Veteran Voices
Episode 53

...And I realized it was probably going to take a bit of time to settle down from that high state of alertness. I think it took 18 months to two years for me; it's pretty hard.

-Rob Chell

Episode Summary

The experience each person has in the military varies by branch, unit, and whether they served in wartime or peacetime. But there are also differences between fully enlisting and serving in the National Guard, or – as the British Army calls it – the Territorial Army.

In this interview, host Scott Luton speaks with two Royal Engineer veterans from the British Territorial Army: Dan Reeve (who regular Supply Chain Now listeners will know from Esker) and Rob Chell. They served together in the same troop, and although they didn’t initially get along, they found a way to “figure it out” in the end and became good friends.

Dan and Rob joined Scott to share their stories and thoughts about:

  • Why serving in peacetime can be more dangerous than serving in wartime
  • The importance of decompression – and the process associated with settling down from a high state of alertness
  • Why even journeys taken side by side can be very different from the perspective of each traveler

Episode Transcript

Scott Luton (00:02):

Welcome to veteran voices. A podcast is dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States, armed forces on this series, jointly presented by supply chain now, and vets to industry. We sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insight perspective and stories from serving. We talked with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of veteran voices. Hey, good morning, buddy. Scott Luton and special guest host Dan Reeve with here on veteran voices. Welcome to today’s show Dan, how you doing?

Dan Reeve (00:49):

I’m good. Just had some time off in the mountains, uh, with my man Rob here, who’s over from the UK. So, uh, life is good.

Scott Luton (00:57):

Life is good. I can’t wait to dive into Rob’s story. And by the way, I love your, um, and you got snow on these gorgeous looking like pine trees. What you got some wonderful shots behind you.

Dan Reeve (01:09):

It’s cold. It’s cold actually in the mountains last night, we came down and threw an immersion. It was a lot, you know, 10 degrees warmer, 15 degrees warmer that’s Fahrenheit, not real money. So it was, it was a lot warmer up there in the mountains and was down. Then it is right now, down here in Denmark. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:25):

Well, I love, I love the, the, the shots behind you. So we’ll have to see if we see some, uh, some grizzly bears or some snow, rabbits or something. We’ll see what kinda wildlife might, might move behind you as we go through. Today’s outstanding conversation with a, uh, a wonder full fellow, uh, rural army role engineers, uh, British army role engineers veteran that you serve with, right? Dan?

Dan Reeve (01:51):

Yeah. Rob and I were in the same troop. Can’t say we always liked each other at first, but we came to work together, learned to appreciate one another. Rob was actually my best man, my wedding. So really we the army sort of for together for, to figure it out and we did in the end.

Scott Luton (02:06):

All right. Well, we’re gonna, we’re gonna dive into that story, uh, on today’s episode of, of veteran voices, but Hey, before we do so listeners stay tuned for a great conversation, but quick program note, before we get started, Hey, this program is part of our supply chain. Now family programming today’s show is conducted in partnership with our friends at vets to industry. You can learn more about this powerful nonprofit that’s serving so many folks, so many veterans and families at vets, the numeral two industry.org. Okay. So with no further due, Dan’s been speaking, uh, about our guests today as if he’s not even in the same room with him. And he is, this will be the first time we we’re interviewing a couple of, of veterans that serve together on the same show. So we’re really excited about today’s conversations. Welcome in Rob chill veteran, again, of the rural engineers, which is a core within the British army, Rob, how you doing very well. Thank you. It is so neat to hear, to meet you, I guess, I guess the 20, 22 version of meeting, because I don’t know Rob, if you know this or not, but your ears have been burning because on a couple of Dan’s appearances with us, Dan, I believe you’ve referenced Rob a couple times, right?

Dan Reeve (03:13):

I didn’t say anything good, but you know, maybe

Rob Chell (03:17):

Five. Huh?

Scott Luton (03:19):

All right. So let’s get an opportunity to get to know Rob chill a little bit better. So Rob, let’s start with the universal question that, that, that drives so many conversations here. Where did you grow up and give us a few anecdotes about your upbringing?

Rob Chell (03:33):

Well, I grew up, I suppose, mainly in DHA, which is in the middle of, uh, Britain pretty much countryside. Um, and I probably spent most of my time outside rather than inside sort of watching television or playing ball games.

Scott Luton (03:52):

Okay. What, what was your favorite thing to do outside?

Rob Chell (03:55):

What is a child or as a sort of a teenager?

Scott Luton (03:59):

Well, do the that’s

Rob Chell (04:01):

I think it’s just exploring sort of adventure sort of declining things. Just, just, you know, being quite physical but outside. Right. And I was aware when I was youngster, I was aware that although I had friends that did that with me, that a lot of children of my age, you know, back then spent a lot of time inside the house rather than outside. And of course I was encouraged by my father to spend as much time outside as well, probably just to give him a break.

Scott Luton (04:33):

Were you so, um, did I don’t know about y’all but when I was growing up as a kid and Dan little love to get your take too, we loved a good old fashioned dirt bomb war. Right. So I grew, I grew up in South Carolina, we had a lot of clay and, you know, especially after a rain, you’d have all these dirt bombs and we would have the best time hitting each other with these clumps of, of, of clay. Is that ring a bell for your upbringing? Uh, Rob.

Dan Reeve (05:00):

Oh yeah. We, um, when I was in the Scouts, we did, uh, bags of flour. We’d have flower walls at night.

Rob Chell (05:07):

What was the commission of the elders or, um,

Dan Reeve (05:10):

Yeah. Yeah. It was like an organized sort of ambush, two sides with go each other with, uh, that was kind of before the days of paintball and laser tag and all that stuff. The Scouts would camp out

Rob Chell (05:22):

Know way.

Dan Reeve (05:23):

Yeah. It was in Norfolk.

Rob Chell (05:24):

Yeah. Probably Norfolk thing.

Scott Luton (05:25):

Bags of flour. Is that what you said, Dan?

Dan Reeve (05:28):

Yeah. Like little bags and you know, a flower, you throw them each other and it

Scott Luton (05:32):

Love it

Dan Reeve (05:33):

Come away. White. I suppose we

Rob Chell (05:35):

Made water bombs. That’s folding bits of paper up.

Scott Luton (05:39):

Okay.

Rob Chell (05:40):

That’s an EST thing, but

Scott Luton (05:42):

Hey, different strokes, different folks, whatever it takes to, to help fuel your fight against your friends as you’re outside, enjoying the outdoors, uh, growing up. What else? Um, Dan, uh, you’re gonna ask Rob about what made him join the army here in just a second, but what else sticks out? Let’s talk about food for a second. Darbyshire is that where you grew up again? Rob?

Rob Chell (06:03):

Pretty much in Darbyshire.

Scott Luton (06:04):

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So what, what, what was, uh, what was a go-to food dish that your folks would make that, uh, I mean, you might miss about your childhood. That’s

Rob Chell (06:13):

Pretty, that’s difficult, honestly, because my mum was quite a good cook. So pretty much all the food was good. I don’t really know. I can’t think of anything that was, uh, in particular that I really liked, I suppose, stews. Okay. You know, stews and pies. Okay. Um, chips or fries. You course chips, fries over here.

