Employment Rights for National Guard and Reserve Troops
Welcome to the Battle Buddy Podcast! In this episode, we are joined by Army Soldier Scott Klein, who shares with us his expertise on several topics related to military service and employment.
Scott is a member of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense program that promotes cooperation and understanding between military service members and their civilian employers. He shares with us the best practices for employers to support their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve, including effective communication strategies and how to understand the value that military service brings to the workplace.
Scott also talks about his role as a Military Academy Liaison Officer, where he supports young men and women who are looking to pursue academy appointments. He takes us through the process from start to finish and provides valuable insights for anyone who is considering a military academy education.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone who is interested in learning more about the challenges that service members face in balancing their military obligations with their civilian careers, and how employers can support their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. Tune in now to hear from Scott Klein and learn more about ESGR and the Military Academy Liaison Officer program.
In This Episode We Cover:
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program
Best practices for National Guard and Reservists to dealing with problem employers
The role of a Military Academy Liaison Officer
Military Academy Appointment information
What the process looks like
Battle Buddy Podcast Guest Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shalomklein/
https://www.amazon.com/Get-Down-Business-Shalom-Klein/dp/1628655852
Transcript from Episode 97 with Scott Klein:
Keith McKeever 0:00
Welcome back to another episode of the battle buddy podcast, you definitely want to stay tuned for this episode today, I've got a great guest on today, we're going to talk about a couple of things that have never talked about on this show. We're going to talk about employee rights. We're gonna talk about the employer, when it comes to National Guard and Reserve when a troop gets deployed, it goes on orders for a long time, we're also going to talk about troops are aspiring troops, I should say, that want to go to one of the service academies and what that looks like if somebody wants to put in those applications. So two things like I said, I've never talked about before. So I'm really excited to dive a little deeper into both of these topics. We've got a guy that's an expert on both of those. So without further ado, we're just gonna dive right into it.
Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever.
Welcome to the show, Scott.
Scott Klein 0:52
Hey, it's great to be here, Keith. I mean, I'm just pumped up from that show intro over there, man.
Keith McKeever 0:57
Yeah, it is great to have you. And I really seriously mean, this is really neat to talk, it's always nice to talk about something new. And these are such like, I guess I'll say a niche topic that I don't know that much about because I was on active duty. So before we get too far down that rabbit hole, like, I know that there's employee rights and all that stuff like that, but I don't know that much about it. So, to me, I don't really know that much. So it's a great opportunity to kind of spread that, especially to other people who may not know that much, or young troops that maybe just got in the guard and might be looking at a deployment and not know what their rights are. But before we dive into it, tell us a little bit about yourself and your service.
Scott Klein 1:41
I appreciate it so much. Yeah, it's been my service has been a journey. And I think you and I were talking a little bit offline the other day. I don't do anything halfway. So I'm an all or nothing kind of guy. So for me, being a reservists being reserve officer, I take that responsibility seriously, I'm all in on it. And my past couple of years in service has been a whirlwind of activity. And I know that for everybody, sort of everybody has their own experience. And I want to make sure folks know what opportunities they have. And that's, you know, they know how they are advancing. And so, yeah, it's it's my honor to be involved in some pretty awesome organizations and be an ambassador and advocate for them. But yeah, on a personal note, you and I have something in common, we're both used to cold weather, they're in Illinois, you're you're a little bit more central and southern than, than I am in Illinois, but but I'm from Chicago, more specifically Skokie, Illinois. I'm not there. Right now, I'm enjoying a little bit of warmer weather on my current military assignment. But I'm from Skokie, Illinois, I born and raised out there. Although I went school, Israel, Detroit, New York. So I had the opportunity for me fairly young age to travel quite a bit for my education. But that's kind of tell you, I've got a master's in nonprofit management, a doctorate in education. Like I said, I'm passionate about everything that I do. So I'm really, really passionate about organizations doing amazing things. I'm passionate about education, and helping folks advance. As I always tell people, I've done a lot of things entrepreneurially and in small business. And my goal in getting my doctorate was it shouldn't just be about being able to do those things. But I want to inspire and help others to, to also do things and so they can build their own business. And so they can advance in whatever their respective careers are. So that's, that's my educational background. On the business side, I've done a lot of things. I've grew up in a family business and accounting firm, I swore as a kid, I would never end up in the firm. But I was the only kid in third grade that had a budget, so I was doomed. And it's it's
Keith McKeever 3:51
pretty impressive, actually. I mean, it saved you was like $5 $10, something like that.
