Empowering Veterans in the Digital Revolution

Discover how military discipline meets cutting-edge technology as we chat with Anthony Romeo, Managing Director and Partner at Wise Components, about his strategic journey in the data center world. This episode promises valuable insights into how data centers have transformed from mere powerhouses to integral components of the digital age, and the crucial role veterans can play in this evolution. Anthony's involvement with influential organizations like BICSI and 7x24 Exchange serves as a beacon for contractors and veterans eager to navigate the high-stakes data center market.

Join us as we uncover the power of networking and collaboration at industry events, where Anthony shares his experiences with the innovative University Challenge and successful veterans outreach initiatives. These events are more than gatherings; they are incubators for fresh ideas, like the halo system developed by Manhattan College students. Through these stories, we underline the importance of continuous learning and the endless possibilities within the data center industry.

Transitioning from military to civilian life is no small feat, and this episode shines a light on the unique challenges faced by veterans. Anthony shares vivid anecdotes of mentorship and support networks that help bridge the confidence gap for veterans eager to apply their military-acquired skills in civilian roles. We also explore the urgent need for systemic change in supporting veterans, emphasizing the critical role community and political attention play in ensuring a smoother transition and a successful post-service life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Let's Talk Cabling With Wise Components
• 12:20 7x24 Events and Networking Opportunities
• 24:33 7x24 Exchange and Data Center Events
• 31:34 Transitioning Military Skills Into Data Centers
• 40:57 Supporting Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, wiremonkeys, welcome to another episode of let's Talk Cabling. This week we're talking about an event that you should either attend or support. Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by installers, technicians, project managers, estimators, customers, everybody. Where we connect at the human level so that we can connect the world. Thursday nights, 6 pm. Thursday nights no, chuck. Wednesday nights, 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. What are you doing?

Speaker 1: 0:44

You know I do a live stream on TikTok, instagram, facebook, pretty much everywhere. You get to ask your favorite RCDD and you know that's me your questions on installation, design, certification, even career path. But I can hear you now, chuck, I'm driving my truck on Wednesday night at 6 pm. I don't want to get into an accident. It's okay. I record them and then they're posted on the website so you can consume them at your convenience. Also, while this show is free and will always remain free, would you mind clicking on that QR code right there? You can buy me a cup of coffee. You can even schedule a 15-minute one-on-one call with me after hours, of course, and there are other ways you can support the show as well. Last week, I did a show on how one organization was giving back to its community. Now I'm picking up another show. I'm going to do another show on another organization that's also giving back to another community. Welcome back to the show, mr Anthony. How you doing, my friend?

Speaker 2: 1:42

Hey, chuck, great to be back on let's Talk Cable, and it's always good to see you, whether it be in person or on this platform. Great job. Knowledge is power. Love what you guys are doing and bringing it to the masses. It's amazing.

Speaker 1: 1:59

We do, and we're finally gaining some traction. Hey, wait a minute. You've got an on-air sign in behind you. How come I don't have one? What's up with that, danielle? I'm starting to get jealous.

Speaker 2: 2:10

Danielle bought that for me. You know Danielle Conti in our office, so she had bought that. This is my home office, so I get to every so often be working from home, so that's a good thing, right? Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 2:27

So it's been a little while since you've been on the show. Why don't you go ahead and tell us who you are and who you work for?

Speaker 2: 2:34

Yeah, so easy enough For those who don't know me, anthony Romeo, here I'm the managing director and partner of Wise Components. We're a stocking distributor of low voltage infrastructure as well as OEM component parts. We'll be celebrating our 50th year incorporated. As the roots of the company go back to 1937 on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, new York, when it was called Westchester Industrial Supply Electronic Components 1975, we had the brilliance to rename the company, incorporate it and call it Wise Components. So, in addition to being a partner and dedicated to Wise Components, I sit on a few committees One with Bixie. I sit on the Professional Development Committee with Alvin Gilmore and brilliant folks over there talking about the IEEE TIA standards mentorship program, women in Bixie and so much more.

