What does Engineering have to do with the Veteran Patient Experience with Anthony Streletz, US Department of Veteran's Affairs

Welcome to Inspiring People and Places, where we interview national leaders in the architectural, engineering, construction, and development industry in an effort to educate, innovate, and inspire industry professionals to disrupt the status quo, improve their project teams, and steward public and private investments more effectively. I'm your host, BJ Kramer, president and CEO of MCFA. Allow me to introduce today's guest. I am excited to welcome to the show Anthony Schultz. Before I bring him on, a couple of things.

One is this this is part of a, I think, a four or five part series we're doing in honor of Veterans Day in November, talking about DOD to AEC, Department of Defense to Architect Engineering Construction. We have a few of these episodes before, but we really wanted to highlight veterans that made the transition from really the uniform service and in most cases some kind of engineering inside of the uniform Services to moving into the AEC industry whether that's public sector or private sector. Second part is we talk a lot about entrepreneurial public servants on the on the podcast and Anthony represents this from the first time I met him. He had this blend of visionary and executor. So a little bit of planner, a little bit of architect, a little bit of entrepreneur in him that has been blended into, you know, the practicality and pragmatic of a public servant inside of an organization that can sometimes be bureaucratic.

So I'm very excited for this conversation. Welcome to the show, Streletz.

Hey, BJ. It's it's great to be here. I appreciate it. I know you've asked several times, but I think this is a great opportunity, especially for Veterans Day, both of us being veterans and serving veterans. I think this is great.

I look forward to the conversation we're about to have.

Me too. So we're going to jump right in. Always talk about really what brought you to your career where you are today as the chief engineer at VA Long Beach Medical Center for the VA. So you're continuing to serve our veterans in a different organization different mission, but really before we go there and what you're doing today and what your priorities are and the challenges that you deal with at the VA Give our audience a little bit of the career path, your upbringing, what led you into kind of the Army and the Engineering branch, and what brought you to today?

Yeah. So so ever since I was a kid, I I was always fascinated with engineering. You know? I mean, I would pull things apart. I remember little radios and little gadgets and things like that to understand how they work.

I was also very fascinated with... I I guess you... I don't wanna say, like, fighting or warfare, but I I was just enamored by the people that served our country and the dedication and selfless service that they had. My grandfather was in the Navy. I had an uncle who fought in Vietnam.

And, you know, so so it was a blending of that. And then... And which will also tie in my... Both my parents are are physicians, and I grew up in a hospital. And so it all comes together now that I'm a chief engineer at at a VA Medical Center.

But as I was growing up, engineering just suited me, and the the civil side was was the biggest one because it was just physical... The physicality of it being able to build bridges and things like that. And I remember one quote, it was from a movie, the ghost in the darkness. Val Kilmer was in there. And in one of the scenes, he's telling, one of, somebody about why...

What drives him and about building bridges. And he said it's it's about, you know, I'm able to bring land over water and connect people. And and and that's that's kind of what, you know, we try to do as engineers is make make life better for people and and bring great things to to be able to to their lives. And so throughout my career, you know, when I got into college, you know, engineering, I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and and, you know, it was a great marriage between, you know, being in the service. I was in ROTC.

That's how I got my commission. And I always like to say Rensselaer is the second oldest engineering school in the country. First, both on Hudson.

That's right.

And on the West Point, of course. You're you're you're so the so so that's what that's what drove me. And then when I joined the army, it was just a camaraderie. The leadership I learned, the the sense of mission, and and working with other great people. And then towards my latter portion of my career, I was able to be a part of the US Army Corps of Engineers side of of the of the Engineering Corps and learned a lot about the civil works and and the services that the Corps of Engineer provides to our country.

I mean, you know, we've been here since the beginning of of our country and serving it and building it better. And so, you know, I really enjoyed that. And when I left the service, I had opportunities to to go to other commercial, you know, companies and things like that, but I just didn't fully get the feel of of that sense of service that I still wanted to provide back to the, you know, our veterans. And I had an opportunity. I was actually hired for one job, and then I got the opportunity to join the VA.