Scott Klein 3:55
Something like that. Something like that. But I credit my dad with really teaching me the value of money and all that and it's good. It gives me the opportunity to teach young soldiers these days about not spending their first paycheck. I'm buying a new Porsche or, or Corvette, which believe it or not, that's actually an almost a daily conversation. And, yeah, I mean, I I've run businesses, I've started a bunch of businesses. I'm really, really passionate about nonprofits have consulted with dozens of nonprofits over the years, some in the United States and beyond. I teach in my spare time, I love teaching business classes, which is awesome business accounting, math, marketing, all sorts of things that like I said, I'm gonna inspire others to to learn how to do things, right. And I guess most importantly, these days where I spend a lot more of my time is service service, which I know we're going to talk a lot about over the next little while. That's that Scott Klein in a nutshell.
Keith McKeever 4:56
That's awesome. And you know, keep going teaching the young troops about the finances. I know sometimes it's almost like you just got to smack right the back of the head to let it soak in some some way, shape or form, but they really need to get it somehow that, you know, 33% interest on that Mustang or that Porsche is not a wise financial decision. I don't know how many times we all need to keep saying it. It's not, you know, like, it may seem cool to have this sitting in the parking lot. But you know, the the insurance costs the payment, the extra fuel, because, you know, nobody drives it, like an old grandma. You know, that, that all adds up to so as I'm sure that really hasn't changed. I've been out for a year. So I just recorded an episode not too long ago that that I'll come out a little bit before yours will hear. But we're talking specifically about finances that were kind of joking to that one about, you know, when I was in for my first deployment was of a Fort Lewis Washington, and I remember going to the chow hall there. And it was just obviously, at the time, you know, the army was deployed for like, you know, 15 months, 18 months. And you could tell that some guys that just come back from a rotation because you just pull it to the parking lot and it's just escalate, escalate, escalate, you know, Cadillac sedan, Escalade, pickup truck, no, Porsche, and it's just like, holy cow. I mean, these dudes, I mean, it's like, we know, we made pretty good money in the Air Force guy, you know, six month deployment, like, like, we made pretty good money. But these guys, you know, 1518 months, like, holy cow, and they just come. So it's ridiculous. Like you could you could make some good money back in the day, but people were obviously not making good wise financial decisions. Sure, you might even put your whole family in a vehicle. But what's the cost at the end of the day? Anybody know? That's, that's me on my soapbox. But the first thing I want to talk to you about is you are in an ESGR. So explain to us what what that title is, and what that is for people that don't know.
Scott Klein 7:10
Sure. So I am the employer outreach co director for Illinois for the ESGR ESGR stands for the Employer Support of the garden reserve. ESGR is a official program of the Department of Defense. And it really as the as the name suggests, it's all about ensuring the cornerstone of the of of our reserve and guard's ability to deploy and support and protect and defend our nation. So many folks don't know, you know, you've heard of the National Guard coming out, I was just reading an article right before we jumped on, that the National Guard in California is involved in some storm response, folks have heard, you know, in our home state of Illinois flooding and things like that, that the guard is out there immediately, you know, at your doorstep, and in new serving the community that they come from. And whether it's you know, Air Force, Army, you know, Guard Reserve are key parts of, of our national defense, well, folks don't know is that the garden reserves make up about 40% of our total troop strength. And that means that literally, we would not have the same military that we have today, and that our nation depends on without the National Guard and the reserve components. And specifically, I'm talking about the Air Force and the Army, although there's certainly again, on the on the Navy side, there's also the Navy Reserve as well. There are entire military, God bless everybody that, you know, picks up the right hand and agrees to serve, whether they're doing it full time, like you did, and thank you for your service scape. And, or whether somebody's doing it part time, I'm biased. I've watched how folks have agreed to split their lives and have decided to serve, as we say, you know, what's the term? One, you know, one weekend, a month, two weeks a year? Part citizen, part soldier? It's in reality, since I've been in the military now for about five years, there's not been a single day that I've not done something military related, and that's the life that I chose to live. So going back to your question, Keith, in terms of the ESGR the SGR was, was started many years ago, and the idea was to ensure that Guardsmen and Reservists can deploy can do their military service without losing their job without their civilian work being impacted. So I know you're in the real estate business. I've been in like I said, accounting and and nonprofit and selling. I know folks that are serving in whether it's Junior enlisted ranks or senior officer ranks that have pretty, pretty major, you know, civilian jobs. And yes, gr. Was was founded. But let's talk about another acronym because this wouldn't be a military themed podcast without sharing as many acronyms as possible. So let's talk about you, Sarah, you Sarah stands for the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, and was signed into law in 1994. So you Sarah basically clarifies and strengthens the veterans Reemployment Rights statute, which basically means that when somebody is activated on to title 10, orders or title 32, orders, whatever the category is, whether they're serving their state, or they're deployed into Iraq, the idea is that basically, the employer has an obligation to hold their job for them. And that they can continue to advance at the same rate they were advancing before, as if they did not deploy. And the idea is that nobody can be discriminated against for a for their service in the military makes logical sense, right. But at the same time, flip it around and understand. And I know, you've got a lot of folks tuning into this podcast, employers of all sorts of sizes, and folks are saying, Gosh, Scott, Keith, it's a tough economy out there, how am I going to continue to run my business, if, you know if folks are running off and going to do their thing? And that's the idea. That's exactly what
