speaker-0: Welcome back to Lead with Bubba Scott. Before we get into today's episode, I have an exciting announcement to make. Lead with Bubba Scott officially has its first sponsor. The show is now sponsored by the VA Lender, founded by my good friend and Naval Academy classmate JD Camin. JD is a fellow veteran marine officer and one of the absolute best in the country when it comes to VA lending. More importantly, JD is using that expertise to help active duty service members, veterans, and their families achieve the American dream through home ownership. The VA loan is one of the most powerful benefits earned through service, but it can be confusing if you don't have the right person guiding you. JD brings deep expertise, integrity, and a veterans' understanding of what military families actually need. JD has also dedicated himself to educating members of his community. including organizing real estate summits across the country for members of the active duty and veteran community from Annapolis to San Diego. I'm incredibly grateful for his support, and I couldn't be more excited to have a sponsor whose mission aligns so closely with the values of this show. You can learn more at the VALender dot com. Now let's get into today's episode. Today I'm joined by Shane Mitchell, a Navy veteran and current Northeast Regional Customer Support Manager at Makino. Where he helps lead customer support across the manufacturing world. Shane spent eight years in the Navy as an enlisted aviation maintainer, working on helicopters and FA-18s, before transitioning into a successful civilian career in advanced manufacturing. In this conversation, we talk about enlisted leadership, managing reputation, technical competence, rugby, mentorship, and the transition out of the military, and what veterans can bring to American manufacturing. Let's get it. Shane Mitchell, absolutely stoked to have you on the show. Welcome to Leave with Bubba Scott.
speaker-1: Thank you very much, Baba. How's your night going?
speaker-0: ⁓ it's going great. Can't wait to get after this. ⁓ looking forward to chatting with you about everything from your time in the Navy all the way to your work with Makino Manufacturing. So with that, let's get right into this. Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where you're from, what it was like for you growing up, and ultimately your decision process to join the Navy as an enlisted man.
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ I was born in Syracuse, New York, raised in Westchester, Pennsylvania, which is right outside Philadelphia. ⁓ pretty normal childhood. ⁓ father, mother, I had an older sister, played a lot of sports, ⁓ always had ⁓ a feeling inside of wanting to join the military. My father was a Vietnam vet, very proud Vietnam vet. ⁓ he was ⁓ a disabled vet. Due to agent orange exposure. And through my entire life, I always had uncles, grandfathers, cousins that all served in the military. And it was something that always I had a calling to. while I was in high school in my senior year, I was still kind of tossing back and forth of what I wanted to do. Spoke to Marine recruiters at the time, took the pre as VAB. ⁓ but at the same time I had been accepted to Cutsdown University, ⁓ looking to play rugby there. ⁓ And at the time my father and my mother decided, you know, it might be best to give that an option. So I gave it a chance. ⁓ did about a year and a half in school. Really wasn't for me. I was more interested in girls and just playing rugby. ⁓ I was done with the school aspect. ⁓ and my mother happened to be extremely sick at the time. So I left school, came back home, was working for a little bit. ⁓ then my mother passed away. And after that, I felt like I was missing something. I was lost. I was getting into some trouble around town and knew I needed to change. I needed to change my life and do something that would make my parents proud. So randomly on a lunch break while I was managing an Italian ⁓ eatery in Westchester, Pennsylvania, I enlisted for the United States Navy and left ⁓ thirty days later.
speaker-0: Wow. Yeah, that's that's an incredible story. I think it it'll resonate with a lot of our listeners as well. I've there's one thing I'm I'm pretty interested in, you know, as as someone coming from a military family as well, you know, you having that experience with your father and and the struggles that he had ⁓ this from his service in Vietnam. I'd be interested to hear a little bit more about, you know, you felt the call to serve. What was that relationship like? Obviously, you had seen a veteran who Had struggles due to his service. And yet you still felt compelled to raise your hand and join the Navy. Can you talk a little bit about that?
speaker-1: Sure. My father was extremely proud about the service that he did. He was drafted in into Vietnam. ⁓ he spent ⁓ time in the Air Force. He was ⁓ military police. ⁓ he was sent over to Vietnam and was guarding some secret ⁓ Air Force bases around, a few of them that came under fire. ⁓ I remember being a young child and my father, us going on a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, and on the way back we stopped at the Vietnam Memorial. And in one spot on the wall, my father just fell to his knees and started crying. And he wouldn't tell me the story because I was young and I didn't understand. ⁓ but then as I got older, he started to explain more and more about what happened over there. And ⁓ one night in Vietnam, the base was attacked, and out of his whole ⁓ squadron of officers that were protecting the base, my dad was the only one who survived. ⁓ and it it took a toll on him. ⁓ but he was very proud of the service that he did, and he was very proud of the country, and ⁓ he just instilled that pride in me. And I just always felt like the need to do something more than just me, something that's above me. And to me, that was serving our country. There I believe there's no greater service that you can do for for society and for this country than to serve.
speaker-0: Yeah. Absolutely. That is an incredibly moving story. But it is interesting to see the incredible commitment and patriotism of people like your father who, despite their injuries, despite ⁓ the hardships that they face, still retain that level of pride. And I it totally resonates with me how you were still drawn to serve despite ⁓ how how you had seen how those things impacted your family. ⁓ so that that's an incredible story. And so as you joined the Navy. I I find it pretty interesting that you say ⁓ you know, you were done with school or you weren't interested in ⁓ in studying and then you went on to be ⁓ aviation mechanic, which as people know, you know, those guys, they're not just turning wrenches, right? Those are highly technical ⁓ jobs. So I would love to hear your relationship or how you began your journey as a as a technician in aviation maintenance. And then yeah, if you could walk the dog for us on your ⁓ on the beginning of your career.
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ well, first off, school was never for me. And it wasn't that I struggled with anything in school. I did not believe in homework and I did not believe in doing projects. ⁓ I had already figured I gave them eight hours of my day, and I had sports, I had work, I had other things going on that I thought just took more of my time at the time. ⁓ joining the military I did not exactly know what I wanted to do at first. ⁓ I honestly was thinking about joining the army at the time. ⁓ so it was 2005. We're talking the height of the Iraq war and the war on terrorism at that time. ⁓ and I wanted to be a Cavalry Scout. Life expectancy during wartime is like ninety days in a war zone. So there's there's something in my head that I thought that that was a great idea. ⁓ so when I originally went to enlist, I went to go see the army. The recruiter had me sit in the hallway for nearly two hours. And the Navy recruiter walked past and said, What are you doing here? And I went, Well, I want to talk to that guy, but he doesn't have any time for me, it seems. He's like, You ever thought about the Navy? And I was like, not really a submarine guy. I don't really know about boats. And he was like, Well, we got a whole bunch of other stuff. So that's where we started talking. And he was like, why don't you just take the ASVAB? You know, take the practice test here, see how you do, and ⁓ we'll go from there. We'll see what you know jobs you may fall into. So I took the practice exam, scored an 80. He was like, Everything opens up for you. You can pretty much do whatever you want. ⁓ but like I said, I had gotten into some trouble in the area beforehand. So that limited some of my possibilities. Can I say I was young and dumb at that time? ⁓ That being said, I always had this thing for the movie Top Gun. I know it's funny. It's weird being in Navy Aviation and saying I'm a jet guy. I always loved the movie Top Gun. And that's so when it came up to jobs and I was like, Well, that's the Navy. That's F eighteens. I want to do that. Like, I want to work on F fourteens. I want to work on F eighteens. That's what I want to do. And they were like, All right, well, what in that would you want to do? Well, at the time I was a chef, ⁓ And I was really good with my hands. And I really like to kind of take things apart, figure out how it worked, put it back together. So they said, How about aviation machinists made? So you'd be a jet engine mechanic, you deal with ⁓ the propulsion systems, you deal with the fuel systems, the oil systems, the secondary gearboxes. I was like, That sounds pretty cool. So I like that. I like tinkering with stuff. I like tinkering with cars. I always did. Like this this seems right up my alley. So, me being me and listening to my recruiter, he was like, ⁓ yeah, you're definitely gonna be on jets. Don't worry, you're definitely gonna be on jets. So I get through boot camp, get my orders, well, they're sending me to helicopters. Not really what I expected.
speaker-0: Hey, not a bad deal. Whirly birds are pretty cool too. Yeah.
speaker-1: I mean, I had a great time there. I was at a ⁓ a command called HSC two, the Fleet Angels. ⁓ we were in Norfolk, Virginia. We were a rag squadron. I had got there just as they became a RADs rag squadron and they transitioned from H three helicopters to the MX ⁓ MH sixty Sierra. So search and rescue choppers.
speaker-0: Yeah. As the ⁓ just for some of our listeners who are are unfamiliar, what is a rag squadron?
speaker-1: Arag Squadron is a training command. So what they do is they train personnel in maintenance and overall up peak above aircraft. They train new pilots who just come out of flight school to get them fleet ready. And then we also trained rescue swimmers. So we were a big rescue swimmer squadron.
speaker-0: Now they call it the FRS.
speaker-1: Yes. So I was there for two years. ⁓ had a great time, met some really cool people, learned a lot of stuff, became a plane captain early in my career. ⁓ was one of the go to people in our mech shop. ⁓ we had an award that we did every month called Mech of the Month, and I won it like four times in a row. I just did a lot of stuff. ⁓ being that I was a bigger guy, ⁓ there's a lot of things that I could do that other people couldn't. So we would crack the tail rotor and you know, grease the rack and pinion for the gearboxes, the the link that goes up to the tail rotor. I would just crack the the tail of the hilo and grab the bar and walk it back myself and lock it and then unlock it and walk the whole thing back and ratchet it up. It's a three man job.
speaker-0: Yeah, I don't I don't think it says I'm sure in the in the technical manual it doesn't say anything about doing that as a one man job.