Scott Luton (06:33):

Don’t you?

Rob Chell (06:33):

French fries. So that sort of thing was pretty good.

Scott Luton (06:38):

Roast beef one last thing. One last question. Did you grow up a sports fan? Did you follow any teams as a kid?

Rob Chell (06:44):

No.

Scott Luton (06:45):

No, really. So it was outside exploring the outdoors, uh, at your dad’s behest, it sounds like.

Rob Chell (06:53):

Yeah. Yeah. I couldn’t couldn’t sound sport. You

Dan Reeve (06:55):

Must have got into shooting quite early.

Rob Chell (06:57):

Uh, well, yeah, I’m shooting with my father probably less, you know, less than 10 years old. I was probably shooting

Dan Reeve (07:03):

With him. And when I say shooting, I, I assume that you mean is more, is it more like in the UK game, hunting birds, rabbit Fox.

Rob Chell (07:11):

Yeah. I, I guess it started off with, um, sort of, um, going out with him shooting. My grandma was that had lived in Wales in the, um, in the valleys in Wales and she had a small house, but with some land she used to walk around the fields, shoot a rabbit, bring it back, you know, paw it really got it. And, and then, um, cook it up for dinner.

Scott Luton (07:36):

Okay. So you were so here in the states, we call that hunting and it sounds like you were hunting at an early age or shooting as it, uh, might be. How do Y all refer to it there?

Rob Chell (07:47):

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Going, going, um, I suppose we call it rough shooting.

Scott Luton (07:53):

I think

Rob Chell (07:54):

Shooting refer to it. Rough, rough shooting. Yeah.

Scott Luton (07:56):

And you still enjoy it to this day?

Rob Chell (07:58):

Well, I’m not against it, but, um, I do a lot less of it than I than what I did when I was younger. Yes. I

Scott Luton (08:08):

Gotcha.

Rob Chell (08:09):

I think when I, when I was younger, I really enjoyed doing it with my father. And then I went on in my, you know, teens and my twenties doing that. And then I guess something changed. And I don’t know if it’s, I don’t know if it’s just the, uh, the process of getting older, but I, but something changed inside. And I started perhaps, you know, where used to, used to observe the behavior of these animals. Right. And I suppose now I sort of, um, appreciate the animals, you know, in a different way. So I just observe them and then let them be,

Scott Luton (08:47):

Hey, I’m with you, Rob I’m with you. I, we could have a fuller conversation around that. I’m a, and particularly I’m a big bird fan right outside my home studio here. I’ve set some pole feeders up and it is amazing how much more of appreciated blue Jays and Bluebird and Cardinals and gold benches. And it, it really to kinda kind of to your point, but I’m gonna use a different word. It’s mesmerizing. You know, when, when I’ve got, uh, you know, 20 birds special, you, when the sunlight hits these things, uh, at certain time in the morning, and then in the afternoon, it is absolutely mesmerized in the city, these birds, uh, feed and interact and stuff. But, uh, we’ll have you back on the bird podcast. Maybe next time you come, uh, Rob, uh, so Dan, so Dan, we wanna get into, uh, kind of how y’all serve together and you both wore uniform. So where do we wanna start? What, what do we, what do you wanna ask Rob next?

Dan Reeve (09:38):

Well, it’s funny. I asked Rob this question just yesterday. We were discussing, you know, Rob, we were talking about how we, we both ended up in, in three troop, 5 75 fields called 73 engineer regimen. That was, um, effectively for the American listeners. It’s it’s it was a national guard regimen. Didn’t call it guard in the UK. They called it the territory army. Well, most people assume the territorial army didn’t deploy well in 2003. And that’s in the S they proved that was not the case. You know, the army needs ballot, casualties reserves you are going to,

Rob Chell (10:11):

And, and also the TA. And I think it’s great now, but the TA certain back then made up one third, right. Of the armed forces on operations.

Dan Reeve (10:22):

Didn’t they? Right. General. But I think the public and, and many didn’t certainly when I deployed even ESCA, they were a little surprised, very supportive. I’ve gotta say that about ESCA, very supportive of my deployment. You know, I came back in deployment of ESCA, say, oh, by the way, you know, you’ve got four weeks vacation to have and six months, wow. Seven months away. No, no, we, we not, we think this is really important. You go going have vacation. Okay. Thanks very much. And when you get that sort of support from a, an employer’s fantastic, but the question for you

Scott Luton (10:53):

And Dan, one, one quick thing, I just wanna level set for the handful of this that may have missed your earlier appearances. When you say ESCA, you’re talking about the, the worldwide technology firm that you work work with and work for. Right.

Dan Reeve (11:06):

Did indeed. I’m talking about ESCA where, uh, the company’s a global organization, a thousand employees across 13, 14 locations around the world. And I joined ESCA very young. I was, I think I was, uh, 21 and, um, probably guys think I was deployed in 2003. So 19, I’ve been there four or five, six years.

Scott Luton (11:29):

Okay. They’re really supportive. And it sounds like y’all, uh, I know you wanna ask Rob this question, really one, one quick follow up, I think ask her tens to invest in its veteran, uh, team members and, and recruit veterans and which, which we can’t get enough of companies that really deliberately bake it into their strategy of finding veterans and giving them great job opportunities. So love to hear, uh, that aspect of the escrow culture.

Dan Reeve (11:57):

There’s a reason for it don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean just cause somebody’s a veteran. Well, that person automatically gets the job. What, what it means is if we think our criteria skills, experience, attitude, results, cognitive skills, and the habits we call it, search Syria. Often what we’re looking for are, are they self-starters, can they keep going through tough times? Will they study and apply themselves? Will they ask for help? Do they have grit? And sometimes folks have said to me, Dan, you know, you, what you look for is just, uh, these athletes in Colorado, like to ski climb and do the stuff that

Rob Chell (12:32):

You do.

Dan Reeve (12:33):

That’s not true. You know, what, what, what, what we care about is folks that can be humble and listen, can learn, can work and apply themselves. And we, we found veterans across. We have, uh, junior positions in the company in sales, the sales development, uh, staff. We have two air force veterans there. We have, we’ve had veterans in our it group information to technology. One of the leaders within the sales team, uh, gentleman called Chris moley. We give him a hard time cuz he was in the air force like yourself. And whenever we go back country fly fish. And I, I often, if I should, you know, make his bed and put a Tet on. So we have a number, one of our sales leaders, a former, a Naval chat, us Navy of them. He served in the carrier battle group and he was a swimmer. So we see that the, the veterans often bring experience, drive tenacity, the ability to play nice in the sand pit with other people.

Scott Luton (13:28):

Love it. I, I agree with you. I think it’s a, win-win all the way around. So I love that element and I’m glad we, we brought that up to today. So, so bringing up full circle, perhaps let’s talk about Rob, uh, what made you join the army? Right? Dan? That’s the, that’s the burning question, right?