Keith McKeever 11:32
I was gonna ask is, how does a company continue to run and operate, but also stay in compliance with all this because they, I mean, they do right companies, it's all about profit. It's all about keeping the doors open, running their business and being efficient. But yet, they also have to comply with these rights. And I would also also say, there's probably differences to a different states. We're from Illinois, where, from my perspective, our guard and garden reserve here gets called out quite a bit. So I would imagine employers in some locations like here, what we have the Missouri River Valley, it happens pretty frequently. But if you could be in some states, where you don't have as many natural disasters, it doesn't happen as frequently. So anyway, I'll let you tackle the first one. But as the second one, I'm sure you'll you'll probably tackle that there's probably differences in different parts of the country, from what
Scott Klein 12:23
there are, there are and again, it goes back to having that balance, because it in the army, we always say citizen soldiers, that citizen airmen fill in the blank, whatever the case may be. And, and and the idea is that that we want folks to be able to have to hold both both jobs. And ultimately, we don't want to impact the very communities that these folks are coming out of in order to serve. And so that's where the ESGR comes in. So the SGR, as I mentioned, employers for the garden reserve, which you find on mine ESGR, that mill, the official government program. There's two aspects to the SGR. Number one is for the, for the respective reservist or Guardsmen. And the idea is make sure they know about the resources that are available to that many of the folks tuning in probably have heard of the term Yellow Ribbon ESGR goes out and participates in Yellow Ribbon briefings before deployment before a unit is activated. And make sure that that everybody understands both the benefits that they will receive upon returning from their deployment from their activation, but also the responsibilities that they have. So with ice Scott Klein reported to trill, I have an obligation to even though I may have been given off for let's say, my drill continued into Monday, based on the distance from your location from your drill location to your workplace, it prescribes in the law, how long you have to return to work. So we're very active in making sure that the service members know what their responsibility is, you know, they the law is there to protect you. But it's also there to make sure that you're not going to abuse the rights as well. And I don't think you know, folks folks would abuse but it sets as I think this the right role for you know, for this law, and for this government agencies play a role in basically ensuring that that there's clear and concise communication, and then on the employer side, so I believe I've got the best volunteer job and it is indeed a volunteer job in the world. I'm the employer outreach co director, which means that I am responsible for the statement of support program. So a statement of support. Saving sport basically is the cornerstone of ESG. Ours efforts to gain and maintain Employer Support for the garden Reserve and the intent to the program is to increase Employer Support by encouraging employers to act as advocates for employee participation in the military. airy, and supportive employers are critical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the National Guard observing. So translation over here basically means that not only is it there to is the ESGR there to enforce, but it's also basically to say, hey, we're gonna give you this opportunity to sign a statement of support, we'll do a ceremony with you. And we'll actually help you hire folks that are an unbiasness. But the best employees that you can possibly hire folks that come in with a discipline, folks that want to serve, and so on. And so the ESGR is there to be a support and listen to whiskey. The first statement of support was signed December in 1972, in the Office of the Secretary defense by the Chairman of the Board of General Motors, President Nixon was the first president signed a statement of support. And in 2005, for the very first time, every federal cabinet secretary, and all federal agencies signed, signed statements support signified their continuing efforts to be model employers. And since then hundreds of 1000s of employers have signed statements support basically pledging their support the garden reserve employees. So what it means is that, yes, you have a responsibility that if you know, Keith, if you're an active we drilling guardsmen, and your employer, again, follows the law. A, it means that they have the protections. And they have, well, they get to put a plaque on their wall. And there's a lot of recognition that goes along with it, which ultimately helps them to attract other folks. But it's, the idea is that it's actually it's going to be a net positive for you, you'll actually be able to attract higher caliber folks, you'll actually be able to retain folks that appreciate their job and guaranteed, and there's literally quantifiable and qualitative data on this. And when somebody returns from an activation or from a deployment, they're going to be more senior, they're going to be more advanced, they're going to be more strategically focused and be able to perform at a better level than they did before. And that's what the share is all about.
Keith McKeever 16:57
That makes a lot of sense. And I had a random thought here a few minutes ago. If somebody was watching this, who is not serving, who is a potential employer, they may be sitting here thinking, Well, why on earth? Do we have so many Guard and Reserve then why are they splitting their time between civilian job and military job? Why don't they everybody just go active duty. I mean, I had the active duty experience, had an opportunity to serve with some garden reserve. And sometimes there were some jokes about the garden reserve. But I'll tell you what, on the flip side, some of those some sometimes those jokes were warranted. But on the flip side, you know, I'll
Scott Klein 17:43
be asking this, Keith did you see somebody put on like, their, their, their their top on and not know, like how to put their patches on, because that does happen.