speaker-1: No, no, not at all. But I knew I could do it and I would stretch myself out for that. ⁓ and then I happened to have a supervisor, ⁓ great guy, ⁓ eighty one Eric Bovard. Love the guy to death, big country kid from Indiana. And he had originally came from Jets. And he looked at me and he goes, Shane, you look extremely bored. And I went, I am. I was like, This is slow. I mean, we do repair work, it takes a while, then you gotta go out there and do vibe analysis and Stand on the flight line for four days and watch the Hila go up and down, up and down, up and down. It just takes forever. And then you have all these phases that you have to do on the aircraft. And I mean, the phases would take weeks to complete. It was just a slow pace. And I was used to a fast-paced environment. Working in kitchens, everything is go, go, go, go, go. So he was like, you need to get to the jet community. That's where you need to go. And he was like speaking to my soul because that's where I wanted to go. That's where I originally wanted to go. ⁓ and he happened to have an inn. He happened to know my detailer. Yes. So he happened to have a ⁓ history with my detailer from back when my detailer was in the fleet. They served together. So he said, let me give him a call. Let me see if I can get you the jet community. So lucky enough, I got orders to VFA 136, which is in NAS Oceana, the Nighthawks. Nighthawk for life, baby. ⁓ so I got orders there. They had just started transitioning from Legacies, so the F 18 Hornet, to the new F eighteen Super Hornet, and we were getting the Echoes. So they were the single seaters. So we were just going through this transition, and it was a great time to get there. I was able to get through C school and learn about the aircraft before I got there. ⁓ and I was kind of right on the same line as the rest of them once I got there. ⁓ and I had a great time. There was one of the best squadrons I've ever been to. ⁓ we won countless awards. ⁓ we won all types of hook awards for landings, we had all types of bombing awards. ⁓ we got a muck for being out there on deployment. But as good as we were at our job, we partied just as hard and there was all types of investigations and issues with us. Well, I mean, we worked our butts off when we was off time, it was off time. And I met some really great guys there, some really great mentors who helped push me along in my career. And at that second command is when I decided to re-enlist. So I realisted for just two years because I still wasn't 100% I wanted to do this for the long term. ⁓ the Navy to me was never going to be a career in my mind. I thought it as a stepping stone to help me reach the potential and put myself in a line of action that I could be proud of. So One thing that I kind of realized as I was in, the longer you were in, the more experience and rank you got. When you got out, a lot of corporations would look at you the same way as a college grad because of the commitment and the technical ⁓ training that you had. And I knew I was going to go from here into a technical field. That was the plan. So I enlisted for two more years to go in deployment. Had a very fun time out in the Persian Gulf on the Big E, USS Enterprise. Did the last two deployments on that bad boy? ⁓ that was interesting being on a ship that was kind of built in the Korean War. It was I think it was an old battleship hole that they turned into a aircraft carrier. so it was falling apart by the time I got on there. But I always have a love for that for that ship. ⁓ very interesting deployment we were on. ⁓ lot of port visits got canceled. ⁓ we got redirected while out there to sea. We were the first aircraft carrier ever to chase Somalian pirates. ⁓ wow. Very interesting. But we had a very fast ship that could keep up. So it was a very interesting deployment, that one in two thousand and ten. Yeah. Saw a lot of stuff there. The second deployment was a little different. We had a little more fun. Got to stop at more places. ⁓ because it was kind of the last shakedown of the the big E. Yeah. But that 2010 deployment was pretty hectic. Saw a lot of things that I didn't think I would see on this side of the world as an aviation mechanic. ⁓ But I mean it's war things happen. You know.
speaker-0: Yeah. Absolutely. So I wanna I wanna ⁓ circle back on kind of what you described as that moment when that mentor or that that guy you kind of looked up to at the squadron, took you under his wing and said, Hey, like I'm gonna talk to the detailer for you. Cause I basically I think it's, you know, a really important aspect of your story is that you really wanted to go jets. You know, you wanted to go fast, you wanted to work on F eighteens and you got you know, your second or whatever choice, right? You got put in in the rotary wing side of things. And I think that when young people get, or really anybody, when we get we we sign up for something, we don't get what we want, it can be, you know, especially when you're doing something like turning wrenches on planes and you're, you know, the the amount of work that our maintainers do in the Navy Marine Corps and really across the board in the military is incredible. And the hours you guys put in, the, you know, the The amount of work required is just crazy. So to maintain that level of motivation when it's on a platform you didn't necessarily want to work to work on, I think takes a lot of guts. And I think that that's an inflection point, right? Like if you don't get what you want out of the detailer, you can be upset about it and you can allow that to degrade your morale, which will degrade your performance. But you had this opportunity to something that that I was always advised to do as as a marine officer and as a pilot. You you weren't always going to get the job you wanted, but wherever you get sent, bloom where you're planted. Right. And by doing a good job as a mechanic on these helicopters, you earned yourself a reputation that showed that this guy was a squared away sailor and he was a squared away mechanic. And this is the type of person that we want to see go go on to bigger and better things. And so I think it's a really good lesson for a lot of people. It's like bloom where you're planted, wherever you're sent. Even if it's not your number one choice, particularly in the military, you're you're sometimes gonna get those assignments you don't wanna do, but crush it. And you too, you know, will you get you'll get recognized as
speaker-1: I completely agree with that. ⁓ my father always instilled in me a sense of pride in everything that I do. Whatever you do, if you commit to it, do it 120%. Leave everything out there. It may not be what you want to do, but give it your all all the time. the one thing he taught me and that I've heard repeatedly through my career, not just in the Navy but afterwards, is reputation is really all you have. And that's the one thing that you can truly control is your reputation, how people see and view you. So that is very important to me to build a stronger reputation, be known as a hard worker, somebody who's going to be give you 120%, somebody you know you can count on. When times get tough, I'm the guy who can who can be there. I'll be that rock. ⁓ And so even though I didn't get what I wanted off the bat, and I had an understanding already from my father that hey, sometimes Uncle Sam has other plans for you. It may not be what you want, but it may be where you're needed. And I took that to heart.
speaker-0: Now that's that's that's absolutely huge. And ⁓ you know, when it comes to reputation, the thing that you can always do is you can always show up on time, you can always care by trying and by showing up, giving your your best effort every time, that is a part of your reputation and and ⁓ along with your integrity that no one can ever change. And I ⁓ I had, you know, one of the best COs I ever worked for. He he basically had this mindset that, you know, as long as you show up and you give everything you got and you and you give a sh, ⁓ you know, he will do whatever he can to help you out. But if you if you don't care and you know, you you you don't show up and it's not important to you, the success of the mission, the success of the team is not important to you, he takes that as a personal affront. And I I couldn't agree with that more. ⁓ and so you're absolutely spot on. I I think particularly when it comes to reputation, the things you touched on are are key. ⁓ so we got a a pretty good taste of your experience coming up as a mechanic, but I know you also we talked about rugby earlier on, and I wore my ⁓ my Warden Warthogs ⁓ social jersey today, Go Hogs, Hogs for Life, ⁓ in in honor of what I knew we would chat about rugby today. So I we talked a little about about the leadership lessons you learned as an enlisted mechanic early on in your career, and then you went on and you played. For the all Navy rugby team. Can you talk about that experience and and s like just give us a rundown? How does that even work? You know, you're turning wrenches on planes and all of a sudden you're you know, you're playing ten for the n for the Navy.
speaker-1: ⁓ well, I rugby I I'd been playing for years. I started as a freshman in high school, Bishop Shanahan High School in ⁓ downingtown, Pennsylvania. ⁓ I really wanted to play football, but my school didn't have football at the time. And they kept telling us, ⁓ it's coming. We're gonna create a team, we're gonna write a team. But they had this thing called rugby. And so I was like, you know what, I'll give it a try. I hear it's like soccer and football combined, sounds like fun. I was I was intrigued by it. I was like, this sounds great. So let's let's give it a shot. And I just absolutely fell in love with it. I had an amazing coach. His his name was Greg Caribin. ⁓ he really broke down the game for us in a way that we could understand. He helped us build a team that was more like a family and we all took care of each other. And it was we didn't just learn about rugby, we learned about life. Greg Caribin was also a Boy Scout master and Eagle Scout. ⁓ He was my scoutmaster at one point when I was younger. ⁓ and he was just a all around stand up guy. I ended up being pretty good at rugby at the time. I learned I was actually pretty decent at the game, ⁓ and ended up going to Cootstown University and playing for Coach Doc, Doc Jones up there at Cutstown. ⁓ he is a legend in the sport and collegiate rugby. Cootstown University is a top 20 D1 team. We play a lot of the big, big schools. We had a huge rivalry with the Naval Academy, with Penn State, with Princeton, Army. ⁓ we were all over the map. And I loved playing rugby for Coach Doc. ⁓ Doc really ⁓ pushed me to be the best that I could. ⁓ I came to Cutsdown as a fly half and an eight man and they asked me to fill in for scrum half at one practice and I tripped and threw a perfect pass and coach was Doc was like, Hey, you're the scrum half now and I went, No, I'm not. That's way too much running. No, I'm not. But I ended up playing Scrum Half for a little bit. ⁓ and it was a great experience. I met a really great bunch of guys. I mean, we were inseparable. We all took care of each other, washed each other's back, ⁓ on the field and off. ⁓ but we did like to party quite a bit, and that was kind of a distraction. ⁓ once I left Cutstown, I always had a yearning for that team chemistry. That ⁓ bonding moments that we used to do in the rugby field. ⁓ it's just a different world, a different mentality than any other sport I had ever played. So when I joined the Navy, I found out that there was the all Navy Sports program and they had a rugby team. And I had just started playing for a local club there in Virginia, ⁓ called the Norfolk Blues. They're a division one men's club at the time. ⁓ And we were top 20 in the nation. And a lot of the team had ⁓ current military members on there, a lot of officers, some that played at the Naval Academy, Virginia Tech, Clemson was a big team. And ⁓ they told me about all Navy rugby and they pushed me to sign up. So I put in my my paperwork and had to get my commanding officer to approve it. And I went out to training camp in Jacksonville, Florida and got selected and ⁓ had a fun time in 2007 at the all service tournament in Camp Lejeune. And then ⁓ the next year we were in Fort Benning, Georgia. And then I ended up switching over to Jets and we were getting ready for a deployment and everything got kind of put in hold for a little bit as operational readiness came calling. ⁓ Came back from deployment and was looking to get back into the scene in all Navy rugby. And that's when they decided that we weren't gonna play fifteens anymore and we were gonna go to sevens rugby. ⁓ Sevens is not my cup of tea, but but you know me, I'm six foot two, two hundred and ninety pounds. I mean, when I was playing rugby, I was two hundred and twenty pounds. Yes, I ran like a gazelle, but I did not have a large gas tank. so at that point
speaker-0: We may need to call we may need to call some of your teammates to corroborate whether or not
speaker-1: They will definitely tell you that. I was I had quick bursts, but it did not last long. So sevens was not my thing. ⁓ so at that point I decided to step away from all Navy rugby, but I still kept those friendship with those guys. ⁓ a bunch of them played with me ⁓ at Norfolk. There's a bunch of them that played for Virginia Beach and at Newport News, and then we all decided we need to play together, and we all came to Norfolk and continued there. ⁓ and it was an absolute blast. ⁓ I played up until nearly the very last day I was in the service. ⁓ and then from there I had a lot of rugby injuries over the years. ⁓ I was dealing with back injury, which I still am, five ruptured discs in my lower back, and I had to retire. My body couldn't take it anymore. From playing from nineteen ninety six to twenty thirteen took toll on me. Yeah.
