Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Later with Lee Matthews The Lee Matthews Podcast
More what You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
He is a exert for more than thirty eight years
in uniform, retiring as a US Army Brigadier General Paul
Greg Smith also teaches counter terrorism strategy at Nichols College
in Dudley, Massachusetts. He's written, I guess the best way
to describe it as a memoir called Confessions of a
week in Warrior thirty five years in the National Guard.
Brigadier General Greg Smith, US Army, retired.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome, Thanks Lee, good talking to you this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Is this the best way to describe the book a memoir?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, it is a memoir. It's a collection of
sort of anecdotes and stories over thirty five years. Reason
I wrote it is, you know, late in my career,
I'd be telling people about my days as a lieutenant
or a captain or that kind of and after they
finished laugh and they'd say, you should write this stuff down. Well,
(01:05):
you know what leave I did?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well that I know that the National Guard was once
considered kind of the weekend warrior thing, but that all
began to change at some point, didn't They didn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So part of the reason that I wrote this book,
and there are a lot of reasons I wrote it,
but one of the things that I love about the
National Guard, and pardon me for being this cheerleader, but
I joined an organization that was like the Keystone Cops
in the late nineteen seventies, and I left an organization
(01:40):
that was one of the most highly professional, flexible organizations
in the United States government. It is I like to
call the National Guard America's Swiss Army Knife, because it
can take care of school kids, it can manage COVID clinics,
it can drive school buses and it and a month
(02:01):
later it can arm up and go to war. So
you know, it does a lot of stuff. And it's
grown over thirty five years from being kind of hapless
to being this professional force, and I grew with it.
So that's why I wrote the book.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I know. I've had several colleagues, even several nephews, joined
the National Guard as a means not only by which
they could pay for higher education, but a means by
which they could broaden their horizons.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
The travel opportunities are quite wonderful, but I've seen some
places that I went to. I couldn't even identify on
a map before I went, but it certainly did broaden
my ear.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, I am talking about small town America where I
grew up, and you grew up and you did what
your father did or something close to it, and you
knew everybody, and everybody knew you going back three and
four generations. So I'm hearing you chuckle. But even going
to Fort Chaffe in Fort Smith, Arkansas for six weeks
(03:17):
to these guys was broadening their horizons, I assure you.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And you know what else happens late in that process
is you get to meet people from different cultures, lifestyles,
value systems that you might not meet in your small town.
And you know what, when you're sharing a foxhol with
them at two am in the morning, a lot of
(03:45):
times the prejudices that you might have had and the
biases that you might have had kind of melt away
because you're all in it together.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith, Confessions of a weekend Warrior nicknames.
I know that is as that goes with the territory
as much as oh, I don't know, uh, maybe a
nine milimeters pistol.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, of course, I'm playing with the weekend warrior label
because National guardsmen or anything but weekend Warriors at this point.
But you know, at one time that was sort of
a label. And to be quite frank I mean, some
of the stuff that used to happen, you know, way
back when when I was a second is really kind
(04:32):
of laughable.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, when I when I mentioned nicknames, I mean nicknames
of your form of your of your colleagues. Isn't that
kind of a kind of a code You call each
other by the last name and then pretty soon everybody
adopts a nickname of some sort.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
There are there are some some nicknames, although I gotta
be honest, I don't know what mine was. Yeah, but yeah,
I mean there are sort of these affectionate nicknames that
we call each other. A little different from pilot culture though,
where where they have to have a nickname. But yeah,
(05:10):
I mean there certainly is a closeness within the forest,
and quite franklyly, that's why people continue to serve. Yeah,
it's about benefits. Yeah, it's about patriotism. But you know what,
eventually a military unit becomes a family and you're part
of that family. That's another thing in the book that
(05:33):
I sort of go over is I had two families,
you know, one was my wife and my children, and
the other was the eight thousand men and women of
the Massachusetts Army National Guard. They own my family still.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Are confessions of a weekend warrior. Thirty five years in
the National Guard, Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith the US
Army retired. And then when there is nationally or even
a regional emergency like right now the hurricane down in Houston,
and I've been through my share of hurricanes along the
golf course, and had it not been for the National Guard,
a lot of people wouldn't have had power, hospitals, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know, Lee, when people say sometimes people will say me, so,
what did you do in the Army? And I like
to say my career was one disaster after another. The
first day I was in the National Guard, we ended
up sandbagging a river to save the pumping station in
Conquered Massachusetts so that their water didn't get contaminated. And
(06:32):
one of my last days in the National Guard was
as the commander of the Joint Task Force Military Joint
Task Force that responded to the Boston Marathon bombings. So
in between there were hurricanes, blizzards, worker strikes, a tornado,
on and on and on, and I was proud of
every minute that I had the honor to respond to
(06:55):
those emergencies.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And he talks all about it in his book, Confessions
of a Weekend War Year, thirty five years on the
National Guard. Brigadier General Paul greg Smith, thank you for
joining us.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Thank you Lee, great talking to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation
This is Later with Lee Matthews The Lee Matthews Podcast
More what You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
He is a exert for more than thirty eight years
in uniform, retiring as a US Army Brigadier General Paul
Greg Smith also teaches counter terrorism strategy at Nichols College
in Dudley, Massachusetts. He's written, I guess the best way
to describe it as a memoir called Confessions of a
week in Warrior thirty five years in the National Guard.
