Black History Month February 1st - March 1st
A Message from the Adjutant General, Gregory Knight
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward!”
Dr. King’s words are especially meaningful given recent events like the murder of George Floyd, the Capitol Hill riot, or even the on-going battle against COVID. It is easy to get discouraged and to become pessimistic. Yet, Dr. King would tell us to fight on.
Martin Luther King Day is not just another paid federal holiday; it is a day we honor a great leader whose legacy goes beyond his famous “I have a dream” speech, his marches in Selma, or his Montgomery bus boycott. Martin Luther King was a man of purpose, honor, and values. He was a motivational leader. People followed him and trusted him for those qualities. It was his leadership that paved the way we view humanity. He is the reason we stand united in formation regardless of our backgrounds.
Let’s honor Dr. King as a leader. When faced with challenges, let’s incorporate his fearlessness and tenacity. Let’s reflect on how far our country has come together thanks to how hard he has challenged us. Let’s keep moving forward
Meet Arwa Kadhem
An Interview by Captain Todd Connolly
Our Human Resource Equal Opportunity Officer, Captain Todd Connolly, sat down with Mrs. Arwa Kadhem, an I.T. Specialist (Web Services), who works in G6 Information Operations, to talk about her incredible journey fleeing from Iraq to find a better life in Vermont.
CPT Connolly: You are originally from Iraq and lived in Baghdad during a tumultuous time. Would you be willing to share some of the challenges you faced?
Arwa Kadhem: Three years after the invasion in 2003, my dad, my two sisters, and I fled Baghdad. It was a difficult decision, but we had been receiving many death threats from Muslim Sunni Militias. It got to the point where we had no option but to flee the country within 48 hours. We decided to go to Jordan, leaving two of my other sisters and their families behind. We hired a guard driver to take us safely out of Iraq. I remember he came over to pick us up from home, informing us that he would not be able to do anything to protect us if any militia came across our way. We left Baghdad with just our I.D., passport, and photo albums. We planned to return home after three months. As time passed, the conditions were just too harsh and dangerous to return home safely.
In 2007, we applied to become refugees in Amman, Jordan. Eleven months later, I received a call from a U.N. officer telling me that we were booked on a flight to Vermont. We arrived in March 2008. I remember feeling like there was light at the end of the tunnel when I found a home in Chittenden County.
CPT Connolly: How has that experience affected you?
Arwa Kadhem: By hugely appreciating every moment living here safely and peacefully with my family in Vermont. No horrible militias means a lot to me! I like spreading positive energy and having fun with my family, friends, and co-workers. Honestly, all the bad memories seem like it was just like yesterday! I have bad memories of what happened during Saddam regime change 2003-2006. During those three years, the militias tortured civilians, sexually abused women, and planted mines in the capital streets. There were no laws to punish them and hold them accountable for such horrible acts, and definitely was not any civilian safe zone!
CPT Connolly: Do you miss Iraq?
Arwa Kadhem: Good question, complicated answer! It has been fifteen years since I left Iraq, and I am still afraid to visit. The newly established government still cannot provide Iraqis with basic life needs. Iraq has been under a power outage issue since 2003. I have always wondered why Iraq did not convert to solar.
The corruption at all levels of government in Iraq makes my country very unsafe. The lack of human rights and the failure to provide for basic needs is hard to imagine or witness. From 2003 to 2018, the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Iraq 162 out of 180 countries. Many Iraqis were dissatisfied with the government’s efforts in fighting corruption. Large protests turned into calls to overthrow the government. The government’s response, which was backed by Iranian militia, was upsetting. They used live bullets, sharpshooters, hot water, hot pepper gas, and tear gas against protesters, leading to many deaths and injuries. I feel for people healing and for those in need, which I wish I could help more. I am forever grateful to live here, have our freedom and human rights for my family, and call the United States my home.
CPT Connolly: What is it like for you, and your family to live in Vermont?
Arwa Kadhem: We feel blessed and truly honored to be here in Vermont surrounded by beautiful people. It is simply a dream come true! I no longer worry about my family because we feel safe. Here, there are human rights, laws, and general sense of security. This means a lot to us; priceless! Honestly, when I lived in the Middle East, I thought human rights were not fundamental – that they were only found in fantasy books. In 2008, I became thrilled and awed the way Vermonters welcomed us and how we were received. I am so blessed that my family and I were not discriminated against or harassed because of our skin color, where we were from, or our religion. Since moving to Vermont we have breathed freedom!
CPT Connolly: I understand you speak several languages. What are they?
Arwa Kadhem: Besides my native language, Arabic, I also speak English and French, which I learned in high school, also a little Spanish because I supervised a Bogota / Colombia team in my previous job.
CPT Connolly: How did you get involved with computer science, and information technology?
Arwa Kadhem: I received my college degree in Computer Science and Information Systems from the University of Technology in Baghdad in 2001, just before the invasion. I am proud of my early education in Iraq, as I was accepted into a specific six-year high school from age 12-18. This high school was only for gifted students in Baghdad. There were only eight students in my class! I had the chance to study IT, French, and English. I then finished my four-year Bachelor’s degree in C.S. and I.T. As a working mom, I was fortunate to get my Cyber-Security certificate in 2020 from the University of Vermont by taking online courses during the pandemic.
CPT Connolly: How has it been for you and your family settling in Vermont?
Arwa Kadhem: It has been such a long journey, but it ended up becoming more than perfect for us.After a few months of being here in Vermont, one of my sisters and her family joined us. My other sister and her family re-located to Montreal. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by my family – my dad, sisters, and my nieces – are all nearby. I have a husband, Ali, and two lovely daughters – Maryam, age 6, and Mira age 4. I love our quiet neighborhood in Colchester.
CPT Connolly: Do you have any additional thoughts you would like to share?
Arwa Kadhem: I hugely appreciate every moment here in Vermont! I love how life here is safe and peaceful! It is simply the perfect place to raise a family! After my mom passed away in 1999, in my heart, I began to feel that we should ALWAYS enjoy our time, and appreciate every single moment before a tough time comes. Losing her, fleeing Iraq, and moving to Vermont makes me think how important it is to always dance before the music stops!
CPT Connolly: Thank you so much Arwa for taking the time to speak with me today about your incredible experience. We, as an organization, truly value you, and appreciate you. I also want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication here in the G6 during the last year. You are an incredible human being and such an excellent addition to the G6 Team.
Belonging As a Force Multiplier
by MG Gregory C. Knight
Nearly everything in our lives is built around belonging to something. The military – our Guard – is no exception. When members of our military feel they belong, they stay engaged, they go the extra mile, they show pride, and they make sacrifices. That is why I was so disheartened to learn from our recent NGB/OCI organizational assessment that some of our members view the Vermont National Guard as a “good old boy” network. This label speaks to a systemic issue that is not only hard to quantify, but hard to correct.
It’s hard to correct specifically because this network may be a reality, or it may be a perception of reality. It’s hard to quantify because this perception may be based on information not known to senior members of the organization. Of course, I know it doesn’t matter whether their belief was based on perception or reality. What matters is that Soldiers and Airmen who took the assessment and answered this way feel like the system is against them – they don’t feel like they belong. A study published in Psychological Medicine in 2020 found that unit cohesion – a sense of belonging – while deployed can be a buffer to symptoms of depression after a Soldier returns home. Similarly, Sebastian Junger in his book Tribe promoted the advantages of close-knit communities in which people rely on each other. Junger notes, “Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others.” The members of our units train together, fight together and share the common bond of service. It only takes one element of toxic leadership to strip that bond down. Therein lies the question - How do we ensure a sense of belonging without a battle to fight?
I believe there are ways, other than a military conflict, a national crisis, or other tragedy, to bring people together. We have developed a variety of ways to create a sense of belonging for the members of the VTNG which focuses on effective communication, something we all likely struggle with. We started with simple steps, many of which are unprecedented in our Guard – we have never done them before:
- Updating and publicly sharing our HR policies on our public website and with the force to ensure equity and fairness in hiring practices and promotion, aligned with DoD, NGB and OPM guidance.
- Creating a strategic plan focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and educating our leaders about cultural humility and cultural competence (understanding others).
- Revising our professional development program, having quarterly education sessions outside of “mandatory training” or professional military education to provide subordinate leaders with the education and tools to be successful. Education, not training. There is a difference.
- Creating smartphone apps, both Air and Army Guard, with “Reach Up” and “Reach Out” buttons to connect members to various resources, like the Provost Marshal, PAO, IG, EO, SARC or me, to provide information if there is a problem or news to share.
- Publishing a status of discipline report to the force to facilitate understanding of disciplinary actions taken.
- Drafting and implementing a new VTARNG Officer Career Management Plan, so our officer corps has greater input in their career direction.
- Instituting branch managers to provide specific professional development and facilitate mentoring opportunities for our Army officer corps.
- Sending a legislative update every six months, not only to our legislature, but also to our members so they know of all the great work they are doing.
- Holding town hall discussions with outside subject matter experts to address difficult conversations about racial injustice, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
- Facilitated group discussions with outside expertise to have a dialogue about understanding cultural differences, and to learn more about our colleagues.
- TAG emphasis on recognizing good work, achievements and significant life events by simply sending a personal note to our members and centers of influence (around 2000 of them in two and a half years). Small things matter.
- Engaging TAG and SEL in small group discussions, irrespective of rank, so senior leaders hear from Soldiers and Airmen doing the work of our Guard. Good ideas don’t have a rank - and good ideas don’t become great until we share them.
I realize it will take time to provide sufficient transparency to ensure there is no perception of a “Good Ol’ Boy” network. Opening up lines of communication and building trust and confidence is how we do that. There is no shortcut, but certainly, actions speak louder than words. As we build trust and confidence, our members will not only feel like they are included, but also that they actually belong.
Lastly, creating a sense of belonging is a two way street. As the Mayo Clinic shares in their online publication Speaking of Health, “The most crucial ingredient to building a sense of belonging is effort. You cannot belong if you don’t choose to make the effort to engage with others.” We cannot create a culture of acceptance and belonging by ourselves, it takes the efforts of everyone in our Guard.
What trust can do for you: How an intangible impacts the tangible
By: LTC Pamela Koppelmann
In a recent press conference, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said, “trust and confidence is critically important to the institution.” He was talking about a recent survey about public perception of the U.S. military. The survey revealed that 45% of Americans had "a great deal of confidence" in the U.S. military and 33% had "some confidence." Those aren’t bad numbers according to Kirby, but it represents a significant drop from 2018, when 70% had a great deal of confidence and 23% had some confidence. It made me wonder, though. Why did these numbers drop? Perhaps more importantly, what do these new numbers really mean? Trust is often seen just as an intangible emotion, but it has tangible consequences.
We can pontificate all day about the impact caused by a lack of trust in our armed forces. But have you ever stopped to wonder what trust can do here at the Vermont National Guard? Obviously, trust does the opposite of mistrust, distrust, doubt, and skepticism. Are there positive implications for us and our organization?
When I think about trust, I find that I need to go back to the basics. What is trust? As defined by Merriam-Webster, trust is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something; one in which confidence is placed.” Trust cannot be touched or seen, but we can definitely see and feel its impacts.
I then considered what the Army and Air Force have to say – and they both say quite a bit about trust. They assert that trust is the foundation of everything we do. When we join the military, Soldiers and Airmen alike accept a sacred trust from the American people and that trust is what provides us with a common goal and purpose. In Army doctrine (ADP 6-22), the core competency “leads” includes the element “builds trust.” Builds trust is defined as “establishing conditions that lead to mutual confidence among leaders and subordinates.” In Air Force Handbook 1, “trust is essential in forming any good relationship…team members must share mutual confidence in the integrity and ability of teammates.” Between these two publications the word trust (and variations) are used more than 150 times. In short, the point of both documents is to express the importance of trust among a team and organization. It seems that trust is kind of a big deal and that may warrant a little time and effort in understanding what it is, how to build it, and what it can do for us and our organization.