speaker-0: And I think that's probably a reasonable decision to step away at that point. I I guess my question to you is you you mentioned, you know, you missed the the team aspects of rugby, but can you talk a little bit about how being on a team ⁓ while you were playing at a high level in college helped prepare you for the work that you were gonna do in the Navy?
speaker-1: Yes, I mean, when I was in high school, we were a team, but we were all young kids. Coming into college, we were all away from home. We realized all we had was each other and to build those relationships. ⁓ it was always next man up. That was Doc's big thing. Next man up. A guy goes down, next man up. You gotta be ready. You always gotta be ready. ⁓ and that just kind of resonated with me. The Always trying to be the guy who was counted on. one of my biggest downfalls when I played was I never wanted to say I was injured. I played through a lot of injuries. I'd messed up my knee on multiple occasions. I mean, at one point it cuts down. I put popsicle sticks and duct tape around it as a makeshift brace so I could play. probably shouldn't have because I couldn't walk for like two weeks afterwards, but I needed to do what I needed to do for my team. And that's what mattered to me. And I knew they were giving that commitment, and I had to give that too. Joining the military, it seemed like that same team. It was always next man up, you know, guy transfers out, guy gets injured, something happens. Next man up, mission has to go on. Mission must continue. ⁓ and being that we were all away from home, all we had was each other. So we looked out for each other. We were family. And it really made me feel the same way as I did on these rugby teams. I mean, because we treated each other like family. We spent times after games together, during the week, watching movies, watching game tape, ⁓ partying, you know, when I was in the service with ⁓ Norfolk playing, I mean, we had barbecues all the time. We would go to, you know, the local bar to watch sports games together. We would meet up with the girlfriends, the families, like. It was a giant family. And I mean, just as I always say I'm a nighthawk forever, I'm blue forever. I will always be a Norfolk blue. I still keep contact with all those guys. ⁓ and it's still family. They always will be. And that's how I feel about my brothers and sisters I served with. They're family. They always will be.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's a really important takeaway is the the power of sport and how it's a preparatory for lessons you learn in life. And I think a lot of the a lot of the things you touched on, the camaraderie, the level of accountability, you know, the the making sure that the job gets done no matter what. There are definitely things you learn ⁓ at a when you're playing sports at a high level or even at a at you know a a varsity or or a level in high school where, you know, there are repercussions to not showing up, right? And and your teammates trust you and they rely on you. What better lessons can you learn as you're as you're stepping into ⁓ into the service? And so we talked, I I think that's a pretty interesting transition there because we talked a little bit about how the, you know, your experience with rugby helped prepare you to be successful in the Navy, being away from home, relying on your teammates, showing up, being accountable, being reliable. And then ⁓ I would love to hear about your experience as you went to transition out of the Navy and then kind of holistically looking at how those same lessons you learned on the rugby pitch and then on the ship translated into your success that you've enjoyed now. So can you talk a little bit about your transition out of the navy and and what that looked like?
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ it was twenty thirteen. I knew I was done with my naval career. I had accomplished what I had set out for by that time. ⁓ the Navy was changing, so I thought it was time for me to to move on. ⁓ with that being said, I was looking for something that gave me the same sense of pride and cambroadery and support. Like I had received in the service. ⁓ and that's where Makino came in. So I went to a hiring conference by Bradley Morris at ⁓ believe it was the Marriott next to the Hampton Coliseum. It was the first interviews I had done in ten years. You don't really interview for the service. So ⁓ ⁓ is the first real job interview I'd done in ten years. Makino was the very first interview I did at like seven forty-five in the morning. I was the very first person they interviewed out of seventy candidates. And I was nervous. I really wasn't prepared. really didn't know what Mikino did. ⁓ but I knew what I was capable of. So I went in there, we started talking. ⁓ everything went s really well. They They asked about my technical expertise on aircraft, how we diagnose, how we troubleshoot. ⁓ and I explained my technical expertise, what I did in the service, ⁓ and then talked a little bit about outside and what I did, ⁓ playing rugby for the Navy, playing rugby in college. ⁓ I had a great opportunity that I got to go to the national championship tournament multiple times. ⁓ so It it was something different than what they had heard before. and so a week went by. I had two more interviews that day, and they weren't really anything I was interested in. ⁓ week went by and I got a call from Aquino asking if I would like to go out to Mason, Ohio and see their headquarters and do another round of interviews. So I took some time off and flew out to Mason, Ohio, and I was nervous. Extremely nervous. I was like, all right, we're gonna interview with more people. I still don't a hundred percent understand what you guys do. but I'm really interested in the technology aspect of it. I knew they were in manufacturing, I knew they were on the forefront of innovation, ⁓ which is something that was really appealing to me. I knew that they did a lot of work in the aerospace division and that was something that I felt like I came from. ⁓ So I thought it would be a good transition. They also sold me on the fact that it was a very veteran friendly company. The guy I interviewed with was a Navy veteran. All three of the guys I interviewed with at Makino when I went there were all Navy veterans. So it made me feel comfortable. I knew that these guys knew the feeling that I had going on at that moment. And they pretty much told me, Shane, we know we want you. ⁓ we're trying to sell us to you. And at that point I I felt wanted. Like this is where I needed to be. The job that I went into as a field service engineer is a hard job. It is a very taxing job, much like the military. It is a traveling job. You were gone ninety-five percent of the time. I would fly out on a Monday, come back either that Friday, or maybe two weeks or three weeks from now. So being that you're traveling and you're gone a lot, working and being with other people was a big thing for me to help stabilize and get me used to this. And McKinnah is all about working in teams. And what I was doing at that time was working on large machines. That's what I got brought into due to my aerospace background. And our large machines are mostly our aerospace machines. So I was out there on these jobs with three, four, five other guys. And you became like a family out there. You're out there for two, three months building a machine, building multiple machines. I mean. You came, you got really close. And the support that they gave you was incredible. I mean, from the top down, there were veterans throughout the company that understood what I was going through and how to help guide me to be as successful as possible. And I had some really great mentors in the company. ⁓ A lot of them are in upper management now, ⁓ and have done really well for their career and they've helped bring me along. ⁓ one of our directors, Ken Creech, he's an ex Navy guy. ⁓ he was a mentor to me and he really helped me understand the scope of the job, understand how to present myself and how to be the best field service engineer possible, and how to work on that reputation. The same one that I had built in the military. Now I had to start all over and built it, build it in a different industry. And in our industry in manufacturing, everybody talks. Everybody knows each other. So your reputation is all you have. If you have a bad reputation, you can get locked out of this industry pretty quickly. So I always wanted to be the guy to count on. ⁓ I made ⁓ some mistakes early on. I grasped for too much before I was ready. And I had a great manager early on in my career. His name was Andy Schuler. He had been with McKino for like 40 years. ⁓ he told me you're gonna have a whole bunch of ocean moments where you're just gonna be down and out, you're not gonna be able to figure out, you're gonna be struggling, and then you're gonna have this aha moment where all of a sudden everything clicks and it becomes easy for you. And if you have the mechanical aptitude, the electrical aptitude, and the drive and commitment. Once that happens, the sky's the limit. And I got lucky to hit that moment and just blossom in my career. But if it wasn't for those fellow veterans that understood what I was going through, who honestly cared for me, not just as a coworker, but as an individual, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I feel that veterans that exiting military members who are going into the corporate sector, they need to have that. They need to have that backing and stability. what they had in the service to get them started. That is key. It's gotta be a seamless transition.