And I quickly turned that down and joined the VA as an engineer and worked my way up through it. And, you know, I just found it to be exactly where I want. One, it was helpful that, you know, I I was already used to government operations. Right. Was key.

But the sense of... And the marriage coming together of finally, you know, both... As I said, both my parents were were physicians, and I, you know, I would always go to the hospital with my dad when I was a kid. You know, now being in a hospital and my engineering, bringing it all together and bringing my particular way of doing things. I'm a very holistic looking person covering covering the comprehensive needs.

You know, I always say that when we come to a VA hospital, as soon as a veteran... Oh, it's actually virtually too. But but as soon as they come onto the campus, they are knee... They're in a healing environment. And it...

It's every aspect of it. It isn't just about seeing somebody in exam. It's when you walk onto a campus and if you see things not maintained, that directly goes to the experience that the patient is having of are they gonna get a good good health care here if they can't even take care of, the grass? And so, you know, simple things, but, you know, that that is we are the first thing that they see and and maintaining it and and giving the the most capable... Equipment and and facilities for our veterans, you know, working with the clinicians and everything like that.

It's just it's just very enjoyable to see the the fruits of our labor and and getting the positive feedback and the good outcomes for all our veterans. So there's a lot of them out there.

I want to I want to dive into the complexities of running kind of engineering operations maintenance capital projects at VA when you have a live mission going on Beef and and I really want to hear about kind of your lessons learned during COVID. But before we go there, just some quick highlights of your of the end of your career there. When you you mentioned you did the Corps of Engineers, which is where we originally met. You were the deputy director for Philadelphia District USACE. Go Phillies.

We were talking before the show. We're gonna we're gonna time stamp this show because

Fly Eagles fly. Absolutely.

It's the Phillies are in the World Series starting off this weekend and we'll see what

Well, gonna hear it on the over fourteenth. Theo. It was a way to go Phils winning the World Series World Champs. That's right. That's

So that's that's where you and I met. You were the deputy director. Us a quick thumbnail on on your roles and responsibilities and what you learned in that role. And then and then when you deployed thereafter.

Yeah. So, you know, my twenty year career with with the army, you know, I served many different posts, many different organizations around the world. I had opportunities to engage foreign armies, foreign governments, supporting their development in in the different operations we're doing. When it comes to the Corps of Engineers, the biggest aspect is is the much larger long term infrastructure development, particularly the civil works of our country. Of course, the Corps of Engineers mandated to maintain all our navigable waterways.

And, of course, Philadelphia District, huge in the flood management of New Jersey Coast as well. Sandy had just hit right after I left. Mhmm. That was pretty successful in what what core of engineers was able to do. But, you know, when people don't realize the significant support that the Corps of Engineers and and civilian staff provide to the combat side of operations, support engagement in the combatant commands in Ford theaters, critical support.

And it's not only the Corps of Engineers, obviously, the Navy with the Civil Engineering Corps and AFAC, and then the US Air Force with their civil engineering support and everything like that. All the aspects that, you know, we bring these professionals and provide that expertise, which is the combat multiplier that I just don't think any other army has that capability to be able to provide that expertise and, you know, unique problem solving and innovative ways of of supporting military operations in the Ford Theater. And so, you know, at the Corps of Engineers, I was able to learn, you know, how the Corps of Engineers works, the reach back capabilities and the services they can provide. So then when I did deploy... Now I've served I served, you know, my first deployment was Somalia in 1993, Brand new second lieutenant right out of ranger school.

You know? Hey. You're you're now a combat platoon leader or a mechanized platoon. And... Oh, by the way, you're going to Somalia next week.

And so, you know, that was that was baptism by fire. So that was my first experience. At the end of my career, you know, I had the, you know, ability to deploy to Afghanistan and support operations over there. And, you know, the Corps of Engineers was heavily involved in supporting the rebuilding of Afghanistan and supporting many of the combatant visions around the the country to stabilize that. And, you know, it it is...