Keith McKeever 17:51
I don't know if I ever saw that. But, you know, in my experiences in the Air Force anyway, we had it my second duty station, at Scott Air Force Base, we had, you know, active duty, we had Guard and Reserve there. And we had because of deployment rotations we had guard and reserve that were augmenting our forces. And some of them were civilian law police officers, because that was my house security forces. Some of them were corrections officers or had backgrounds in that. And so when you bring some of those civilian employment, or civilian education or you know, other experiences, whatever, they brought different things to the table, that are a training that they can turn right around a train. So like, oh, I learned this in my civilian civilian department, or I was an EMT, and I learned this or I learned that whatever, they could turn right around and train us on those things that through no military channels, we were gonna get on the active duty side, because nobody had that, because most of us came through the pipeline, you know, either, you know, officers came through at 22, you know, out of college, or the academy, or, you know, everybody else pretty much came through 18 to 25, you know, out of high school or college. That's the only job we knew we did it. 24/7. So, you know, these Guard and Reserve guys had their day job, and they came in on the weekends, you talk to them. And, you know, they had a wealth of knowledge, I guess, is my point. They brought, they brought something else to the table that we just we could do. But we knew, I mean, we knew aspects of our job, way better than they did sometimes of doing the day to day job of what we did. But they brought other skills to the table that we couldn't compete with. Especially the law enforcement side like the guys who were civilian cops on the outside. Look, we just didn't face the this the problems on military bases, like cops do on the outside. But yeah, we practice high traffic stops and DUIs and domestics like we had all those things, just not to the level the cops do on the outside. So when they came in, and they have civilian experience, and they're like, no, no, try it this way. Like, I know, the Air Force tells you do it this way, do it this way, this is what every department on the outside teaches you, this will save your life. Don't fall, you know, I hate to say but don't fall with the Air Forces to do. But it was great because it was like, okay, all right, I love this, you know, those kinds of things,
Scott Klein 20:19
you're you're raising something really, really important that I agree that I think, you know, our active duty brothers and sisters, I think that, you know, what you guys have done, and do in basically, you know, keeping things running. It's, it's fantastic. And I know that Guard Reserve when they come in, and they're, you know, activated, they learn from active duty every single day, because they're, you know, again, they're the ones that are doing it day in and day out. But that same time, the outside skills that folks come in with whether you're talking about law enforcement, you know, certainly, but it's interesting, I'm not going to try to quote the data. But I know in the on the army, the majority of the Civil Affairs, the folks that are out there developing partnerships with with other nations, the majority of the engineers, they're coming from the reserves. And, and, you know, it's fascinating, including, by the way, doctors and lawyers and chaplains and, and folks like that, which it's incredible. What always blows me away is when you have, let's say a, you know, a civilian banker that comes in and is a military police officer, and then you know, and in the army, and it's like, Oh, my God, the differences between what they do, it's crazy. But the idea is that they bring in those skills that seniority I've met general officers that are that have a pretty what I don't want to be little this but a, a relatively, what you would view as an average job in the civilian sector, they're general in the military. And then on the flip side, you've got folks that are a senior VP of a major corporation, and they're in e4 in the in the military, which is fascinating. And the skills that are that are shared, and the value that's brought in, it really allows again, our nation to fight and win our battles. And to be totally honest, we would not be able to be the military that we are today, if we did not have the garden reserve. And that said we would not be able to enter the Garden reserve without the employers without the employers making it possible. And that's, that's where all this comes in. So now you got some good, good stories. Um, sir?
Keith McKeever 22:25
Well, I think there's, there's a, I mean, another good point there too, is by them serving, they get other skills. So we talk about it, you know, is veterans as service members all the time, like, there's certain skills that you get, you know, if you're not 15 minutes early, you're late, you know, the promptness the, the, the customs and courtesies, the politeness, the all the technical skills that you get in whatever your, your MOS or AFSC, or whatever, all those different skills that you bring to the table that you get from service, that the civilian counterparts in that in that civilian company just won't have. It's, it's not even close, you can't compete. And then the education benefits on top of it, you've got employees who are loyal, because they know they're getting their job back. Chances have of promotion or advancement. They're getting education for virtually nothing. So they're getting potential to advance there with with less out of pocket than, than their counterparts. I mean, it's, it's a win win win, you might just have to deal without that person for at least now, six, maybe six months, maybe a year. I don't know how long some of the deployments are where even the deployed locations are at this point. But you know, they're not 18 months to the Middle East like they were 10 years ago. So,
Scott Klein 23:53
and the key, the ultimate key to ESGR success, like I said, is on two sides. Number one is on the employer side, and on the service member side, the key is communication. So one of the areas that ESGR is involved in is as an ombudsman, basically to help to make sure that hey, where there is a concern, that before becomes a legal issue. And before it becomes a complicated thing. Just make sure everybody's speaking the same language and everybody's understanding. But those cases are so few and far between. So rare, but the SGR is built around volunteers. So always looking for volunteers. We've talked about that in a minute. I'm always looking for volunteers to serve advocate for the message like I am, but and there's a lot of different ways to do it. But also employers, employers, this is my big call to action over here is the statement of support for you don't even need to have Guardsmen and Reservists working for you. In order to sign a statement of support. It's an call an aspirational thing is basically saying, hey, if I had somebody I would be pledging my support to support them. And what that means is Basically, I will it basically the statement of support is basically saying, I will follow the law. And so who is not going to follow everybody will. And so you sign that standard of support, and then you get a beautiful certificate hanging up on the wall. And that lets everybody that walks into your to your office know that, hey, I support my troops, and I will follow the law. And what that means is that it likely makes it easier for you a to attract customers, but also to attract employees that meet that, that calibrating a criteria that you were just talking about. And that's the idea. So folks can learn more, obviously, you can link, you know, through my website, or esgr.mil. And we'll make sure if they, you know, sign up in the state of Illinois, most likely will be hearing from me. But if they can do it anywhere in the in the country, and somebody gets back to them right away, schedule the ceremony, and I know is more than willing to talk to them about about this fantastic program.