Brigadier General Greg Smith, US Army, retired.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Welcome, Thanks Lee, good talking to you this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Is this the best way to describe the book a memoir?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, it is a memoir. It's a collection of
sort of anecdotes and stories over thirty five years. Reason
I wrote it is, you know, late in my career,
I'd be telling people about my days as a lieutenant
or a captain or that kind of and after they
finished laugh and they'd say, you should write this stuff down. Well,
(01:05):
you know what leave I did?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well that I know that the National Guard was once
considered kind of the weekend warrior thing, but that all
began to change at some point, didn't They didn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So part of the reason that I wrote this book,
and there are a lot of reasons I wrote it,
but one of the things that I love about the
National Guard, and pardon me for being this cheerleader, but
I joined an organization that was like the Keystone Cops
in the late nineteen seventies, and I left an organization
(01:40):
that was one of the most highly professional, flexible organizations
in the United States government. It is I like to
call the National Guard America's Swiss Army Knife, because it
can take care of school kids, it can manage COVID clinics,
it can drive school buses and it and a month
(02:01):
later it can arm up and go to war. So
you know, it does a lot of stuff. And it's
grown over thirty five years from being kind of hapless
to being this professional force, and I grew with it.
So that's why I wrote the book.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
I know. I've had several colleagues, even several nephews, joined
the National Guard as a means not only by which
they could pay for higher education, but a means by
which they could broaden their horizons.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
The travel opportunities are quite wonderful, but I've seen some
places that I went to. I couldn't even identify on
a map before I went, but it certainly did broaden
my ear.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, I am talking about small town America where I
grew up, and you grew up and you did what
your father did or something close to it, and you
knew everybody, and everybody knew you going back three and
four generations. So I'm hearing you chuckle. But even going
to Fort Chaffe in Fort Smith, Arkansas for six weeks
(03:17):
to these guys was broadening their horizons, I assure you.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And you know what else happens late in that process
is you get to meet people from different cultures, lifestyles,
value systems that you might not meet in your small town.
And you know what, when you're sharing a foxhol with
them at two am in the morning, a lot of
(03:45):
times the prejudices that you might have had and the
biases that you might have had kind of melt away
because you're all in it together.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith, Confessions of a weekend Warrior nicknames.
I know that is as that goes with the territory
as much as oh, I don't know, uh, maybe a
nine milimeters pistol.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, of course, I'm playing with the weekend warrior label
because National guardsmen or anything but weekend Warriors at this point.
But you know, at one time that was sort of
a label. And to be quite frank I mean, some
of the stuff that used to happen, you know, way
back when when I was a second is really kind
(04:32):
of laughable.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, when I when I mentioned nicknames, I mean nicknames
of your form of your of your colleagues. Isn't that
kind of a kind of a code You call each
other by the last name and then pretty soon everybody
adopts a nickname of some sort.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
There are there are some some nicknames, although I gotta
be honest, I don't know what mine was. Yeah, but yeah,
I mean there are sort of these affectionate nicknames that
we call each other. A little different from pilot culture though,
where where they have to have a nickname. But yeah,
(05:10):
I mean there certainly is a closeness within the forest,
and quite franklyly, that's why people continue to serve. Yeah,
it's about benefits. Yeah, it's about patriotism. But you know what,
eventually a military unit becomes a family and you're part
of that family. That's another thing in the book that
(05:33):
I sort of go over is I had two families,
you know, one was my wife and my children, and
the other was the eight thousand men and women of
the Massachusetts Army National Guard. They own my family still.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Are confessions of a weekend warrior. Thirty five years in
the National Guard, Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith the US
Army retired. And then when there is nationally or even
a regional emergency like right now the hurricane down in Houston,
and I've been through my share of hurricanes along the
golf course, and had it not been for the National Guard,
a lot of people wouldn't have had power, hospitals, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
You know, Lee, when people say sometimes people will say me, so,
what did you do in the Army? And I like
to say my career was one disaster after another. The
first day I was in the National Guard, we ended
up sandbagging a river to save the pumping station in
Conquered Massachusetts so that their water didn't get contaminated. And
(06:32):
one of my last days in the National Guard was
as the commander of the Joint Task Force Military Joint
Task Force that responded to the Boston Marathon bombings. So
in between there were hurricanes, blizzards, worker strikes, a tornado,
on and on and on, and I was proud of
every minute that I had the honor to respond to
(06:55):
those emergencies.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And he talks all about it in his book, Confessions
of a Weekend War Year, thirty five years on the
National Guard. Brigadier General Paul greg Smith, thank you for
joining us.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Thank you Lee, great talking to you this morning.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation
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