Speaker 1: It's all in one location. Ero dot net A r
r oe dot net. I've talked about hosting seventeen different
podcasts for how many years, and it's been like, well
where are they at? I don't know, just google it. Well,
that's not a good idea Ero dot net, A r
r oe dot net, Aer good morning, Good morning. How
are you doing today?
Speaker 2: Rob? I'm doing pretty well. Thank you dude.
Speaker 1: Before we even get started, I want to thank you
for your dedication, loyalty, determination, your perseverance for sharing the love,
the attention and support for our US veterans because I
have been to so many festivals and there's still not
enough love and education going around. And you know, more
people need to find out what you're up to, Rob,
because we can do it as a generation if we
just make the concerted effort.
Speaker 2: That's great. I love that arrow. And you know what
I'm about to talk about is all about what we
are doing from our little place to try and give
back to other veterans.
Speaker 1: So funny that you say our little place, because you know,
you start off as a mustard seed and all of
a sudden it becomes something gigantic in that's exactly where
I feel like your heart is yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just such a nice sentiment.
Speaker 1: So, now what are you doing? Because I mean there's
gonna be people that are going to check in going okay,
So I want to help, but I don't know where
to go. I can check in with the VFW. But
there's more. And you're proving that the door is open
if we just walk through it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. I'm happy to talk in
depth about the American Service Fellowship. You just let me
know when we should go.
Speaker 1: We're going right now, man, because I mean, one of
the things that I love about life is that we
live in the present of now. More people are in
the now, and they want information and content right now.
Speaker 2: All right. So the American Service Fellowship is something we
hear at the Harvard Kennedy School are really excited about.
This is the largest scholarship program we've ever had in
our almost ninety year history of being the school at
Harvard that's dedicated to training public, public servants and government officials.
What we're going to do, who is bring together fifty
amazing Americans from hopefully every corner of the country that
includes active duty military veterans, school teachers, firefighters, law enforcement,
those that went to DC and became diplomats and development officials.
Bring them all here to our campus in Cambridge for
a master's degree that's entirely free. So not only that
not only tuition free, but also we're going to give
them a side end. It's about one hundred thousand dollars
per person all in so that we can bring this
incredible group of people who have demonstrated a commitment to
making their communities and the country better. Put them in
one place, have them learn from one another, have them
learned from world class faculty, Give them time to think
about the biggest challenges that our country and the world
are facing, and solutions for those challenges, so that they
can go back out into their lives of public service
and make the world a little bit of a better place.
Speaker 1: Rob The repercussions of this are mind blowing in so
many ways. And I'm going to touch an area here
because I'll always bring in the spiritual side of this.
First of all, it reminds me the men and women
who are like going, I don't know, the kind of
like the deniers and the naysayers. They're the ones that's
Peter trying to walk on the water because they don't
trust what you're doing at Harvard. But number two, then
once they trust and they go through the program, all
of a sudden they're turning around like Peter and they're
helping the fellow guy up. There is such a connection
with the now as well as the future, with what
you're doing here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. And listen. When I was
in the Air Force, I met incredible people that came
from different states, had different perspectives, backgrounds, political beliefs, And
what made that time in my life so valuable and
so important was that we work together and we got
the mission done together. And that's really what is motivating
the American Service Fellowship is to do something similar to
what the military does so well, bring people from different
walks of life together and bring them here. Now, for
those that I met in the Air Force who might think, oh,
I could never go to Harvard, that's not a place
for me, let me tell you you try and you
may be surprised. Right now, we have eighty six military
affiliates as part of our student body. It's about eight
percent of our student body. So that means active duty
military veterans, their spouses, and so on. And not only that,
Harvard has had more Medal of Honor winners than any
university in the country other than West Point in the
Naval Academy. And we've got a Medal of Honor winner
here on our campus at Harvard Kennedy School. Amazing guy
right now. So to those that say Harvard's not a
place for me, I say try us and find out.
Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Rob Brushinski coming
up next. Hey, thanks for coming back to my conversation
with Rob Brushinski. You said one of my favorite words,
you said, working together. Now. I am an instructor when
it comes to adults who are trying to further their careers.
