Lt. Gen. John L. Dolan is the Director for Operations

Lieutenant General JOHN L. DOLAN

Lt. Gen. John L. Dolan is the Director for Operations (DJ-3), Joint Staff, Arlington, Va. He assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in fulfilling his responsibilities as the principal military advisor to the President and Secretary of Defense. The General develops and provides strategic guidance to the combatant commands and relays communications between the President and the Secretary of Defense to the combatant commanders regarding current operations and plans.

General Dolan received his commission in 1986 through the University of Northern Colorado’s ROTC program. He has held various squadron, wing, headquarters, and combatant command level positions in multiple overseas and deployed assignments. His staff duties included serving on Capitol Hill and directly for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of the Air Force. His previous commands include the U.S. Air Force F-16 Weapons School, 8th Fighter Wing, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, Kandahar Air Base (NATO), 5th Air Force and U.S Forces Japan.

General Dolan is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours, including more than 200 combat missions during Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Northern Watch.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
My Heart Radio is proud to support our military community
from the largest military installation in North America. Let's go
on Post at Fort Cavassos. Brought to you by Elder Mitchibishi.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
We are pleased to be joined by Lieutenant Colonel John Dolan,
Squadron Commander, First Squadron, seventh Cavalry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Dolan,
how are you, sir.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
It's good to visit with you this morning.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
I'm good, Dwayne. I appreciate having me on the show.
My squadron, my brigade is going through a heck of
a transition right now, so doing a lot of modernization efforts,
kind of talking a lot about innovation and experimentation and
things like that.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Let's start with a big event that's going on today.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Let's talk about the Fresh Food for Families drive through
food pantry event coming up at Phantom Warriors Stadium.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Yeah. So it's the Fresh Food for Families drive It's
a program that we on Post conduct monthly, typically the
first Thursday of every month. It's a really nice like
drive through initiative that's been made possible from our Religious
Support Office and then the Central Texas Food Bank. So
I've had a lot of soldiers use this program. It's

(01:03):
really useful for folks that are just in a maybe
struggling financially or life circumstances hit and it just provides
them some of that essential food assistance for their families
on Fork Devasos. It's a great program that kind of
bridges that gap for giving them nutritious options and making
sure they don't go hungry. It's really accessible, minimal barriers

(01:26):
to entry. It's the program that respects soldiers and family privacy.
You know, you can receive that support without any kind
of stigma or anything like that. It's a great program
that you know, I as a commander, I've personally seen work.
If if folks are interested, you know, get more information,
they can visit the Fork Covasos far As Facebook page

(01:47):
and then I'll get info on it.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
We're visiting with Lieutenant Colonel John Dolan, Squadron Commander, First Squadron,
seventh Cavalry Regiment at four Cavaso. Sir, there's a big
event coming up on Saturday. Let's talk about Beach Blast.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, it's at Laura So that's the Belton Lake outdoor
recreation area. I've been out there lots of times. As
a commander of my organization, my unit has done lots
of events there and so it's a great venue. Like
I said, it's on Saturday. It's the twenty twenty five
Beach Blast. So it's a great like summer kickoff for
families with especially with kids of all ages, whether teenagers

(02:25):
like I've got or toddlers that other folks have. It's
at the Sierra Beach at Belton Lake. Fishing is great,
so there's a there's like a fishing derby that kicks
off at seven, followed just full day of activities. There's kayaking,
pedal boats, got really good volleyball facilities and there's a

(02:46):
volleyball tournament. All that stuff's beginning at ten and really
like something for everybody there. If you're not wanting to
get out on the water or anything like that, there
are hands on crafts and art. There'll be like a
cornhole competition. It's a good safe venue. It's a great
opportunity to check out the area, especially if you're new.

(03:06):
We're getting into that moving season you know, every summer
for Army families, and so if you're a brand new
to the area going out to be Laura. It is
a great thing. Whether it's still pretty decent. It's not
past one hundred degrees yet, and so there'll be just
a lot of food, music, games, prizes throughout the day.
So if families are interested, go on to Fort Cavasso's

(03:27):
Army MWR website or they can call two five four
two eight seven two three. So it's gonna be a
good time.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Visiting with Lieutenant Colonel John Dolan, Squadron Commander, First Squadron,
seventh Cavalry Regiment, Sir, let's touch a moment on first
calv Iron Horse.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Yeah, so iron Horse, one word all caps is the
name of my brigade and my brigade and really, our
division is undertaking an initiative called Pegasus Charge, and so
it's it's tied to the Chief of Staff, the Armies
Transformation and Contact Program, and what that really is is
an experimentation and innovation effort that's spanning our entire division.

(04:09):
And our division's got close to twenty two thousand soldiers
and so it's oriented on a few things. Number one,
it's I guess first and foremost, it's oriented on creating
and fostering a culture of sharing ideas coming up with
new ways to operate, new ways to do things, new
ways to organize, and we're taking feedback absolutely from the

(04:32):
lowest levels, and so if somebody's got a great idea,
we're bringing that up. It's oriented on solving problems. So
whether that's how do you shoot down a uas, make
a supply system run more efficiently, something that's going to
save somebody's time. But ultimately Pegas's charge is it's oriented
on making us fight better and making us fight more effectively.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Here's something we like to touch on, Colonel each and
every week here on the show. We are certainly still
in the fight.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
We absolutely are. My brigade, for example, just got back
from Europe. We absolutely had listed nine or ten thousand
soldiers from our division in Europe, but we've still got
a good fourteen hundred soldiers from across for Cavasas they're
deployed to the Southwest Border. They're in Europe, they're in
South Korea, we got folks in South America and Africa,
and then we still got folks in the Middle East.

(05:23):
So always very important to keep our soldiers and their
families and your thoughts and prayers and me, like most
soldiers have deployed a lot of times, and you know
there's a lot of challenges that go with that, so
always appreciate folks, thoughts from prayers.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
We've been visiting with Lieutenant Colonel John Dolan, First Cavalry Division.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Thank you for your time, sir, Yes.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Sir, I appreciate it and happy to talk anytime.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Thank you for supporting our military to get even more
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