speaker-0: Yeah. Dude, that is there's what what a great explanation of of your transition and and you hit so many themes that that we touched on throughout your career from you know finding a place where you can get that camaraderie, looking for great mentors, ⁓ like you had your the different coaches you had, the guy you the guy who put you in touch with the detailer in the Navy. And then as you made your transition, leaning on those veterans who came before you and and walked that transition. ⁓ I'll I'll talk a little bit about my own transition as well. As I was getting out, I did this incredible ⁓ trip with my wife across country. We took about a month and a half, two months to ⁓ spend a week in different parts of the country and see the the most incredible national parks and all these things. And I, you know, it was such a blessing to get to spend that time with Meg. And, you know, she's my favorite person in the whole world. And I realized though, that despite having this incredible time at you know, Arches National Park and all these beautiful places in our country and being with the person I love more than anything, I realized how much it impacted me that I was detached from a team, you know, and I I realized that I was actually having a hard time ⁓ during this transition, even though I was like basically on vacation, because I was no longer snapped into my squadron, which was such a robust teamwork camaraderie, a a group of people who just make you better every day. And I I saw how important that was to me. And then as I got here to Wharton and and got to meet the other veterans here and snap into the community here, it was like a total game changer. And not not just the veterans too. I mean, obviously that group is so special and important to me, but the my classmates here who, you know, I think going into school was a good good way to transition for me because I could go play rugby and and you know, be in a play and all these things where you get that community. But that's such an important part. of the transition experience for veterans because you go from, you know, some guys they go from being deployed to out of the military in in around 30 days. Like that happens a a lot more regularly than than I would like to ⁓ admit. But those guys need that that network and that group of people. So it's so awesome that you found that at McKino and it obviously speaks really well to the corporate culture they have there and the group of veterans they have there. And And the commitment that the company has to ⁓ to to finding good good spots for veterans to land. And I think much to their to their benefit, you know, like they're able to latch on to all the experience that you had overseas in demanding environments. ⁓ and and you know, they do some retooling. So instead of working on an F-18, you're working on these these different machines, but they're able to tap into that leadership experience, that comfort with discomfort. That you honed over such a a long period of time. So in in the theme of that transition, I guess I would ask you as someone who successfully navigated the transition from active duty into a successful career in industry, if you were able to reach back and talk to yourself or, you know, young, young, ⁓ young Shane, the sailor getting out, or if you're thinking about young guys and gals who are getting out of the military today, looking for that next spot. ⁓ particularly on the ⁓ enlisted side, what what advice would you have for them as they go to step out of the military?
speaker-1: My advice would be don't go out there and just find a job. Don't just find something that's going to fill your pocket and fill your time. Find something that you love. Find somewhere that feels like home and gives you that same sense of pride that you had while you were in the service. Don't take anything less. Don't sell yourself short. You have no idea how valuable you are. Out there in the market. And that's something that I believe the sailors don't understand. They look at or you know, other branches of the veterans in general, they look at what they did in their career and they go, now what can I do outside? And they don't realize that, okay, maybe the job, the MOS that you had, the rate may not transition very well to the outside world. But the intangibles that the military instilled in you are extremely valuable, and every employer out there is searching for that. The guy who's accountable, the guy who's on time, the guy who's presentable, the guy who can Withstand the stress and pressures that may be bestowed upon them during their career. The guys who aren't going to be happy just sitting still and want to, in fact, change and want to be important to what they're doing. I don't believe these guys understand that. They're extremely marketable. Everybody wants veterans. They need to just realize what they truly have and then make sure they find something they love doing in the process.
speaker-0: Yeah. That is such great advice. And I think, you know, you're such a great example of not not just you, but also the company you work for that they, you know, a good example. They do want veterans and they do want to see these guys who have all those intangibles that, you know, you can't you can't grow overnight in a in a training camp or an orientation, right? Like those are things that you learn over a period of time, those hard deployments, those t highly technical skills you learned over that period of time, operating on the flight deck on a on a carrier, you know, hard to imagine a more hectic environment. ⁓ and then I would just the one thing I would add that I think is interesting too is I think that as much as guys need to understand how marketable and and how desirable they are as well, it's also important to to come in with humility as well. You know, because realistically, if you think about it, and you made such a good point earlier, you know, you had a stellar reputation. Or at least a reputation that was well respected with regards to timeliness, knowing your stuff, working hard, like all those things that are so it takes time to build those up. You have to remember as you transition out that you don't, you're not just endowed with those in your next role. And I think that that's important, not just for veterans, but for anyone who's doing a career change. I think that's a really challenging thing to navigate as you, as you leave your career, whether it was in the military or or something else, and you're doing that transition, you do have to rebuild that reputation. You know, and you and you can enjoy the success, the recommendations, the, you know, the things that come with ⁓ you know, the respect of coming from that other industry or from the military, but you still have to come in with humility and you still have to be willing to work and and show that, yeah, there's a reason why you got that letter of recommendation, or yeah, there's a reason why it matters that you, you know, why people actually are interested in veterans who who served on on the flight deck of a CVN. You know, it's like because they do. these things right. And so you have to continue to do those things. So as much as guys gotta understand, you know, how how valuable they can be, that you also have to be willing to take a little bit of humble pie. I think that particularly applies to a lot of officers who get out, you know, who who, of course, you know, I I was a major in the Marine Corps, albeit only for a few months, and and and my my peer pilots will, you know, they gave me a hard time for for putting on major, but I think it can be challenging for a lot of guys who were in command or something like that. You know, you're in command of a of a rifle company, you're in charge of 130 Marines, ⁓ all who, you know, who will do exactly what you ask of them without hesitation. And then you're gone and you're, you know, you're gonna be a a a a junior person starting a new career. And I think most, most veterans that I've met have navigated that with grace. But I think it is a challenge that people need to be cognizant of as they as they ⁓ move away from their time in the military service.
speaker-1: I completely agree with that. It is very hard to give orders and then flip to taking orders from being the top dog to being the guy at the bottom of the totem pole. I mean I was really good at my job in the military. I was asked to do a lot of things. I was counted on for when times were tough. If there was an issue, the new Shane could figure it out. Or eighty two Mitchell could figure it out, but set it out there. We got this done. ⁓ but at the same time when I got out, I knew I wasn't the guy anymore, but I wanted to be the guy again. I knew what that felt like. I knew what I wanted as a person. So trying to come in and just swallow everything and go, Okay, I'm at the bottom. I'll do the dirty jobs, I'll do the nasty stuff again, I'll do whatever it takes. to get back to where I was. ⁓ that's what I was going to do. Not everybody can do that. Not everybody is comfortable with going from being the top to being the bottom again. So that is a very extremely hard transition for guys. Yeah.
speaker-0: And that's that's where I think that self-awareness, you know, I I think that self-awareness is one of the most critical traits for any anybody to be successful, either as a leader or just in anything that you do. You know, yes, you you I think that that kind of sums up what we've been saying, which is, you know, you need to understand the value that you bring to the team, but you also need to understand that there are things you don't know, especially as you move to a new job, you take a new role, you you transition. And any leader who comes in. who acts like he or she knows everything or, you know, ⁓ has nothing to learn, obviously is, is putting out a a bad message because it's so important to be self-aware, to understand your blind spots. I spoke with ⁓ Andrew Little ⁓ a couple of weeks ago on our last episode and he mentioned, you know, ⁓ the most important thing a leader can do is to to want to be wrong so that his or her, you know, the people who work with them, are or feel good about bringing up ideas. And I think in the same way that that goes with the humility and self-awareness. So if if we're if we're going to ask that same question to you, ⁓ what do you think if if you were able to talk to any young, aspiring leader and give them advice for one leadership trait or one, one thing they could do to to get better and prepare themselves for leadership positions either in the Navy or in industry, what trait would you recommend?
speaker-1: Be trainable. That would be that's a huge thing. Be willing to learn, be willing to take things in, and be willing to blend in with your surroundings. ⁓ The key to being successful is being to able to assimilate into the culture that you're working in, into the industry that you're working in. So be adaptable. Be able to take change, take advice, and do positive with it.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's great. Trainability is in incredibly important. I think it does touch on a lot of what we've what we've discussed in terms of that humility and that that willingness to understand, that willingness to learn. So before we go, I I guess I would I would just be really interested in in hearing, do you have anything, you know, big coming up with with your work today or anything that people should know about ⁓ with what you've got going on?
speaker-1: I mean, right now it is amazing to see ⁓ the growth that is happening right now in American manufacturing. ⁓ American manufacturing is the backbone of our country. It is always been something of pride that we've had ⁓ as a nation, being a leader in technology ⁓ technology and innovation. ⁓ and it's nice to see that it's coming back. For years we saw it start to branch off. Companies would send ⁓ their work overseas, ⁓ to save the dollar to make more money. ⁓ but it's good to see a manum American manufacturing coming back. ⁓ I've seen a lot of companies growing, ⁓ a lot of huge opportunities. Us as McKino are having some of the most successful years we've had. ⁓ we took a big hit during COVID, as everybody did, as American American manufacturing did. ⁓ and it's taken a couple of years for us to come back from. ⁓ right now we are booming and we're continuing to grow. The orders are flying in, ⁓ the growth is out there. The economy is going to get stronger. there's a lot of positivity out there that ⁓ people need to know about. Right now we we hone in on the negatives that are going on right now in society and what's going on in our country and around the world. And there's also a lot of positive things that are going on. ⁓ and we need to really focus on some of those right now and see the growth that we are doing.
speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I it's not often that we talk like geopolitics or s or national strategy or anything like that on the show, but ⁓ lead lead with Bubba Scott as a show supports American manufacturing ⁓ conceptually. And I think it's, you know, incredibly important as we look at the future, making sure that we're able to scale up manufacturing rapidly for ⁓ national security and geopolitical reasons as well. ⁓ besides just providing great jobs for ⁓ for hardworking Americans. So ⁓ it's that's that's exciting to see the growth and exciting to see where you guys are gonna go and and and you you'll have to stay in touch and make sure we're aware of what you guys have going on. But Shane, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been absolutely ⁓ awesome to chat with you about your your upbringing, your career in the Navy, your time on the rugby pitch, and and how you were able to transition your skills ⁓ from working on F eighteens to a successful career in manufacturing with Makino.
speaker-1: Well, thank you very much, Bubba. It's been a pleasure to be on your show. I I've been super excited about this. ⁓ as some of your listeners do not know, we are related somewhat. ⁓ I am married to ⁓ Bubba's cousin, Miss ⁓ Katie McGuire Mitchell. And ⁓ this is something that I've always wanted to do and be able to talk to you about to explain my background and the experience that I've had and how The military and all my experiences has led me to where I am today as a leader within my industry and my company.
speaker-0: Yeah. And thank thanks for sharing. I've been just as interested. and ⁓ and I think it's really fantastic your description of how to be successful as as folks transition out of the Navy and out of the military. And I think it's really a really important takeaway for ⁓ for any people in industry listening to the show, veterans can bring a lot to you. And for for any of the veterans or active duty service members listening today, remember To always reach back down the ladder as people make their transition, just like Shane Soon and just like the guys who looked out for him at Makino did before him. ⁓ you know, as as as people make transitions, whether it's the military or or whether it's career changes, mentorship is absolutely critical to help people succeed and land well. So keep that in mind and and we'll see you next time ⁓ for the next show. So thanks so much, Shane.
speaker-1: Thank you, Baba. Have a great night.
speaker-0: Thanks so much for listening to Lead with Bubba Sky, brought to you by the VA Lender. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show and leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also follow along on Instagram at LeadwithBubba and let us know your thoughts on the episode. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.
speaker-1: Yeah. Nighthawk for life, baby.
speaker-1: Thank you very much, Baba. How's your night going?
speaker-0: ⁓ it's going great. Can't wait to get after this. ⁓ looking forward to chatting with you about everything from your time in the Navy all the way to your work with Makino Manufacturing. So with that, let's get right into this. Can you tell us a little bit about your background, where you're from, what it was like for you growing up, and ultimately your decision process to join the Navy as an enlisted man.
