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Speaker 1: It's all in one location. Ero dot net A r

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r oe dot net. I've talked about hosting seventeen different

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podcasts for how many years, and it's been like, well

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where are they at? I don't know, just google it. Well,

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that's not a good idea Ero dot net, A r

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r oe dot net, Aer good morning, Good morning. How

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are you doing today?

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Speaker 2: Rob? I'm doing pretty well. Thank you dude.

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Speaker 1: Before we even get started, I want to thank you

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for your dedication, loyalty, determination, your perseverance for sharing the love,

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the attention and support for our US veterans because I

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have been to so many festivals and there's still not

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enough love and education going around. And you know, more

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people need to find out what you're up to, Rob,

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because we can do it as a generation if we

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just make the concerted effort.

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Speaker 2: That's great. I love that arrow. And you know what

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I'm about to talk about is all about what we

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are doing from our little place to try and give

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back to other veterans.

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Speaker 1: So funny that you say our little place, because you know,

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you start off as a mustard seed and all of

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a sudden it becomes something gigantic in that's exactly where

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I feel like your heart is yeah, thank you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just such a nice sentiment.

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Speaker 1: So, now what are you doing? Because I mean there's

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gonna be people that are going to check in going okay,

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So I want to help, but I don't know where

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to go. I can check in with the VFW. But

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there's more. And you're proving that the door is open

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if we just walk through it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. I'm happy to talk in

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depth about the American Service Fellowship. You just let me

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know when we should go.

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Speaker 1: We're going right now, man, because I mean, one of

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the things that I love about life is that we

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live in the present of now. More people are in

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the now, and they want information and content right now.

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Speaker 2: All right. So the American Service Fellowship is something we

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hear at the Harvard Kennedy School are really excited about.

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This is the largest scholarship program we've ever had in

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our almost ninety year history of being the school at

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Harvard that's dedicated to training public, public servants and government officials.

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What we're going to do, who is bring together fifty

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amazing Americans from hopefully every corner of the country that

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includes active duty military veterans, school teachers, firefighters, law enforcement,

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those that went to DC and became diplomats and development officials.

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Bring them all here to our campus in Cambridge for

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a master's degree that's entirely free. So not only that

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not only tuition free, but also we're going to give

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them a side end. It's about one hundred thousand dollars

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per person all in so that we can bring this

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incredible group of people who have demonstrated a commitment to

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making their communities and the country better. Put them in

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one place, have them learn from one another, have them

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learned from world class faculty, Give them time to think

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about the biggest challenges that our country and the world

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are facing, and solutions for those challenges, so that they

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can go back out into their lives of public service

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and make the world a little bit of a better place.

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Speaker 1: Rob The repercussions of this are mind blowing in so

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many ways. And I'm going to touch an area here

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because I'll always bring in the spiritual side of this.

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First of all, it reminds me the men and women

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who are like going, I don't know, the kind of

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like the deniers and the naysayers. They're the ones that's

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Peter trying to walk on the water because they don't

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trust what you're doing at Harvard. But number two, then

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once they trust and they go through the program, all

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of a sudden they're turning around like Peter and they're

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helping the fellow guy up. There is such a connection

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with the now as well as the future, with what

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you're doing here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. And listen. When I was

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in the Air Force, I met incredible people that came

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from different states, had different perspectives, backgrounds, political beliefs, And

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what made that time in my life so valuable and

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so important was that we work together and we got

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the mission done together. And that's really what is motivating

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the American Service Fellowship is to do something similar to

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what the military does so well, bring people from different

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walks of life together and bring them here. Now, for

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those that I met in the Air Force who might think, oh,

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I could never go to Harvard, that's not a place

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for me, let me tell you you try and you

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may be surprised. Right now, we have eighty six military

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affiliates as part of our student body. It's about eight

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percent of our student body. So that means active duty

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military veterans, their spouses, and so on. And not only that,

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Harvard has had more Medal of Honor winners than any

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university in the country other than West Point in the

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Naval Academy. And we've got a Medal of Honor winner

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here on our campus at Harvard Kennedy School. Amazing guy

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right now. So to those that say Harvard's not a

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place for me, I say try us and find out.

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Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Rob Brushinski coming

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up next. Hey, thanks for coming back to my conversation

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with Rob Brushinski. You said one of my favorite words,

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you said, working together. Now. I am an instructor when

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it comes to adults who are trying to further their careers.