Dan Reeve (13:43):

Yeah. What made you join the army? How did you end in three? True far true. How, you know, how did I get someone lucky? What happened, man? Did you end up there? You

Rob Chell (13:52):

Know, we were very unlucky. I think, I think we really started off was when I was going through teenager. I mentioned earlier that, you know, I spent a lot of time outside, um, shooting, just, you know, climbing, exploring in the countryside. And then as I was just at the beginning of my twenties, I realized that a number of things. So I realized that a lot of my friends didn’t wanna do any of that. So if I did it, I either did it by myself or just with one or two other friends. And the more I immersed myself in the countryside in my early twenties. So I realized that, um, I had less and less people that were interested in doing that. That was one reason. There was another reason my grandfather and my father and various other members of the family were in the armed forces

Scott Luton (14:46):

Legacy.

Rob Chell (14:48):

Yeah. And I think that’s, I think that’s a thing for quite a lot of people that when they’re, you know, parents or other members of the family are in the forces, they sort of have an interest and, and, uh, want to join. And my thirst for adventure and sort of a sense of hardship because adventure is when you’re doing things adventurous. It is hard mentally and physically. So I think my thirst for that was there. And I think I’d started sort of perhaps the, the journey of trying to discover sort of, I don’t know who you are or what makes you tick or, you know, that sort of, that sort of, uh, thing. So they, they were really the, the driving, the driving. So there was one more, I, I felt that I was very shy. So I felt, I remember being, if I was in, um, a group of people, I felt that I was quite shy compared to, uh, the other people in the group. And I thought, well, you know, the army is gonna beat that out of me. So I think that was really more or less the reasons.

Scott Luton (15:55):

So you, if I heard you correctly, uh, you were in your early twenties when you joined the British army, is that right?

Rob Chell (16:02):

Yeah, I think I was, we think I was 20 it’s a long time ago now. So do forgive me, but I think I was 20, 23, 22, 23, something like that, I think.

Scott Luton (16:15):

Okay. So, so you joined the British army and then talk to us about how you determined what you were gonna do and, and what you did and where you went.

Rob Chell (16:25):

Well, the first thing to do is you always interview, you know, interview, whatever you’re going to go into. So instead of just joining the British army, I, I went and interviewed a load of different cat badges and

Dan Reeve (16:37):

Of units we refer to cat badge is like a, it’s a shortened form of saying this unit or that unit, cause each unit in the, just like the us, you know, different regimens cause battalions or battalion different regimens of cause will have different vari or different

Rob Chell (16:53):

Can batch. And they’ll have, you know, you’ll have logistics or, or, you know, a group within the army that drive LORs and distribute materials and goods and stuff, and you’ll have another unit that’ll do something else. So, so I interviewed, I think it was, I same to you yesterday. Wasn’t I, um, I interviewed, um, the Staffords that were a, at the time were a wrecky platoon,

Dan Reeve (17:17):

So that’s infantry

Rob Chell (17:18):

And they were the ones I wanted to join all along. I felt that my, my skills of spending most of my life in the countryside, um, would sort of, you know, suit that sort of unit really well. So I interviewed them and then I interview the para medics.

Dan Reeve (17:37):

So that’s paramedics. Yeah. That’ll be it airborne airborne, which would be a division of the parachute regimen.

Scott Luton (17:43):

Okay.

Dan Reeve (17:46):

Forget. Yeah. The Airborn power. Yeah.

Scott Luton (17:48):

Rob, what I’m hearing you, you, you interviewed with all the toughest units, sounds like to me, the British army, you weren’t messing around, you were, you were ready to see some actions what I’m hearing, I guess.

Rob Chell (18:00):

So, but I guess you want to go in knowing what those units can sort of offer you and what you can offer them. So I did the other two were little, which are well, you know, delivering and picking up materials and things like that. And then, um, and then what was another one? Yeah. And I wanted the, I wanted to do the, but they were changing. They were just about to change to SF, which is sustained fire, which is a operating with machine guns. That sort of thing. I didn’t feel that though, that sounded pretty boring. So I decided dip out on that and then, oh yeah. I, um, I went to the Royal engineers, which happened to be fairly local to me and they seemed to interview quite well. Um, so I, I just thought, well, I’ll give them a shot.

Scott Luton (18:47):

So the Royal engineers is what it was. That was gonna be your cat badge if I heard, heard that right. Badge. Okay. So, and that’s where you met Dan, is that right?

Rob Chell (18:58):

Very, very shortly after. Yeah. Joining, I met Dan. Yes.

Scott Luton (19:02):

Okay. Yeah.

Rob Chell (19:02):

We took a, I dunno why we did take an instant dislike to each other.

Scott Luton (19:07):

Yeah. Why? All right. So for our listener, I’ve heard a little bit of this story, Dan, but why didn’t, y’all like each other,

Rob Chell (19:14):

I guess you were quite bossy working.

Dan Reeve (19:16):

Yeah, I think I was young, you know, given a little bit of rank. I was a section leader effectively and I’d been in the unit two or three years before and I’d, I’d joined. I think I was the youngest corporal in the, in, in that regimen to be my, I was very young and maybe I was a bit full of myself. And I think also Rob came in, you know, we talk about Rob’s experience with land rovers and improvising adapting as a farm boy effectively as city slicker. And I think perhaps I thought I knew knew it all. I knew enough and I’d been in this regimen longer than two or three years longer than Rob and Rob came in with, you know, probably some smart ideas and some pauses this to, is this the right way to do it, or maybe there’s another way of looking at this. And I think it was only when we got sort of forced to work together on a survival exercise that we realized, huh, maybe he’s all right after all.

Rob Chell (20:05):

And, and I think that, I think that’s true what Dan has said that, you know, he was very irritating, but I think something that, that I had, which, which has to be, you know, uh, bod is that I don’t think I had a very good way of, of putting over maybe an idea or, or a thought. So I think, I think partly, um, I don’t, I don’t put all the blame down speed, but I think partly I was blame as well, because I think that when I had a good idea, I knew it was gonna be a good idea, but I didn’t, I didn’t voice it or approach, approach it correctly, which obviously irritated. Um, Dan, because I guess he felt, you know, undermined or, you know, um, or perhaps even, you know, if you’re given a situation and you don’t really know quite what to do, you might feel a bit inadequate, especially if you are higher up the chain, you’re, you’re sort of expected to know. And yeah, I think that we learn to sort of communicate better with each other and also, and also not big bike. So

Scott Luton (21:09):

Y’all bridged those divides. Cause you went on to do some, some big things together. Dan, you were gonna add something there.

Dan Reeve (21:14):

No, I think the army taught us one of the things they stressed in the leadership training was you don’t have to know, even though sometimes often in your army, you were expected to, but you really Tru leaders don’t have to have all the right answers. What you want to do is get, be able to encourage your staff, to have the freedom, the agility, and feel safe, to suggest options. And then you say, great, keep going with that idea. Or that’s a good idea. We’re gonna take it and adjust it slightly. And I think that’s one of the things, you know, I finished reading a book called multiplier. It’s all about how you can get outta the way and, and, and, and support your staff and get 50 up to 50% more productivity. And, and, and I, I realized a lot of it was back to that idea, which is you don’t need to have don’t steal all the oxygen in your room.