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ I was born in Syracuse, New York, raised in Westchester, Pennsylvania, which is right outside Philadelphia. ⁓ pretty normal childhood. ⁓ father, mother, I had an older sister, played a lot of sports, ⁓ always had ⁓ a feeling inside of wanting to join the military. My father was a Vietnam vet, very proud Vietnam vet. ⁓ he was ⁓ a disabled vet. Due to agent orange exposure. And through my entire life, I always had uncles, grandfathers, cousins that all served in the military. And it was something that always I had a calling to. while I was in high school in my senior year, I was still kind of tossing back and forth of what I wanted to do. Spoke to Marine recruiters at the time, took the pre as VAB. ⁓ but at the same time I had been accepted to Cutsdown University, ⁓ looking to play rugby there. ⁓ And at the time my father and my mother decided, you know, it might be best to give that an option. So I gave it a chance. ⁓ did about a year and a half in school. Really wasn't for me. I was more interested in girls and just playing rugby. ⁓ I was done with the school aspect. ⁓ and my mother happened to be extremely sick at the time. So I left school, came back home, was working for a little bit. ⁓ then my mother passed away. And after that, I felt like I was missing something. I was lost. I was getting into some trouble around town and knew I needed to change. I needed to change my life and do something that would make my parents proud. So randomly on a lunch break while I was managing an Italian ⁓ eatery in Westchester, Pennsylvania, I enlisted for the United States Navy and left ⁓ thirty days later.
speaker-0: Wow. Yeah, that's that's an incredible story. I think it it'll resonate with a lot of our listeners as well. I've there's one thing I'm I'm pretty interested in, you know, as as someone coming from a military family as well, you know, you having that experience with your father and and the struggles that he had ⁓ this from his service in Vietnam. I'd be interested to hear a little bit more about, you know, you felt the call to serve. What was that relationship like? Obviously, you had seen a veteran who Had struggles due to his service. And yet you still felt compelled to raise your hand and join the Navy. Can you talk a little bit about that?
speaker-1: Sure. My father was extremely proud about the service that he did. He was drafted in into Vietnam. ⁓ he spent ⁓ time in the Air Force. He was ⁓ military police. ⁓ he was sent over to Vietnam and was guarding some secret ⁓ Air Force bases around, a few of them that came under fire. ⁓ I remember being a young child and my father, us going on a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, and on the way back we stopped at the Vietnam Memorial. And in one spot on the wall, my father just fell to his knees and started crying. And he wouldn't tell me the story because I was young and I didn't understand. ⁓ but then as I got older, he started to explain more and more about what happened over there. And ⁓ one night in Vietnam, the base was attacked, and out of his whole ⁓ squadron of officers that were protecting the base, my dad was the only one who survived. ⁓ and it it took a toll on him. ⁓ but he was very proud of the service that he did, and he was very proud of the country, and ⁓ he just instilled that pride in me. And I just always felt like the need to do something more than just me, something that's above me. And to me, that was serving our country. There I believe there's no greater service that you can do for for society and for this country than to serve.
speaker-0: Yeah. Absolutely. That is an incredibly moving story. But it is interesting to see the incredible commitment and patriotism of people like your father who, despite their injuries, despite ⁓ the hardships that they face, still retain that level of pride. And I it totally resonates with me how you were still drawn to serve despite ⁓ how how you had seen how those things impacted your family. ⁓ so that that's an incredible story. And so as you joined the Navy. I I find it pretty interesting that you say ⁓ you know, you were done with school or you weren't interested in ⁓ in studying and then you went on to be ⁓ aviation mechanic, which as people know, you know, those guys, they're not just turning wrenches, right? Those are highly technical ⁓ jobs. So I would love to hear your relationship or how you began your journey as a as a technician in aviation maintenance. And then yeah, if you could walk the dog for us on your ⁓ on the beginning of your career.
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ well, first off, school was never for me. And it wasn't that I struggled with anything in school. I did not believe in homework and I did not believe in doing projects. ⁓ I had already figured I gave them eight hours of my day, and I had sports, I had work, I had other things going on that I thought just took more of my time at the time. ⁓ joining the military I did not exactly know what I wanted to do at first. ⁓ I honestly was thinking about joining the army at the time. ⁓ so it was 2005. We're talking the height of the Iraq war and the war on terrorism at that time. ⁓ and I wanted to be a Cavalry Scout. Life expectancy during wartime is like ninety days in a war zone. So there's there's something in my head that I thought that that was a great idea. ⁓ so when I originally went to enlist, I went to go see the army. The recruiter had me sit in the hallway for nearly two hours. And the Navy recruiter walked past and said, What are you doing here? And I went, Well, I want to talk to that guy, but he doesn't have any time for me, it seems. He's like, You ever thought about the Navy? And I was like, not really a submarine guy. I don't really know about boats. And he was like, Well, we got a whole bunch of other stuff. So that's where we started talking. And he was like, why don't you just take the ASVAB? You know, take the practice test here, see how you do, and ⁓ we'll go from there. We'll see what you know jobs you may fall into. So I took the practice exam, scored an 80. He was like, Everything opens up for you. You can pretty much do whatever you want. ⁓ but like I said, I had gotten into some trouble in the area beforehand. So that limited some of my possibilities. Can I say I was young and dumb at that time? ⁓ That being said, I always had this thing for the movie Top Gun. I know it's funny. It's weird being in Navy Aviation and saying I'm a jet guy. I always loved the movie Top Gun. And that's so when it came up to jobs and I was like, Well, that's the Navy. That's F eighteens. I want to do that. Like, I want to work on F fourteens. I want to work on F eighteens. That's what I want to do. And they were like, All right, well, what in that would you want to do? Well, at the time I was a chef, ⁓ And I was really good with my hands. And I really like to kind of take things apart, figure out how it worked, put it back together. So they said, How about aviation machinists made? So you'd be a jet engine mechanic, you deal with ⁓ the propulsion systems, you deal with the fuel systems, the oil systems, the secondary gearboxes. I was like, That sounds pretty cool. So I like that. I like tinkering with stuff. I like tinkering with cars. I always did. Like this this seems right up my alley. So, me being me and listening to my recruiter, he was like, ⁓ yeah, you're definitely gonna be on jets. Don't worry, you're definitely gonna be on jets. So I get through boot camp, get my orders, well, they're sending me to helicopters. Not really what I expected.
speaker-0: Hey, not a bad deal. Whirly birds are pretty cool too. Yeah.
speaker-1: I mean, I had a great time there. I was at a ⁓ a command called HSC two, the Fleet Angels. ⁓ we were in Norfolk, Virginia. We were a rag squadron. I had got there just as they became a RADs rag squadron and they transitioned from H three helicopters to the MX ⁓ MH sixty Sierra. So search and rescue choppers.
speaker-0: Yeah. As the ⁓ just for some of our listeners who are are unfamiliar, what is a rag squadron?
speaker-1: Arag Squadron is a training command. So what they do is they train personnel in maintenance and overall up peak above aircraft. They train new pilots who just come out of flight school to get them fleet ready. And then we also trained rescue swimmers. So we were a big rescue swimmer squadron.
speaker-0: Now they call it the FRS.
speaker-1: Yes. So I was there for two years. ⁓ had a great time, met some really cool people, learned a lot of stuff, became a plane captain early in my career. ⁓ was one of the go to people in our mech shop. ⁓ we had an award that we did every month called Mech of the Month, and I won it like four times in a row. I just did a lot of stuff. ⁓ being that I was a bigger guy, ⁓ there's a lot of things that I could do that other people couldn't. So we would crack the tail rotor and you know, grease the rack and pinion for the gearboxes, the the link that goes up to the tail rotor. I would just crack the the tail of the hilo and grab the bar and walk it back myself and lock it and then unlock it and walk the whole thing back and ratchet it up. It's a three man job.
speaker-0: Yeah, I don't I don't think it says I'm sure in the in the technical manual it doesn't say anything about doing that as a one man job.
