mediasavvy person like yourself,
because I actually I tried tocontact my old university last
year, went to the website, sentemails turned out that those
those cadre members had movedon.

(44:30):
And those were dead links,basically. So I had to email
about five different peoplebefore I got a response back. So
with that being said, if you're,if anyone out there listening
might be interested in gettingup early in the morning and
working out with Dr. MichaelBrantley here down in San Diego.
How can they get a hold of you?
What platforms are you on?

I have, you know, a Facebook and I have
a Twitter but I think the mostuser friendly one for me right
now is Instagram And I'll I'llpost the most relevant stuff.
What I do is if I have aconversation with an applicant,
and you know, he's just, he hassomething that's on his mind
that he does, he's unclear, hewasn't able to find it. Like you

(45:12):
mentioned, there's a lot of deadlinks, like I hate.
I joined one Facebook group forthe Green to Gold program.
That's another thing for currentactive duty soldiers that want
to go officer outside of the OCSroute, there's a Green to Gold
option to where you can go ATO,non scholarship scholarship. I'm
sorry, we didn't mention that.
So maybe in another podcast, butgreen to go right now they're

(45:34):
doing the boards and more closeson Friday. But when it what,
people try to get information,there's just dead links, and
they just go down this rabbithole trying to find all this
information.
So for me, Instagram, and youknow, I don't have one of those
automated messages in the DM,it's right there. I try to I try
to answer it, you know, prettyquick. I'll switch the link

(45:56):
around to the website that Imade. But the website that I
made, not only has all the mostrelevant information, but it
also has, you know, all theforms that's needed.
So if I'm talking to somebody,and they're already spun up, and
they say, Okay, I'm ready toenroll, can you send me the
forms, I don't even send youanything, because you can go to
the website, and you candownload them there. Usually,
when I talk to somebody, I haveall of my, you know, my zoom, my

(46:20):
social media account, thewebsite, everything in my link.
So a lot of times, I'll getpeople clicking in and just do a
zoom. And if I'm up and youknow, I'll hop on the call or
whatever. Yeah, it's all there.
I don't do business cards, Ihave a, you know, I used to have
like a dot cards link on myInstagram.
And that would have like, youknow, I made additional email,

(46:42):
it's called sdsuroo@gmail.com. Ihave to work phone, you know,
send a text, you don't have tocall a lot of people are texting
right now. If I have aPowerPoint, I have an
orientation. I upload peoplewith so much information up
front, that you don't, yeah,it'd be, it'd be crazy not to at
least try it out. It's all rightthere for you, you know, so and

(47:06):
if that doesn't work, we'll sendyou right over to a current
cadet. You can talk to them andsee what their experiences are.
And it's been working. Like Isaid, I really don't have a
strategy. You know, I thought mysocial media is about to get
shut down. But it's just theywanted me to add, say a certain
disclaimer in order to make surethat you know, so I'm doing my
own thing.

KP (47:26):
Yeah, I saw that. I saw the disclaimer that you added to
that. And no, I think you'redoing great, I think you're
doing great things. I did checkout your the doc card that you
have. And there's a lot ofinformation on there as well.
And for folks out therelistening, if you're looking to
contact the recruiting officerfor San Diego State University,
even if you're interested in theArmy ROTC program period, you

(47:46):
don't have to be interested inSan Diego State, if you just
want to get information.
All right, scroll down to thebottom. If you're listening to
this on audio podcast, you canscroll to the bottom in the show
notes, you'll see the differentlinks where you can get a hold
of you can get a hold of Dr.
Brantley. And then also too, ifyou're watching this on YouTube,
look down in description, you'llsee all the links down there as

(48:06):
well to get all the informationyou need. And it's all about
timing. It's all about timingwhen it comes to these
scholarships and getting thoseopportunities. Dr. Brantley is a
great contact for that. And Ireally appreciate you giving me
your time today. You know, Iknow you're very busy doing
recruiting and then also, youknow, doing your full time job
as well. And so I reallyappreciate you for giving us

(48:27):
your your knowledge and yourtime today.

Thanks for having me. I enjoyed I didn't do
better than Lieutenant ColonelParlette and hers is very
articulate.

KP (48:42):
that's why she makes the big bucks right?

Yeah.
Yeah.

KP (48:46):
So for everyone else out there. I hope you enjoyed
today's episode. I hope itprovided some knowledge and some
some some coordination as far aswhat direction you might want to
go or maybe some maybe you knowsomeone, refer them to this
podcast and have them listen toit. But as always, I want you to
stay tuned, stay focused, andstay motivated. Warriors fall
out

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}College Isn't Enough! Set Yourself Apart! SDSU Army ROTC Cadre Dr. Michael Brantley Tells Us How?

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Dateline NBC

24/7 News: The Latest

Therapy Gecko

All Episodes

College Isn't Enough! Set Yourself Apart! SDSU Army ROTC Cadre Dr. Michael Brantley Tells Us How?

Dateline NBC