Keith McKeever 25:56
Awesome. esgr.mil, I wanted to I was just gonna ask that here a few minutes ago. Because I was gonna ask where people can go to figure that out? So next question I've got for you is more back on the service member. So I'm assuming the resources still going to be the same where somebody needs to go, Well, what advice would you have for somebody who is working for a company, and that company is maybe not following the law, or not cooperating? Maybe, maybe it's the best way to ask that question. And they're kind of running into a brick wall. And they need a little bit of assistance, where should they turn? Or what should they do?
Scott Klein 26:38
Yes, there's a lot of resources out there online of the Department of Labor, has dedicated folks for that. But you're absolutely rikey. The generally speaking, what I would say, is the right place to go certainly is you can go to esgr.mil. And then you can basically say, I think I think there's a button on the right side of the page that says request assistance. And they, they can basically request an ombudsman, to jump in and provide that support. And on that website, again, the idea is communication, there is sample letters that are available for notifying your employer for an upcoming deployment, or activation. So the idea is, Hey, you don't feel comfortable, nobody necessarily feels comfortable, especially when you've got an awesome employer that's, you know, letting you go for your drill and doing all those things. But all of a sudden, you're not sure how they're going to react when you tell them, hey, you're going to be gone for six or nine months. So it literally has has sample letters. So you can do it and make sure you're you're being protected as well. But also it has links to Department of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training service, the Department of Justice, and a couple of other couple of other programs. And there's even, by the way, a program at the Department of Education for you, Sarah like protections for students. That's to make sure that schools understand that if you're both serving in the military, and you're continuing your education, again, there are protections for you. So if you are a service member, and you are listening, make sure you reach out, all those links that I just mentioned are all are all on esgr.mil. And you'll find a wealth of knowledge and information including links to all of the regulations so you can get spun up on it and make sure you are aware of of all the rights that you have, but also the obligations you have as well. And that's important because it is a partnership. It is a relationship. And the key to success is the employer as well.
Keith McKeever 28:39
Absolutely. I don't want to burn that bridge because that would be a big concern. You think about knocking on the boss's door. Hey, boss, you know, I got a guard weekend again. You know, then you're not going I got guard weekend again. Oh, by the way, here's my two weeks, you know, in the guard, weekend and guard weekend, oh, hey, Boss, I'm gonna be gone for like nine months. Yeah, that would be that would be awkward. So I can see where a letter be helpful. But let's, let's get another to get that on there. That's pretty forward thinking. So. So the next topic I want to talk to you about is another very interesting one. And so this one kind of takes takes a turn towards those youths in our community that are in high school and thinking about going into the service academies. I know it's a very difficult process. I know you have to have a sitting as a senator or Congress person that has either Okay, so I thought as to sign off on it, but you are a military academy liaison officer. So what is your responsibility that you're dealing with that?