speaker-1: No, no, not at all. But I knew I could do it and I would stretch myself out for that. ⁓ and then I happened to have a supervisor, ⁓ great guy, ⁓ eighty one Eric Bovard. Love the guy to death, big country kid from Indiana. And he had originally came from Jets. And he looked at me and he goes, Shane, you look extremely bored. And I went, I am. I was like, This is slow. I mean, we do repair work, it takes a while, then you gotta go out there and do vibe analysis and Stand on the flight line for four days and watch the Hila go up and down, up and down, up and down. It just takes forever. And then you have all these phases that you have to do on the aircraft. And I mean, the phases would take weeks to complete. It was just a slow pace. And I was used to a fast-paced environment. Working in kitchens, everything is go, go, go, go, go. So he was like, you need to get to the jet community. That's where you need to go. And he was like speaking to my soul because that's where I wanted to go. That's where I originally wanted to go. ⁓ and he happened to have an inn. He happened to know my detailer. Yes. So he happened to have a ⁓ history with my detailer from back when my detailer was in the fleet. They served together. So he said, let me give him a call. Let me see if I can get you the jet community. So lucky enough, I got orders to VFA 136, which is in NAS Oceana, the Nighthawks. Nighthawk for life, baby. ⁓ so I got orders there. They had just started transitioning from Legacies, so the F 18 Hornet, to the new F eighteen Super Hornet, and we were getting the Echoes. So they were the single seaters. So we were just going through this transition, and it was a great time to get there. I was able to get through C school and learn about the aircraft before I got there. ⁓ and I was kind of right on the same line as the rest of them once I got there. ⁓ and I had a great time. There was one of the best squadrons I've ever been to. ⁓ we won countless awards. ⁓ we won all types of hook awards for landings, we had all types of bombing awards. ⁓ we got a muck for being out there on deployment. But as good as we were at our job, we partied just as hard and there was all types of investigations and issues with us. Well, I mean, we worked our butts off when we was off time, it was off time. And I met some really great guys there, some really great mentors who helped push me along in my career. And at that second command is when I decided to re-enlist. So I realisted for just two years because I still wasn't 100% I wanted to do this for the long term. ⁓ the Navy to me was never going to be a career in my mind. I thought it as a stepping stone to help me reach the potential and put myself in a line of action that I could be proud of. So One thing that I kind of realized as I was in, the longer you were in, the more experience and rank you got. When you got out, a lot of corporations would look at you the same way as a college grad because of the commitment and the technical ⁓ training that you had. And I knew I was going to go from here into a technical field. That was the plan. So I enlisted for two more years to go in deployment. Had a very fun time out in the Persian Gulf on the Big E, USS Enterprise. Did the last two deployments on that bad boy? ⁓ that was interesting being on a ship that was kind of built in the Korean War. It was I think it was an old battleship hole that they turned into a aircraft carrier. so it was falling apart by the time I got on there. But I always have a love for that for that ship. ⁓ very interesting deployment we were on. ⁓ lot of port visits got canceled. ⁓ we got redirected while out there to sea. We were the first aircraft carrier ever to chase Somalian pirates. ⁓ wow. Very interesting. But we had a very fast ship that could keep up. So it was a very interesting deployment, that one in two thousand and ten. Yeah. Saw a lot of stuff there. The second deployment was a little different. We had a little more fun. Got to stop at more places. ⁓ because it was kind of the last shakedown of the the big E. Yeah. But that 2010 deployment was pretty hectic. Saw a lot of things that I didn't think I would see on this side of the world as an aviation mechanic. ⁓ But I mean it's war things happen. You know.
speaker-0: Yeah. Absolutely. So I wanna I wanna ⁓ circle back on kind of what you described as that moment when that mentor or that that guy you kind of looked up to at the squadron, took you under his wing and said, Hey, like I'm gonna talk to the detailer for you. Cause I basically I think it's, you know, a really important aspect of your story is that you really wanted to go jets. You know, you wanted to go fast, you wanted to work on F eighteens and you got you know, your second or whatever choice, right? You got put in in the rotary wing side of things. And I think that when young people get, or really anybody, when we get we we sign up for something, we don't get what we want, it can be, you know, especially when you're doing something like turning wrenches on planes and you're, you know, the the amount of work that our maintainers do in the Navy Marine Corps and really across the board in the military is incredible. And the hours you guys put in, the, you know, the The amount of work required is just crazy. So to maintain that level of motivation when it's on a platform you didn't necessarily want to work to work on, I think takes a lot of guts. And I think that that's an inflection point, right? Like if you don't get what you want out of the detailer, you can be upset about it and you can allow that to degrade your morale, which will degrade your performance. But you had this opportunity to something that that I was always advised to do as as a marine officer and as a pilot. You you weren't always going to get the job you wanted, but wherever you get sent, bloom where you're planted. Right. And by doing a good job as a mechanic on these helicopters, you earned yourself a reputation that showed that this guy was a squared away sailor and he was a squared away mechanic. And this is the type of person that we want to see go go on to bigger and better things. And so I think it's a really good lesson for a lot of people. It's like bloom where you're planted, wherever you're sent. Even if it's not your number one choice, particularly in the military, you're you're sometimes gonna get those assignments you don't wanna do, but crush it. And you too, you know, will you get you'll get recognized as
speaker-1: I completely agree with that. ⁓ my father always instilled in me a sense of pride in everything that I do. Whatever you do, if you commit to it, do it 120%. Leave everything out there. It may not be what you want to do, but give it your all all the time. the one thing he taught me and that I've heard repeatedly through my career, not just in the Navy but afterwards, is reputation is really all you have. And that's the one thing that you can truly control is your reputation, how people see and view you. So that is very important to me to build a stronger reputation, be known as a hard worker, somebody who's going to be give you 120%, somebody you know you can count on. When times get tough, I'm the guy who can who can be there. I'll be that rock. ⁓ And so even though I didn't get what I wanted off the bat, and I had an understanding already from my father that hey, sometimes Uncle Sam has other plans for you. It may not be what you want, but it may be where you're needed. And I took that to heart.
speaker-0: Now that's that's that's absolutely huge. And ⁓ you know, when it comes to reputation, the thing that you can always do is you can always show up on time, you can always care by trying and by showing up, giving your your best effort every time, that is a part of your reputation and and ⁓ along with your integrity that no one can ever change. And I ⁓ I had, you know, one of the best COs I ever worked for. He he basically had this mindset that, you know, as long as you show up and you give everything you got and you and you give a sh, ⁓ you know, he will do whatever he can to help you out. But if you if you don't care and you know, you you you don't show up and it's not important to you, the success of the mission, the success of the team is not important to you, he takes that as a personal affront. And I I couldn't agree with that more. ⁓ and so you're absolutely spot on. I I think particularly when it comes to reputation, the things you touched on are are key. ⁓ so we got a a pretty good taste of your experience coming up as a mechanic, but I know you also we talked about rugby earlier on, and I wore my ⁓ my Warden Warthogs ⁓ social jersey today, Go Hogs, Hogs for Life, ⁓ in in honor of what I knew we would chat about rugby today. So I we talked a little about about the leadership lessons you learned as an enlisted mechanic early on in your career, and then you went on and you played. For the all Navy rugby team. Can you talk about that experience and and s like just give us a rundown? How does that even work? You know, you're turning wrenches on planes and all of a sudden you're you know, you're playing ten for the n for the Navy.
speaker-1: ⁓ well, I rugby I I'd been playing for years. I started as a freshman in high school, Bishop Shanahan High School in ⁓ downingtown, Pennsylvania. ⁓ I really wanted to play football, but my school didn't have football at the time. And they kept telling us, ⁓ it's coming. We're gonna create a team, we're gonna write a team. But they had this thing called rugby. And so I was like, you know what, I'll give it a try. I hear it's like soccer and football combined, sounds like fun. I was I was intrigued by it. I was like, this sounds great. So let's let's give it a shot. And I just absolutely fell in love with it. I had an amazing coach. His his name was Greg Caribin. ⁓ he really broke down the game for us in a way that we could understand. He helped us build a team that was more like a family and we all took care of each other. And it was we didn't just learn about rugby, we learned about life. Greg Caribin was also a Boy Scout master and Eagle Scout. ⁓ He was my scoutmaster at one point when I was younger. ⁓ and he was just a all around stand up guy. I ended up being pretty good at rugby at the time. I learned I was actually pretty decent at the game, ⁓ and ended up going to Cootstown University and playing for Coach Doc, Doc Jones up there at Cutstown. ⁓ he is a legend in the sport and collegiate rugby. Cootstown University is a top 20 D1 team. We play a lot of the big, big schools. We had a huge rivalry with the Naval Academy, with Penn State, with Princeton, Army. ⁓ we were all over the map. And I loved playing rugby for Coach Doc. ⁓ Doc really ⁓ pushed me to be the best that I could. ⁓ I came to Cutsdown as a fly half and an eight man and they asked me to fill in for scrum half at one practice and I tripped and threw a perfect pass and coach was Doc was like, Hey, you're the scrum half now and I went, No, I'm not. That's way too much running. No, I'm not. But I ended up playing Scrum Half for a little bit. ⁓ and it was a great experience. I met a really great bunch of guys. I mean, we were inseparable. We all took care of each other, washed each other's back, ⁓ on the field and off. ⁓ but we did like to party quite a bit, and that was kind of a distraction. ⁓ once I left Cutstown, I always had a yearning for that team chemistry. That ⁓ bonding moments that we used to do in the rugby field. ⁓ it's just a different world, a different mentality than any other sport I had ever played. So when I joined the Navy, I found out that there was the all Navy Sports program and they had a rugby team. And I had just started playing for a local club there in Virginia, ⁓ called the Norfolk Blues. They're a division one men's club at the time. ⁓ And we were top 20 in the nation. And a lot of the team had ⁓ current military members on there, a lot of officers, some that played at the Naval Academy, Virginia Tech, Clemson was a big team. And ⁓ they told me about all Navy rugby and they pushed me to sign up. So I put in my my paperwork and had to get my commanding officer to approve it. And I went out to training camp in Jacksonville, Florida and got selected and ⁓ had a fun time in 2007 at the all service tournament in Camp Lejeune. And then ⁓ the next year we were in Fort Benning, Georgia. And then I ended up switching over to Jets and we were getting ready for a deployment and everything got kind of put in hold for a little bit as operational readiness came calling. ⁓ Came back from deployment and was looking to get back into the scene in all Navy rugby. And that's when they decided that we weren't gonna play fifteens anymore and we were gonna go to sevens rugby. ⁓ Sevens is not my cup of tea, but but you know me, I'm six foot two, two hundred and ninety pounds. I mean, when I was playing rugby, I was two hundred and twenty pounds. Yes, I ran like a gazelle, but I did not have a large gas tank. so at that point
speaker-0: We may need to call we may need to call some of your teammates to corroborate whether or not
speaker-1: They will definitely tell you that. I was I had quick bursts, but it did not last long. So sevens was not my thing. ⁓ so at that point I decided to step away from all Navy rugby, but I still kept those friendship with those guys. ⁓ a bunch of them played with me ⁓ at Norfolk. There's a bunch of them that played for Virginia Beach and at Newport News, and then we all decided we need to play together, and we all came to Norfolk and continued there. ⁓ and it was an absolute blast. ⁓ I played up until nearly the very last day I was in the service. ⁓ and then from there I had a lot of rugby injuries over the years. ⁓ I was dealing with back injury, which I still am, five ruptured discs in my lower back, and I had to retire. My body couldn't take it anymore. From playing from nineteen ninety six to twenty thirteen took toll on me. Yeah.
