What's Your War Zone? w/ Traci Scott

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There are few things that make people successful.

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Taking a step forward to change their lives is one successful trait, but it takes some

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time to get there.

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How do you move forward to greet the success that awaits you?

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Welcome to Next Steps Forward with host Chris Meek.

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Each week, Chris brings on another guest who has successfully taken the next steps forward.

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Now here is Chris Meek.

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Hello.

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You've tuned in this week's episode of Next Steps Forward, and I'm your host, Chris Meek.

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As always, it's a pleasure to have you with us.

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Next Steps Forward is committed to helping others achieve more than ever while experiencing

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greater personal empowerment and wellbeing.

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Our guest today is Tracy Scott, author of the captivating number one Amazon bestselling

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book, Take Off Your Hoop Earrings Before Putting On Your Gas Mask, A Civilian Chick's

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Guide to Surviving a War Zone.

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Tracy Scott was only 16 years old when she started a broadcasting career with the Far

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East Network in Japan.

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Since then, her career path has taken her from CBS News, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon,

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to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Most recently, she has served as a key advisor to more than a dozen army generals and a cabinet

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secretary.

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Tracy graduated from Howard University with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1987 and

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was among the first to earn a master's degree from the Graduate School of Political Management

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when it merged with George Washington University in 1996.

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Tracy Scott, welcome to Next Steps Forward.

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Thank you, Chris.

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Thank you for having me.

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Wow.

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You read that introduction.

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I'm like, I hope all of that still sticks.

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Makes you sit up a little bit straighter, right?

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Yep.

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Yep.

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Exactly.

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I try.

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And speaking of sitting up straighter, we were talking before the show and I mentioned how

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this is always a show of firsts, and Tracy is the first guest we've had that's sitting

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on three pillows.

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So she's the right height for a camera.

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So I appreciate the uncomfortable stance you're in right now, but we're glad you're here.

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So thank you.

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Well, if I slide off, Chris, I'll be the first guest that is sitting on your show.

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We've got 50 minutes left, so hopefully that doesn't happen.

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So Tracy, I can't wait to get to one of your favorite questions.

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What's your war zone?

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But first you have to share your incredible background story because that's going to set

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up the rest of our conversation.

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And I was about to say, let's start in Japan when you started your broadcasting career

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with the Far East Network.

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But take us back a bit further.

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Tell us about your childhood and how you ended up in Japan at age 16.

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Right.

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Well, first of all, my dad was a Tuskegee airman and it was, I grew up on military bases.

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I was born in the Azores, I was born in Portugal and we moved around to different places.

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But the thing about my dad is that he, you know, the greatest generation, you know, people

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from that World War II era, they didn't talk about what they did.

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So I didn't grow up knowing exactly what my dad did and who he was until towards the end

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of his life.

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And here's one of the most, it kind of smacked me in the head.

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So my dad died in 2000.

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And before he passed, he was living in Kansas City, Missouri, and a reporter did a story

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about his life as a Tuskegee airman.

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And unfortunately, I found out a lot through that story because daddy just didn't talk

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about it.

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And so I remember getting a call after he died and somebody was saying, questioning

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him being a Tuskegee airman and his age.

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He died at 72.

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And so I turned to my mom and I was like, yeah, mom.

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And she said, well, your dad was 14 when he got into the program.

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And I'm like, oh my goodness.

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So Chris, I want you and your listeners to imagine this.

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My dad, he loved to fly.

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He loved everything about flying.

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He was living in Fort Worth, Texas.

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And I just imagined him at the age of 14.

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I gathered information that he took a bus.

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He got on a bus by himself.

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And you think about it, his stepmother probably handed him a little paper bag with a sandwich

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in it, a piece of chicken and some foil.

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And he rode through the South by himself.

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He probably sat in the back of the bus too.

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He had a good chance, 1940s.

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And he rode by himself at any given moment from Fort Worth to Tuskegee, Alabama.

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Somebody could have got on the bus and snatched him off the bus.

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So first of all, here he is.

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His dream is so big.

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He's not going to let anything get in the way of it.

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And he makes it to Tuskegee and he gets there and they're like, son, you're a little bit

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too young.

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But they allowed him to stay at Tuskegee to take classes until he was 16.

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And so then he learned to fly at 16 years old.

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Now here's the real killer.

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So he goes through the whole program.

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He's about ready to get his wings pinned on him.

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And they gave him a physical and they found out he was colorblind just before he got his

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wings.

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So they had to kick him out of the program, the flying part of the program.

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So instead of completely kicking him out of Tuskegee Airmen's Airmen program, they made

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him a ground crewman.

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He ended up being a ground crewman for Ben Davis, who was in charge of the Tuskegee Airmen.

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And to put the bow on the story, when I worked for CBS News, General Davis came into CBS

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to do an interview.

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And I was like, okay, I believe my daddy, but okay.

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So here's General Davis, the leader of the Tuskegee Airmen, standing there in front of

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me.

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And I said, General Davis, do you know the name Jesse Scott?

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He said, yeah, I know Jesse.

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I'm like, oh my gosh, here's the leader of the program.

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He knew right off the bat.

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And I'm like, you know, that story's like that.

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When I hear them and when I've talked to other airmen and people who knew him, it really,

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it really, that's, I hate to say it, it's after all of his glory that I'm finally like

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oh my gosh, daddy, what did you do?

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What did you do?

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So and the sad part in that is if you look through the annals and all of the other paperwork

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that say Tuskegee Airmen, he's not there because he washed out of the flying program.

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But I sent your staff a photo of him standing next to a well-known general, General Charles

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McGee, who we celebrated a couple of years ago.

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And so it's like, okay, I know what you did, daddy.

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I kind of have an idea.

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But that's where I learned perseverance and all the other stuff that has helped me to

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be the person that I am today.

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Well, you started off that part by talking about how he was part of the greatest generation

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and you just going through his entire experience.

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So A, chasing his dream at 14 years old, which is unfathomable.

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My wife and I, our youngest son will be 13 next month.

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That's why I can't imagine him a year from now hopping on a bus during that time with

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racial issues and to your point, potentially being snatched up.

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And he also, to your point, was chasing that dream.

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And so this was in the post-depression era where the sky's the limit, let's go.

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And thank you for your family service and sacrifice.

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And I'm glad I get the chance to tell that story again to this network so people know

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Jesse.

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And so they'll put a little Photoshop of him in there in the team photo for the Tuskegee

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Airmen.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Chris.

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Well, let's get back to your broadcasting career.

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How'd you get your start at age 16 and what was your first story and how'd you get that

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big break?

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Oh, well, I have nothing but stories, but so my mom and dad divorced, but daddy was

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all in my life all the time.

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And when my mom remarried, she remarried back into the Air Force.

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And so it so happened that my stepdad, Papa Sergeant Joe Jones, he was stationed overseas

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to Japan.

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We were living in Arizona at the time, and then moving to Japan was like a total crusher.

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I was like, I don't even know where Japan is, okay.

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And at the time I was 15, and we moved to Japan, and I started to get integrated in

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high school, got busy.

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And one of the girls that I knew, well, first, let me back up.

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In Japan, they had what was known as the Far East Network.

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And that was the network that the military services used to broadcast on.

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So the Air Force had their five-minute news, the Navy had their five-minute news, the Army

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had their five-minute news.

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And so when I was in school, a friend of mine was the youth announcer for the Air Force.

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So the Air Force would do their newscast, talk about all the Air Force happenings, and

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then some kid would come on and say, hey, in the high school, it's prom this week or

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it's homecoming, and they just kind of talk about the happenings.

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So one day, her name happens to be Tracy as well.

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So one day I went to her, I was like, how did you do this?

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How are you doing this?

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She said, well, funny, I'm about ready to go give it up because I got to play field

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hockey.

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Do you want to do it?

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I was like, okay, sure.

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So it was part of the public affairs department for the Air Force at Yokota Air Force Base

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in Japan.

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So my very first paid job was for the Air Force, for the military, working on their

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staff.

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And the best story out of this was that I would get on, just do the news, okay, here's

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what's the football game is this week.

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Well, the sergeant, I'll never forget his name, Sergeant Kevin Ron, he had to leave

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to go to Korea for maneuvers.

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And he said, Tracy, you know, I've got to go away for a few weeks.

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We got these maneuvers in Korea.

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Why don't you do the newscast while I'm gone?

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I'm like, what?

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A five minute newscast and technology then is not like it is now.

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So I literally was like, okay, so the public affairs team helped to write the script and

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I would go over it.

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But I had to put the newscast together.

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I got in the booth.

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He taught me the basics of how to record it.

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And back then there was tape.

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You know how the reel to reel tape.

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So I would record something.

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And if I messed up, I'd have to take a razor blade, cut the tape, splice it together, and

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then do the broadcast.

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It took me hours, Chris.

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It took me hours to put together a five minute newscast.

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It was terrible.

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I still have a high school career.

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But then when I figured it out, I was like, okay, I got this.

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So I started doing the news for the Air Force on FBN radio.

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And the sergeant came back, he said, Tracy, you're doing such a good job with this.

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Just keep it.

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Just go ahead and do the whole broadcast.

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I was breaking all kinds of rules.

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I wasn't in the Air Force.

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I was then 17.

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I was 16, then going into 17.

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And I was broadcasting for the Air Force.

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It was like, wow.

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But I learned the very basics about how to put a newscast together, the technical part

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of it.

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And then the broadcasting, my voice and all of that, I kind of just learned on my own.

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So that's how my broadcast career started at 16 years old.

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Did you have any interest in journalism before that?

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Or was this just an accidental, okay.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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My dad, daddy, when I was growing up, daddy used to make me watch the news starting at

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the age of five.

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And so I was like, oh, this is, but he would make me watch the news.

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And as I got older and things happen, for instance, I remember Watergate and the trials

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related to Watergate.

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I think I was like nine years old.

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And my mom was like, you got to pay attention to this.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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I don't know what they're talking about.

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Okay.

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But then as I got older, and this is, this is, bear with me for this story, Chris, real

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quick.

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So daddy used to make me watch the Sunday talk shows, Meet the Press, Face the Nation,

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because he and mom had divorced.

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But every Sunday, daddy would say, call and say, okay, did you watch Meet the Press today?

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Did you watch Face the Nation?

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And I would say, yeah, daddy, I watched it.

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Okay.

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So what did you hear?

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I was like, well, this man said this, but this man said this.

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And he would say, no, sweetheart, you have to listen past what they're saying.

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They are saying something, but they're saying something more than what's actually coming

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out.

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There is something behind what they're saying.

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So he gave me this ear at 10, 11 years old.

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I didn't know it, but I became very comfortable with politics.

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So I'll put the bow on the end of the story.

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Fast forward to when I was in Howard University.

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I got an internship.

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My internship was at CBS News.

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Guess where I eventually entered?

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00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,200
Face the Nation.

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00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,120
And daddy was alive so he could see it.

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So here, I don't think he would have ever dreamed him telling his daughter to watch

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00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:52,720
the news and then one day be a part of that.

248
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That's awesome.

249
00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:55,160
That's amazing.

250
00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:56,160
Yeah.

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00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,000
Let's dig a little deeper here.

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00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,720
You've covered presidential elections, hurricanes, and other major stories during the journalism

253
00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:03,600
chapter in your career.

254
00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:08,000
What was the most intense or memorable story you ever reported on and why?

255
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:19,880
Well, I wasn't on air, but in 92, CBS had me cover the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign.

256
00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,320
And I covered the Gore half of the campaign.

257
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And there was a thing they used to call boys on the bus.

258
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The boys on the bus, these seasoned reporters who covered presidential campaigns, they were

259
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old hands at it.

260
00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,360
And so the networks decided they didn't want to spend as much money.

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So they got young people like me who they could send out to cover it real cheap.

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So I was covering the Gore half of the Clinton-Gore campaign.

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And that was just majorly intense.

264
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You're with the candidate 24-7.

265
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But during a trip to, I can't remember where I was flying.

266
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But New York called and said, hey, we need you to drop off the Gore campaign and pick

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00:13:55,640 --> 00:14:00,320
up the Quayle campaign, Vice President running for Vice President Quayle.

268
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And so I was like, OK, I had to figure it out.

269
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They didn't give me directions.

270
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So I'm in Florida and I got to figure out how to meet the Quayle team.

271
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So we get on, meet up with the Quayle team, figured it out.

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Right in the middle of that, I get a call from New York again.

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They're like, hey, Tracy, there's a hurricane coming.

274
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And we need you to drop the Quayle campaign and go meet Dan Rather at an airport in Florida

275
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:27,840
to be his, to work with him and be his assistant during Hurricane Andrew.

276
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:33,600
Now, if you remember back in 92, Hurricane Andrew was one of the most destructive hurricanes

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00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,080
that we had had in a while.

278
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:40,520
And so that I always have, I have a story for everything, Chris, but getting to meet

279
00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:45,720
Dan Rather at a hurricane was, that was pretty crazy.

280
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:50,360
When they told you, when New York called and they said, you better meet Dan Rather, you

281
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,540
better have your butt there.

282
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So I literally had to get a rental car and drive from Northern Florida to the Southern

283
00:14:58,660 --> 00:14:59,660
part.

284
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I was driving a hundred miles an hour.

285
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And I thought if the police pulled me over, there's no way they're going to believe, yes,

286
00:15:07,620 --> 00:15:12,660
I got to go meet Dan Rather, they're not going to believe the story.

287
00:15:12,660 --> 00:15:17,340
But I literally did, I'm flying down the highway going against the traffic because everybody

288
00:15:17,340 --> 00:15:18,940
was coming North, I'm going South.

289
00:15:18,940 --> 00:15:23,220
I literally passed the police car and I'm like, oh my God, that's it, he didn't even

290
00:15:23,220 --> 00:15:24,220
stop me.

291
00:15:24,220 --> 00:15:28,980
And I think he probably thought, oh my gosh, if she's doing this fast to go, I'm not even

292
00:15:28,980 --> 00:15:30,260
going to stop her.

293
00:15:30,260 --> 00:15:36,940
So when we get, I meet Dan and I literally am with Dan Rather as his assistant.

294
00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:42,420
And we have a producer and it's just the three of us chasing Hurricane Andrew.

295
00:15:42,420 --> 00:15:47,380
And Dan is known, he kind of made a name for himself years ago when he was the anchor,

296
00:15:47,380 --> 00:15:50,460
before he was anchor, for covering hurricanes.

297
00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:55,820
And when we got down to the hurricane, Dan would literally, we were at a telephone kind

298
00:15:55,820 --> 00:16:00,500
of a broad, an area, it was like, I think AT&T building.

299
00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:07,340
He would go out and he'd stand out there and on the, like a section where the, that he

300
00:16:07,340 --> 00:16:12,660
could broadcast from, and the wind and the rain would just choo, choo, choo, choo, choo.

301
00:16:12,660 --> 00:16:13,980
And I was like, oh my gosh.

302
00:16:13,980 --> 00:16:18,220
And at one point somebody said, Tracy, we need you to write something for Dan to say

303
00:16:18,220 --> 00:16:19,220
and then hand him the script.

304
00:16:19,220 --> 00:16:20,220
I'm like, are you kidding me?

305
00:16:20,220 --> 00:16:27,900
I think I was more scared that I had to write for Dan than to go out and hand him the script

306
00:16:27,900 --> 00:16:30,140
and this rain and wind.

307
00:16:30,140 --> 00:16:32,920
So we got through that.

308
00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:40,500
And then we chased the hurricane from Florida to Louisiana, which meant that they rented

309
00:16:40,500 --> 00:16:49,020
a Lear jet for us to fly from Florida around the hurricane to beat it in Louisiana.

310
00:16:49,020 --> 00:16:53,540
And when we were flying, you could look out the window and see this.

311
00:16:53,540 --> 00:16:57,020
And I'm like, oh my God, what are we doing?

312
00:16:57,020 --> 00:17:04,260
But the scariest moment came when we were in Louisiana and we were driving to try to

313
00:17:04,260 --> 00:17:07,220
find a place to broadcast for the night.

314
00:17:07,220 --> 00:17:13,580
And so part of my job was when Dan is doing a live broadcast, I was to get his script

315
00:17:13,580 --> 00:17:14,580
together.

316
00:17:14,580 --> 00:17:15,860
I was on the phone with New York.

317
00:17:15,860 --> 00:17:18,860
And this is not ideal conditions.

318
00:17:18,860 --> 00:17:19,980
We are out here.

319
00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:20,980
It's wet.

320
00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:21,980
It's nasty.

321
00:17:21,980 --> 00:17:25,380
I'm trying to get the script off the printer, trying to figure out, New York is telling

322
00:17:25,380 --> 00:17:26,980
me what page goes next.

323
00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:30,980
And I was about ready to throw something away and something said, no, don't throw that piece

324
00:17:30,980 --> 00:17:31,980
of paper away.

325
00:17:31,980 --> 00:17:34,300
Then New York would call and say, put that back in, put that back in.

326
00:17:34,300 --> 00:17:36,420
So it's just craziness.

327
00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:40,900
But at one point we had Dan said, Tracy, we're going to go to a hotel.

328
00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:43,260
I want you to stay at the hotel.

329
00:17:43,260 --> 00:17:48,220
And then Wayne, the producer will come back and get you while I go do some shots.

330
00:17:48,220 --> 00:17:49,220
And I said, okay.

331
00:17:49,220 --> 00:17:50,940
So I woke up the hotel.

332
00:17:50,940 --> 00:17:52,260
There was no power.

333
00:17:52,260 --> 00:17:53,260
There was nothing.

334
00:17:53,260 --> 00:17:56,260
The storm was just wicked raining.

335
00:17:56,260 --> 00:18:03,420
Wayne, the producer got me and we were driving from the hotel to where Dan was doing some

336
00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:04,660
standups.

337
00:18:04,660 --> 00:18:09,420
A power line snapped and hit the car.

338
00:18:09,420 --> 00:18:12,380
And I was like, oh my God, we're going to get electrocuted.

339
00:18:12,380 --> 00:18:14,700
We're going to get electrocuted.

340
00:18:14,700 --> 00:18:22,540
And he was trying to drive and not have that live wire actually hit something to electrocute

341
00:18:22,540 --> 00:18:24,220
the car.

342
00:18:24,220 --> 00:18:29,880
And I think that at that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know if we're going to

343
00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:31,140
make it.

344
00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:38,020
And so we did get through it and we got there and then we went through the rest of the trip.

345
00:18:38,020 --> 00:18:44,420
And Dan at that time, oh my gosh, he took care of me like I was his daughter.

346
00:18:44,420 --> 00:18:48,820
But that I think at that point, that was probably the most harrowing thing I went through outside

347
00:18:48,820 --> 00:18:52,740
of when I was in Iraq and Afghanistan.

348
00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:54,340
That's a hell of a story.

349
00:18:54,340 --> 00:18:55,340
It was great.

350
00:18:55,340 --> 00:18:56,340
I loved it though.

351
00:18:56,340 --> 00:18:57,340
Now it was great.

352
00:18:57,340 --> 00:18:58,340
Back then, not so great.

353
00:18:58,340 --> 00:19:05,900
So you made a big career change when you went to work on Capitol Hill in DC.

354
00:19:05,900 --> 00:19:08,600
Was it a case of wanting to leave journalism or was it more that you were attracted to

355
00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,500
public service?

356
00:19:11,500 --> 00:19:17,540
Well at that time, and I hate to, it's almost like the movie Forrest Gump, when Forrest

357
00:19:17,540 --> 00:19:22,380
Gump is running and he's running and then one day he stops and he's like, I'm done.

358
00:19:22,380 --> 00:19:28,620
So I, again, you know, I started out at 16 and I wanted to be on air and I finally made

359
00:19:28,620 --> 00:19:32,660
it when I was working at CBS News, they had a reporter training program.

360
00:19:32,660 --> 00:19:37,340
So I went to Las Vegas and I ended up being on TV in Las Vegas.

361
00:19:37,340 --> 00:19:42,700
And I had my whole life dreamed of being on TV.

362
00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:47,260
And I got out there and being on TV in Vegas was fun.

363
00:19:47,260 --> 00:19:50,820
First of all, it was a great place to be on TV, I had tons of stories on that.

364
00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:57,540
But one day I had to cover, I had to cover a plane, a helicopter accident.

365
00:19:57,540 --> 00:20:01,660
And it was one of these ambulance helicopters where they were transporting a patient and

366
00:20:01,660 --> 00:20:04,420
it crashed in the desert.

367
00:20:04,420 --> 00:20:10,380
And the one thing I hated about being a reporter was going to somebody's door, knocking on

368
00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:14,160
the door of a family whose loved one had just died.

369
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,660
I hated that so much.

370
00:20:16,740 --> 00:20:22,940
And one day, well, when this helicopter died, I went to go knock on the, it was a male nurse

371
00:20:22,940 --> 00:20:27,220
and I went to go knock on his family's door and a lady opened the door and I said, you

372
00:20:27,220 --> 00:20:29,340
know, I told her who I was.

373
00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:31,220
And I said, you know, I'm sorry about your loved one.

374
00:20:31,220 --> 00:20:33,100
And she said, it's not me, it's my best friend.

375
00:20:33,100 --> 00:20:34,100
And I was like, okay.

376
00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:38,820
I said, I don't have to talk to you, but I was walking back to the truck and this woman

377
00:20:38,820 --> 00:20:42,980
comes out, she's like, ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, and she was holding a picture.

378
00:20:42,980 --> 00:20:45,880
And she said, this is my husband.

379
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:47,720
And I said, I am so sorry.

380
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:52,120
And the next thing I know, she grabbed me and started bawling on my shoulder.

381
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:55,120
I mean, just, I mean, her body was shaking.

382
00:20:55,120 --> 00:20:56,120
And I said, you know what?

383
00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:57,780
I can't do this anymore.

384
00:20:57,780 --> 00:20:58,780
I can't.

385
00:20:58,780 --> 00:21:04,280
I just can't handle all of the emotion because I'm an emotional person.

386
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:05,840
So I soak it up.

387
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:11,040
So at that point I said, you know, I had a master's degree from GW at that point.

388
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,080
And I said, I'd rather, let me start looking into politics.

389
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:20,320
The next thing I know, there was a guy running for Senate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

390
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,360
And I used to say terrible things about him on TV, because I used to get on the air and

391
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:28,000
I was like, well, there goes Congressman Sosa just put his foot in his mouth again.

392
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,320
He just said this.

393
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:34,000
So his campaign approached me and they said, you know, we're really tired of the way that

394
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,980
you trash John on TV.

395
00:21:35,980 --> 00:21:38,960
So the only way we can stop you is to hire you as his spokesperson.

396
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,760
I was like, well, okay, that sounds good.

397
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:51,800
So I switched from on TV to working for, at that time it was a Senator, John Enson from

398
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:52,800
Nevada.

399
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,480
And like I said, I'd done politics, done the TV thing.

400
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,960
And now I was like, okay, let me do this.

401
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:04,600
But the one thing that, and it will go into the next story that we will discuss here in

402
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:12,260
a second, John used to always tell us that we had a responsibility to serve our country.

403
00:22:12,260 --> 00:22:19,060
We have so many wonderful benefits as being Americans and from being from this country

404
00:22:19,060 --> 00:22:21,460
and this country has done so much for us.

405
00:22:21,460 --> 00:22:25,940
We need to do our part to give back no matter what it is.

406
00:22:25,940 --> 00:22:30,260
And that stayed with me from day one.

407
00:22:30,260 --> 00:22:35,900
And I know we'll get into it in just a second, but what he said about giving back to this

408
00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:41,540
country really, that resonated with me a bunch.

409
00:22:41,540 --> 00:22:42,940
I just want to go back for a minute here.

410
00:22:42,940 --> 00:22:47,520
You referenced Forrest Gump and I'm laughing in my head as you're telling your stories

411
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,660
because he was sort of the accidental guy that was always there for every big event.

412
00:22:51,660 --> 00:22:56,820
And as you're telling your stories, I'm like, run Forrest, run.

413
00:22:56,820 --> 00:22:59,500
I'm telling you, that's the beauty of my life.

414
00:22:59,500 --> 00:23:03,620
I'm a nobody that has seen a lot and been there.

415
00:23:03,620 --> 00:23:08,020
And I was talking with some students last night and I said, I've met just about every

416
00:23:08,020 --> 00:23:11,020
president since Jimmy Carter.

417
00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:16,420
And it is just, I've been in some moments that are like, wow, I can't believe I'm watching

418
00:23:16,420 --> 00:23:17,420
this take place.

419
00:23:17,420 --> 00:23:18,420
This is amazing.

420
00:23:18,420 --> 00:23:21,380
I can't believe that I'm here in this place.

421
00:23:21,380 --> 00:23:27,220
So I'm sure we'll get to some of that as we go, but yes, it is definitely a Forrest Gump

422
00:23:27,220 --> 00:23:28,220
kind of thing.

423
00:23:28,220 --> 00:23:29,220
It was very funny.

424
00:23:29,220 --> 00:23:30,220
I'm sorry you said that.

425
00:23:30,220 --> 00:23:31,900
I'm like, that's exactly it.

426
00:23:31,900 --> 00:23:36,540
So Tracy, you were working on Capitol Hill when the 9-11 attacks happened, obviously

427
00:23:36,540 --> 00:23:38,860
September 11th, 2001.

428
00:23:38,860 --> 00:23:40,100
What was that day like for you?

429
00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:43,940
Who were you working for and how the attack on the Pentagon, especially, and the threat

430
00:23:43,940 --> 00:23:46,620
to capital might be hit affect you?

431
00:23:46,620 --> 00:23:53,620
Well, I guess we share, this is a moment where we're going to share, Chris, because we both,

432
00:23:53,620 --> 00:23:58,180
you more so than me, were impacted on 9-11.

433
00:23:58,180 --> 00:24:02,260
And on September 11th, I was working for Senator John Enson.

434
00:24:02,260 --> 00:24:03,260
I was his spokesperson.

435
00:24:03,260 --> 00:24:05,900
I was his communications director.

436
00:24:06,260 --> 00:24:12,060
And if you will remember that day, in New York, I'm not quite sure what it, remember,

437
00:24:12,060 --> 00:24:15,880
but in Washington, DC, it was a gorgeous Tuesday.

438
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:17,540
It was beautiful.

439
00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:22,500
The sky was blue, even though it was September, it wasn't cold yet.

440
00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:25,980
It was just such a beautiful day.

441
00:24:25,980 --> 00:24:31,260
And I always got to the office, I worked in the Russell Building on Capitol Hill.

442
00:24:31,260 --> 00:24:35,860
And my job was to get there, go through the news clips, and then when the senator came

443
00:24:35,860 --> 00:24:39,660
in to brief him, if there was, we had a staff meeting and I would brief him on something

444
00:24:39,660 --> 00:24:41,060
that was going on.

445
00:24:41,060 --> 00:24:44,020
And so I usually got to the office about seven in the morning.

446
00:24:44,020 --> 00:24:51,260
And I got there and just, we were all kind of, I had the TV on in the background and

447
00:24:51,260 --> 00:24:52,420
was watching.

448
00:24:52,420 --> 00:24:57,500
And the news reports that some dude hit the tower with a plane.

449
00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:00,340
I'm like, how do you not see that?

450
00:25:00,420 --> 00:25:05,500
And then the second plane, and it's like, okay, something's up.

451
00:25:05,500 --> 00:25:11,380
And Chris, I'm amazed by what you went through, but if you don't mind, if we could just step

452
00:25:11,380 --> 00:25:15,700
away for a second, what was that like for you that day?

453
00:25:15,700 --> 00:25:16,700
Awful.

454
00:25:16,700 --> 00:25:17,700
Yeah.

455
00:25:17,700 --> 00:25:21,500
We've talked, or we'll get into it again a little more, but I've said many times on here

456
00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:26,980
that I've worked for the majority of my career within blocks of ground zero, and it took

457
00:25:26,980 --> 00:25:31,940
me 17 years to go back because I finally self-diagnosed myself with PTSD.

458
00:25:31,940 --> 00:25:33,060
So I get it.

459
00:25:33,060 --> 00:25:35,860
And I want to touch on the point you made or the comment you made regarding the blue

460
00:25:35,860 --> 00:25:37,180
sky.

461
00:25:37,180 --> 00:25:41,580
I'm working on a separate project right now regarding 9-11, which will be public in exactly

462
00:25:41,580 --> 00:25:43,580
a month from today.

463
00:25:43,580 --> 00:25:49,300
But everyone you talk to in the country, anyone that I've talked to, everyone says that day,

464
00:25:49,300 --> 00:25:55,580
no matter where they were geographically, was a crystal clear blue sky.

465
00:25:55,580 --> 00:26:00,460
And then there's this plume of smoke that was there for weeks.

466
00:26:00,460 --> 00:26:05,380
And so I understand what you went through, and thank you for that and for sharing that.

467
00:26:05,380 --> 00:26:07,260
And I don't even know what we're talking about next.

468
00:26:07,260 --> 00:26:08,260
Yeah.

469
00:26:08,260 --> 00:26:11,460
Well, again, you're right.

470
00:26:11,460 --> 00:26:17,500
That whole day was just from the absolute best to the worst, just like Charles Dickens.

471
00:26:17,500 --> 00:26:20,700
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

472
00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:27,580
And I remember when the second tower hit, the plane at the second tower, I called John.

473
00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:33,340
I was like, Senator, I was like, you probably should get in here, there's something happening.

474
00:26:33,340 --> 00:26:42,420
And he came in to the office and we were both watching the smoke engulf the towers.

475
00:26:42,420 --> 00:26:46,620
And I turned to him and I said, John, those towers can't handle that.

476
00:26:46,620 --> 00:26:49,020
They're not going to be able to stand.

477
00:26:49,020 --> 00:26:52,900
In seconds, the first tower fell.

478
00:26:52,900 --> 00:26:57,420
And he looked at me and I was like, oh my God, what about the people that went in to

479
00:26:57,420 --> 00:27:00,020
rescue people?

480
00:27:00,020 --> 00:27:07,420
And then at that time, somebody came through the Russell building and started screaming,

481
00:27:07,420 --> 00:27:09,100
get out, get out, get out.

482
00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:13,580
And I think the Pentagon might've been hit at that point or something, but it's kind

483
00:27:13,580 --> 00:27:15,320
of mushy in my head.

484
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,800
But I remember the police officers, the Capitol Hill police were running in, get out, get

485
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:20,800
out.

486
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:21,800
There's a plane headed for us.

487
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,440
There's a plane headed for us.

488
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:30,760
And because John is a Christian man, he grabbed me, his chief of staff and his legislative

489
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:31,760
director.

490
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,160
Now his legislative director, Pam, was pregnant.

491
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,000
And we were like, Pam, don't you dare have that baby right now, because she was literally

492
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:40,840
eight months pregnant.

493
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:46,520
And the crazy thing, her husband was a speechwriter for Rumsfeld.

494
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:51,040
And she came and she's like, I've called him, I can't reach Mark, I can't reach Mark.

495
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:52,040
And we didn't know.

496
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,680
And again, the Pentagon had been hit at that point.

497
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:59,400
And so he made a stand in a circle and he prayed.

498
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:05,760
And he said, Lord, we don't know what's going on, but make it stop, divinely intervene.

499
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:07,760
Please divinely intervene.

500
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,040
And I remember that.

501
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,960
And then we later learned that the plane that was hit in Shanksville was headed for the

502
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:15,440
Capitol.

503
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,080
And so it's crazy.

504
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,840
And we walked outside, eventually went outside.

505
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:25,960
And it was just a mass of people from the Hill just standing.

506
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,360
They didn't know, we didn't know what to do.

507
00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:31,040
We didn't know if the plane was headed for us.

508
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:41,280
The thing that was so scary was not knowing what was going to happen next.

509
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:46,080
And then we evacuated the senator, we're like, okay, so we got to get you to a safe spot.

510
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:50,880
So I knew at that point, I had to go into work mode.

511
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,320
It was my job to be his spokesperson.

512
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:58,240
And somebody once told me that the best spokesperson is always right near the senator and knows

513
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,900
what their principal is thinking and going to say.

514
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:02,760
So I stayed with him.

515
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,100
And then we had another person with him.

516
00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:06,600
And then it was just the three of us.

517
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,660
We worked together the entire day.

518
00:29:09,660 --> 00:29:12,060
And I kept getting calls from reporters.

519
00:29:12,060 --> 00:29:18,580
So I had to get on the phone, as scared as I was, as nervous as I was, I was on the phone

520
00:29:18,580 --> 00:29:19,580
with media.

521
00:29:19,580 --> 00:29:20,580
Okay.

522
00:29:20,580 --> 00:29:21,580
Yes, this happened.

523
00:29:21,580 --> 00:29:22,580
I was with the senator.

524
00:29:22,580 --> 00:29:23,580
He's okay.

525
00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:24,580
He's all right.

526
00:29:24,580 --> 00:29:25,580
Everything's okay.

527
00:29:25,580 --> 00:29:26,580
All day long.

528
00:29:26,580 --> 00:29:33,380
So I didn't have time to process everything that was going on until afterwards.

529
00:29:33,380 --> 00:29:34,380
That's how most of us were.

530
00:29:34,380 --> 00:29:35,380
Yeah.

531
00:29:35,380 --> 00:29:40,780
And as a follow up to that, I think it was 2005 or six, I was working in a building in

532
00:29:40,780 --> 00:29:41,780
Lower Manhattan.

533
00:29:41,780 --> 00:29:45,500
It was one Liberty Plaza and we were at the 50th floor and that was the top floor of the

534
00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:46,500
building.

535
00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:48,820
It's like one of the last buildings on the tip of Manhattan.

536
00:29:48,820 --> 00:29:52,100
And you heard this plane buzz by.

537
00:29:52,100 --> 00:29:53,260
And then it buzzed by again.

538
00:29:53,540 --> 00:29:56,580
And I remember calling my wife thinking that was it.

539
00:29:56,580 --> 00:30:02,020
And what happened was there was a former New York Yankee who was in a small personal plane

540
00:30:02,020 --> 00:30:06,360
and he just lost control of the plane and ended up crashing into the river.

541
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,180
But I had that deja vu all over again.

542
00:30:08,180 --> 00:30:11,220
Like I'm on the top of this building and it's one of the things sticking out on the tip.

543
00:30:11,220 --> 00:30:14,180
It's easy to find because there's nothing else down here now.

544
00:30:14,180 --> 00:30:17,880
So I can relate to all of that.

545
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,460
You talked about what the senator said that resonated with you in terms of volunteering

546
00:30:22,660 --> 00:30:23,660
and public service.

547
00:30:23,660 --> 00:30:26,540
Why did you choose public service and not the military?

548
00:30:26,540 --> 00:30:33,820
Well, of course, because of my dad's experience being a Tuskegee airman and my stepfather

549
00:30:33,820 --> 00:30:37,180
being in the Air Force, they didn't want me to get in.

550
00:30:37,180 --> 00:30:45,500
And I can partly understand it because when I did eventually end up in Iraq, knowing how

551
00:30:45,500 --> 00:30:47,620
what I went through changed me.

552
00:30:48,580 --> 00:30:53,700
Thank God my personality was already formed by the time I went to Iraq, because if I'd

553
00:30:53,700 --> 00:31:00,620
have been 18, 19 and getting into the military, it probably would have shaped my personality

554
00:31:00,620 --> 00:31:02,260
that I would have.

555
00:31:02,260 --> 00:31:03,260
You see me.

556
00:31:03,260 --> 00:31:04,260
I'm gregarious.

557
00:31:04,260 --> 00:31:05,260
I laugh.

558
00:31:05,260 --> 00:31:06,260
I love to joke.

559
00:31:06,260 --> 00:31:07,260
That's just me.

560
00:31:07,260 --> 00:31:13,700
I don't think I would have developed and held on to that had I joined the military at such

561
00:31:13,700 --> 00:31:15,340
a young age.

562
00:31:15,340 --> 00:31:20,780
But I just, dad, he just had a tough time.

563
00:31:20,780 --> 00:31:23,060
He just had a really tough time.

564
00:31:23,060 --> 00:31:26,740
And so, and of course, my mom wasn't going to stand for it.

565
00:31:26,740 --> 00:31:31,300
Shirley Jones was not going to stand up for any of this.

566
00:31:31,300 --> 00:31:36,300
But I, you know, the Lord had me where he wanted me to go and, you know, he guided me

567
00:31:36,300 --> 00:31:40,060
and I kind of like, okay, God, what are we going to do next?

568
00:31:40,060 --> 00:31:45,900
Your plan is better than mine, but, you know, but daddy didn't say I couldn't serve.

569
00:31:45,900 --> 00:31:50,500
And he was gone by the time I went to Iraq, thank goodness, because I don't think he would

570
00:31:50,500 --> 00:31:53,620
have been able to handle it at all.

571
00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:59,580
So you didn't officially serve, you didn't join the military, but you actually volunteered

572
00:31:59,580 --> 00:32:03,420
to go to Baghdad, excuse me, at the height of the fighting and bloodshed, even though,

573
00:32:03,420 --> 00:32:07,700
as you said, you weren't a soldier and you weren't a nation builder or rebuilder.

574
00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:11,340
Why did you think you needed to be in a war zone in the very midst of the US invasion?

575
00:32:11,340 --> 00:32:20,020
Well, you know, it goes back to, I guess, service is in my DNA because of my dad.

576
00:32:20,020 --> 00:32:24,900
And the words of Senator Enson just kept going through my head that, you know, it's your

577
00:32:24,900 --> 00:32:25,900
duty to serve.

578
00:32:25,900 --> 00:32:29,260
If you love this country, then you got to do your part.

579
00:32:29,260 --> 00:32:31,980
And as I said in the book, I don't know how to shoot a gun.

580
00:32:31,980 --> 00:32:34,120
I kind of know how to shoot one now.

581
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,180
And I don't know how to rebuild a country, but I have a special skill set.

582
00:32:37,180 --> 00:32:39,300
I know how to communicate.

583
00:32:39,300 --> 00:32:41,660
I know how to tell stories.

584
00:32:41,660 --> 00:32:46,620
And I said, kind of in the back of my head, I also have this terrible thing where I like

585
00:32:46,620 --> 00:32:48,220
to be in the middle of action.

586
00:32:48,220 --> 00:32:52,060
I guess that's why I was a TV reporter in the first place.

587
00:32:52,060 --> 00:32:56,620
But it wasn't until somebody reached out to me after 9-11.

588
00:32:56,620 --> 00:33:02,100
I was over, this was 2003, and after the war broke out in Iraq, and I was working on the

589
00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:03,100
House side.

590
00:33:03,100 --> 00:33:05,900
I went from the Senate to the House because I was helping Nevada members.

591
00:33:05,900 --> 00:33:11,700
And I was working there and remember watching Shock and Awe, the night of Shock and Awe,

592
00:33:11,700 --> 00:33:14,060
when we first hit Iraq.

593
00:33:14,060 --> 00:33:16,900
And I was like, oh, my gosh, that's crazy.

594
00:33:16,900 --> 00:33:23,380
And then a while later, somebody reached out to me that I had met at the Pentagon.

595
00:33:23,380 --> 00:33:26,460
And they said, Tracy, we need your help.

596
00:33:26,460 --> 00:33:31,840
We need people in Iraq to help tell our story because the communicating of what the rebuilding

597
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,220
in Iraq was starting to be wasn't coming across.

598
00:33:35,220 --> 00:33:37,420
The story wasn't getting told.

599
00:33:37,420 --> 00:33:41,700
And so this person at the Pentagon said, we need your help.

600
00:33:41,700 --> 00:33:43,380
Would you come to Iraq?

601
00:33:43,380 --> 00:33:45,460
And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

602
00:33:45,460 --> 00:33:52,940
And then the thing that really set me in to the point where it was like my father's determination.

603
00:33:52,940 --> 00:34:00,820
I was watching, there was a bombing and one of the main people in Iraq was killed.

604
00:34:00,820 --> 00:34:06,620
And I remember Ambassador Bremer lost his friend and forgive me for getting who it was

605
00:34:06,620 --> 00:34:09,220
right now, but I'm sure somebody will correct me.

606
00:34:09,220 --> 00:34:13,020
I remember turning on the news and watching Ambassador like in tears because his friend

607
00:34:13,020 --> 00:34:14,020
died.

608
00:34:14,020 --> 00:34:17,640
And I thought, you know what, nobody's going to want to go over there now.

609
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:23,180
And because nobody wants to go, then I have to go.

610
00:34:23,180 --> 00:34:26,920
It's you know, firefighters, they go in when everybody's running out.

611
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:28,520
I'm not a firefighter.

612
00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:32,760
I'm not a police officer, but I'm going to use some of the courage that the good Lord

613
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:38,300
gave me and I'm going to go on faith and I'll do my part.

614
00:34:38,300 --> 00:34:45,840
And I hope I come home, but I just had that determination to go help where I could.

615
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,160
So when you deployed, you were assigned to the green zone, which was supposed to be a

616
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:53,100
secure US perimeter, but certainly wasn't safe there.

617
00:34:53,100 --> 00:34:55,160
First describe the green zone for us.

618
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:57,400
How big was it and how often did it come under attack?

619
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:58,480
Oh my gosh.

620
00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:05,080
Well, first of all, the green zone was about a two to three mile radius around.

621
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,720
And the reason they called it the green zone to remind your listeners is because when you

622
00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:13,840
were in the green zone, your weapons were off, green off.

623
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:17,800
That means you didn't have to have your pistol on pistol on fire or your weapon on fire when

624
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,480
it was on fire, turn red.

625
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:26,760
So when you went outside of this area, and as I was there, the worse the attacks became,

626
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:31,320
the more cordoned off the green zone was.

627
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:37,780
So it had not, you have to remember Saddam Hussein had this area where he had a couple

628
00:35:37,780 --> 00:35:38,780
of palaces.

629
00:35:38,780 --> 00:35:44,360
Saddam Hussein had palaces all over the country, but within the green zone, he had a couple

630
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:49,760
of different buildings that were like different palaces, but they had this really big one.

631
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:56,920
And so in the green zone, it was like a self-contained city in this two mile area.

632
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:01,760
And we had the combat air support hospital, the cash.

633
00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:09,500
We had the main building headquarters that we worked out of the palace, and that's where

634
00:36:09,500 --> 00:36:11,520
everybody was headquartered.

635
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:16,360
And so our office in this big, it kind of looked like a mini Capitol because there was

636
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:22,600
a dome on top and it stretched out to look, so if you can imagine the US Capitol.

637
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:30,040
And so we had, before I got there, before they built little trailers and stuff for people

638
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:36,760
to stay in, people, different rooms that would have cots and everybody was in the same room.

639
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:42,520
And now I want to point this out to show you how rugged this was.

640
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:48,000
And again, people in the military that were out in the field had it so much worse than

641
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,000
we did.

642
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:54,900
But when I first got to, arrived in Iraq, they didn't have any plumbing that worked.

643
00:36:54,900 --> 00:36:59,400
So we were in the palace, the plumbing did not work.

644
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,840
And everybody eventually got Saddam's revenge.

645
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,440
Everybody got some kind of gastrointestinal thing.

646
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:14,500
And I cannot describe how disgusting it was to walk into a bathroom where nothing flushed

647
00:37:14,500 --> 00:37:18,940
for weeks and you had to, that's what you had to use.

648
00:37:18,940 --> 00:37:22,360
But it was worse for the guy out in the field or the woman out in the field who had to dig

649
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:26,880
a hole and hope they didn't get shot while they were using the bathroom out in the field.

650
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:31,300
So there were layers of, oh my gosh, this is bad, this is bad.

651
00:37:31,300 --> 00:37:33,060
But there was always worse.

652
00:37:34,060 --> 00:37:37,580
And people will ask me, how did I prepare before I went to Iraq?

653
00:37:37,580 --> 00:37:38,580
I didn't.

654
00:37:38,580 --> 00:37:40,140
I didn't have any training.

655
00:37:40,140 --> 00:37:44,500
And they were so desperate to get people out there right away and to get us there quickly.

656
00:37:44,500 --> 00:37:45,500
They didn't train us.

657
00:37:45,500 --> 00:37:47,860
They just said, here's your ticket, go.

658
00:37:47,860 --> 00:37:52,500
So I kind of had to mentally, okay, Tracy, this is a war zone, you're going to probably

659
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:58,940
see some bad stuff, you might see people killed, and you can psych yourself into that.

660
00:37:58,940 --> 00:38:05,060
But it's nothing like when you really, really face it.

661
00:38:05,060 --> 00:38:10,380
And I tell people, one of the chapters in my book that we'll talk about is, one of the

662
00:38:10,380 --> 00:38:13,220
chapters is, is war is hell.

663
00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:15,500
When you're going through hell, keep going.

664
00:38:15,500 --> 00:38:20,700
It's the Winston Churchill quote and Tecumseh Sherman mixed together.

665
00:38:20,700 --> 00:38:28,460
And when you first get there, when I got there, it was like, oh my, okay, well, and when we

666
00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:35,900
got on the bus to go from the airport to the green zone, it was about a six to eight

667
00:38:35,900 --> 00:38:39,700
mile trip from the airport to the green zone.

668
00:38:39,700 --> 00:38:43,140
That was one of the deadliest roads in the world.

669
00:38:43,140 --> 00:38:48,140
And when we got on the bus, they said, don't look out the window, the curtains are down

670
00:38:48,140 --> 00:38:49,140
to protect you.

671
00:38:49,140 --> 00:38:50,140
Of course, you know, I did.

672
00:38:50,140 --> 00:38:51,140
I'm sitting there like, what?

673
00:38:51,140 --> 00:38:52,140
This is the first time I want to see what it looks like.

674
00:38:52,140 --> 00:38:53,140
I got to peek through the hole.

675
00:38:53,140 --> 00:38:54,140
You're not supposed to do that.

676
00:38:54,140 --> 00:38:59,940
We could get shot.

677
00:38:59,940 --> 00:39:02,300
But we made it.

678
00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:05,820
And my first impression was, wow, it's pretty dusty here.

679
00:39:05,820 --> 00:39:08,380
And it's, it's, it's yuck.

680
00:39:08,380 --> 00:39:13,700
But when I was able to travel around the country in my work, and one of, let me back up, one

681
00:39:13,700 --> 00:39:17,780
of the things that used to annoy me so much is there were reports that, that we in the

682
00:39:17,780 --> 00:39:22,100
green zone that worked for the, the CPA, the coalition of provisional authorities, never

683
00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:23,740
traveled outside the green zone.

684
00:39:24,340 --> 00:39:28,180
I used to hate that because we had people that were going out all the time.

685
00:39:28,180 --> 00:39:31,540
I knew I went out on several occasions to fly different places.

686
00:39:31,540 --> 00:39:34,060
So that was a, that was a misnomer.

687
00:39:34,060 --> 00:39:43,620
But when I flew around Iraq, what shocked me was how beautiful, how beautiful it was.

688
00:39:43,620 --> 00:39:50,340
We would fly over groves and groves of, of, of palm trees.

689
00:39:50,340 --> 00:39:52,060
And I was like, oh my gosh, this is.

690
00:39:52,060 --> 00:39:54,380
And then we, as we flew up, we would fly up to Mosul.

691
00:39:54,380 --> 00:39:59,700
There's this lake that was the most uncanny color of blue.

692
00:39:59,700 --> 00:40:01,820
And I was like, this is the Iraq that people don't see.

693
00:40:01,820 --> 00:40:02,820
That's the good part.

694
00:40:02,820 --> 00:40:08,940
By the time you left Iraq, you were experiencing post-traumatic stress.

695
00:40:08,940 --> 00:40:12,100
What kind of support or treatment did civilian government workers receive?

696
00:40:12,100 --> 00:40:15,420
And was it the same that our troops received?

697
00:40:15,420 --> 00:40:16,580
For me, it wasn't.

698
00:40:16,580 --> 00:40:19,380
And I, again, I have to preface this.

699
00:40:19,380 --> 00:40:22,740
The military member's job is to go to war.

700
00:40:22,740 --> 00:40:27,900
They need every bit of support they can get.

701
00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:29,580
They are in it all the time.

702
00:40:29,580 --> 00:40:32,900
They're in it at a worse level than I ever faced.

703
00:40:32,900 --> 00:40:38,980
They deserve everything, any kind of support that they can get.

704
00:40:38,980 --> 00:40:45,980
But for me, when I came back, I, I didn't, I knew that I wasn't right.

705
00:40:45,980 --> 00:40:52,260
And so I tried to explain to somebody, unfortunately, in the Washington area, as we're doing this

706
00:40:52,260 --> 00:40:56,820
recording, about a couple of weeks ago, there was a plane that crashed into the Potomac

707
00:40:56,820 --> 00:41:00,700
River as it was landing, and it was hit by a helicopter.

708
00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:08,020
And I talked to somebody recently, and I said, you know, this is, it's terrible what happened.

709
00:41:08,020 --> 00:41:11,500
But in Iraq, every day, that happened every day.

710
00:41:11,500 --> 00:41:13,500
Somebody was dying every day.

711
00:41:13,500 --> 00:41:19,900
And it's, you're talking to somebody, and then two or three hours later, they're dead.

712
00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:27,140
You can only absorb so much grief before you, you just, you just stop.

713
00:41:27,140 --> 00:41:29,420
You stop the grieving process.

714
00:41:29,420 --> 00:41:33,100
And I told somebody, I said, you know, when you, when something happens, you get a little

715
00:41:33,100 --> 00:41:37,860
numb, you may, you feel that buzz from being numb.

716
00:41:37,860 --> 00:41:39,660
That was gone.

717
00:41:39,660 --> 00:41:44,220
Because day after day, and I was there for nine months the first time.

718
00:41:44,220 --> 00:41:48,860
And again, the soldiers that made six, seven deployments where they were going through

719
00:41:48,860 --> 00:41:57,060
this and they're really in it, they, I give my heart to them for what they went through.

720
00:41:57,060 --> 00:42:06,780
But when I came back, I didn't realize that I was bad until I was, I went down, I got

721
00:42:06,780 --> 00:42:11,920
home around the 4th of July, which is my favorite holiday in the summer.

722
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:19,700
And I came back to DC and I wanted to go running down the mall and the Washington DC mall on

723
00:42:19,700 --> 00:42:21,340
the 4th of July just to do something.

724
00:42:21,340 --> 00:42:23,380
So I went for a jog.

725
00:42:23,380 --> 00:42:27,940
And I heard this explode, what I thought was an explosion.

726
00:42:27,940 --> 00:42:33,100
And I was like, oh my God, somebody has blown themself up on the 4th of July on the mall.

727
00:42:33,100 --> 00:42:34,540
Oh my God.

728
00:42:34,540 --> 00:42:36,420
It was thunder.

729
00:42:36,420 --> 00:42:38,860
It was just a clap of thunder.

730
00:42:38,860 --> 00:42:43,900
And then I was like, okay, there's something wrong.

731
00:42:43,900 --> 00:42:48,220
And then sadly enough, my mom was stricken with cancer while I was in Baghdad.

732
00:42:48,220 --> 00:42:50,220
So I had to fly home and come back.

733
00:42:50,220 --> 00:42:52,580
And then she made me go back to the war zone.

734
00:42:52,580 --> 00:42:56,140
And she died about a year and a half after that.

735
00:42:56,140 --> 00:43:02,900
So I was hit with about as much as I could be hit with.

736
00:43:02,900 --> 00:43:03,900
And I just shut down.

737
00:43:03,900 --> 00:43:04,900
I was mean.

738
00:43:04,900 --> 00:43:08,340
And I would have these horrible dreams.

739
00:43:08,340 --> 00:43:09,340
Horrible dreams.

740
00:43:09,340 --> 00:43:15,180
And at one point, it was the same recurring dream that I was in a plane crash and I was

741
00:43:15,180 --> 00:43:16,700
in a helicopter crash.

742
00:43:16,700 --> 00:43:20,260
And the helicopter crashed and we were trying to run and the insurgents were chasing.

743
00:43:20,260 --> 00:43:23,180
It would recur to the point where I didn't want to go to sleep.

744
00:43:23,180 --> 00:43:25,820
I was afraid because I'd have that same dream.

745
00:43:25,820 --> 00:43:30,820
But when I came back home and when I realized what was going on, I didn't want to tell anybody.

746
00:43:30,820 --> 00:43:34,580
And I think as I wrote my book, I think everybody already knew.

747
00:43:34,580 --> 00:43:40,540
But what helped me was we called the people that I was with, the little group I was with,

748
00:43:40,540 --> 00:43:43,020
we called ourselves the Iraq Pack.

749
00:43:43,020 --> 00:43:44,560
And there was about 20 of us.

750
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:48,420
And so I would get on the phone or I'd reach out and say, hey, you guys, did y'all hear

751
00:43:48,420 --> 00:43:49,420
that thunder?

752
00:43:49,420 --> 00:43:50,700
Because it totally freaked me out.

753
00:43:50,700 --> 00:43:53,100
And so we depended on each other.

754
00:43:53,100 --> 00:43:57,100
But then the thing that really got me was writing.

755
00:43:57,100 --> 00:43:59,180
That's why I wrote my book.

756
00:43:59,220 --> 00:44:08,380
I wrote to get it out of me, to deal with the PTSD, because that was my cathartic way

757
00:44:08,380 --> 00:44:10,660
of dealing with it.

758
00:44:10,660 --> 00:44:15,460
So again, I didn't really have therapy and prayer.

759
00:44:15,460 --> 00:44:16,820
I prayed a lot.

760
00:44:16,820 --> 00:44:18,660
I learned to pray a lot.

761
00:44:18,660 --> 00:44:21,340
And that's, I think, what helped me to heal.

762
00:44:21,340 --> 00:44:25,340
The more we talk, the more similar we are.

763
00:44:25,340 --> 00:44:27,180
The first chapter of my book is about my experience.

764
00:44:27,180 --> 00:44:31,260
And that was my, I wrote during COVID, it's a small book, but chapter one is about my

765
00:44:31,260 --> 00:44:32,260
day on 9-11.

766
00:44:32,260 --> 00:44:33,700
And it was my way of putting pen to paper.

767
00:44:33,700 --> 00:44:35,460
And they always talk about journaling for mental health.

768
00:44:35,460 --> 00:44:36,460
And so that was it.

769
00:44:36,460 --> 00:44:39,100
So I can totally appreciate that.

770
00:44:39,100 --> 00:44:40,340
And I could talk to you for hours.

771
00:44:40,340 --> 00:44:43,100
Unfortunately, we only have 52 minutes.

772
00:44:43,100 --> 00:44:46,620
So without delaying any longer, let's talk about your book.

773
00:44:46,620 --> 00:44:49,420
You say, quote, we all have war zones.

774
00:44:49,420 --> 00:44:51,620
That's a provocative statement.

775
00:44:51,620 --> 00:44:52,620
What does that mean?

776
00:44:52,660 --> 00:44:55,900
Why do you ask people, what's your war zone?

777
00:44:55,900 --> 00:45:06,700
When you think about a war zone, it is this thing that is so intense and so rattling and

778
00:45:06,700 --> 00:45:15,660
so explosive, that thing that you could die from.

779
00:45:15,660 --> 00:45:19,740
And so when I was at a book signing a couple of months ago, I was trying to explain to

780
00:45:19,740 --> 00:45:21,020
people, well, what is your book about?

781
00:45:21,020 --> 00:45:22,340
What is your book about?

782
00:45:23,060 --> 00:45:24,060
And I turned to a lady.

783
00:45:24,060 --> 00:45:26,300
I said, what's your war zone?

784
00:45:26,300 --> 00:45:28,540
What is your war zone?

785
00:45:28,540 --> 00:45:30,460
And I said, is it cancer?

786
00:45:30,460 --> 00:45:34,900
And she said, well, yeah, I had cancer.

787
00:45:34,900 --> 00:45:36,820
And I said, and you survived, right?

788
00:45:36,820 --> 00:45:40,060
And she's like, yeah, I survived it.

789
00:45:40,060 --> 00:45:45,540
So I start and then I kept asking people through the course of the day, they kept saying the

790
00:45:45,540 --> 00:45:46,820
same thing.

791
00:45:46,820 --> 00:45:51,100
And then there's this one lady who came to me and she said, she says, what is your book

792
00:45:51,100 --> 00:45:52,100
about?

793
00:45:52,860 --> 00:45:53,860
And I asked her the same thing.

794
00:45:53,860 --> 00:45:59,260
And I said, when I asked her what her war zone was, she said, I'm from Israel.

795
00:45:59,260 --> 00:46:01,940
And I was like, oh, God, I'm so sorry.

796
00:46:01,940 --> 00:46:05,420
And next thing we know, we both were crying.

797
00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:15,220
And the thing about a war zone, as earth shattering as it is, if you can make it through, you'll

798
00:46:15,220 --> 00:46:18,820
come out better on the other side.

799
00:46:18,820 --> 00:46:20,740
It's that survival.

800
00:46:20,740 --> 00:46:29,700
It's the journey to survive is where the growth comes from, and hopefully you'll heal and

801
00:46:29,700 --> 00:46:30,700
get better.

802
00:46:30,700 --> 00:46:32,260
And that's what happened to me.

803
00:46:32,260 --> 00:46:38,900
I think I'm a better person now than when I went into that war zone in Iraq.

804
00:46:38,900 --> 00:46:42,180
And you said you've never sought formal treatment or anything like that?

805
00:46:42,180 --> 00:46:43,180
No.

806
00:46:43,180 --> 00:46:44,180
Again, birds of a feather.

807
00:46:44,180 --> 00:46:45,180
Yep.

808
00:46:45,180 --> 00:46:46,180
See, you get it.

809
00:46:46,180 --> 00:46:47,500
You get it, Chris.

810
00:46:47,500 --> 00:46:50,980
So before we run out of time, the title of your book is Take Off Your Hoop Earrings Before

811
00:46:50,980 --> 00:46:55,340
Putting on Your Gas Mask, A Civilian Chick's Guide to Surviving a War Zone.

812
00:46:55,340 --> 00:46:56,340
Two questions.

813
00:46:56,340 --> 00:46:58,500
First is, where can people find your book?

814
00:46:58,500 --> 00:47:01,540
And the second question is, are those the gold hoop earrings you wore when you went

815
00:47:01,540 --> 00:47:02,540
to combat?

816
00:47:02,540 --> 00:47:03,540
Yes.

817
00:47:03,540 --> 00:47:08,940
You can get it on Amazon, and it's Tracy Scott.

818
00:47:08,940 --> 00:47:12,100
Just put in, take off your hoop earrings, and it'll pop right up.

819
00:47:12,100 --> 00:47:13,100
Amazon.

820
00:47:13,100 --> 00:47:15,900
I don't have the audio version of it out, but you can get an audible, and you can get

821
00:47:15,900 --> 00:47:17,420
it paperback, hardback.

822
00:47:18,340 --> 00:47:22,740
And yes, I did wear these hoop earrings to a war zone, and the title comes from when

823
00:47:22,740 --> 00:47:27,740
I had to go through gas mask training, and I was so tired, and I went to put on my gas

824
00:47:27,740 --> 00:47:30,940
mask, and my friend was like, Tracy, you gotta take off your hoop earrings before you put

825
00:47:30,940 --> 00:47:31,940
on your gas mask.

826
00:47:31,940 --> 00:47:36,340
But the life lesson is, Chris, life is a process.

827
00:47:36,340 --> 00:47:41,980
Life is a process, and you have to follow the process, and you have to go through your

828
00:47:41,980 --> 00:47:43,180
war zone.

829
00:47:43,180 --> 00:47:47,100
But if you follow the process that life has to offer, and you make it through your war

830
00:47:47,100 --> 00:47:51,500
zone, you will come out stronger and better on the other side.

831
00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:56,300
And I think a second life lesson is always be ready to accessorize gold hoop earrings.

832
00:47:56,300 --> 00:48:01,140
Well, the part I left out is when I showed up, and the generals are like, what the hell

833
00:48:01,140 --> 00:48:02,860
are we supposed to do with her?

834
00:48:02,860 --> 00:48:06,540
She showed up here wearing hoop earrings, what is this?

835
00:48:06,540 --> 00:48:10,580
But I will tell you that if you read the book, all of those generals, I fell in love with

836
00:48:10,580 --> 00:48:11,580
them.

837
00:48:11,580 --> 00:48:12,580
I fell in love with every one of them.

838
00:48:12,980 --> 00:48:16,100
And just to clarify for listeners and viewers, it's Tracy with an I, Scott, so we can get

839
00:48:16,100 --> 00:48:18,660
the right Google search there on Amazon.

840
00:48:18,660 --> 00:48:22,260
Tracy, we're huge fans of Dana Perino here at Next Steps Forward.

841
00:48:22,260 --> 00:48:23,780
She's been a guest on the podcast.

842
00:48:23,780 --> 00:48:26,020
She's a subject of a chapter in my upcoming book.

843
00:48:26,020 --> 00:48:30,180
You have your own Dana Perino story that speaks volumes about her and reinforces our affection

844
00:48:30,180 --> 00:48:31,260
for her.

845
00:48:31,260 --> 00:48:32,820
Would you share that story with our audience?

846
00:48:32,820 --> 00:48:33,820
Absolutely.

847
00:48:33,820 --> 00:48:38,300
She may not remember this, but years ago when I was at the Pentagon, I had to go to the

848
00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:40,540
White House for some meetings.

849
00:48:40,540 --> 00:48:43,900
And strangely enough, the meetings were in the White House Situation Room because we

850
00:48:43,900 --> 00:48:46,140
were discussing some very serious issues.

851
00:48:46,140 --> 00:48:49,700
So I remember when I showed up, OK, first of all, it's the White House.

852
00:48:49,700 --> 00:48:50,700
I'm intimidated.

853
00:48:50,700 --> 00:48:51,700
All right.

854
00:48:51,700 --> 00:48:53,580
Then it's the Situation Room.

855
00:48:53,580 --> 00:48:59,300
I'm like, oh, my gosh, I just I just I'm glad to be here, but I'm scared to death.

856
00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:02,940
And so we got into the room and I just went to the end of the table and I was like, well,

857
00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:04,220
I'll just sit here and just listen.

858
00:49:04,220 --> 00:49:08,060
And if they need to hear from me, then I'll just I'll just be quiet until then.

859
00:49:08,060 --> 00:49:13,580
I can't tell you how intimidating it is to be in this place where how many people get

860
00:49:13,580 --> 00:49:14,900
to go to it.

861
00:49:14,900 --> 00:49:20,580
So I'm sitting in there just trying to breathe and in walks Dana Perino.

862
00:49:20,580 --> 00:49:23,620
And she walked around the table, passed everyone.

863
00:49:23,620 --> 00:49:25,340
She kind of said hello to a couple of people.

864
00:49:25,340 --> 00:49:28,180
She came to the end of the table and she came to me.

865
00:49:28,180 --> 00:49:29,180
She put out her hand.

866
00:49:29,180 --> 00:49:31,220
She said, hi, my name is Dana Perino.

867
00:49:31,220 --> 00:49:32,220
How are you?

868
00:49:32,220 --> 00:49:33,220
Oh, my gosh.

869
00:49:33,220 --> 00:49:34,220
She was already White House spokesman.

870
00:49:34,220 --> 00:49:35,220
Everybody knew who she was.

871
00:49:35,380 --> 00:49:42,820
But she came because she she must have I must have had a neon sign on my forehead.

872
00:49:42,820 --> 00:49:43,820
I'm scared.

873
00:49:43,820 --> 00:49:44,820
I'm scared.

874
00:49:44,820 --> 00:49:46,300
I can't believe I'm here.

875
00:49:46,300 --> 00:49:49,740
And she walked over and she said, hi, my name is Dana.

876
00:49:49,740 --> 00:49:50,740
I'm Dana Perino.

877
00:49:50,740 --> 00:49:51,740
How are you?

878
00:49:51,740 --> 00:49:56,820
I'm like, but instantly it made me calm down.

879
00:49:56,820 --> 00:49:59,460
And she she saw me.

880
00:49:59,460 --> 00:50:01,260
She saw me.

881
00:50:01,260 --> 00:50:05,620
And she with class came over and put me at ease.

882
00:50:05,620 --> 00:50:08,180
And I will always think highly of her.

883
00:50:08,180 --> 00:50:12,900
Again, she probably will never remember it, but I will remember it the rest of my life

884
00:50:12,900 --> 00:50:17,540
that she was kind enough and aware that, hey, there's somebody in the room that's probably

885
00:50:17,540 --> 00:50:20,880
she's probably scared.

886
00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:21,940
So I'm going to go talk to her.

887
00:50:21,940 --> 00:50:25,740
And I appreciate it for the rest of my life.

888
00:50:25,740 --> 00:50:29,340
So you were in the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program,

889
00:50:29,340 --> 00:50:33,700
which was co-founded by both President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton.

890
00:50:33,700 --> 00:50:37,860
Hats off to you, because I've applied a couple of times and gotten negged both times.

891
00:50:37,860 --> 00:50:41,700
But that led you to starting a nonprofit called the Green Dress Project.

892
00:50:41,700 --> 00:50:42,700
Yes.

893
00:50:42,700 --> 00:50:43,700
Tell us about that, please.

894
00:50:43,700 --> 00:50:45,220
And how can people support it?

895
00:50:45,220 --> 00:50:49,280
Well, the Green Dress Project came actually from President Bush.

896
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:54,260
If you remember, years before there was some when he was president, there were some girls

897
00:50:54,260 --> 00:50:55,780
on a sports team.

898
00:50:55,780 --> 00:50:58,260
I think it was I can't remember lacrosse or something.

899
00:50:58,260 --> 00:51:00,300
They showed up to the White House.

900
00:51:00,300 --> 00:51:03,540
And one of the girls, they're like, we're flip flops.

901
00:51:03,540 --> 00:51:08,620
And it became like a national story because these girls were flip flops to the White House.

902
00:51:08,620 --> 00:51:14,460
And I was like, when I when I got in the Presidential Leadership Program, my project was just an

903
00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:15,900
idea.

904
00:51:15,900 --> 00:51:22,220
And I thought, what about these young girls who don't have somebody in their life to tell

905
00:51:22,220 --> 00:51:25,220
them how to dress to go to the White House?

906
00:51:25,220 --> 00:51:26,220
And then it expanded.

907
00:51:26,220 --> 00:51:27,300
Well, wait a minute.

908
00:51:27,340 --> 00:51:32,300
I know when I started out at CBS News, nobody told me how to work at CBS News.

909
00:51:32,300 --> 00:51:34,380
My parents, they were never in the news business.

910
00:51:34,380 --> 00:51:35,980
They didn't teach me.

911
00:51:35,980 --> 00:51:42,960
So I created the Green Dress Project to help young girls make the transition from school

912
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:48,660
to the workplace or from high school to college, from high school to the workplace.

913
00:51:48,660 --> 00:51:54,020
If you were working at Walmart, if you were working anywhere, if you were going to a boardroom

914
00:51:54,020 --> 00:51:57,980
or if you're going to go work for a Fortune 500 company straight out of college, it helped

915
00:51:57,980 --> 00:52:00,060
them to make the transition.

916
00:52:00,060 --> 00:52:04,180
And so I'm not going to give you the name, the reason for the color green, but green

917
00:52:04,180 --> 00:52:05,940
means go.

918
00:52:05,940 --> 00:52:07,420
Green means you're new.

919
00:52:07,420 --> 00:52:08,940
It means you're green.

920
00:52:08,940 --> 00:52:09,940
You're new to the situation.

921
00:52:09,940 --> 00:52:12,100
And it's based on four pillars.

922
00:52:12,100 --> 00:52:18,860
It was developing soft skills, developing a financial plan, developing how to dress properly

923
00:52:18,860 --> 00:52:22,260
at work and developing values.

924
00:52:22,260 --> 00:52:26,100
First of all, you need to have good values when you start your work career.

925
00:52:26,100 --> 00:52:27,860
And so it grew from there.

926
00:52:27,860 --> 00:52:31,260
Now, the sad part is it's in abeyance right now.

927
00:52:31,260 --> 00:52:37,780
I didn't tell you, but before I moved to where I am right now, I was living in a rental house

928
00:52:37,780 --> 00:52:41,540
and the ceiling collapsed and I lost all of my stuff.

929
00:52:41,540 --> 00:52:49,980
And then the attic where I had all my Green Dress Project stuff located was ruined because

930
00:52:49,980 --> 00:52:51,320
of a road infestation.

931
00:52:51,380 --> 00:52:52,960
So I've lost my entire history.

932
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:55,040
I've lost everything, Green Dress Project.

933
00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:59,120
Thank goodness though, a woman has reached out to me and we're going to start it all

934
00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:00,440
over again.

935
00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:07,000
So there is a Facebook page, the Green Dress Project, but it's in abeyance right now until

936
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:08,000
I can restart it.

937
00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:12,640
And we were supposed to meet this week, but due to some weather stuff, I couldn't make

938
00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:13,640
it.

939
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:16,560
But thank goodness there's somebody who's interested in helping me to start it all over

940
00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:26,320
again because young girls really need to know how to be prepared and mostly avoid career

941
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:28,320
ending mistakes.

942
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:33,200
And I will tell you, one of the pillars that we had to work on was social media.

943
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:38,440
Oh my goodness, some of these young ladies and men are putting things that will stick

944
00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:39,920
with them forever.

945
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:44,640
And I had to add a new pillar based on that alone.

946
00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:48,520
We helped them to figure out finances and all of that.

947
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:51,920
Tracy Scott, author of Take Off Your Hoop Earrings Before Putting on Your Gas Mask,

948
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,520
A Civilian Chick's Guide to Surviving a War Zone.

949
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:55,520
Thank you so much for being with us.

950
00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:56,600
It was an absolute pleasure and honor.

951
00:53:56,600 --> 00:53:58,520
I really loved the conversation today.

952
00:53:58,520 --> 00:53:59,520
I loved it.

953
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:02,720
And Chris, thank you for having me and thank you for being such a wonderful person.

954
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:03,720
God bless you for all you're doing.

955
00:54:03,720 --> 00:54:04,720
No, thank you.

956
00:54:04,720 --> 00:54:05,720
I appreciate that.

957
00:54:05,720 --> 00:54:06,720
I'm Chris Meek.

958
00:54:06,720 --> 00:54:07,720
We're out of time.

959
00:54:07,720 --> 00:54:08,720
We'll see you next week.

960
00:54:08,720 --> 00:54:09,720
Same time, same place.

961
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:11,840
Until then, stay safe and keep taking your next steps forward.

962
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:19,600
Thanks for tuning in to Next Steps Forward.

963
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:24,800
Be sure to join Chris Meek for another great show next Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time

964
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:29,680
and 1 p.m. Eastern Time on The Voice America Empowerment Channel.

965
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:32,640
This week, make things happen in your life.

966
00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:45,640
I'm Chris Meek.

967
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:46,640
We'll see you next time.

968
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:47,640
Bye.