Dan Reeve (21:58):

Yes. I’m pretty guilty of that in my life. Um, have a couple of coins, but use less chips. It’s almost like you sit at the poker table. I’ve only got a couple of chips and as a leader, I need to let every else sort of maybe speak and, and, and, and contribute. And at the right time, I’ll shape this. So I think I was mistaken going into the army, thinking that, yes, it’s the Sergeant major’s style of leadership. That’s important. Well, actually what I think we both discovered from very good man managers, including great warrant of in, in our, who came and worked alongside us is they listened. They understood you. And then they should sort of guided you and show illustrated the way to go forward. And so I think great man management, it’s not a case that it doesn’t exist within the army or the military forces often. It does in a often, some folks can take it and transition that into civilian street and, and very easily others. It can be more of a challenge.

Scott Luton (22:57):

Agree. Yeah. It

Rob Chell (22:57):

Takes a while, takes a while for that to bond it, it’s part of, part of forming a team, I guess, that you, you know, you sort of, for instance, what we were talking about earlier that, you know, he, he was a section commander, I wasn’t at the time and you are all, you all bring to the table, a wealth of knowledge and you’ve got to work well, he’s gotta work out who has that knowledge and that understanding and ability, but also then’s gotta work out, you know, what, what the strengths and weaknesses are as well. And then as that sort of bond is forming, I guess certain boundaries are broken down and you learn perhaps how, or for me how to pull across a suggestion. So it sounds like a suggestion rather than dictatorship.

Dan Reeve (23:44):

I think when you, as you do things in your army, you go through tough things or tough times together, maybe trust develops. You’re like, okay, that guy or girl was weirdy, it was cold. It was wet dark. That was hard, right. That person’s always there when we do these things, maybe sometimes when you like that person or not a bond starts to develop. Cause you’re like that person went through that, that person stuck it out. Agreed. That customer surprised me. I mean, wow. I mean, and I’ve seen that. There’s been times when I remember working with somebody from a different country and I caught my own bias. We were doing a as a command exercise in, in, in lake Louise on the ice in Canada. And I remember thinking, uh, my own bias is getting in the way and I recognize them in a minute. This guy’s pretty good. Right. But I, my bias is I can’t really understand the chap cuz his language differential, just like you probably can’t understand me cuz of my accent, but I realized hang on, I’m I’m guilty being biased again. Right. And what I think the army did is often, it, it shoved you together with people from all different walks of life, all different social, social, economic status, the

Rob Chell (24:50):

Full statue really.

Dan Reeve (24:50):

Oh it was amazing. You know, people from not even in the, the mainland of people from Jamaica or, or other parts of the Commonwealth Australians and you had to sort of look past that. I think there was a point there were times when you don’t even notice someone was a different color, right. Different, a different from a different region. They were, they were wearing the same cat badge as you or they were not. That’s what you noticed. Oh he’s from the goon guards. We don’t see them very often or you know, he’s from, he’s from the Airborn. Right. Well, cool. We don’t get to work with those guys that often. So it wasn’t really, you know, I think you saw pass those things that maybe, I don’t know, people always see past them in, in civilian street. I don’t know.

Rob Chell (25:32):

It’s a great opportunity to be immersed with a full spectrum of society because I think normally in society you stick within a certain, a certain sort of, I don’t think it’s a conscious thing, but a certain sort of, you know, you might, you know, go on the fringes of that, but you just eat within that sort of that area. But in the, in the army, you definitely get thrown in amongst a full spectrum of, um, of individuals and experiences.

Scott Luton (26:01):

And that’s a wonderful thing as jar, both a testing too. So let’s talk, give us an example, uh, you know, time won’t do it justice to kinda walk through probably all the things y’all did as part of the Royal engineers, which Dan, I think the nickname, the Sapers Sapers is that, uh, part, is that nickname for the Royal engineer? Is that right?

Dan Reeve (26:20):

Yeah. It comes from the first world war. So, uh, Sapers were responsible for trench warfare and uh, well, not just French warfare, but I SAP Poer in French. You know that certainly when you first joined the Royal engineers, you know, you’re not known as a private or trooper you’re known as a Sapper. Right. Then you go on corporal Sergeant, et cetera.

Scott Luton (26:43):

Yeah. So, so Rob, give us an example of the work, uh, of a project y’all did, uh, together. What, what, what made up one of your projects or deployments or you name y’all? Well, um,

Rob Chell (26:58):

We, we didn’t didn’t often do stuff together. We would try on different sort of training exercises and things. Yeah. I mean, we, we did, um, we down south, we put in a, uh, or refurbished a shooting bus on a range and it was really, uh, horrendous weather. Wasn’t great. And it was very sort of flat open ground next to the sea. So we were bombarded for about three days, three, four days visible. We were just rain and wind, you know, horizontal rain when it, when it hits inside needles. Um, that was pretty, that was pretty, um, taxing.

Dan Reeve (27:36):

We, I literally got the plane I’d been on the sales event in Dominican Republic, got Ary, got off the plane, sick, anything drove down there and we just worked night day, did this job. And I think, you know, we didn’t enjoy at the time, but we also knew it was kind of amusing and funny that we still, we just had to do it and we just got off with

Rob Chell (27:56):

It. And we went to have the day R and R, but because of the weather it was taking, um, it was taking so long. So we ended up having to work our day, our day of R and I seems to revert. So

Dan Reeve (28:08):

We did, we did deploy together. You asked about deployments. So, uh, both Rob and I, we did a lot of outdoor adventure. Rob spoke about that earlier. We went and did two week trip to the Mon trip and pure. We, we went to Nepal as a regimen four weeks in Nepal. And uh, we organize our own trip to climb Mon bla and France. That’s right. Yeah. Four of us from our troop. So certainly the army encouraged and fueled us to pursue that passion and, and that adventure and that planning and that self-reliance. And then, uh, there’s a point when he and I were stood on a peak in the end, Anna circuit in Nepal, we were there with our regimen and Rob says, you know, this will come out of cost. Don’t want something in the terms, this doesn’t come free. And sure enough, about six months later, we were stood in the desert in, uh, uh, Ali, a air base in, uh, in Northern Kuwait. I told you, you know, and sure enough, we were there. So we were deployed as part of operation tele, which was British Army’s contribution 2003. This is where we separated. Cause Rob was sort of allocated to, uh, one squadron, although we were in, uh, reserve, uh, guard squadron was together, right. We were in the same back home, but,

Rob Chell (29:23):

But we’ve been pulled from

Dan Reeve (29:25):

Different. Yeah. They don’t do that. The America as much. I, so it’s a different mantra. I think,

Rob Chell (29:29):

I think the, I may be wrong here, but I think the process at the time was that the British army wanted certain expertise and they looked at their system computer system, no doubt, and worked out who had all these expertise that they wanted. So they drew on those. So we happened to be called up together and we were with some other laps from the same troop, as well as the same squadron and the same regimen. But then there was a whole host of other people from other units and cat badges and stuff all over the place, whether they were, uh, TA reserves, retired reserves, aren’t retired, aren’t they? So we were all full together and then we did some pre-deployment training and then we got kitted out with some kits and then, and then we flew out in a civilian PLA yeah. Cause I always thought, I dunno why, but I always thought we’d fly out on a C one 30 and sort of touch down and jump out the back and you know, ready to go. But we didn’t even flew out in a civilian plane.