Speaker 2: 3:42

And then there's the 7x24 exchange, where the New York Metro chapter that I'm a part of I last year became the chair of the Veterans Committee served proudly in the United States Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and I'm proud to say that the skills and attributes that I've learned and adapt to my everyday life in the distribution field as well as in the telecom space, as in the military, we were asked in Fifth Fleet to get people and logistics from one place safely to another. Not much has changed, right? So in 7x24 exchange it's slightly different than Bixby, both non-for-profit educational organizations that are focused on standards, right? And that being said, difference between the two VIXI is very focused on the network infrastructure, the IT side of the house, whereas 7x24 Exchange looks at every single aspect of a data center from site survey. It looks at every single aspect of a data center from site survey, site selection, rather state and country tax breaks and incentives, alternative power sources, structural material that are building to construct an actual facility, and then it talks about power and cooling as well as telecommunications and network infrastructure that goes into a data center. So, with that said, when I was because I've been part of both organizations for a while now 7x24, similar to the military, wear many hats, right, because at the end of the day, you got to get the job done. It's not just the telecom, it's not just the electric, there's all different aspects. And, like in the military, there's all different aspects. Not everybody's just carrying weapons and looking to be appointment. There's so many different jobs in the military.

Speaker 2: 6:04

So a buddy of mine who was part of the organization for many years, herb Tracy, he's the director of facilities for Black know, with veterans transitioning out of the military, sometimes they don't have a mentor, sometimes they don't have the guidance. We were very fortunate that we had people looking out for us and said, hey, this is a lucrative career that you could make, or at least a good, solid job where you could apply your skills and attributes that you've learned in the military. So with that said, herb and I said we got to do something and we had brought it to Brian Schaefer. Brian Schaefer runs an engineering firm called Highland Associates and he's also the president of that particular chapter. So we ran the idea by him, him and he blessed it. He thought it was a brilliant idea as there's many chapters in 7x24, this 35-year-old or young organization.

Speaker 2: 7:16

They have roughly 20 chapters internationally, domestic and international, international. So like similar to Bixie for those of your listeners that are familiar with all the different certifications and programs that Bixie offers, again specific to the telecom side of the house and network data, 7x24 has many of those, as well as certifications around other skill sets that help build out the entire evolution of a data center. How big of an organization is 7x24?.

Speaker 2: 7:55

Again, it has probably around 20 chapters internationally. They're in the local area to me where I sit in New York, so there's upstate New York, then there's the New York metro, which also falls into New Jersey as well. Then there's the northern Virginia DC chapter, then western Virginia, there's New England chapters, north Carolina, there's Texas, san Francisco there's probably about 15 just in the US, and then you have EU and UK.

Speaker 1: 8:37

So about how many members is that?

Speaker 2: 8:41

Member-wise you're probably looking at. I haven't looked at the latest, but we're probably around 20 000 okay yeah and can you explain the name?

Speaker 1: 8:50

what is? How did it come up with 7 by 24?

Speaker 2: 8:54

so I don't know the exact story behind the name, but basically it's seven days a week, 24 hours around the clock, it's mission. It's mission mission critical. The data center is known because if you're in a healthcare space and you're on the operating table and you need to know what type of drugs could be administered and what drugs can't be administered, it's kind of life-threatening If you're trading billions and trillions of dollars in the millisecond and you don't want your system to go down because that's an issue. So those two big things right there it's mission critical. But then also you have utility companies and you have military installations that are modular data centers that get deployed out in the field. So all these different aspects of a data center. It's seven days a week, 24 hours a day. So the exchange, which is what the data center is referred to. So, that said, you could summarize it by that, the name.

Speaker 4: 10:05

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Speaker 1: 10:46

Make sure I understand correctly. So they're an educational slash certification organization kind of like. Bixie is like you were saying.