That... That's what engineering often brings to the combat zone, especially in many of the missions that we did over the last two decades in Iraq and Afghanistan, you know, it was seen, you know, the American forces were bringing some sort of stability, and and this infrastructure that we were providing is a symbolism of that of that stability that that we bring. And now I'm not gonna get into all the politics and everything like that. That's

We don't have to hit that. I agree.

Yeah. That's not my my area of expertise. My area of expertise was providing analysis and and solutions to how we can better provide and provide the supporting infrastructure necessary so that local all the way up to national governments can can provide better services for their people.

I think that's a great highlight because, you know, we talk about the engineering community and generally national infrastructure and how much it supports our economy. And, you know, I think we both saw in both Afghanistan and Iraq, what a lack of infrastructure does to a community or an economy and then what bringing infrastructure does to stabilizing it. And, you know, now we talk about our ability as a nation to to expand our infrastructure to support an expanding economy and protect our, you know, whether it's protecting our tourism on the Jersey Shore or anything else, know, expanding our highway system or our rail or improving our public transportation. What that does for Commerce, which our economic stability is really the backbone of our national security.

Right. No, I mean if people are able to, you know, if you ask most people, they they they wanna live a life in safety and, you know, well-being for themselves and their family. That that... That's that's the bottom line what people want to do. And and

No matter where... To to to be clear, to put an exclamation point on that, no matter where you are in the world.

That that's correct. I I mean, I think that's that's the major premise. And and so there's a responsibility of the government that they're they've allowed to be in in control, you know, it's it's given by the people, that, you know, we have responsibilities, and we want to, you know, create those environments. And and that's the same thing I do here on the VA Houghton Medical Center, is create an environment that, you know, improves the lives of the people that it serves. And, you know, that...

That's what we're trying to do. And and, you know, we bring... You know, each of us bring different expertise to to the forefront. And for... As an engineer, you know, like, one example in Iraq, you know, working with my combat brothers and sisters, you know, you don't expect an infantryman or armor officer to understand, you know, how a how a sewer system works.

However, they do see the the impacts that it has on the population when the sewer system keeps backing up and flooding people's houses. And and that's that's the deterrent and and then can cause situations in which the people dissatisfied will take other avenues to to express their concerns.

Whereas Right.

You know, some of the... You know, as an engineer, I was able to bring, you know, a true understanding. It wasn't just about fixing a pipe. It was understanding the distribution system and the collection system so that you were fixing the proper points along the process. So just fixing a pipe at the end when you have no other place for the sewage to go, you're still gonna keep having the same problem.

So it was bringing those highlights working together and prioritizing and, you know, meeting the needs and and efficiently, you know, providing those resources at the points where they need to have the most impact on the on the support of the population.

Yeah. So let's jump into, you know, the other part of an entrepreneurial public servant is stewardship of the resources that you're given and the mission that you're responsible for. You and I, I'm trying to think when this was. Mayor Nutter had hired, I think a planner and then he went over to take over the London Olympics I can't remember the name.

Yeah. I'm terrible with names. Somehow I want to say Dave Dave or David or something like that was his first name.

Wait, we're gonna put it in the show notes. Yes. But you and I started talking about it and it was all about this holistic approach to planning and really his vision for helping Mayor Nutter make Philadelphia better. So that was the first glimpse I got into Anthony Streletz, the hobbyist city planner. And then we were talking, I guess two, three years ago, maybe right before COVID about your your desire to really plant the flag at VA Long Beach and make it the best medical center you can while while it's under your Purview and your holistic approach like you started out the the patient care Journey doesn't start when they get entered into the medical system.

It starts when they step foot on your campus. So talk to us about what's going on now at VA Long Beach. What what's it been like since you since you got there and the the variety of problems and leadership challenges you get to navigate every day?

Well, I also wanna say, you know, there was... Yes. The planner at the time under Michael Nutter, but you introduced me to Edmund Bacon.

And That's right.

We have the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon.

That's

right. The city planner from the nineteen fifties for Philadelphia and that nineteen fifties movie that you showed me. That's my model of the visionary aspects of how to look at the bigger picture of how we integrate, you know, capabilities. And in this case, it was the city when we were looking at that and and bringing all the experts together. And so that actually...

What you provided me with that back then in in 2008, 2009 when we looked at that has actually shaped me in the way I look at planning when I come to campuses. And here at Long Beach, you know, federal facilities were inspirations at different points in our history of our country to bring together populations, even things like like the post offices in the nineteen thirties, with the great depression and the work projects they had, they brought many of the trades folks and artisans together. And if you look at some of the nineteen thirties art deco post offices that are out there, it brings all those capabilities together, and it's an enduring history of the time and in our country and their beautiful buildings and some of the murals and things like that. I have the, you know, pleasure of working on a campus. It was originally a US naval hospital, and it was built in 1940.

And, you know, it's an art deco design, and it was built actually. And that's the great thing about World War two. They brought the same thing happened again, and all the great artisans and architects and and Claude Bielman, a famous architect from here in Los Angeles, built many buildings between the thirties all the way up to the sixties here, and he actually designed and built this this hospital. And so, you know, it's... They...

You know, when you bring those type of professionals, it's... You know, they aren't just building a hospital. They have a greater vision, and and and the great people who design things and and develop, you know, have a vision of what they want to accomplish and provide for a campus as inviting. And and so I... In my many different roles that I've had, you know, I...

I've traveled the world. I've I've seen a lot of different architecture and things like that and and infrastructure that, you know, it is critical that we don't build and often happens a hodgepodge of stuff because what you lose is is two major things. You lose efficiency, and and it becomes a confusing maze of hallways and things like that at a hospital. I'm from the East Coast. I've been many hospitals there over the ages, and, you know, it confuses patients.

And we have the same problem here.

Not enough way finding in the world to

Exactly. To make it make sense. So one of the divisions I bring here is, you know, campus itself. There's a... Portland is a a leader in this transit oriented campus.

So the idea is you get the people here, and then once they're here, they shouldn't have to be driving around there. I think it should be... We have shuttle services. We have specific pedestrian walkways. We have easy to get to locations.

I mean, that's what we're developing towards. Obviously, we do have some issues So so it's bringing those concepts of planning. It's understanding how you connect different spaces on a large campus. You know, collegiate and university campuses are great examples. One of the big things I try to bring is continuity.

I'm dedicated to stay here for the next ten years. Because without continuity of vision, again, it leads to mismanagement, mis inefficiencies. And so it's trying to... Because everyone... Every individual has their own interests, you know, right or wrong.

But one of the things I find myself doing working with the executive leadership here is trying to capture everything and create a true picture of the needs across the board, not emphasizing any particular group. And, you know, that's that's also enjoyable because you have some very good conversations, in-depth conversations about needs and requirements for our patients, for our providers, and then overall, the mandates that may come down from Congress and such to to take care of, like, for example, a plug is we just had the new... Forget the the act that just came through, but the burn pits. Right. You know, that's a huge service now that we're providing to diagnostic testing of our veterans because of of the issues that burn pits have caused.

I mean, in Somalia, I remember I slept right next to a burn pit. Yeah. So so these are the types of... So it's it's understanding the impacts and things like that and and making sure that we're integrating all that and understanding that. And I'm often the person who's educating other services on, you know, this is what this service is doing and or this is what this service is doing or this is the guidance that central office has has provided.

So so those are many of the different things that I do as a chief engineer here. It's not just designing something.

Right. Talk to us about the complexity of the stakeholders or the clinical operations at your hospital.

Yeah. That's a great question and coming from an observation. You know, I I I love a hospital. It's a mini city. And just like a city, you have diversity across the board because you have, you know, the frontline support services, like janitorial services and skilled tradesmen and everything that are maintaining a hospital.

Then you have administrators that are working the the processes and operations to make things flow properly. Then you got... Then you have the care providers, the nursing staff, and the physicians. And then you have the senior leadership, the board, you know, c suite, and other senior leadership that are trying to implement the mandates and different things to provide better services for for the veterans that we serve. And then as...

From the infrastructure side that I love so much, as a mini city, you know, we have centralized plant operations. We have large electrical infrastructure. We have, at this facility, 1,500,000 square feet. So all the mechanical and electrical and plumbing service is required for all that. And then we're implementing...

Integrating the newest technology in health care. You know, like any hospital, we're main... We're upgrading and providing the best, you know, MRIs and CT scanners, surgical hybrid ORs, and so forth and so on. Cutting edge. We have great physicians here that are the best in their fields, in thoracic surgery, in cardiology, radiology with interventional radiology services, and so forth and so on.

Many different, and they choose to work here in the VA because they they love giving back to to the veteran. And so so that's what I that's what I enjoy here at the facility is that it is so diverse that you have many different things that you're doing here. And, you know, right now, the federal government sees, you know, our responsibility to to our veterans and and our aging infrastructure and are providing funding for us to be able to improve that infrastructure, and that... That's really great. And, also, there...

You know, we're coming up with some pretty innovative ways to provide services. It's not only at the medical center. It's it's it's it's being able to leverage community capabilities and integrating. And we... It's a whole different look of what, you know, seventies were with taking care of veterans.

It... Are... It's a it's a whole health process. You know? It's not just coming in for acute care.

It's we wanna make the life of the veteran better. And so it is not just a time period in their life that they come to the VA, get taken care of, and leave. It's constantly engaged, reaching out, and providing services because we also, you know, provide many services that are other administrations within Department of Veterans Affairs, the the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration.

Right.

Us being the veteran health care administration. You know, we provide those links. It's it's a whole whole health and lifetime of experience that they should have, not just a periodic interaction.

Yeah. Jump in a little bit. I want to dive into any specific leadership or project challenge or story that kind of highlights from your career a leadership lesson that has served you well throughout your career?

Well, the one of the leadership things that's inherent with military officers is constantly reevaluating, your leadership styles, the way you engage, you know, how you interact with people and and so forth, and modifying and understanding, you know, how how your actions and and the way you interact cause others to do things. Now in the military, you know, we were at war ranks, and, you know, there were certain situations where it was very easy where you just tell people to do things and they do it. You know? In the civilian world, that's not that's not really that that that simple. And, you know, so you have to moderate, and and it's...

You know, nowadays, with with all the knowledge that people can gain, correct knowledge or incorrect knowledge sometimes, you know, it's it's definitely an interaction process in leadership. But the fundamentals are still there. The fundamental is, one, people must respect you. They must trust you that they... That you have the best...

Their best interests at heart. And if you... And plus you have to be very... You have to be civil. That's always key in our our environment.

That, you know, if we're... If they if they trust you and they respect you, then the thing... You will be able to do a lot of things together and move move and and work through a lot of adversity and challenges, which there are within our organization. You know, we have mandates. We have...

You know, we're... As the federal government, anyone and everybody can come in and look at what we do. We are heavily scrutinized, and much of my time is providing feedback to what we are doing and addressing concerns and things like that. But, you know, all in all, when I'm out there working and engaging, and I'm gonna put a plug that, you know, face to face meeting with people, there... There's no true substitute for that.

We can do virtual all the time, but there's eventually a time when you actually have to physically, you know, come face to face with somebody, seeing their expressions in real time and, you know, feeling a sense of of working together that, you know, I think through the COVID process has has changed. Everyone thinks, oh, we can do everything virtually. And and I think that's just not the way human beings like it. We want to congregate and work with people and interact, at least most of us. You know?

There's exceptions of people that wanna, you know, go off and into the mountains. But but but the point being is that's that's what motivates us. That's what's that's what, you know, makes us wanna do things. And so so that's what I find myself doing as a leader is understanding people, their needs, and first of all, convincing them that I understand and what what they need. I'm empathetic with it.

Also explaining what limitations I might have because I can't deliver it right away. My goal is to always deliver what I can, but developing a plan that we can agree upon and support that that we can then achieve over a period of time working together. And the more you do that, the more respect you gain, the more trust you gain, and then it becomes easier and easier to work with different groups and such and have success. And and that comes with... And, again, you know, in...

There's a lot of turnover in a lot of different companies nowadays. And then in the federal government, a lot of people are moving on and everything like that. Can't I can't emphasize more how important continuity and, you know, a particular vision and someone maintaining that over a period of time creates a sense of stability, and people want stability. But you can't be complacency. I think we were just discussing that at the very beginning.

It can't be complacency. It has to be... We've always keep moving forward, but we got to keep moving forward in some similar direction. If we keep, you know, tacking left and right, you know, all it does is just everyone's head, they get all dizzy and everything like that for lack of term, and and it just becomes very frustrating. And, you know, then people get anxious and there's a lot of resistance and stuff.

And then when people are turning over, there's no trust or respect that's built up. That takes time. That is not an instantaneous thing.

A lot of richness there. You started out with reevaluation, you know, consistently reevaluating. And I do think that's, I mean, you talked about it from a personal leadership style and skills and, you know, what's working, what's not working. You know, when we talk about AARs that come from the the military. And I agree, I think that is how you establish that continuity without becoming complacent is a consistent kind of eye on the long term vision while iteratively getting there and evaluating where are we, accomplished, what haven't we accomplished, how are we triaging or prioritizing to move on to the, you know, the next phase, if you will.

Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. So if you're not if you're not constantly reevaluating using after action reviews or root cause analysis or whatever lean method you want to use to to evaluate what's going on and then making adjustments. If you aren't doing that, you aren't leading.

All you're doing is just going with the flow. And, you know, one of the quotes, again, I don't know. I'm terrible with names, but, you know, not making a decision is making a decision.

Right.

Right? And and leaders need to be decisive. They need to know when they need to make decisions and ensure they have the best information they can, but that's not always the case. But, also, you know, I... I'm never afraid to make a decision.

And then... Because I know that I'm constantly going to be evaluating, and I'm confident in my team that we can adjust and have flexibility that we can, you know, constantly, you know, adjust changes to get going in the right direction. One of the things that, again, my military career taught me, the American Army, and I'm gonna just say it hands down is the best army in the world. And the reason we're the best army in the world is not because we have the most money and the best equipment. You know, we have the best trained soldiers in the world.

And the reason why the Russians failed in Ukraine, and I don't wanna be political, but, you know, you know, I saw it when I was in Bosnia. They were just... You know, the NCOs in their organization are just people with, and I'm not here to bad mouth, but, I mean, I'm just telling you my experience with rank, but they were just all doers. We have a program of leadership training in the military that constantly bounces between academic education and practical application and at different levels continually going up, up, up, up, up, up. And that gives the ability of that organization to constantly review and evaluate how we do things and be able to be adaptive and and adjust when it's required to meet the mission need.

And that's the same thing that I'm doing here in my organization. We've got to make decisions to move on. However, we've got to constantly be monitoring and evaluating it and be able to adjust as needed. And it's not because we didn't do very good planning

Right.

Because we don't have crystal balls. But what it is is creating an organization that has the flexibility and capability to adjust so that we can meet the mission and in any any type of mission. So that's that's some of the and and we try... I try to mentor that in my subordinates, and we constantly have professional training that balances between technical and professional leadership improvements. So...

But the the the army and... Well, actually, you know, the navy, the... Any armed

forces military.

With all our infrastructure, that's what we do the best. And that's why everyone comes to us because we're able to do that. And so I'm very proud to be, you know, the Army.

Inspiring People and Places is brought to you by MCFA. MCFA is a CVE verified, service disabled, veteran owned small business. At MCFA, our why is to inspire people and places through project leadership. We provide planning, strategy, program management, and construction management support services to a wide variety of public and private sector clients. You hit a quote.

We didn't have the... Do you have a favorite quote?

We're gonna do some I have favorite quote.

Some rapid fire questions here.

Favorite quote? I know. One of my favorite quotes, and if I... You know, again, I'm terrible with... I I sometimes paraphrase, but one...

You know, there there are, you know, many different expressions and things like that. Well, one of my favorite ones is actually from Robert F. Kennedy. I believe it was Robert F. Kennedy.

He he said, you know, and I'm slightly paraphrasing, but, you know, some some people have dreams and wonder why, and I have dreams and and say, why not? And and so I love people with vision to to... And and that's not everybody. You gotta know where you're going, and then you gotta bring people along, and that's leadership. And understanding the needs of everybody.

And what people often miss is they can have one particular thing that they want to do, but they don't see the interaction between those different things that they're trying to do. And that's vision. That's the unseen ability of the interaction of those and how all those things tie together. And when you go to certain different places and when it comes to infrastructure, you see, hey. Someone here had vision vision.

And then you go to other places and, like, what the hell is going on here? I don't know if I'm allowed to say that word on on Absolutely. But but, you know, it's like, who who is in charge? Because it doesn't look like anyone's in charge. So, you know, I live in Irvine, California, and that's a master planned city, and it's well laid out.

And a lot of people love living there, and there's a lot of different aspects about the city. And it... And you can tell how how it was well planned. And and that that was going back to when you and I were watching that video of and and bacon and how Philadelphia is laid out. And, you know, there are some things that aren't working as well as it should, but you could see how a good laid out city can really create an environment for the population to flourish and love where they live.

Yeah. Moving from quotes to books, must read book.

Oh, jeez. When it comes to to reading, my reading was more of mandatory requirements as opposed to pleasure per se. But, I'll tell you, one of the books, you know, I was always fascinated with, a soldier story by, Omar Bradley. And and the reason why I say that is because what I was really interested in is dynamics of leadership. And in that, Omar Bradley, you know, who was very close to both Eisenhower and Patton.

And, of course, you know, Patton immortalized everyone in the military. Most people in the military really idolized General Patton. But, obviously, he had certain leadership styles, and it it it, you know, pushed people in the wrong direction in some cases. Right. And...

But Omar Bradley, in his ability as a leader, was able to first as subordinate to General Patton and then his superior, was able to take the best of what Patton could do and apply it in a productive manner that that really provided a great service to the allies in his ability to lead on the battlefield and such. And so, you know, and that was over, you know, four or five years of, you know, start of World War two with operation torch all the way until till, you know, the day. So... You know? But, you know, he also...

What was really good, it was his friendship that he had with general Patton and Eisenhower to be able to do that. And so that's something that I take. You have to create relationships and understandings of the different people that you work with both above and below you. And he adjusted his ability to interact and communicate with the different types of people to get the best out of them. And that's that's...

As a leader, we've got the... Again, going on reflection and looking back at how you do things and how what you do impacts the way other people do and react to you and and and what they do and the way they do it. You know? So it's constantly evaluating and then adjusting and interaction with people.

And I think, you know, to the point of understanding people and building that relationship back to the, you know, you can't really do that remote. So you really have to be in person to some degree to build those to really build those relationships. Last question before we wrap up. Dead or alive, if you could hang out with three people for a day, who would they be? What would you do?

Okay. So so one of the great engineers that I would like to hang out with was Kingman Burnell. He was a great English inventor and engineer, you know, kind of a renaissance man. So, that, you know, he built some wonderful bridges and railroads and had, you know, innovative ways of doing tunneling and different things like that. And so he he was...

He he... He's someone I would have definitely liked to met and understood how he thinks and everything. Let's see. Well, again, I've always... Like I said, I've always been enamored with George S.

Patton. And I think, you know, through my life, you know, I've read different books about him. Of course, there's the movie, of course, and then different leadership things. And and it would it would be... He was able to take the rawest troops, and then, you know, they were able to accomplish the the greatest, you know, military achievements in our our lifetime, arguably.

And, you know, just understanding not to totally emulate, but just to understand, you know, the different ways of how he did that would would be very interesting. So I I think that's that. And then I I don't know. The third one, I don't know. Maybe maybe I would drop into history, you know, way back when and maybe, you know, with Caesar, you know, find out what actually happened in the in the forum.

Or or if you go with, you know, Alexander the Great on his track across, you know, the the step and see how, you know, how... What it was like then and stuff like that. You know, some historical figure. I'm just gonna leave it some really significant historical figure to see whether history was true or not.

So Awesome. And then last question. What do you want your legacy to be? How do you wanna be remembered? What do you want in your tombstone?

Yeah. I I haven't thought about my epitaph, but but when it comes to just my legacy, you know, I I wanna leave it. I was a I was a boy scout when I was young. And so you always... One of the mottos was leave leave the place better than what you found it.

And here at the VA Long Beach, you know, I keep telling my folks, I say, listen. Right now, every time we look at what's here, we go, why didn't they think about that? You know, why didn't they do it this way? You know? What I'm hoping, like, ten years when I finally retire and everything like that, that I hope the people that come after us, what they're gonna be able to say is, I'm glad they thought about that.

You know? That's that's that's what... You know, I'm glad they did it this way. And and so that's kind of, like, the general thing that I've left it better than than than the way I found it. And, you know, I I I I can't...

You know, I I I believe I I have certain visions, and I bring certain special talents and everything like that. And I hope the people I work with and and when I leave, you know, they they reflect on the the interactions and the time that they've spent with me in a good way as opposed to, you know, I don't want to ever see that person again.

And well,

I I think that's all you can ask for.

Speaking from experience having worked with you at the Philly District and and knowing that you left that place better than you found it, and what you're doing at VA Long Beach, I... From my viewpoint, you're you're accomplishing the mission, you're accomplishing your legacy. Last last

I minute appreciate those kind comments, DJ. And You're welcome. Of course, right back at you.

Thank you. Last is our audience is is pretty diverse. We've got people listening that are just starting on their engineering career to senior executives in the public side and private side. Any any parting words of wisdom for for all of the engineers and and constructors and architects out there?

Well, you know, as a father, you know, I'm going through this right now with my my kids and and starting off their careers. The the first thing is it's you that has to make the decision. You should not be doing it just because someone else wants you to do it. Because unless it's you really your passion, it's gotta be for you because if it's not, you're gonna end up miserable. You know?

You're you're trying to... It's not fulfilling everyone else's dream. It's filling your dream. So if, you know, you gotta really reflect... Again, it's all about reflection.

It's about looking back and understanding yourself and where you wanna go and and really thinking about that. And if you really think about it, what passion, what drives you, and everything like that... I mean, I I found that what drives me is is is building and problem solving and bringing to bear all the resources to provide, you know, something physically substantial, you know, structure. And so that's what drives me, and I love it. And I love working with many different people.

So it's... You might be going into engineering because that's what your dad was or your mother was or whoever. You've got to know for yourself that that is your passion. And now it may take some time. You have to try different things and everything like that.

And and it's, you know, my son is still trying to figure out exactly what he wants to do. Start out with mechanical engineering, then was economics, and they learned he wasn't very good at math. So then then he went to business, and he he loves teaching. And and so so, you know, it's it's it's evolving, but it's gotta be for you and not anybody else. And and finding that out could be a long road.

Some people... For me, luckily, I knew that I wanted to be in some sort of engineering type thing. And over my college career, you know, it came to fruition, and then I was able to marry up both with my, you know, want to be in the military and then now working in health care.

Awesome. Anthony, thank you for your time, sharing your leadership experience in the month of November. We want to thank you for your military service as a veteran and especially as your continued service to our veterans at the VA Long Beach. Thanks so much.

Yeah. BJ, I appreciate the opportunity. I thank you for your service as well. And I had fun doing this. This is this is great.

Awesome. Thanks

for staying on, you know, getting me involved. Appreciate

it. Persistence. You got it. Thanks, everybody. Have a, great week and a great weekend.

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