speaker-0: And I think that's probably a reasonable decision to step away at that point. I I guess my question to you is you you mentioned, you know, you missed the the team aspects of rugby, but can you talk a little bit about how being on a team ⁓ while you were playing at a high level in college helped prepare you for the work that you were gonna do in the Navy?
speaker-1: Yes, I mean, when I was in high school, we were a team, but we were all young kids. Coming into college, we were all away from home. We realized all we had was each other and to build those relationships. ⁓ it was always next man up. That was Doc's big thing. Next man up. A guy goes down, next man up. You gotta be ready. You always gotta be ready. ⁓ and that just kind of resonated with me. The Always trying to be the guy who was counted on. one of my biggest downfalls when I played was I never wanted to say I was injured. I played through a lot of injuries. I'd messed up my knee on multiple occasions. I mean, at one point it cuts down. I put popsicle sticks and duct tape around it as a makeshift brace so I could play. probably shouldn't have because I couldn't walk for like two weeks afterwards, but I needed to do what I needed to do for my team. And that's what mattered to me. And I knew they were giving that commitment, and I had to give that too. Joining the military, it seemed like that same team. It was always next man up, you know, guy transfers out, guy gets injured, something happens. Next man up, mission has to go on. Mission must continue. ⁓ and being that we were all away from home, all we had was each other. So we looked out for each other. We were family. And it really made me feel the same way as I did on these rugby teams. I mean, because we treated each other like family. We spent times after games together, during the week, watching movies, watching game tape, ⁓ partying, you know, when I was in the service with ⁓ Norfolk playing, I mean, we had barbecues all the time. We would go to, you know, the local bar to watch sports games together. We would meet up with the girlfriends, the families, like. It was a giant family. And I mean, just as I always say I'm a nighthawk forever, I'm blue forever. I will always be a Norfolk blue. I still keep contact with all those guys. ⁓ and it's still family. They always will be. And that's how I feel about my brothers and sisters I served with. They're family. They always will be.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's a really important takeaway is the the power of sport and how it's a preparatory for lessons you learn in life. And I think a lot of the a lot of the things you touched on, the camaraderie, the level of accountability, you know, the the making sure that the job gets done no matter what. There are definitely things you learn ⁓ at a when you're playing sports at a high level or even at a at you know a a varsity or or a level in high school where, you know, there are repercussions to not showing up, right? And and your teammates trust you and they rely on you. What better lessons can you learn as you're as you're stepping into ⁓ into the service? And so we talked, I I think that's a pretty interesting transition there because we talked a little bit about how the, you know, your experience with rugby helped prepare you to be successful in the Navy, being away from home, relying on your teammates, showing up, being accountable, being reliable. And then ⁓ I would love to hear about your experience as you went to transition out of the Navy and then kind of holistically looking at how those same lessons you learned on the rugby pitch and then on the ship translated into your success that you've enjoyed now. So can you talk a little bit about your transition out of the navy and and what that looked like?
speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ it was twenty thirteen. I knew I was done with my naval career. I had accomplished what I had set out for by that time. ⁓ the Navy was changing, so I thought it was time for me to to move on. ⁓ with that being said, I was looking for something that gave me the same sense of pride and cambroadery and support. Like I had received in the service. ⁓ and that's where Makino came in. So I went to a hiring conference by Bradley Morris at ⁓ believe it was the Marriott next to the Hampton Coliseum. It was the first interviews I had done in ten years. You don't really interview for the service. So ⁓ ⁓ is the first real job interview I'd done in ten years. Makino was the very first interview I did at like seven forty-five in the morning. I was the very first person they interviewed out of seventy candidates. And I was nervous. I really wasn't prepared. really didn't know what Mikino did. ⁓ but I knew what I was capable of. So I went in there, we started talking. ⁓ everything went s really well. They They asked about my technical expertise on aircraft, how we diagnose, how we troubleshoot. ⁓ and I explained my technical expertise, what I did in the service, ⁓ and then talked a little bit about outside and what I did, ⁓ playing rugby for the Navy, playing rugby in college. ⁓ I had a great opportunity that I got to go to the national championship tournament multiple times. ⁓ so It it was something different than what they had heard before. and so a week went by. I had two more interviews that day, and they weren't really anything I was interested in. ⁓ week went by and I got a call from Aquino asking if I would like to go out to Mason, Ohio and see their headquarters and do another round of interviews. So I took some time off and flew out to Mason, Ohio, and I was nervous. Extremely nervous. I was like, all right, we're gonna interview with more people. I still don't a hundred percent understand what you guys do. but I'm really interested in the technology aspect of it. I knew they were in manufacturing, I knew they were on the forefront of innovation, ⁓ which is something that was really appealing to me. I knew that they did a lot of work in the aerospace division and that was something that I felt like I came from. ⁓ So I thought it would be a good transition. They also sold me on the fact that it was a very veteran friendly company. The guy I interviewed with was a Navy veteran. All three of the guys I interviewed with at Makino when I went there were all Navy veterans. So it made me feel comfortable. I knew that these guys knew the feeling that I had going on at that moment. And they pretty much told me, Shane, we know we want you. ⁓ we're trying to sell us to you. And at that point I I felt wanted. Like this is where I needed to be. The job that I went into as a field service engineer is a hard job. It is a very taxing job, much like the military. It is a traveling job. You were gone ninety-five percent of the time. I would fly out on a Monday, come back either that Friday, or maybe two weeks or three weeks from now. So being that you're traveling and you're gone a lot, working and being with other people was a big thing for me to help stabilize and get me used to this. And McKinnah is all about working in teams. And what I was doing at that time was working on large machines. That's what I got brought into due to my aerospace background. And our large machines are mostly our aerospace machines. So I was out there on these jobs with three, four, five other guys. And you became like a family out there. You're out there for two, three months building a machine, building multiple machines. I mean. You came, you got really close. And the support that they gave you was incredible. I mean, from the top down, there were veterans throughout the company that understood what I was going through and how to help guide me to be as successful as possible. And I had some really great mentors in the company. ⁓ A lot of them are in upper management now, ⁓ and have done really well for their career and they've helped bring me along. ⁓ one of our directors, Ken Creech, he's an ex Navy guy. ⁓ he was a mentor to me and he really helped me understand the scope of the job, understand how to present myself and how to be the best field service engineer possible, and how to work on that reputation. The same one that I had built in the military. Now I had to start all over and built it, build it in a different industry. And in our industry in manufacturing, everybody talks. Everybody knows each other. So your reputation is all you have. If you have a bad reputation, you can get locked out of this industry pretty quickly. So I always wanted to be the guy to count on. ⁓ I made ⁓ some mistakes early on. I grasped for too much before I was ready. And I had a great manager early on in my career. His name was Andy Schuler. He had been with McKino for like 40 years. ⁓ he told me you're gonna have a whole bunch of ocean moments where you're just gonna be down and out, you're not gonna be able to figure out, you're gonna be struggling, and then you're gonna have this aha moment where all of a sudden everything clicks and it becomes easy for you. And if you have the mechanical aptitude, the electrical aptitude, and the drive and commitment. Once that happens, the sky's the limit. And I got lucky to hit that moment and just blossom in my career. But if it wasn't for those fellow veterans that understood what I was going through, who honestly cared for me, not just as a coworker, but as an individual, I wouldn't be where I am today. And I feel that veterans that exiting military members who are going into the corporate sector, they need to have that. They need to have that backing and stability. what they had in the service to get them started. That is key. It's gotta be a seamless transition.
speaker-0: Yeah. Dude, that is there's what what a great explanation of of your transition and and you hit so many themes that that we touched on throughout your career from you know finding a place where you can get that camaraderie, looking for great mentors, ⁓ like you had your the different coaches you had, the guy you the guy who put you in touch with the detailer in the Navy. And then as you made your transition, leaning on those veterans who came before you and and walked that transition. ⁓ I'll I'll talk a little bit about my own transition as well. As I was getting out, I did this incredible ⁓ trip with my wife across country. We took about a month and a half, two months to ⁓ spend a week in different parts of the country and see the the most incredible national parks and all these things. And I, you know, it was such a blessing to get to spend that time with Meg. And, you know, she's my favorite person in the whole world. And I realized though, that despite having this incredible time at you know, Arches National Park and all these beautiful places in our country and being with the person I love more than anything, I realized how much it impacted me that I was detached from a team, you know, and I I realized that I was actually having a hard time ⁓ during this transition, even though I was like basically on vacation, because I was no longer snapped into my squadron, which was such a robust teamwork camaraderie, a a group of people who just make you better every day. And I I saw how important that was to me. And then as I got here to Wharton and and got to meet the other veterans here and snap into the community here, it was like a total game changer. And not not just the veterans too. I mean, obviously that group is so special and important to me, but the my classmates here who, you know, I think going into school was a good good way to transition for me because I could go play rugby and and you know, be in a play and all these things where you get that community. But that's such an important part. of the transition experience for veterans because you go from, you know, some guys they go from being deployed to out of the military in in around 30 days. Like that happens a a lot more regularly than than I would like to ⁓ admit. But those guys need that that network and that group of people. So it's so awesome that you found that at McKino and it obviously speaks really well to the corporate culture they have there and the group of veterans they have there. And And the commitment that the company has to ⁓ to to finding good good spots for veterans to land. And I think much to their to their benefit, you know, like they're able to latch on to all the experience that you had overseas in demanding environments. ⁓ and and you know, they do some retooling. So instead of working on an F-18, you're working on these these different machines, but they're able to tap into that leadership experience, that comfort with discomfort. That you honed over such a a long period of time. So in in the theme of that transition, I guess I would ask you as someone who successfully navigated the transition from active duty into a successful career in industry, if you were able to reach back and talk to yourself or, you know, young, young, ⁓ young Shane, the sailor getting out, or if you're thinking about young guys and gals who are getting out of the military today, looking for that next spot. ⁓ particularly on the ⁓ enlisted side, what what advice would you have for them as they go to step out of the military?