Speaker 2: 10:57

Similar to Bixie, the training that they offer. They don't hold as many credentials and certifications that Bixie does, but they do a fair amount of events. They just had the national conference that was in Arizona. They do regional meetings I think a lot more than I can attend, than I can attend, and then, hence why one of the things we're doing in the New York Metro area, on November 11th we'll be hosting more so of a networking event for veterans that are in the data center space as well as folks that work in the data center space. The event is free to attend. Space is limited. The registration link we will provide so that people can register in a timely fashion, but in addition to that, we will be having some raffle prizes and 50-50s, as all 100% of the proceeds will go to the DAV Disabled American Veterans Association.

Speaker 1: 12:06

So the 7x24 organization would be of interest for somebody who's in low voltage to attend.

Speaker 2: 12:14

Oh, 1,000%, because there's every vertical. Like I said, when you're building out a data center, you can't just build out a big warehouse without the network infrastructure, because it's again just like a hospital or a school or a commercial building. That's the first thing on everybody's mind when the architect is designing the building or the consultant is designing it from every aspect, not just Division 27. They look at the MEP first and foremost plumbing and electrical, mechanical right. As we all know, that takes precedence.

Speaker 2: 13:07

Now, in our days that we've evolved, I would say, on the telecom and network side, we've become more of a utility. Could you imagine, you know, having a data center without robust network infrastructure? Right, it's not. The two can't go together, you know. I mean they can't be without each other. Is what I went to say. You know, years ago, when they were first building these things out, they really weren't as robust in the amount of data that they were pushing out, it was more so power. But they are very still very power hungry buildings, and that's a problem that could be a whole topic in itself because you know, cost of power, cost of land to work remote. So the companies that we work for have a robust network and everything goes to the cloud, but the common mistake that everybody has that's not in the IT space is like oh, it's up in the cloud, right, but they don't realize that the cloud-.

Speaker 1: 14:14

It's in this magic cloud.

Speaker 2: 14:15

yes, yeah, my cloud's sitting right here humming.

Speaker 2: 14:19

Right. So, with that said, when Herb Tracy and I were discussing this ways, back last year, we did our first veterans outreach event and it was a huge success. We we basically not only did we not charge anybody for for attendance, we gave away prizes and it was all free attendance. We gave away prizes and it was all free. And we said, you know, we probably should, you know, see if we could do it again, because it was such a great turnout. It was great to commiserate together and talk about the old days of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Army Air Force. We'll even throw the Coast Guard in there, right?

Speaker 2: 15:04

What about Space. Force the army air force, uh, we'll even throw the coast guard in there, right? What about space force? No, no, we got space force. Now I, I don't know if space force is old enough to have any veterans yet. I, I, yeah. So I don't know. I'm sure there's a lot of active uh space force now, but I don't know if they serve their four years yet.

Speaker 1: 15:20

Um, well, we'll get to. We'll get to the event here in a second. I'm still curious about this 7x24 thing, right? So let's say that, uh, 7x24 is having a, a networking event, and I don't know. I happen to have some spare money in the coffer, the podcast coffer, which I don't. But let's say I do, and I hop on a plane to come up to new york. Well, you know the first place. I'm gonna stop and eat at that place over there in New Jersey.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Harold's, harold's, that's it, yes, and then I'm going to go attend this event. What can I expect to see at this event?

Speaker 2: 15:51

Okay, so you're going to see data center managers, facilities managers. This is more of a networking event, but the events other than this that we host, University Challenges a brilliant event that I find this one. Let me take a step back. So, as I said earlier, there's many chapters of SEV that make up 7x24. They're all terrific. However, I'm a little bit, you know, close to the vest with New York Metro.

Speaker 2: 16:23

I can understand, but New York Metro is the only one, to my knowledge, that does the university challenge. And what the university challenge is is, in the beginning of a semester, they get about five schools and go to their engineering departments and they tell them that they have to build something, a concept, a design that could be implemented into a data center. And they come up with these elaborate drawings and even some of them are working designs and the board will vote on. So last year it was Manhattan College, rutgers University, new York IT, but I will definitely share the links with that because it's a brilliant event. That event these young minds come together with brilliant ideas that could be implemented into a data center, one that stands out to me.