I know what it's like when they get into those
rooms and they want to do everything by themselves. I
love the way you said working together because that is
so important and our veterans need to understand that too.
You came from a world where you work together out
there on that field. Get back to it, get in
there and start working together again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so right. What we want to do is
build a team Oh good that may come from different places,
go back to different places, but you will make personal
and professional contacts. Here with people that, in this critical way,
are just like you, people that want to make their
communities and the country better. And I can assure you
you will stay in contact with those people, you will
learn from those people, and you will be working to
solve problems together.
Speaker 1: Okay, we got to bring this up only because my
grandfather was in World War One, my father was in
World War Two, my brother Vietnam. So here's the thing
they got out. They stopped. You're saying, this is an
open door, so do not stop. Continue your education, continue
as a person, learn new things. And that to me
warms my soul that you are being that open door.
Speaker 2: Well thanks, Aeroh yeah, I think that's exactly right. There
are just so many different ways to serve our communities
and serve our country. So we have active duty soldiers
that are just going right back into the army when
they leave Harvard. We have veterans that are making a pivot.
Maybe they want to run for office. The Harvard Kennedy
School has trained dozens of leaders that have gone on
to careers in Congress. And it may surprise your listeners
to hear it's almost exactly fifty to fifty Democrats and Republicans.
But there are just so many ways to serve, whether
people want to go into the classroom, whether they want
to start a nonprofit and help people in the local community.
So that's what we're all about, is if you have
a demonstrated commitment to public service, come here, learn more tools,
and then continue that career path.
Speaker 1: So how do you deal Rob with the one me
standing next to a six foot five US soldier who's
very proud to serve his nation, But to get him
to take that step, they turn into the shyest man,
And it's like, how do we get them to take
that step of activation, Rob to where I guarantee once
they get at Harvard, things are going to change in
the most positive way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. I mean what people need
to do to take the first step is if you
meet our baseline criteria, which is seven years of any
form of public service and a commitment to excellence, come
to our web page, check out the application and apply.
Applied by December first. But again my message is if
you never imagined that a place like Harvard was for you,
give us a shot. You might be surprised.
Speaker 1: Okay, So in my understanding, this correctly you said all
four corners of the world, You're going to bring in
fifty people, So anybody from let's say, I'm down here
in Carolina. I grew up in Wyoming. And the thing is,
there could be somebody from Wyoming or even the state
of Washington or even California that can say I would
like to go. So it's not just people on the
East coast.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no. To the contrary. The whole reason I'm talking
to you and talking to people in as many states
as we can get to is we really want to
draw from all over this country. That's important to us
here at the Harvard Kennedy School. We want people not
just from the coast, but with different backgrounds, different perspectives.
Something we believe in really strongly here is if we're
going to solve the country's problems, we need to learn
and relearn how to talk to one another again. So
it's really important to draw people from all over.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong to think that this is one of
the most brilliant gifts from Harvard in the way of saying, hey, look,
we don't want you on the street. We want you
in our class to keep you off the street so
that you can grow your Family Forward.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no. This program has been funded by some incredible
donors who believe in what America stands for and wanted
to put their money where their mouth is ton our
military members, veterans and other public servants who are showing
a commitment to making their country a better place. Wow,
So that's exactly what we're all about.
Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about what
you're doing and how can we book more of these
conversations throughout the year because this is not a one
day Veterans Day kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Well, I really appreciate that. Feel free to reach out.
I would love to be on your program again. Where
people can go is our web page Ken dot sc
So that's the letters kN dot sc slash service, Ken
dot sc slash service or just Google American Service Fellowship.
It'll be the first thing that comes up. You can
get more information there. You can apply online there, just
do it by December first. That's our deadline for this
incoming class.
Speaker 1: Wow. You got to come back to this show anytime
in the future. Rob, I love where your heart is man.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ero, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Will you'd be brilliant today? Okay, Sarin, thank you for
serving our nation.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for giving me your time.