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<v Speaker 1>This is Later with Lee Matthews The Lee Matthews Podcast

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<v Speaker 1>More what You Hear Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.

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<v Speaker 2>He is a exert for more than thirty eight years

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<v Speaker 2>in uniform, retiring as a US Army Brigadier General Paul

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<v Speaker 2>Greg Smith also teaches counter terrorism strategy at Nichols College

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<v Speaker 2>in Dudley, Massachusetts. He's written, I guess the best way

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<v Speaker 2>to describe it as a memoir called Confessions of a

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<v Speaker 2>week in Warrior thirty five years in the National Guard.

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<v Speaker 2>Brigadier General Greg Smith, US Army, retired.

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<v Speaker 3>Welcome, Thanks Lee, good talking to you this morning.

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<v Speaker 2>Is this the best way to describe the book a memoir?

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<v Speaker 3>You know, it is a memoir. It's a collection of

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<v Speaker 3>sort of anecdotes and stories over thirty five years. Reason

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<v Speaker 3>I wrote it is, you know, late in my career,

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<v Speaker 3>I'd be telling people about my days as a lieutenant

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<v Speaker 3>or a captain or that kind of and after they

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<v Speaker 3>finished laugh and they'd say, you should write this stuff down. Well,

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<v Speaker 3>you know what leave I did?

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<v Speaker 2>Well that I know that the National Guard was once

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<v Speaker 2>considered kind of the weekend warrior thing, but that all

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<v Speaker 2>began to change at some point, didn't They didn't it.

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<v Speaker 3>So part of the reason that I wrote this book,

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<v Speaker 3>and there are a lot of reasons I wrote it,

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<v Speaker 3>but one of the things that I love about the

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<v Speaker 3>National Guard, and pardon me for being this cheerleader, but

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<v Speaker 3>I joined an organization that was like the Keystone Cops

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<v Speaker 3>in the late nineteen seventies, and I left an organization

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<v Speaker 3>that was one of the most highly professional, flexible organizations

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<v Speaker 3>in the United States government. It is I like to

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<v Speaker 3>call the National Guard America's Swiss Army Knife, because it

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<v Speaker 3>can take care of school kids, it can manage COVID clinics,

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<v Speaker 3>it can drive school buses and it and a month

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<v Speaker 3>later it can arm up and go to war. So

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<v Speaker 3>you know, it does a lot of stuff. And it's

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<v Speaker 3>grown over thirty five years from being kind of hapless

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<v Speaker 3>to being this professional force, and I grew with it.

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<v Speaker 3>So that's why I wrote the book.

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<v Speaker 2>I know. I've had several colleagues, even several nephews, joined

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<v Speaker 2>the National Guard as a means not only by which

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<v Speaker 2>they could pay for higher education, but a means by

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<v Speaker 2>which they could broaden their horizons.

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<v Speaker 3>The travel opportunities are quite wonderful, but I've seen some

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<v Speaker 3>places that I went to. I couldn't even identify on

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<v Speaker 3>a map before I went, but it certainly did broaden

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<v Speaker 3>my ear.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I am talking about small town America where I

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<v Speaker 2>grew up, and you grew up and you did what

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<v Speaker 2>your father did or something close to it, and you

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<v Speaker 2>knew everybody, and everybody knew you going back three and

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<v Speaker 2>four generations. So I'm hearing you chuckle. But even going

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<v Speaker 2>to Fort Chaffe in Fort Smith, Arkansas for six weeks

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<v Speaker 2>to these guys was broadening their horizons, I assure you.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know what else happens late in that process

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<v Speaker 3>is you get to meet people from different cultures, lifestyles,

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<v Speaker 3>value systems that you might not meet in your small town.

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<v Speaker 3>And you know what, when you're sharing a foxhol with

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<v Speaker 3>them at two am in the morning, a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>times the prejudices that you might have had and the

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<v Speaker 3>biases that you might have had kind of melt away

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<v Speaker 3>because you're all in it together.

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<v Speaker 2>Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith, Confessions of a weekend Warrior nicknames.

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<v Speaker 2>I know that is as that goes with the territory

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<v Speaker 2>as much as oh, I don't know, uh, maybe a

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<v Speaker 2>nine milimeters pistol.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, of course, I'm playing with the weekend warrior label

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<v Speaker 3>because National guardsmen or anything but weekend Warriors at this point.

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<v Speaker 3>But you know, at one time that was sort of

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<v Speaker 3>a label. And to be quite frank I mean, some

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<v Speaker 3>of the stuff that used to happen, you know, way

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<v Speaker 3>back when when I was a second is really kind

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<v Speaker 3>of laughable.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, when I when I mentioned nicknames, I mean nicknames

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<v Speaker 2>of your form of your of your colleagues. Isn't that

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<v Speaker 2>kind of a kind of a code You call each

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<v Speaker 2>other by the last name and then pretty soon everybody

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<v Speaker 2>adopts a nickname of some sort.

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<v Speaker 3>There are there are some some nicknames, although I gotta

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<v Speaker 3>be honest, I don't know what mine was. Yeah, but yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>I mean there are sort of these affectionate nicknames that

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<v Speaker 3>we call each other. A little different from pilot culture though,

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<v Speaker 3>where where they have to have a nickname. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>I mean there certainly is a closeness within the forest,

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<v Speaker 3>and quite franklyly, that's why people continue to serve. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>it's about benefits. Yeah, it's about patriotism. But you know what,

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<v Speaker 3>eventually a military unit becomes a family and you're part

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<v Speaker 3>of that family. That's another thing in the book that

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<v Speaker 3>I sort of go over is I had two families,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, one was my wife and my children, and

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<v Speaker 3>the other was the eight thousand men and women of

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<v Speaker 3>the Massachusetts Army National Guard. They own my family still.

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<v Speaker 2>Are confessions of a weekend warrior. Thirty five years in

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<v Speaker 2>the National Guard, Brigadier General Paul Gregg Smith the US

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<v Speaker 2>Army retired. And then when there is nationally or even

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<v Speaker 2>a regional emergency like right now the hurricane down in Houston,

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<v Speaker 2>and I've been through my share of hurricanes along the

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<v Speaker 2>golf course, and had it not been for the National Guard,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of people wouldn't have had power, hospitals, et cetera.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, Lee, when people say sometimes people will say me, so,

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<v Speaker 3>what did you do in the Army? And I like

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<v Speaker 3>to say my career was one disaster after another. The

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<v Speaker 3>first day I was in the National Guard, we ended

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<v Speaker 3>up sandbagging a river to save the pumping station in

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<v Speaker 3>Conquered Massachusetts so that their water didn't get contaminated. And

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<v Speaker 3>one of my last days in the National Guard was

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<v Speaker 3>as the commander of the Joint Task Force Military Joint

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<v Speaker 3>Task Force that responded to the Boston Marathon bombings. So

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<v Speaker 3>in between there were hurricanes, blizzards, worker strikes, a tornado,

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<v Speaker 3>on and on and on, and I was proud of

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<v Speaker 3>every minute that I had the honor to respond to

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<v Speaker 3>those emergencies.

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<v Speaker 2>And he talks all about it in his book, Confessions

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<v Speaker 2>of a Weekend War Year, thirty five years on the

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<v Speaker 2>National Guard. Brigadier General Paul greg Smith, thank you for

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<v Speaker 2>joining us.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you Lee, great talking to you this morning.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee

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<v Speaker 1>Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live

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<v Speaker 1>weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation