Scott DeLuzio    00:00:00    Thanks for tuning into the Drive On Podcast where we’re focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty guard, reserve, or family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show. Welcome back to the Drive On Podcast. Today, my guest is Don Gleason. Don is a 27-year Air Force veteran who attained the rank of Colonel and led units of over 1600 people, and was responsible for projects as large as the $12.8 billion Iraq reconstruction program. After getting out of the military, he’s had a successful civilian career and has since started a nonprofit, which helps military members who are in transition into civilian life. Welcome to the show, Donald, glad to have you on.  

Don Gleason    00:00:58    Well, thanks, Scott. I really appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I always love talking about what I do and how we’re helping people. I think that’s the key thing. Leaders help people. We’re always focused on people and that’s what I love doing. And it’s my passion at this point in life.  

Scott DeLuzio     00:01:13    I’m sure we’re going to get more into what it is that you’re doing and how you’re helping people. But, it definitely does seem like that is your passion. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background? I know I touched on a few things there, but I’m sure you have a lot more to fill in the blanks there with a little bit of who you are.  

Don Gleason    00:01:34    I’ll try to keep it short because you know 27 years plus nine, I think I’m almost 40 years out of college now.  One thing I always focus on is people as I’m getting them to think about transition.  I do that on the civilian side with my for-profit and the military side with the not-for-profit, thinking about what you really want to do. My story goes all the way back to fifth grade, I was in Wisconsin the first earth day in 1970 Gaylord Nelson was the Senator from Wisconsin. He advocated for and got approved for Earth Day. I remember sitting there in fifth grade thinking I want to work in the environment and that drove me all the way through high school in college. I got my environmental engineering degree and I graduated in 1982.  

Don Gleason    00:02:20    Unfortunately I call it the Reagan recession. It was the recession during his first term unemployment for a lot of people was 12 to 15% for college. It was 20, 25% out of my graduating class. I was in the 85% that did not have a job after four months after graduation.  I looked around, I did not want to go back to grad school.  I said, what things can I do now? I had 454. Thank you. But no thank you. Letters from companies. My wife had to hand type. We’d just been married three months. At that point. She had hand typed every one of those letters, probably more than once, probably five times to make sure we got them right. Because there were no computers back then in 1982. I was a big stack at my graduation party. I joined the service and I said four years, four years max, no more.  

Don Gleason   00:03:09    I just want to get some experience, but I gotta do some really neat things in the military. I got into my first assignment. I was doing some of the initial documentation of old hazardous waste, hazardous materials, dumping on the base, call it the installation restoration program, kind of the civilian version or...