Dan Reeve (30:30):

Well, I think what was going on back then is they first we thought the Royal airport had got the, get us there and subsequently spoke to my friend who was a staff Sergeant in the command, no logistic regain. He said, no, it just means you guys weren’t important enough on, on the task of ignore it. He said, you know, so, and on top of that, I think what happened is we got there and, and this is why I think that there is, it may have changed, but there was a fundamental difference. Traditionally, I believe the national guard or the, uh, the army reserve in America, mobilizes and deploys as a unit. Right. But the Brits may, I think they’re changing this now, the Brits have typically been, we have you train in your local squadron troop and when you go to war, we’re just gonna sprinkle you across these regiments.

Dan Reeve (31:14):

So the regimen will go to 110 or 115% of normal strength cuz you are basically a battle casualty preserve and your job is to help us plug holes. And so that was, for me, that was a bit frustrating because we had always trained together for years and years and years yet we, and, and when we went over there, we lost some of that cohesion that trust that experience. I think Rob had a different experience where Rob coming from, you know, as a cons, Rob obviously runs a construction business in, in, in, in, in his normal civilian life. It all had all that experiences, improvising and adapting as a farmer. And suddenly they’ve got a pipeline to build in nor in Southern Iraq. And so Rob looks at it with a different set of eyes to the regular, uh, active duty soldiers and says there’s an easier way, more efficient, a way for us to accomplish task. Let me show you how. Yeah,

Rob Chell (32:05):

So, so, so once, once we landed in, in Q eight on, on the air basin and we sort of got, um, you have to sign in to the theater at war, just let em know that you’re there. And, and then we, we got separated then. And then I was, I was put with a, a unit. So I spent, I was attached for the pretty much, the whole period I attached to 40 and 42 rural Marine commandos. And so I left, I left this air base in QA, went over to the border and then, um, join, um, more attached to this, this, uh, this unit. And then we were tasked, the first job we were tasked with was to put a water distribution point in. So the unit I’d been attached to broken down. So one, one section did the, uh, the pump house, one section did water of purification. My section that I was attached to did the, uh, the pipeline, which was 2.2 kilometers long. And then another section did the water distribution point, which basically taps and that’s force it for you just to, you know, so, so we would,

Scott Luton (33:16):

Or SPECT and the south spigots is what we’d call that in the south there. Uh, Dan,

Rob Chell (33:22):

So then I was, I was sent out in a R to join my, uh, my section and, um, they’d been out there, I think, uh, pretty much most of the morning anyway, I sort of jumped out the back of the, uh, the Rover, uh, land Rover. And I didn’t really know, uh, there was no one to introduc me to them. I didn’t really know what I’m really supposed to do. And some of the communication issues that we had in the earlier sort of, you know, came to my mind and I thought, well, you know, I’ll approach it in a similar sort of manner. So walked over there, introduced myself to them. And they’d been there for several hours trying of put this pipeline together, push fit pipe, basically to start with. And, um, they weren’t getting on very well. I think the temperature was when we first got out, there was about 48, 48 Celsius.

Rob Chell (34:12):

It went up to 52 Celsius, I think in, and, um, I was standing there talking to the section commander and I knew how they could sort of speed up this process a lot quicker. But I knew that if I was going to offer any sort of, um, suggestions had to do it in a, in a very careful manner, not to stand on anyone’s feet. So thinking back to the issues that Dan and I had together, I suggested to the section commander that I might have some ideas that might speed up the, uh, the process and, um, which I, I suggested to him and he went away. He came back with all this stuff that we needed and, uh, the, the pipeline started going in a lot quicker. And I think my experience of my whole journey, uh, in the theater of war with, with, with that unit, I think that I just hit it off with them straight away. And I was able just to suggest something that was credible important, made life easier for everyone. Then I was just, I think I was just on a, uh, a role there from, from then

Scott Luton (35:19):

I was so really quick for listeners 52 degrees Celsius is 125.6 degrees Fahrenheit. So it was hot and I’ve been to Kuwait. I had one TDY in the air force and it was 45 days at, at, um, algebra bar air S bar in Kuwait, which is no longer around, I don’t think, uh, Dan and Rob, I think they shut that. At least I don’t think us has a presence here anymore. If I’m not mistaken,

Dan Reeve (35:46):

I sold about 20, um, 20 chocolate Magnum ice creams from the, uh, DAC there Going in there. And they didn’t know who we were. There was seven, eight grapes on, on site, down the airfield of all the British, uh, hard aircraft shelters and, and munitions. And we went in there every day. And basically we couldn’t believe you, the, the Americans were given out Magnum ice creams. So we went back for seconds and thirds every day.

Scott Luton (36:13):

Well

Dan Reeve (36:15):

Like, wow, you really like these, these, these screens and our reply was your army or your military is really good at morale, right. You know, ours is not, so we’re gonna keep coming back, even McDonalds out there

Scott Luton (36:27):

Pizza. We had,

Scott Luton (36:30):

Hey, those 45 days we ate great. Uh, we had lobsters and steak every Thursday night in the chow hall there. Um, as our recall, but you know, one of the things you, you, you reminded me Dan and, and Rob, I’m not sure if you ever spent a little time at Al bar, we were able to tour the actual, we went beyond just the American installation, which is really pretty small. And we toured the, the hardened bunker aircraft bunkers that the French sold to the Kuwaiti government in the eighties. And they were sold the French sold these hardened shelters that they were, they were indestructible. And it was so cool to be able to go into those things. I still have some old Polaroid pictures of where bunker busters cause Saddam used those hardened shelters to hide aircraft. But our munitions, the, the coalition munitions were able to bust through those things. They were big, all holes. You see all the rebar hanging down cause their aircraft Sadam, Husain hidden, there were not hidden for long. Uh, so it was really cool. Oh, story

Dan Reeve (37:31):

Goes further. This story goes further when I was at Ali M, which is just north of there, there was this fleet of MI garage by jets in disrepair. I’m thinking this is a very expensive fleet of equipment,

Scott Luton (37:44):

Right?

Dan Reeve (37:45):

I’ve just running it or in dispa. I understand this. And then I found the story was because the, um, the French, you know, the Kuwait, the, you know, the qua said the French, there was hardened aircraft shelters. You sold us were subpar the American themes in their pav, two lazy guided bombs,

Scott Luton (38:03):

Right?

Dan Reeve (38:04):

So, um, we’re not gonna pay you all the money we owe you. And then if we apparently the rumor is, you know, the French said, well, we are not gonna send you any more spare parts or maintain those spider jets. If you, if you are not gonna play ball and pairs for the, the hang is, I don’t know, three sides dirty your story, but that’s why I,

Scott Luton (38:21):

I love that. I’m gonna start adding that element, your story, uh, to, as I talk about those hardened shelters, Hey, the business of military financing and equipment and, and fleet fleet maintenance. All right. So we’re gonna talk again,

Rob Chell (38:35):

You work for a French

Dan Reeve (38:35):

Company. I know,

Scott Luton (38:38):

Uh, we’re gonna talk about Rob’s transition in just a minute, but one final question before Dan, you ask him about that, you know, communication and communication skills is certainly one of the themes thus far as we are halfway through our conversation here today. And Rob, that strikes me as one of the key skills you developed in the rural army with the, uh, the British army with the rural, uh, engineers. Is that, is that accurate?

Rob Chell (39:02):

Yeah, I think so. I think, I think it teaches you because it teaches you to get on with a whole spectrum of people. And I think generally speaking, if you are upset with someone in the army, you generally know about it one way or another, uh, it’s never really very pleasant and you, you have to hone your, your skills, you know, quickly to, you know, to get on with it. And then through your normal training training is a basic soldier or going on to being section commander, you are ex it’s explained to you how to communicate clearly and precisely, and not put a lot of waffle in your communication, which can sometimes, you know, mislead people or they, you know, attention span starts going and they’re not listening to you. So, yeah, I I’d say so.

Scott Luton (39:51):

Okay. All right. Good stuff. I agree with you. All right. So Dan, we love talking trend around here and certain we certainly wanna, uh, learn more about Rob’s transition, right?

Dan Reeve (40:00):

Yeah. I think it, it, the transition question is interesting Rob, because you and I, I believe that our transition and, and like many were in the national guard and us reserves will understand our transition. We went through, I believe transit almost every weekend, every drill period, every Wednesday night, every fortnight and, and all the extra duties we did. And we would have a period where we’d go back to the civilian world and you were running your own business. So how did that transition work? And I, I do believe that transition when we came back from Iraq was a bit harder, remember worried, well, I remember how this software operates. Well, I even remember how to engage with clients and customers and sales software. I was worried, you know, this is just head trash and, and over time it did come back over time. I had to change my attitude. And what about you? How was your transition coming

Rob Chell (40:54):

Back from Iran? Yeah,

Dan Reeve (40:55):

Well,

Rob Chell (40:56):

To start with, I was out in the theater of war. It, it had just changed actually gone from a war state or liberation state to whatever the state is actually peacekeeping, I guess, peacekeeping. Yeah. Which, which is often more dangerous than the, the war state, because traditionally in war, you know, where the enemy is, but afterwards they’re sort of, they start sort of out flaking you and they also

Dan Reeve (41:23):

Got the

Rob Chell (41:23):

Uniforms and they take off uniforms and there’s IEDs and well there’s IDs anyway, but just, it, it starts getting more complicated. And the, you know, instead of it being quite a clear picture in front of you, you really have to be, you know, on your rear guard. So I was there for the, for pretty much the full six months, right. To the end. And then, uh, um, I think a few weeks after the end of the war, and then I was sent back to the UK. And so I was basically, as I see it now, I was plucked out of a theater of war and then put on civic street within about 16 hours. I think that was it, time wise, and we’d been working or operating sort of your normal sort of working day would be 18 to 20 hour days. And then the four hours, let’s say you did 20 hours, four hours.

Rob Chell (42:16):

Wouldn’t just be sleep. You’d do admin, like cleaning weapons, sorting your kit out, sorting your food out, getting supplies, whatever it might be. And then whatever time’s left over, you go to sleep. So I’ve gone from that 16 hours later. I mean, there’s C street. And I sort of, I remember to myself almost like doing a, uh, self check to see if I was, you know, physically right. And mentally alright, or what have, and I thought, well, I’m right, I’m fine. And I, I think my first stop was, um, to see my grandmother, cuz it was just on the, the natural course back to my home and my grandmother opposite from my father. Um, when I got there, I had a quick chat with them and they were about to go to the theater. So my father asked me if I, my grandmother, a lip to the theater.

Rob Chell (43:01):

So I gave her a lip to the theater and she was by herself because my father hadn’t turned up with his friends. So I thought I’d go in. So I was just in, I don’t normally wear this, but I was just in a t-shirt track suit bottom to a pair of trainers, probably looking a bit scruffy, uh, with my grandmother in taking her to the theater. So I went in, sat her down and I went up to get a drink and I felt that I was being ignored. Cause everyone was in pretty much black tie, you know, um, formal, formal, formal dress, both I right. And I was at the bar and it was my turn to, uh, take the order, uh, to put my order in. And barman looked over the top of me and took the order from the guy behind me. And I swung around.

Rob Chell (43:51):

I’m not proud of this, but I swung around as I was spinning round, I realized what I was about to do and I managed to stop. I dunno if he knew what I was about to do, but I knew what I was about to do and I managed to stop and I, I eyeballed in, but I just turned around, placed more, got my drinks and then gave them to my grandmother. And I realized that it was probably gonna take a bit of time to sort of settle down from that high state of, of alertness I guess. And I think it took well for me, I think 18, 18 months to 20 or to two years to just come down from that sort of just that state of alertness, you know? Mm. Uh, it’s pretty hard.

Scott Luton (44:33):

So naturally that made your transition as, as you were, you know, finding employment and a job in the private sector, it made that more challenging.

Rob Chell (44:42):

I think actually I think it probably didn’t because I think I used it as a, as like, um, a medicine or, or sort of therapy to sort of take me away from, from what I’d been, if I subjected to and just allowed me to focus on something else. So I think I found it quite, uh, soothing and rewarding and I was probably a bit too, probably a bit too sort of addicted to it really. Cause it sort of took you away from, you know, various thoughts and feelings and

Dan Reeve (45:13):

Stuff. I think we went out, we didn’t expect to come back with any baggage, so to speak and I don’t personally feel, I was very lucky. Didn’t get a scratch, glad I went and did it all, but I don’t in the way going out there. I don’t think anybody ever said, by the way, when you come back, I believe American, unit’s good at this. We’re gonna decompress or of two weeks. Yeah. Why don’t you mention, go back to your families?

Rob Chell (45:34):

I, I, I think, I think, sorry about that down. I think that, I don’t know why we were just sent straight back, but I think very soon after that, that they did send guys over to places. Like, was it the ZOS essential Cyprus to for, I don’t know, couple of weeks or so to, to sort of deep depressurize. Yeah. And although if I’d been given that opportunity to do that, I know that I wouldn’t have wanted to do it. I mean, in the army, you don’t often get given an opportunity. You’re told what to do, but it was pretty, pretty harsh just to, uh, just come straight back, just plus out to that environment and just put into the other, you know, different environments,

Dan Reeve (46:17):

Which is funny. Cause you, you always heard stories about during the second world war, the first world war people would, um, be thrown back into the working environment in the UK and, and society knew that didn’t work or he would never speak about his time in the service until he just before he passed away. Or I think we knew the British army knew better in some ways. And, but, or, but for some reason it wasn’t there wasn’t planned. And now I think with the, with the recognition of PTSD, et cetera, I think the British army and the us army, uh, the national guard are a lot better at looking out for it, recognizing it. I, I, I remember when I remember to parade and we got back and the friend said, I asked him how he is doing. He said, I’m struggling a bit to be honest.