Scott Klein 29:40
This is really really cool. Okay, this is this has been fun. So I did not go in full transparency. I did not go to West Point. I commissioned through Officer Candidate School. And, but I'm really passionate about service. I'm really passionate about folks coming from your community as we've been talking about for the past 30 minutes coming from their community and I'm passionate about I service. So obviously, I want to make sure that I'm enabling as many folks as possible to have those same experiences and opportunities and so on. So I became a male Military Academy liaison officer, which again means I've got an awesome volunteer role in that I get to be an ambassador for, in my case, the army for West Point, the United States Military Academy, up in West Point of
Keith McKeever 30:28
doing a whole lot of work for nothing. Yeah, I
Scott Klein 30:30
know, I know. But hey, I'm passionate about this. It's awesome. You get it all right here in the heart. Right. That's right. That's right. That's right. So yeah, you're upset that basically, nominations for West Point come from, I'm not going to, you know, go through all of the all of the options, ideas that for the average person listening, whether it's for their kid or, you know, young adults themselves interested in a free college experience at one of the best institutions in the world? It's possible, yes, that is possible. Well, I go into debt. What it involves is, it's a competitive process. And they go to their member Congress, to their senator, to the Vice President, and they're on every single website, pretty much, you could literally go to every single member of Congress's website, and you go under service academy nominations, and you fill out a form. And what happens at that point is, depending on the member of Congress's office, they will set you up for a nomination panel. Often it will be folks like me, that will be involved. And pretty much it's an interview process. And the initial conversation will be understanding who you are, and understanding what extracurricular activities, you've been involved in what your academic scores have been, basically, what sets you up to be one of the elite of the country, going to one of the top schools, but also entering into an agreement, which ultimately will produce you as an officer in the United States, in this case, the army, you'll have guaranteed job afterwards, you will have a guaranteed bachelor's degree, you will have a guarantee all the things that come with it, we were just talking about it advancing in your education, things that will set you up for success in the future, of employment and so on. It's a pretty darn good deal when you think about it. But it like anything, it comes with hard work. And so your nomination comes from the from the member of Congress, but often, you know, members of Congress are kind of busy. And often they're not the right ones to assess whether a candidate is the right fit for Military Academy. There's all over the country, in every single congressional district, there are folks that screen candidates and advise in the process, what is the admissions process look like? What are the deadlines you need to follow? What are the physical because there are physical exams and, and physical assessments you have to go through. So pretty much, that's what we do. We're an academy liaison officer, we're there to make it easier. And then we also can set folks up with tours, get them out to West Point. So they can actually see the academy. There are some unique summer experiences. So they could get a little bit of a new experience of what it's like to kind of be a cadet in the in the military, which is awesome. And if somebody's not the right fit for that, I promise you, I will always give them advice about ROTC or about Officer Candidate School. And we'll set them up for information. And me if none of those are the right fit. I'll make sure that we have a conversation about education too. And, yeah, it's an awesome program. So I've been in it now for about two years. And I've talked to so many candidates in Illinois and beyond, including, by the way, folks that are overseas, which is pretty cool.
Keith McKeever 33:55
That's that'd be pretty neat. Yeah, because it might be a little scary for some high school kids to go all the way to West Point. And I mean, that's like, that's just diving into the culture that might make him second guess their decision. But not so I mean, that's, that's, that's great. I mean, because not everybody gets in there. So it's great that you're having a conversation with him about like, hey, this doesn't work. You know, maybe there's some other colleges that could work and ROTC or whatever. You know, because we we always need, we always need good leaders, you know, and it doesn't matter where you came from. I mean, yeah, good luck, good leaders from West Point. And the other academies, but good, good, good, good colleges, here, there and everywhere in between, too. So but I know that's very, very, very tough to get Yeah, to get through. So the mela
Scott Klein 34:43
tagline is making a difference in tomorrow's leaders today. And by the way, I know the same is true with the Air Force Academy with the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Ultimately, these are all great programs. And again, it's about service. I mean, hey, my advice as a as an academic myself, I mean, folks don't go into debt over over your education. I mean, hello.
Keith McKeever 35:10
Absolutely I, I 100% agree, like if you can physically, if you can physically do it and pass the past the entrance try for it, or enlist and get your education that way, you know if that if that's an avenue that works for you, or if you can get an academic scholarship or athletic scholarship and go to college and get some of that paid for, you know, tuition, you know, I mean, the less that you have to pay for the better. So there's, there's certain ways to go about it. So it's got to be very, very interesting, though, leading people through that process. I'm sure you see quite a, quite a quite a few different applicants come through, they're in various stages of being ready. So what, what exactly does that look like? What are what? I'll go to the physical stuff, obviously, there, you know, obviously, we got to be fit for fit for duty. So I'm sure that's all kind of standard, they send them to like Mepps kind of situation or that. Yeah,
Scott Klein 36:15
there's couple things. So the first thing that that folks go through is the candidate fitness assessment, the CFA, which is one of the requirements for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. And it's basically it's a test of strength, agility, speed, and endurance. And the idea is basically to predict a, what their aptitude for the physical program at the service academy will be, I believe, I believe it's the same CFA that's done for all the academies. And the idea is to make it pretty simple for these congressional offices to sort of have a standard, and it consists of the basketball through a cadence pull up or flex our main, a 40, yard shuttle run, modified sit ups, push ups and a one mile run. And there's a lot of resources, by the way, available online. So if somebody's tuning in, they're like, Oh, my God, sign me up, Scott, get me in touch. I will tell you Look videos online, and then it will help you to, to make sure you're ready. And then pretty much if they get in touch with us as a mailout. We are able to schedule them for the CFA. So yeah, I mean, definitely the idea is not as much as I mean, yeah, they're going to have a college experience. The idea is not necessarily testing them. It's not a military physical fitness test, because it's going to be several years until they're going to be deploying and doing all the military kind of stuff. The idea is, hey, part of big going to West Point is it is a military academy, you will have fiscal requirements. And we want to make sure that you have the ability, unfortunate, but yeah, you will go through a examination process, make sure again, you're going to be fit for military service. You'll submit your, your essay T AC T scores, and that is a requirement as well. There's interval
Keith McKeever 38:05
exams, as well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So that's what I was kind of getting at, I knew there's got to be a medical exam somewhere. Right? Because you could just like way too many people through that. That's a recipe for disaster.
