Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's your number one preset for instant access to the
(00:02):
information that affects you.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Always on fifty five KRC the talk station.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
A six Here at fifty five kr cet Talk Station,
A very happy Friday to you. We're learning about the
kidney Walk. In the bottom of the hour, Brett met
Metas is going to join us. So he's a actual
living kidney donor and Kidney Walk committee member. Cherry Pollman
from the Board of Election on the need for poll workers,
a conversation we have every election cycle, and a welcome
back to the fifty five KRC Morning Show. My next guest,
(00:32):
excuse me, author of the be The Weight Behind the Spear.
He is an Air Force colonel combat physician, Josh McConkie,
author of the award winning best selling book we're talking
about this morning's Mulitary service includes providing critical medical support
in both wartime and peace time operations, more than three
hundred and forty hours as a flight surge in ninety
combat hours and rotor wing medical evacuation and a assault
(00:54):
missions in the Middle East. He's an Air Medal and
Army Commendation Medal recipient for exemplary service during the Operation
racking freedom. Josh, it is great to have you back
on the fifty five KC Morning Show.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Thank you sir, Happy Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Right back at you, brother, And for whatever reason you
popped up in my head, because this book is about
equipping future leaders with essential skills and the importance of
us sharing our all of our learned, the experience and
our collective knowledge with the younger people, the next generation,
to make them productive and essential, critical members of our nation.
(01:29):
And as you emphasize this, which is critical for national security.
We had a brilliant man on every week on this
program named Jack add And who's a former anchor, and
he's an author, and he was a lawyer and he's
a historian. But he talked about H. G. Wells, who
was a big fan of socialism. We all know that
the failures of socialism and I think one of the
reasons it fails is because it does not encourage work.
(01:50):
There is no reward for what you do when you participate.
But also it made me think about and comment on
we are the ones responsible for our elect officials. In
elected officials don't always have the most altruistic motives and
in their minds they think more about themselves tend to
be malignant narcissists and end up not helping society at large,
(02:12):
but only using the job as a springboard for their
own personal benefit.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. I agree with that completely. I ran a congressional
race last year. I was outspent by twelve million dollars
pees and just kind of learned that money less in
the hard way.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well, and you know, of course, as you have showing
this book, if you're the type of person we need
in that leadership capacity, you're not driven by self motivation.
You're driven by this this shared experience. Is this idea
of using what you learned as a combat surgeon and
in your business life to help others out and equip
these future leaders with these essential skills. What are we
(02:53):
missing in society here? What's your biggest concern for the
future of America?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Josh Boy Yeah. I go to work every day as
an emergency doctor, and I see the anxiety, the depression,
the suicide, and this younger population. We have so much
work to do. And then as a military commander, I
deal with them at eighteen to twenty five years old.
They're joining the military, they have good intentions, and they
(03:19):
just they lack the resiliency skills. They lack the ability
to adapt the communication skills. This is just a generation
that we shut them out of so during critical time
and their development, we shut them out of school, we
shut them out of church. And they already had communication
issues to begin with, you know, because this is the
whole social media generation. They've never known a world without that.
(03:43):
And so now more than ever, it is important to
get out there and contribute in your community, like face
to face, get out there and coach, get out there
and volunteer, get involved in your church. You know, work
with some animals. You know, those are go to emotional
support animals that these animal shells. So there's so many
ways that you contribute. The government is not going to
(04:04):
save us. It has to be you get out there.
Do you see?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
And I have to assume you're going to agree with
me on this one. But I've observed over the years,
and I've talked to so many people in various capacities,
from doctors to politicians, to authors and psychiatrists, psychologists, law
enforcement officers. The breakdown of the family unit. This whole
idea that children are being born and without you know,
(04:30):
a solid foundation's family structure. You know, young people especially,
I think boys being brought up in households without a
father in them. Did you see any of that or
do you see any of that with the recruits in
the American military or do most of them come from stable,
traditional families.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know, they're certainly coming from all walks of life.
I think it's a very safe assumption that the large
portion of some mental health issues and then you look
at you know, crime, and they do tend to come
from households without that type of support. You know, just
sitting down at the dinner table with your family means everything.
(05:11):
Everyone is so busy, regardless of how many parents are
in the household, finding that time. You can get that support,
but you have to make time. Just sit down at
the dinner table, talk about today, what went well, what
didn't go well? You know, hopefully they're making some mistakes
they can learn from and then we can talk about
what different choices could have been made to have a
different outcome for those for those decisions. But the further
(05:33):
we get away from that, I think you'll find a
large portion of that. Think of the crime and boy,
you see a lot of these school shooters, how many
of these shooters actually have a stable household with the
two parents, right. I think if you do some background,
you're gonna find most of them do not.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Most of them do not, And you see that with
the crime in the streets at night. You know, I
don't know what kind of structure you grew up with,
a doctor, Colonel Maconkey, but you know I had to
be at home by a curfew. My parents implemented a curfew,
and damn it, if you weren't home or did not
call them for an extension, you're in a world of
hot water hurt we have. You know, young people running around,
(06:13):
running amuck in the city of Cincinnati can maybe acts
of vandalism and crime and congregating in the streets and
scaring the living hell out of the folks that just
want to go down and have a nice evening out.
You know, I always hear about that, and I think
what is going on at home that they can even
get away with that?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You know, I used to my dad was very strict.
I came from a family of five kids, and boy,
I thought I had it bad grown up right. And
the older I get, the more I relate to that,
Like mynd goodness. I was so fortunate to have that discipline,
and I wouldn't be anywhere right now without that. So
I was very blessed.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Well, considering you're still involved in the American military, commander
of the what four fifty ninth Aeromedical Staging Squadron, have
you seen the uptick in recruits? And you know, as
a corollary to that, if there's some parents out there with,
you know, young people that are getting to be of
military service age, put in a plug and tell tell
(07:13):
my listeners why you would recommend that as a good
choice for their young people.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Boy, So, ten years ago we had right around a
third of Americans aged eighteen to twenty four we're eligible
just medically and physically to serve in the military. It
is now down to like less than twenty three percent,
oh jeez, and less than yeah, and less than zero
point four percent of the population the overall American population serves.
(07:41):
So your country needs you. You can be part of
a team, something bigger than yourself. We started to see
a huge increase in recruiting in December of last year,
just with the policy changes. Thank goodness, seventy six million
Americans got together and decided to move things in a
different direction, which I was very happy with. You can
take pride in your service. We're heading in the right direction,
(08:04):
we have the right support, and then you can be
part of something bigger than yourself. So America needs.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
You, and that seems to me to be the answer
to this lack of socialization. That children are stuck in
front of their devices all day long. They have no
apparent desire to interact with their fellow human beings. Isolationism.
You know, kids aren't getting married and have no desire
to have married or children anymore. But being part of
that group, being a critical element of a team, and
(08:32):
having others rely upon you as much as you're relying
upon them, that has got to be so I mean,
just life changing for the good.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
That lack of connection has everything to do with the
mental health crisis that we're having now. People need that.
We have to get back to that. And I know
I take a lot of pride in my service. It's
been twenty four years now, and it's the thing that
I'm most proud of professionally. You know, my family, my
three children and my wife. That's but I'm most proud
of personally, and then professionally, it's my military service.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Well, since you're the author of the book we're talking about, Well,
we haven't really talked directly about the book. Be the
weight behind the sphere. Explain sort of a thumbnail sketch
of what the book is about and the audience you
directed the book toward.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
So be the weight behind the sphere. That's my personal
leadership ethos. I've been very blessed in my military career.
I've worked with some special operations, combat search and rescue,
with medical director for PJS. So that's the tip of
the spear. These are the men kicking down doors, taking
down Ben Lauden, rescuing the children in those Taie cave
(09:40):
systems in twenty eighteen. I'm a doctor. I don't take lives,
I save lives. I can't be the tip of the spear,
but I can be the weight behind that sphere. And
that's what our best resource is in this country. It's people.
It's teachers, it's coaches, it's volunteers and families. Every special operator,
those heroes have those in their lives. That's the way
(10:03):
behind their spear. That's where America, that's what sets us apart,
is a country. So I need people to engage their communities,
volunteer coach, be a mentor. That is what's going to
help this generation make us stronger as a nation, and
that is our national security.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And so your book is really like a motivational book
to get people who are maybe disconnected or not sharing
their knowledge base with others to actually get out there
and do.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Something about it. Absolutely, this is my prescription to the problem,
and I've been very blessed. It's done quite well and
was nominated for Purwitzer Prize next month.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Actually, oh, congratulations on that. Well, you just sold yourself
a few more copies. Is based upon that nomination alone,
notwithstanding the message that you bring here. Now, would you
also recommend it for perhaps young adults as well?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Dude, that was initially who I wrote it. Four. So
the whole first session of the book is just the
leadership accountabody taking ownership, you know, decision making, those basics
that I see lacking in our current younger military and
children that are coming to my emergency departments. They're clearly
lacking those skills, and I'm hoping this is a great
(11:20):
way for them to learn. I've got some great stories
in there from the er and some combat experiences, and
I hope those help some other people. And it looks
like it has so far.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Well apparently so very well received, obviously with the Pulitzer
Prize nomination. Doctor uh, doctor, colonel or colonel doctor. I
think I joke with you last time you're on about
that order of importance. My listeners will decide. Josh McConkie,
author of Weight, be the weight behind the spear. Your
book is hooked up to my blog and webpage at
fifty five caresee dot com. My producer edited so it's
(11:52):
easy for our listeners to get a copy. What's all
I mcourage them to do, and it's now in paperback
form as well. I can't thank you enough for what
you are doing with by but what you've done with
writing the book, your service to our country, and your
continued service through your motivational efforts. And let's hope some
people will buy the book and maybe share it with
their friends once they get motivated to do to help
out as well.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to be
on the show.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
It's been a real pleasure. I'll keep my fingers crossed
on the awards or well deserved, Doctor McConkie. It's been
a pleasure. It's eight eighteen here fifty five k c
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Speaker 2 (14:00):
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Speaker 1 (14:01):
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Speaker 2 (14:08):
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