Dan Reeve (47:01):

Mm. And, uh, well, and I said, why, and I don’t think I, I should have investigated more, but we were talking about again, he got separated a different unit. And, and he said something like on the first night it was going across the border, the fed, which was the local militia in Southern Basra with were attacking opposition, throwing kids 10, 11, 12 letter carrying AKs. And he said, I, I had to, you know, shoot a child carry. And, um, it’s only, it was only years later hit when I was living here in the us. I realized I failed him. I failed him to say, well, well, you’ve spoken to anybody. What are your thoughts? How are you doing with this? You know, I, I think that was a cry for help and I missed it and I feel guilty about it. I should have, I should said, well, should we do something about this? Have a chat. Should we get, get for coffee? And I didn’t, you know,

Rob Chell (47:55):

I think that

Dan Reeve (47:56):

Only a train just to look at Pam

Rob Chell (47:57):

For that. Yeah. I don’t even think you should feel guilty about that because you are all going through your own journey. And I suspect that all our, all of our journeys, even if you were fighting along side each other during that fight, and after that fight, when you are thinking about it, I should think that your journey through that process is different from each other. You know, your thoughts, how you saw it from your side, you might be two meters away from me. Yeah. But how you physically saw or think you saw the, the whole, so

Dan Reeve (48:28):

Your perceptions and those perceptions change at the time and right. Yeah, for

Scott Luton (48:32):

Sure. It was probably to be fair. I think it, it was Y’s first time, uh, Dan, as a manager, even needing to be mindful of, of those. I mean, it was, it was your first time, you know, coming back from a war and, and having to even worry about out the, maybe the mental state of your troops. So, you know, hindsight’s always 20, 20 war and deployment and, and I, I’ve never served in combat. I’m not like, like, like y’all, I didn’t deploy to Iraq or anything. So I can only put myself in those shoes, but I can, it is such a complex thing, so many different levels. And, uh, I appreciate y’all sharing because I think these conversations I believe are what is gonna help the veteran community, you know, tackle, unfortunately, whatever the next conflict, uh, looks like, you know, the middle state, especially

Dan Reeve (49:23):

For the say, sorry. Yeah. The us military, I, 2010, I was over here and I was thinking, I was watching, I was watching units get deployed and individuals doing five tour. And I think when we were there, the fourth, was it 30 infant division and fourth division got extended right. To 18 months in things. And on top of that, they’d done three or four months. Pre-deployment you, you’re talking two years away from your family,

Scott Luton (49:49):

Right,

Dan Reeve (49:50):

Kid. I mean, we, when we came back children, I remember seeing, well, certainly even when we were there, one of the roughest toughest soldiers crying on a telephone just destroyed. And I’m thinking that guy’s a real warrior he’s inviting and he’s a friend of mine. I said, what’s up mate? He says, well, kids wanna talk to me. They feel abandoned me by coming out here, you know? And, and, and it was hard to see that, you know, and, and I think maybe when you join up, nobody says this, this is some of the side side, the side effects that are gonna happen. This is what you have to deal with.

Rob Chell (50:22):

I mean, I think, I think the, I’m sure it’s the same for the American army, but for the British army, I think they, they do a very good job in training you as a professional soldier. But I think they do a really, a really bad job at, um, that sort of training you or, or helping you to understand what, what it might be like, you know, sort it’s alright. You know, you know what the, you know, you know, what the warfare part of it’s like, but there’s a whole host of other things that take place, you know, like phoning, if you get the chance of phoning home, speaking to your kids, I don’t have children, but if you did, you know, they don’t, they don’t tell you or suggest what, how you might approach that or keep in touch with them. So yeah, they do a great job of training to be a professional soldier, but allows a job at yes.

Scott Luton (51:11):

That there’s certainly opportunities to improve. So let’s, let’s skip ahead for the sake of time. There’s so much we could, we could, I really appreciate y’all sharing and be really transparent about your experiences. Again, I, I think the more we talk and I think what use the example of the, the gentleman that was on the phone is bawling. Dan, you know, tough guys and getting them to talk about their experiences can be challenging to do, but the more we can talk about this as veterans, I think the more non-veterans and veteran advocates and our respective governments and branches of the military in the more, more understanding and, and hopeful the, the stronger, the programming that supports, you know, our, our military, our men and women in uniform can be. So, so Rob curious, what do you do now? Can you shed a little light on what you do now without not too many specifics, but what are you up to now?

Rob Chell (52:03):

So I run a, a draw new business, which shows a bit of bit of building as well, or construct basically, uh, specializing in, uh, historical properties, main maintaining them, alterations, repairs, that sort of thing, where pretty much everything has to be bespoke for that period of time. And that is pretty much what I do, which a lot of the skills that I use within that, either running the business or actually hands on, uh, understanding and, and creating things. A lot of, a lot of that skill comes from being in the army, being able to sort of, uh, identify where the, you know, the problems are and how to, um, how to, uh, uh, correct them.

Dan Reeve (52:49):

Some kind of the context, what are the age of the houses? Mm.

Rob Chell (52:52):

A few hundred years old, maybe 2, 3, 400 year old properties. Wow. Yeah. And so there was, there was a property this isn’t really to do with your question, but there’s a property that I do a fair bit of work on, and which is about, it’s about 300 years old. And I was up on some scaffolding removing a piece of zone from the wall. Cause it deteriorated. And I just had a moment as I had it out in my hands was holding this bit of stone. And I was just thinking the last time, the human touched this bit of stone was about 300 years ago.

Scott Luton (53:23):

Wow.

Rob Chell (53:23):

And here I am sort of 300 years later taking this piece of stone out, Man.

Scott Luton (53:29):

So, uh, that is awesome.

Rob Chell (53:32):

Very rewarding.

Scott Luton (53:33):

Yeah, I bet it is. So let me ask you a quick follow up. How did you, that seems to be a very niche part of the construction industry. How did you stumble into the historical property? The aspect of construction?

Rob Chell (53:46):

I found it quite difficult because there’s no one, there there’s very few people that specialize in in it. They, they may say they do, but they probably don’t. And it took a long time to sort of get into that area. I had gone through the normal courses of education in terms of building techniques and construction and drawing and stuff. Uh, which as far as I was, are concerned, that gave me the, the, um, the foundation work to, to build on for that. But the rest of it was just trying to get hold of information books, um, detailed books on historical properties and how of, um, the techniques were used back in the day. And then over a long time, you sort of, you meet someone and then they put you in touch with someone else, right. And then it sort of, it starts growing quite quickly.

Rob Chell (54:39):

Once you sort of, you know, you get into that sort of environment, but that, that environment is still, you know, it’s very, very small, you know, even in the whole of Britain there, there’s not a huge amount of people that specialize in historical properties. So you’ll be working on one, you know, one job and you’ll be talking to someone else on that job that might be a plaster. And they’d been a few weeks working up in Scotland, maybe a few weeks beforehand. And they would be working with someone that you knew, or almost a little bit like the army. There’s, it’s quite a small, quite a small hub really

Scott Luton (55:12):

Well. You got plenty of business. Uh, Rob, since there’s not many folks in there, you got plenty of business, is that right?

Rob Chell (55:18):

That’s true. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Scott Luton (55:21):

Well, I can only imagine having that, uh, again, back to your initial story there about, you know, working on that, a home that dated back to sounds like the early 18th century and holding these stones that hadn’t been held by human hands in 300 years. I mean, gosh, the epiphanies you’re having day in, day out as you work on these old properties, that’s gotta be pretty cool.

Rob Chell (55:42):

Yeah. Very, very, and, and very rewarding, you know, just sort of holding that piece of, I know it’s just a piece of stone, but just knowing that a guy put it in, you know, 250, 300 years ago, and here you are just removing it, you know? Right. And the building’s still there. You know, the building’s still being used as a home or, or, you know, an office love it. And these properties, these aren’t gonna be here until three years time. These will probably be knock down in maybe 40 years time and then something else will be built.

Scott Luton (56:14):

Right. It is fascinating. All right. So speaking, I, I gotta, I gotta throw this in, cause your, what you just shared there reminds me of a really thought provoking movie. Uh, and I think the name of it is just ghost. It is I’m gonna have to put that’s

Dan Reeve (56:30):

Crazy ghost.

Scott Luton (56:31):

Uh, no, no, not that ghost that, that, not that ghost, this movie was released just a couple of years ago and it follows, uh, this guy that passes and then he’s, he’s kind of a ghost until he gets his on disposition. And to your point, Rob, he kinda lives this one property and, and the movie kind of follows the arc of what happens to that property. You don’t even think about how, you know, in 40 or 50 years, to your point, how a lot of, a lot of these properties are gonna change. And then certainly over the course, you know, of two or 300 years, uh, and, and there moment in that movie where it, it really illustrates the point you just made. So I’m gonna have to, um, I’m gonna have to track down that movie title and, and the big actor that was in it ghost, I wanna say, but anyway, ghost stories or ghost tales or something, but I I’ll think of it.

Scott Luton (57:17):

I’ll put it in, in the show notes. Okay. So on that note, let’s make sure folks know. So, so Rob, you kind of operate under the radar a little bit. Um, we, we usually invite our listeners to connect, but uh, Hey, different strokes, different folks, but for folks that may want to learn more from Rob Dan, uh, we’re gonna promote you to agent agent for one Rob channel. So how can folks connect with you, Dan, whether it’s about Esther, whether it’s about your experiences in the British army, or if it’s about, Hey, gimme some more information on Rob chill. How can folks connect with you, Dan

Dan Reeve (57:55):

That’s right. I mean, if, if, if you have a, a very old property that needs some work, you know, it won’t be cheap. Maybe I should take a cut of this as the middle name, but you can reach esco.com uh, find me on, uh, LinkedIn at ESCO.

Scott Luton (58:10):

Wonderful. So it’s just that easy way. I’ve really enjoyed our conversation. I love that y’all spoke about your time together in uniform. Uh, really appreciate that. Uh, Rob, we look forward to having you back soon. I want, I wanna get some snapshots of you are some of your, your construction sites, Rob, that’s gotta be pretty cool. Sorry,

Rob Chell (58:29):

Say that again.

Scott Luton (58:30):

That said, I wanna, I want, I wanna get some video tours of your, these construction sites, these homes that were built back into, uh, 17 hundreds and whatnot. That’s gonna be really cool.

Rob Chell (58:40):

I look out an old video camera of mine and take some, uh, videos for you.

Scott Luton (58:44):

Awesome. Hey, thanks for your time rush.

Dan Reeve (58:48):

I, I hear you a video.

Scott Luton (58:50):

Hey Dan, thanks so much for your time. We’ve been chatting with Dan Reeve with Esker, uh, also a veteran of the Royal army. Hey folks, hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did, uh, folks, make sure you could check out vets to industry.org. Our big nonprofit partners are there. They’re doing great work for the veterans community, uh, on behalf, our entire team here at veteran voices, Scott Luton wishing all our listeners, nothing but the best. Hey, challenge you to do good. Give four B the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see next time, right back here on veteran voices. Thanks to everybody.

Would you rather watch the show in action?

Featured Guests

Dan Reeve- As Vice President of Sales North America, Dan Reeve is responsible for recruitment, training, and direct sales for Esker, supporting a team of excellent Sales Managers. Having operated in this capacity for 10 years, he was previously a Sales Rep, successfully developing the American Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, and establishing Esker’s Denver office in 2017.

Dan joined Esker in 1999, spending the first few years in Business Development for the Benelux and Scandinavian countries, building up channel and direct sales paths for those regions, then moving into large enterprise accounts while assisting in leading direct sales in the UK. After obtaining an Economic Development degree from the University of Derby, England in 1997, he completed a Courts Furnishers Graduate Managerial Program, which allowed Dan to discover his passion for Sales and the importance of great Customer Service. Dan is a veteran of the British Army and the Wisconsin National Guard and deployed to Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Telic. He has actively promoted the hiring of veterans into various roles within the Sales team. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn.

Hosts

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

You May Also Like

Click to view other episodes in this program

Additional Links & Resources

Learn more about Veteran Voices here

Subscribe to Veteran Voices and other Supply Chain Now programs here

Learn more about Vets2Industry

Check Out Our Sponsors

Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

Connect on :

Kim Reuter

Host

From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.

Connect on :

Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

Connect on :

Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

Connect on :

Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

Connect on :

Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

Connect on :

Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

Connect on :

Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

Connect on :

Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

Connect on :

Allison Giddens

Host

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

Connect on :

Billy Taylor

Host

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

Connect on :

Tandreia Bellamy

Host

Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.

Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.

Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).

Connect on :

Marty Parker

Host

Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.

Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.

Connect on :

Laura Lopez

Marketing Coordinator

Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!

Connect on :

Jake Barr

Host

An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.

Connect on :

Marcia Williams

Host

Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.

Connect on :

Luisa Garcia

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.

Connect on :

Astrid Aubert

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.

Connect on :

Sofia Rivas

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021

Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe

Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team

Connect on :

Karin Bursa

Host

Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist. 

Connect on :

Vin Vashishta

Host

Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.

Connect on :

Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

Connect on :

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

Connect on :

Greg White

Principal & Host

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

Connect on :

Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

Connect on :

Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

Connect on :

Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

Connect on :

Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

Connect on :

Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

Connect on :

Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

Connect on :

Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

Connect on :

Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

Connect on :

Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

Connect on :

Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

Connect on :

Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

Connect on :

Katherine Hintz

Director, Customer Experience

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

Connect on :

Mary Kate Love

Chief of Staff & Host

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Connect on :

Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

Connect on :

Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

Connect on :

Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

Connect on :