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I know what it's like when they get into those

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rooms and they want to do everything by themselves. I

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love the way you said working together because that is

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so important and our veterans need to understand that too.

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You came from a world where you work together out

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there on that field. Get back to it, get in

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there and start working together again.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so right. What we want to do is

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build a team Oh good that may come from different places,

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go back to different places, but you will make personal

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and professional contacts. Here with people that, in this critical way,

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are just like you, people that want to make their

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communities and the country better. And I can assure you

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you will stay in contact with those people, you will

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learn from those people, and you will be working to

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solve problems together.

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Speaker 1: Okay, we got to bring this up only because my

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grandfather was in World War One, my father was in

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World War Two, my brother Vietnam. So here's the thing

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they got out. They stopped. You're saying, this is an

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open door, so do not stop. Continue your education, continue

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as a person, learn new things. And that to me

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warms my soul that you are being that open door.

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Speaker 2: Well thanks, Aeroh yeah, I think that's exactly right. There

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are just so many different ways to serve our communities

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and serve our country. So we have active duty soldiers

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that are just going right back into the army when

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they leave Harvard. We have veterans that are making a pivot.

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Maybe they want to run for office. The Harvard Kennedy

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School has trained dozens of leaders that have gone on

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to careers in Congress. And it may surprise your listeners

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to hear it's almost exactly fifty to fifty Democrats and Republicans.

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But there are just so many ways to serve, whether

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people want to go into the classroom, whether they want

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to start a nonprofit and help people in the local community.

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So that's what we're all about, is if you have

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a demonstrated commitment to public service, come here, learn more tools,

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and then continue that career path.

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Speaker 1: So how do you deal Rob with the one me

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standing next to a six foot five US soldier who's

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very proud to serve his nation, But to get him

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to take that step, they turn into the shyest man,

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And it's like, how do we get them to take

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that step of activation, Rob to where I guarantee once

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they get at Harvard, things are going to change in

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the most positive way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's right. I mean what people need

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to do to take the first step is if you

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meet our baseline criteria, which is seven years of any

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form of public service and a commitment to excellence, come

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to our web page, check out the application and apply.

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Applied by December first. But again my message is if

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you never imagined that a place like Harvard was for you,

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give us a shot. You might be surprised.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So in my understanding, this correctly you said all

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four corners of the world, You're going to bring in

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fifty people, So anybody from let's say, I'm down here

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in Carolina. I grew up in Wyoming. And the thing is,

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there could be somebody from Wyoming or even the state

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of Washington or even California that can say I would

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like to go. So it's not just people on the

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East coast.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely no. To the contrary. The whole reason I'm talking

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to you and talking to people in as many states

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as we can get to is we really want to

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draw from all over this country. That's important to us

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here at the Harvard Kennedy School. We want people not

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just from the coast, but with different backgrounds, different perspectives.

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Something we believe in really strongly here is if we're

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going to solve the country's problems, we need to learn

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and relearn how to talk to one another again. So

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it's really important to draw people from all over.

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Speaker 1: Am I wrong to think that this is one of

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the most brilliant gifts from Harvard in the way of saying, hey, look,

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we don't want you on the street. We want you

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in our class to keep you off the street so

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that you can grow your Family Forward.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely no. This program has been funded by some incredible

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donors who believe in what America stands for and wanted

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to put their money where their mouth is ton our

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military members, veterans and other public servants who are showing

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a commitment to making their country a better place. Wow,

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So that's exactly what we're all about.

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Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about what

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you're doing and how can we book more of these

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conversations throughout the year because this is not a one

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day Veterans Day kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: Well, I really appreciate that. Feel free to reach out.

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I would love to be on your program again. Where

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people can go is our web page Ken dot sc

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So that's the letters kN dot sc slash service, Ken

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dot sc slash service or just Google American Service Fellowship.

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It'll be the first thing that comes up. You can

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get more information there. You can apply online there, just

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do it by December first. That's our deadline for this

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incoming class.

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Speaker 1: Wow. You got to come back to this show anytime

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in the future. Rob, I love where your heart is man.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Ero, I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Will you'd be brilliant today? Okay, Sarin, thank you for

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serving our nation.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for giving me your time.