Scott Klein 38:16
Yeah, absolutely. And, yeah, so all of these usual things that were there were used to for you know, for for military, definitely, they will have to pass a medical exam, for short. And it's a pretty, pretty thorough process admissions. So I don't want to I don't want to mislead somebody and say, Hey, you're gonna contact a mellow, and they're gonna get you through, we are simply representatives to walk them through the process. But the process is pretty extensive.
Keith McKeever 38:44
Oh, I kind of figured so that's why when I asked that question, because it's like, there's got to be more steps than what you think of, rather than just go fill this out online and submit it all and cross your fingers and hope for the best. Right? So, you know, I know one of the things that I've always heard since I was young is a lot of it is obviously the physical side, there's the grades, because it is college, right? There's admission requirements, just like anywhere else. But the character and the community service, those kinds of things. So what exactly is the academy? Kind of looking for?
Scott Klein 39:21
Yeah, that's a great question. We are looking for the leaders of tomorrow, the folks that have stood out from all their peers in high school. And it's an interesting time to assess a candidate when they're in high school. So clearly, they cannot have gotten into into major trouble. They need to have stood out with with really impressive letters of recommendation that make them stand out and all that ultimately they they're going to get a recommendation from a member of Congress, and usually the member of Congress will also want to actually interview them because they the member of Congress As basically given just a very, very small number of these nominations, to be given out, and they're basically being given an opportunity to provide a free scholarship to somebody. So it's pretty valuable, it's pretty valuable tool, it's a member of Congress is going to meet with me, trust me, they're going to be vetted, they're going to be vetted. And so we're talking about folks of the highest caliber that have the highest educational standards, the highest physical standards have the highest extracurricular activity standards. And this is all just in high school, we're not talking about folks that are in college. And looking at that, and that kind of stuff we're talking about stood out that they've been volunteering, they've been a president of a club, all those other things, if you're hearing any of those things, hey, you may be the right fit. They're also by the way, different service connections as well, sons and daughters of career, military personnel are eligible for presidential nominations. And that's important, and certainly sons and daughters of deceased or disabled veterans, there's another category. So all the information if you go to West Point, that edu, it will give you literally everything that you need to know. So you can see you can see, but I'll give you a couple of statistics that I pulled up before this conversation. So a recent class, I this was a couple of years ago, they had 15,407 applicant files started, of which 4166 were nominated 2353 were qualified in 1190 were admitted in in their ranks in their high school class 71%, ranked first ranked in the top fifth of their class, and I go on and on their ace, their their AC T scores. Were you know, obviously upper end their academic honors, for the most part, they were valid Victorian sabbatarians, a National Merit Scholarship recognized recognition, National Honor Society, they were the boy and girl scouts, their class president, they published things in their school publications, the debate during the debate club, the drama, club, scouts, and so on. And I could go on and on. But ultimately, it's the top performers.
Keith McKeever 42:16
That doesn't surprise me. Yeah. Especially the academics, I would, I would imagine pretty much every one of them was top five in your class, or your top 5%. Top 10%, at least depending on the size of the class. But yeah, those that don't sleep. Just like successful people who are just find themselves in all kinds of things and over tapped and just get themselves in all kinds of stuff. So awesome, I think is a really good snapshot for anybody who's got a son or daughter who's, who's approaching that age. Maybe that's a good question to ask at what point in time, should somebody start looking at that? starting that process?
Scott Klein 43:00
Yeah, I mean, I'd say if they are a, a sophomore, or junior in high school, they they need to be heavily involved in the process, a sophomore is probably the right time to start to explore. And in, regardless of where you are in the country, there are mailers everywhere. And so it's pretty much first step I'd say look at or member of Congress's website, go to West Point that edu both of those places, good places to start the process. But yeah, definitely don't wait too long, because it is a long process with many steps involved.
Keith McKeever 43:41
Awesome. That is awesome. So I'm gonna throw up here at the very end, I've got your website scrolling across the bottom, I'll have it in the show notes as well. Relax everybody who was listening to it, it'd be in the show notes. But you've also got a book. So I want to I want you to tell us a little bit about your book too, in case anybody's interested. It'll be in the show notes, too. For anybody who's listening. Just tell us a little about your book.