Speaker 2: 17:23

We did the event at Credit Suisse New York facility, um few, probably now 15 years ago, and, um, this group from Manhattan college designed a um, a uh halo system that went down to the port. So, yeah, it was brilliant by design. So it had this very elaborate, it was all done through video. So it had this very elaborate design where they had a pulley system, sensor system that would coincide to pick up any smoke, temperature change, thermal sensor, and then it had an armature that had halon in it so that now, instead of an explosion, you know waiting till the big thing happen. If one metric unit on the rack was to be smoking or sparking or arcing, this little armature would go down the hot or cold aisle in a data center and pinpoint that location and just zap it out. So it's in concept phase.

Speaker 2: 18:41

I don't believe any manufacturers picked it up yet, but there's been many things that I've seen. I've seen the liquid cooling panels at University Challenge before I've seen them actually built. So the University Challenge is a brilliant thing that I find that the New York Metro chapter does every year, and I think that one's about 18 years going strong, and every year in the fall yeah, in the spring, I'm sorry every year in the spring they host an event at either BlackRock or Credit Suisse or another big venue, and it's a few hundred people and then there'll be some products along the way that you could touch and feel and talk about features and functions from power and cooling, it, intelligent IoT devices, things of that nature. There'll be several manufacturers on hand talking about their products design engineering firms like Cisco, hennessy and others. That said, that one separates from the other events that some of the other chapters are doing.

Speaker 2: 19:59

I would also add that every fall, the Northeast Regional that is comprised of five chapters get together and put together a brilliant conference. It's probably a thousand or so people that attend. You have end users, you have contractors, you have general contractors design engineering firms of all aspects, architectural firms like HDR come and attend. They'll have folks from Microsoft or Google and they'll talk about the latest and greatest what they're seeing out in the data center from all the different aspects. Again, bixie is a brilliant, wonderful organization that both you and I are a part of, but it focuses on the telecom network infrastructure. 7x24 looks at that and doesn't kick it to the side and say, hey, that's the little stuff. They look at it all as one ecosystem, you know so.

Speaker 4: 21:08

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Speaker 1: 22:20

Now let's get back to the show. Is there a cost? Is there a cost, to join? You can become a Big C member. There's a cost. Is there a cost to become a member?

Speaker 2: 22:28

Yes, so to become a member. I would be remiss if I did say I knew each cost, because I subscribe as a organization, a company, With that I get several memberships, so I forget what the individual cost is. But again, I could put that in a link.

Speaker 1: 23:09

Yeah, yeah, send me the link and I'll put that in the description.

Speaker 2: 23:11

So you said it's a networking event. So is there? I mean, I've been to different types of networking events. I'm kind of having a hard time putting my hand around this. So they'll have, um, that like late afternoon the first day. It'll be just, you know, mingle and eat and drink, uh with various companies, and then, uh, from there the next day, uh, it starts early in the morning, like eight or nine, eight or nine o'clock, uh, it varies and they'll have speaker sessions. Uh, you know, you'll have somebody from Microsoft or HP or Google you name the end user right They'll come in and they'll talk about the latest challenge and what's being applied to fix that solution with whether it be the MEP side or the IT side. During the speaker sessions you will also have a venue that would have all the different product material manufacturers showcasing their features, functions and benefits of working with them. In addition to those folks, you'll have distribution companies like myself, or other strategic partners like design build firms. You'll have AWS They'll poke their head around there too. They're the biggest and baddest when it comes to that stuff.

Speaker 2: 24:33

So those are the type of events the same thing, like I was just saying earlier in this call the national conference is just a lot bigger, so they'll usually be in either Arizona or Texas. Everything's bigger in Texas, right, and the national conference is either in Texas and or Arizona. Sometimes it's in Orlando as well. They move it around. This year was in Arizona. As I said, it's a 35-year young organization, so they've had a lot of different places over the years. This past one was in Arizona. But, as I was saying about the regional conference, the national conference is the same type of format, just on a bigger scale. A larger scale, I should say, and it's a couple days longer.

Speaker 1: 25:25

I couldn't help but notice. When you were talking about the cities where the chapters are located, and you listed off several of them, I couldn't help but notice that those are all major areas where you find a lot of data centers. Right, those are all major areas where you find a lot of data centers.

Speaker 2: 25:42

Right, you have owners reps that you know, like TLM great, great group of people Mike Cisco Hennessy and working with them on behalf of the owner and owner's rep, and Mike Caron and his team of folks. They fly all over the place. They're in London, they're in Ireland, they're in Washington State, virginia, new York, texas. But again, going back to the organization as a whole, similar to Bixie, you have a great bunch of people that have been doing this a long time. They're all experts in their space and to be able to, it's almost like going and you and I have experienced this both from a contractor standpoint as well as manufacturer, and you know me as a distributor you go to a job site and a project kickoff and you got. You have the owner's reps, you have the architects, you have the design engineering, you have the electrical contractors, the telecom contractors, security contractors, the plumbers, this, that one, that one, hvac All in one place. And that's what 7x24 is.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Sounds like a great opportunity for a contractor who's looking to break into the data center market, because getting into a data center can be kind of hard. I mean, it's oh yeah. That's a pretty elite crowd that you're running with when you start talking about cabling and stuff and you know they don't just accept any little mom and pop. You got to show that you got a long track record, that you got the the depth in employees, the depth and skills than the depth of knowledge to be able to get in a market you.

Speaker 2: 27:39

You said it on many of your shows. You know, besides, knowledge is power. There's standards, right, and not everybody is at the same level in standards, Right? The people that I find that work and continue to do, work in a data center, like you said. They're checked. You know, there's a lot of eyeballs, there's a lot of people looking at you all day long and they're managed. These things are white glove spaces that need to be maintained in that way. You can't just close the door on an IT MDF, IDF, and say next time I open up this door it's just going to be a rat's nest and be like, oh my God, who did this job?

Speaker 1: 28:22

But it still ends up like a rat nest, though. That's the problem.

Speaker 2: 28:26

Well with the constraints on power airflow in a data center. That's another thing that the maintenance crew, whether it be Equinix or QTS or digital realty these companies are paid very well to monitor and maintain this space to ensure safety versus paramount right. Of course you don't want anything blowing up, mission critical, as we said. So it has to be running 24-7, hence 7x24, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. These Colo facilities 6Terra, cyrus1, qts, equinex, the list goes on and on and on. They're paid to maintain that space and you have this community of people going into a warehouse. For those who've never been in a data center, just think of a Home Depot or a Lowe's with a bunch of IDFs just all over the place. So now you have hot aisles, cold aisles, you have cages that are separating. You know Fortune 500 companies from Joe's Pizza. You know it's very important and it has to be meticulous.

Speaker 2: 29:37

So what I find? You know the contractors are a different caliber, the ones that stay in the data center. You could say, oh yeah, I did a data center. And how many data centers have you done? Right? So we're very fortunate on our end because we're Wise Components. As a distributor, we work with a handful of data centers that trust and rely on us for many years, between our staff and our own certifications being ISO 9001. We're basically getting audited from an operator by a third party on a quarterly basis to say we have standard operating procedures if something is to go wrong.

Speaker 1: 30:20

So it sounds like a real interesting organization to belong to and participate in.

Speaker 1: 30:32

But the real reason, I wanted to get you on today was to talk about this event that you're having in a couple of weeks, so let's talk about. You kind of already touched on a tiny bit, but I want to have more in depth. You know, how did you guys decide to come about this? What's the goal of this meeting? Because it's, you know, you make me really wish I was in New York instead of Florida, for other reasons besides all the flooding.

Speaker 2: 30:53

Yeah, I was just going to say hope you're doing all right with that, by the way, and everybody out there that's in that area knows just talking was just talking to somebody that, uh, they're still dealing with it.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Yeah let's talk about this event. You know it's in a couple weeks.