speaker-1: My advice would be don't go out there and just find a job. Don't just find something that's going to fill your pocket and fill your time. Find something that you love. Find somewhere that feels like home and gives you that same sense of pride that you had while you were in the service. Don't take anything less. Don't sell yourself short. You have no idea how valuable you are. Out there in the market. And that's something that I believe the sailors don't understand. They look at or you know, other branches of the veterans in general, they look at what they did in their career and they go, now what can I do outside? And they don't realize that, okay, maybe the job, the MOS that you had, the rate may not transition very well to the outside world. But the intangibles that the military instilled in you are extremely valuable, and every employer out there is searching for that. The guy who's accountable, the guy who's on time, the guy who's presentable, the guy who can Withstand the stress and pressures that may be bestowed upon them during their career. The guys who aren't going to be happy just sitting still and want to, in fact, change and want to be important to what they're doing. I don't believe these guys understand that. They're extremely marketable. Everybody wants veterans. They need to just realize what they truly have and then make sure they find something they love doing in the process.
speaker-0: Yeah. That is such great advice. And I think, you know, you're such a great example of not not just you, but also the company you work for that they, you know, a good example. They do want veterans and they do want to see these guys who have all those intangibles that, you know, you can't you can't grow overnight in a in a training camp or an orientation, right? Like those are things that you learn over a period of time, those hard deployments, those t highly technical skills you learned over that period of time, operating on the flight deck on a on a carrier, you know, hard to imagine a more hectic environment. ⁓ and then I would just the one thing I would add that I think is interesting too is I think that as much as guys need to understand how marketable and and how desirable they are as well, it's also important to to come in with humility as well. You know, because realistically, if you think about it, and you made such a good point earlier, you know, you had a stellar reputation. Or at least a reputation that was well respected with regards to timeliness, knowing your stuff, working hard, like all those things that are so it takes time to build those up. You have to remember as you transition out that you don't, you're not just endowed with those in your next role. And I think that that's important, not just for veterans, but for anyone who's doing a career change. I think that's a really challenging thing to navigate as you, as you leave your career, whether it was in the military or or something else, and you're doing that transition, you do have to rebuild that reputation. You know, and you and you can enjoy the success, the recommendations, the, you know, the things that come with ⁓ you know, the respect of coming from that other industry or from the military, but you still have to come in with humility and you still have to be willing to work and and show that, yeah, there's a reason why you got that letter of recommendation, or yeah, there's a reason why it matters that you, you know, why people actually are interested in veterans who who served on on the flight deck of a CVN. You know, it's like because they do. these things right. And so you have to continue to do those things. So as much as guys gotta understand, you know, how how valuable they can be, that you also have to be willing to take a little bit of humble pie. I think that particularly applies to a lot of officers who get out, you know, who who, of course, you know, I I was a major in the Marine Corps, albeit only for a few months, and and and my my peer pilots will, you know, they gave me a hard time for for putting on major, but I think it can be challenging for a lot of guys who were in command or something like that. You know, you're in command of a of a rifle company, you're in charge of 130 Marines, ⁓ all who, you know, who will do exactly what you ask of them without hesitation. And then you're gone and you're, you know, you're gonna be a a a a junior person starting a new career. And I think most, most veterans that I've met have navigated that with grace. But I think it is a challenge that people need to be cognizant of as they as they ⁓ move away from their time in the military service.
speaker-1: I completely agree with that. It is very hard to give orders and then flip to taking orders from being the top dog to being the guy at the bottom of the totem pole. I mean I was really good at my job in the military. I was asked to do a lot of things. I was counted on for when times were tough. If there was an issue, the new Shane could figure it out. Or eighty two Mitchell could figure it out, but set it out there. We got this done. ⁓ but at the same time when I got out, I knew I wasn't the guy anymore, but I wanted to be the guy again. I knew what that felt like. I knew what I wanted as a person. So trying to come in and just swallow everything and go, Okay, I'm at the bottom. I'll do the dirty jobs, I'll do the nasty stuff again, I'll do whatever it takes. to get back to where I was. ⁓ that's what I was going to do. Not everybody can do that. Not everybody is comfortable with going from being the top to being the bottom again. So that is a very extremely hard transition for guys. Yeah.
speaker-0: And that's that's where I think that self-awareness, you know, I I think that self-awareness is one of the most critical traits for any anybody to be successful, either as a leader or just in anything that you do. You know, yes, you you I think that that kind of sums up what we've been saying, which is, you know, you need to understand the value that you bring to the team, but you also need to understand that there are things you don't know, especially as you move to a new job, you take a new role, you you transition. And any leader who comes in. who acts like he or she knows everything or, you know, ⁓ has nothing to learn, obviously is, is putting out a a bad message because it's so important to be self-aware, to understand your blind spots. I spoke with ⁓ Andrew Little ⁓ a couple of weeks ago on our last episode and he mentioned, you know, ⁓ the most important thing a leader can do is to to want to be wrong so that his or her, you know, the people who work with them, are or feel good about bringing up ideas. And I think in the same way that that goes with the humility and self-awareness. So if if we're if we're going to ask that same question to you, ⁓ what do you think if if you were able to talk to any young, aspiring leader and give them advice for one leadership trait or one, one thing they could do to to get better and prepare themselves for leadership positions either in the Navy or in industry, what trait would you recommend?
speaker-1: Be trainable. That would be that's a huge thing. Be willing to learn, be willing to take things in, and be willing to blend in with your surroundings. ⁓ The key to being successful is being to able to assimilate into the culture that you're working in, into the industry that you're working in. So be adaptable. Be able to take change, take advice, and do positive with it.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's great. Trainability is in incredibly important. I think it does touch on a lot of what we've what we've discussed in terms of that humility and that that willingness to understand, that willingness to learn. So before we go, I I guess I would I would just be really interested in in hearing, do you have anything, you know, big coming up with with your work today or anything that people should know about ⁓ with what you've got going on?
speaker-1: I mean, right now it is amazing to see ⁓ the growth that is happening right now in American manufacturing. ⁓ American manufacturing is the backbone of our country. It is always been something of pride that we've had ⁓ as a nation, being a leader in technology ⁓ technology and innovation. ⁓ and it's nice to see that it's coming back. For years we saw it start to branch off. Companies would send ⁓ their work overseas, ⁓ to save the dollar to make more money. ⁓ but it's good to see a manum American manufacturing coming back. ⁓ I've seen a lot of companies growing, ⁓ a lot of huge opportunities. Us as McKino are having some of the most successful years we've had. ⁓ we took a big hit during COVID, as everybody did, as American American manufacturing did. ⁓ and it's taken a couple of years for us to come back from. ⁓ right now we are booming and we're continuing to grow. The orders are flying in, ⁓ the growth is out there. The economy is going to get stronger. there's a lot of positivity out there that ⁓ people need to know about. Right now we we hone in on the negatives that are going on right now in society and what's going on in our country and around the world. And there's also a lot of positive things that are going on. ⁓ and we need to really focus on some of those right now and see the growth that we are doing.
speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I it's not often that we talk like geopolitics or s or national strategy or anything like that on the show, but ⁓ lead lead with Bubba Scott as a show supports American manufacturing ⁓ conceptually. And I think it's, you know, incredibly important as we look at the future, making sure that we're able to scale up manufacturing rapidly for ⁓ national security and geopolitical reasons as well. ⁓ besides just providing great jobs for ⁓ for hardworking Americans. So ⁓ it's that's that's exciting to see the growth and exciting to see where you guys are gonna go and and and you you'll have to stay in touch and make sure we're aware of what you guys have going on. But Shane, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been absolutely ⁓ awesome to chat with you about your your upbringing, your career in the Navy, your time on the rugby pitch, and and how you were able to transition your skills ⁓ from working on F eighteens to a successful career in manufacturing with Makino.
speaker-1: Well, thank you very much, Bubba. It's been a pleasure to be on your show. I I've been super excited about this. ⁓ as some of your listeners do not know, we are related somewhat. ⁓ I am married to ⁓ Bubba's cousin, Miss ⁓ Katie McGuire Mitchell. And ⁓ this is something that I've always wanted to do and be able to talk to you about to explain my background and the experience that I've had and how The military and all my experiences has led me to where I am today as a leader within my industry and my company.
speaker-0: Yeah. And thank thanks for sharing. I've been just as interested. and ⁓ and I think it's really fantastic your description of how to be successful as as folks transition out of the Navy and out of the military. And I think it's really a really important takeaway for ⁓ for any people in industry listening to the show, veterans can bring a lot to you. And for for any of the veterans or active duty service members listening today, remember To always reach back down the ladder as people make their transition, just like Shane Soon and just like the guys who looked out for him at Makino did before him. ⁓ you know, as as as people make transitions, whether it's the military or or whether it's career changes, mentorship is absolutely critical to help people succeed and land well. So keep that in mind and and we'll see you next time ⁓ for the next show. So thanks so much, Shane.
speaker-1: Thank you, Baba. Have a great night.
speaker-0: Thanks so much for listening to Lead with Bubba Sky, brought to you by the VA Lender. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show and leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also follow along on Instagram at LeadwithBubba and let us know your thoughts on the episode. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.
speaker-1: Yeah. Nighthawk for life, baby.