Scott Klein 44:04
Thank you. So I wrote a book, gosh, I think five years ago, called get down to business, which is also the same name as my radio program and podcast, get down to business. And I really is exactly as it sounds. I mean, that's been the story of my life of getting down to business. There's two kinds of folks get there's the folks that when they're starting a business, they spend a lot of time and they in the budget and they plan and they strategize and they build a business plan. And they do that over and over and over again, until they run out of money and they can't start their business. And then there's the folks that take action immediately. And sometimes they do without a plan. Getting down to business has been my mantra. Ultimately, as my wife knows, or my pet peeve is the word de. The idea is that there's no thing there's nobody that you can really say somebody else's responsibility if you want to get something done. You got to do it yourself. If you hear my passion for all these volunteer activities, you just got to do it. So that's been my story around entrepreneurship, that's been my story around academics and education. And that's been my story around all these things that I'm so passionate about. It's not something that we, you know, I come home at night, and I kick my feet up and watch TV, it's how can we make the world a better place? How do we get folks, you know, moving along in their dreams and their journeys. And you hear me keep saying the word service service is really, really important. Not everybody is meant to put on a uniform, like your IQ. But rather everybody can serve in their community, and step up and get involved in making a difference. And whether it's, you know, folks that want to volunteer for an ESGR mailer, or whatever the case may be, it's great. But that's basically been the book, get down to business, I talked about my own experiences, and, and give people sort of what's been my playbook. And I will not say that my way is the way my way is a way. So I have fun, you know, sharing my experience with, with folks that I've gotten to know over the past number of years, I've hosted a radio show, I've been super involved locally in government and community and so on. And I try to teach people, folks that are just getting started, kids that might just be coming out of college folks that are being discharged from military that are looking for a path. I'm just one of the many books that they can read, and the shows that they can listen to. But hey, Keith, I've been listening to your to your past shows and seeing your show notes, you've got some pretty impressive guests. That's a good way to start as well.
Keith McKeever 46:39
Thank you. And you know, I couldn't agree more with your philosophy on business. So there's some people that do that. And, you know, what it really takes is just, in the words of a friend of mine, Elaine Malone, imperfect action. She's got to do, like, it's not going to be perfect. You just got to go do something.
Scott Klein 47:01
Yeah, don't worry about messing action.
Keith McKeever 47:03
You know, it's like, I actually, I haven't said it for a long time on this podcast. But it was one of the things I first thought of when I started this podcast was. And I remember when I first heard this, but it was like, the just the fear of being on video. At first. It was like, well, you're your worst video is out there. Your worst podcast episode is out there. Now, I don't know which one that is, right. So somebody could listen to almost 100 of them now. And everybody's gonna have a different opinion, which one's my worse. I might have an opinion if I stopped and thought about it, but doesn't really matter. But my worst one is technically out there. You know, when you think about that back your head, it's like, what's the worst I'm going to do? Like, make my worst one. Just go do just go do just make content and make it valuable. share with the world. And, and do something good today, to just don't do action, except that happen.
Scott Klein 48:03
Make mistakes, but learn from it. Learn from I've made God so many mistakes. And you learn from it, and you grow from it. That's that's the beauty of life. And that's the beauty of, of what we do each and every day.
Keith McKeever 48:18
Isn't it called failing forward? Or something like that? Yeah. Exactly. So anyway, Scott, I appreciate you coming on and sharing with us. This, I mean, this is really formative to me. So I know, this would be really, really informative to a lot of people, especially the Guard, Reserve guys, or anybody who's got kids, who are, you know, maybe a couple of years away from college and sitting here thinking, hey, maybe my grades are good enough. And maybe I do enough to have enough bullet points on that. And that college resume to maybe think about one of the academies. So really appreciate you sharing with us and giving people some blueprints for some success.
Scott Klein 48:54
Yeah, no, thank you, Keith, for being such a resource for everybody. Thanks for sharing this, I'm always available, I know you'll you'll link to the, to my website, through the show notes. I'm very accessible. And last thing that I'll say to everybody is that you know, for the folks that have been serving those battle buddies that are out there, making sure that they that they seek out a mentor, and that they understand the resources that are available to them, you have done amazing things to take care of yourself. Literally take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and so on. But realize that you have enormous resources that are out there. And just reach out to good folks like Keith or myself, that that are there to help you with next steps. So thank you, Keith, for being such an advocate in such a resource, and I look forward to sharing more in the future.
Keith McKeever 49:42
Awesome. Thanks for being here.
Scott Klein 49:44
You bet. Thanks.
Keith McKeever 49:46
There you go folks, I hope you enjoyed it episode. Every good. Check out my website, battle buddy podcast.net for all kinds of information and resources. Like I always say, if something's not on there and you think it should be, send me an email, let me know Do what you think should be on there and I will look at trying to get that resource on there for everybody and if you're struggling today for any reason remember the national suicide hotline number is 988 Press one