Speaker 2: 31:06

Give me the date, tell me you know how it got started and give me some history on it yeah, so last year we were kicking the tires as I said earlier, herb tracy and I, both members of the organization, the local local chapter, new York Metro 7x24 Exchange and we were talking about, you know, in the military there are so many different aspects that are very similar into what we know as a modern day data center. You know, and the skills and attributes can be applied into the data center and we found in real life, you know, people that are contractors that we know that are working in the data center, from Kloon Construction. They have a Hire to Heroes and many others that are Hire to Heroes. There's Slate we Salute, there's many organizations that see the same thing that we're talking about. But a lot of times and we're all guilty of this, even folks like myself when you're take a step back for a second.

Speaker 2: 32:08

When you go into the military whether you go in enlisted or into OCS, officer Candidate School, officer candidate school you are trained to learn the history of the branch of service, the military, for weeks and months before you even start your boot camp or your OCS.

Speaker 2: 32:36

Then you go to your boot camp and that varies based on branch of service. It could be anywhere from eight weeks to 13 weeks. Then you go to a specific technical A school and that varies from six weeks to a year depending on your job. Then from there you get your first duty assignment, which could vary from two to four years based on your agreement when you first come in. So now, if you were going to say the shortest time of period, you are getting trained not programmed, but trained specifically to do that role, that response, to the best of your ability, from two years to two to four. You know that's like the minimum.

Speaker 2: 33:19

And if you're somebody that's a lifer, we call it eat cake, because you're re-enlisting and the re-enlisting officer will give you a cake and you eat it and you say, hey, congratulations, you ate cake. Right, coming out of the service, the process is very simple. You go to TAP class, which is not a dance class, it's Transition Assistance Program. It's roughly half a day where they give you wonderful things to learn to help you transition into a civilian career, right, but it's half a day.

Speaker 1: 34:03

Wait a minute, hold on on, let me, let me. Oh, I want to. So they spend up to up to two years of training you and putting you through a school and all stuff. Then they give you one day to exit yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:15

so they say and and wrong there. Well, keep in mind, I don't know, throw some numbers at you that might be staggering. So think about this the bulk of the military, all branches of services, nearly 70% are made up of 18 to 26-year-olds. Right? So when you're 18 years old, or even 26, you're only out of school, high school or college for a handful of years. And, especially in this day and age, a lot of those young lads, young women and men are still living at home, so now they're not responsible for rent taxes, medical insurance, then they go to.

Speaker 2: 34:56

Uncle Sam, for these two to four years at minimum. And they're told here's your housing, here's this, here's your medical, here's that be here on nine, and and you see, where I'm going with this.

Speaker 1: 35:11

well, that explains a lot to me actually, because you know I have mentored oh, I don't know I I have to go back and look at my list that I don't actually keep. But I know I've mentored easily half a dozen people coming out of the military looking to transition into the civilian role. I've never been in the military, although my dad was a lifetime Marine, so I told him when I turned 18 that I spent my 18 years in the Corps. Already I'm already going back to the civilian. He didn't think that was funny. I thought it was rather.

Speaker 2: 35:43

No, I don't think so yeah. I'm a little effort because, yeah, but you're not my son, you know the old saying, you know, once a Marine, always a Marine.

Speaker 1: 35:51

There's absolute truth to that statement, buddy. But every one of those people that I mentored have one thing in common and I never really understood it until you just kind of explained it, because you know you would think somebody going into this again just from civilian eyes only.

Speaker 2: 36:09

I'll solve it for you in a second.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Go ahead, this is somebody who went into the service. They were trained, they got disciplined, they got all this knowledge and they come out, but yet they seem to be lacking confidence in themselves or confidence in the transition. Not themselves, but in the transition.

Speaker 2: 36:25

In the transition, I would say in the transition.

Speaker 1: 36:27

Yeah, yeah, and so almost every one of them. I'm like what are you talking about? You've got the same training that almost every technician I know in the field has. Plus, you got a security clearance. Yeah, you got the winning. You got the Willy Wonka gold ticket. What are you talking about? And and so now it makes sense because you know they literally give them one day yeah For for prepping them to go out. That just so. Now it makes sense.

Speaker 2: 36:55

And and and, truth be told, I love my time in the service. It was my honor and privilege. It took a misguided youth and turned them into the man I am today. So let me be clear about that. I'm very fond of our military men and women that serve. The transition is difficult, just like anything else changes the scariest word in the human dictionary right. So, that said, herb and I were talking about this and saying that it's such a challenge for people because a lot of times and again I was guilty of it when I was coming out of the service, I was applying to all the government agencies and websites and saying here's my resume, this is what I'm going to do, this is my cover letter, this is what I could apply my skill set to. And I was putting myself in this little box and I was saying this is the only thing that I could do.

Speaker 2: 37:45

And then I spoke to one of my mentors who happens to be my father-in-law, and you met him, chuck yep, and he happened to be bell labs and new york tell from way back when and then retired in uh from lucent technologies and went through the gamut of manufacturers and he was an end user. That said, he said why don't you apply your skill set to contractors? And that's what my first job transition out of the military was. It was working for a contractor and I was running projects. So that was what I did. I didn't go and transition to the sales until I went to my next company and then I said, oh wow, I like this because I'm solving problems and I'm getting paid to do it so and it's like I knew the project management side of it and that worked really easy for me. So the evolution for me was a smooth transition because I had a mentor and then I had several mentors along the way when I worked as a manufacturer. I was talking to somebody the other day.

Speaker 2: 38:52

In the nearly 10 years that I spent at this manufacturer, I had five bosses and each one of those managers was a rock star in my opinion. I speak to almost every one of them still to this day, whether they're retired or actively working, because they always were saying you know how can I help you? They were never micromanaging me. They were always giving me enough to pull myself up into the boat. Make sure that we were all doing what we needed to do, doing what we needed to do.

Speaker 2: 39:31

So, going back to my conversation with Herb, we were talking about all that and we're saying there's a lot of good people out there and there's a lot of bad people out there, right, and there's a lot of bad people taking advantage of people. And I don't want to say recruiter recruiters are good, there's good recruiters out there, but they're misguiding these individuals that are going into different fields, that are just not applying themselves. And it's a job. I feel confident that the data center is not going away and I'll I'll, Joe, name it that right. You know, I guarantee those of your listeners to know the jets.

Speaker 1: 40:06

Okay, I got your own record. It's it's part, it's part of record. It's going to be on the internet, so it's going to be living forever.

Speaker 2: 40:12

The data center will evolve If data centers die in two weeks.

Speaker 1: 40:15

It's all your fault. It's all my fault.

Speaker 2: 40:18

But data center will evolve, no doubt about it. It will change, but the people that come and shape that change. Whether it be more robotics, more AI, there's still going to be a lot of people needed and good people. So if we, Herb and I, were talking, if we could educate the folks that are transitioning out of the military and expose them, whether it be from a general contractor aspect, an engineering aspect, a installer contractor aspect, whatever the case may be, we try to put these people together so that they could see that there's a whole world out there and this data center world that we're talking about with 7x24, I think they're doing great things, just like Bixie. But the difference of the two, you know one's looking at every aspect of a data center and the other is looking at just the network infrastructure.

Speaker 1: 41:06

How are you finding these veterans, to get a hold of them, to tell them about this event?

Speaker 2: 41:11

Screaming out the windows is not working, so we're going to social media primarily. Right now social media is our biggest thing that we're using LinkedIn, tiktok, x, and then word of mouth. Like Klune, construction has been phenomenal and many of the other companies. Organizations like BlackRock have been phenomenal in getting the word out because they're a very large organization. My company, we touch a few states domestically and a couple of countries around the world, but not nowhere near the reach of companies like Clune or BlackRock or Cisco, hennessy. So we're working with them to get get the word out.

Speaker 2: 41:58

Again, the. The event is free. Space is limited so we'll put the information into into the show notes November 11th, 5 pm, don't be late. No, and again, all proceeds that we do take it's going into my kids' college fund. No, it's going to the Disabled American Veterans because they're, again, that's a great organization and we all the committee that we have we all voted on it and we said that. You know there's a lot of good programs out there. You have Wounded Warrior Program, dav, the list is endless.

Speaker 2: 42:39

To take one more talk about why we're doing this is because the misguided individuals and I started saying that 70% of the military is comprised of 18 to 26 year olds when they get thrusted in to this scary, change, new world and they're not prepared. I'm not saying it's the only reason, but it's a big contributing factor that 22, 22 individuals, veterans, men and women from every branch of military take their own lives into their hand every single day. So that was one of the reasons why we've been very vocal about this, because we know post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions to opioids and other pain medicines is another contributing factor. But we know that if you don't have a job, or rather don't have a career, you don't have a career path and you don't have people supporting you in the right direction. It's a challenge and we want people to know we're in it together.

Speaker 1: 43:44

Absolutely. That ties in perfectly with the social media post that I did. I guess it was about a month ago, maybe, maybe five weeks ago, six weeks ago, about suicide. I had no idea the impact that that put. I honestly did almost put that up. People reach out to me that said that you know, hey, just want you to know, I'm walking the same path that you were walking and I've. I've even had this. I had one lady her husband showed her my that post and then she reached out to me on social media and said hey, it resonated with my husband, Thank you for putting out there making it where so he doesn't feel alone. And I told her I said, look, have him call me. Have him call me Because the struggles he's going with were the same struggles I went through at the same age with, you know, being a young father with kids and all the other stuff.

Speaker 2: 44:37

Well, that's the thing and I know, in addition to the folks, the men and women that probably served in the military that have taken their own lives at 22 a day, that there are many people of all races, religions, creeds, all throughout life. But I will point out and this is the military website is veteranvagov. It'll have the statistics to check me, but I think the veterans make up about 5% of the population, the US population and we're, I think, 25% number of the suicide rate in its entirety.

Speaker 1: 45:24

Yep, and I'm a big proponent that we need to take care of our veterans and I really think that, whichever candidate gets elected, my show is not about politics but whichever candidate gets elected. They really need to look at the Veterans Affairs and really step up the game, because we need to take care of the veterans before we take care of anybody else to take care of the veterans before you take care of anybody else.

Speaker 2: 45:49

Honestly, chuck, I think the biggest thing and this is where I said earlier in your show I said I'll solve the problem the transition issue is a huge contributing factor in my opinion. As a business owner right, and you've worked in many different companies as a business owner, when I pay not only an employee's salary and benefits, but when I'm paying and investing investing in employees' training and development I don't want to see that employee gone. I want them to celebrate 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, and the military is no different. They have an allocated budget. John Smith, jane Smith comes in. They're going to pay them a salary, they're going to give them clothing allowance, housing allowance, food and whether it be two years, four years or 20, they're investing millions of dollars into that individual. So they want to make sure they get the proper ROI.

Speaker 2: 46:40

I get that, but at the same token and again with all due respect I love the military, love our government and despite whoever wins, I'm still going to be pushing for our vets to get better support and better care for the thing is that the transition period needs to be addressed. Somebody's got to say, hey, you know what's happening in a year from now. You're leaving, what are you doing? What's the cost of living and where are you going back? Are you going back to mom and dad's house and sleeping on the couch? Or do you have a plan where you're investing wisely so that you're going to have a career path, so that when you come out you're hitting the street, you're running, you know, and that's the thing you got to take full advantage of it, and you know that's what we're trying to do with the Veterans Outreach Program at 7x24, the Metro chapter.

Speaker 1: 47:32

Anthony, great organization, great great event. Make sure you send me all that information so I can put it in the show descriptions and we'll get. We'll help get that that notice out there for you.

Speaker 2: 47:43

I appreciate that. Thanks, Chuck, as always.

Speaker 1: 47:46

Take care of my friend that.

Speaker 3: 47:51

Thanks, Chuck. As always, Take care, my friend. That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.