Believe it or not, there is science, neuroscience to be specific, behind trust. When we trust people there is a chemical response in our brain. In the article, The Neuroscience of Trust, by Paul Zak, he discusses that chemical response, the release of oxytocin, in our brain. Zak indicates that people exhibit less stress, more energy, and higher productivity when there is a high degree of trust in the organization. Conversely, higher levels of stress actually inhibit the chemical response which is linked to lower trustworthiness.
By now you may be asking, “ok what’s your point? Just tell me — what does trust do…? And how do I build it?” First, a culture of trust leads to cooperation, teamwork, productivity and increased readiness—the tangible. Readiness can be seen and measured through infrastructure, equipment, people, hard skills and training. Second, there is no silver bullet to building trust. Trust is built through words and actions such as recognition, accountability, and sharing information. Creating a culture of trust is not one person’s responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility. It must be developed up, down, and across our organization. When we all pitch-in, trust leads to empowerment and development.
Trust allows us to accomplish our mission, goals and priorities. Trust is not just an emotion, it is a very tangible tool. Trust makes us ready.
Vermonter Stephen Bates - the first Black Sheriff in New England
By Duffy Jamieson, The State Equal Employment Manager
During Black History Month it seems only befitting to talk about Stephen Bates - the first known Black sheriff in New England.
On October 3, 2021, I drove to Vergennes for a ceremony in honor of Stephan Bates. Standing in the rain with about 100 other people, I knew this was no ordinary ceremony. I soon learned that Bates was Vermont’s first Black Sheriff and Chief of Police. He may have even been the first Black Sheriff in all of New England. Elected in 1879, this was just a little more than ten years after the Civil War ended. From 1879 to his death in 1907, (for a period of nearly thirty years) Bates served the Vergennes community either an elected Sheriff or as an appointed Chief of Police – an exceptional public service career for anyone.
What I think makes Bates’ story even more compelling is that he was born into slavery. He worked on the Shirley Plantation, owned by Robert E. Lee’s grandparents, about twenty miles south of Richmond, the Confederate capital. At Shirley, he plowed fields to cultivate cash crops with about 70 to 90 other enslaved Africans. After the Civil War broke out, Bates escaped the plantation, joined the Union Army, and marched to Washington D.C. There, he met a congressman from Vergennes, Frederick E. Woodbridge who hired Bates to be his coach driver. The two became friends. When Woodbridge left Congress and returned to Vermont, Bates came with him.
Woodbridge was elected mayor of Vergennes in 1879. That same year, Bates was elected sheriff and chief of police. Curiously, the next year, Bates’s house caught fire. The cause of the fire is not known, but the timing seems suspicious. Although horrific, the community rallied together and raised money to help Bates and his family.
Bates was clearly respected in Addison County and beyond. And for good reason. He was a self-taught man credited with arresting two gang members involved in post office burglaries. He was also involved in cases involving murder, grand larceny, check forgery, and vagrancy. He died from cardiac arrest while milking a cow on June 10th, 1907, the last year he was elected Sheriff.
More than 100 years later, the Vergennes community rallied again. There is now a historical marker on Park Street near St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Governor Scott proclaimed October 3, 2021, as “Sheriff Stephen Bates Day in Vermont.”
Respect - Simple in Theory, Complex in Action
By Capt Candice McClure
The “Golden Rule” teaches us that you should treat others as you want to be treated. To me, the rule boils down to respect. As children, we are taught by our parents to be respectful to others – a message reinforced in the classroom. As adults, we value being treated with respect, whether it is by our neighbors, friends, or community leaders. Because of this strong emphasis throughout my life, I always assumed that the Golden Rule was universally understood and applied.
The Golden Rule - a.k.a. respect - as it turns out, may not necessarily mean the same thing to all of us. Here are a few examples: addressing someone you don’t know well by their first name, maintaining eye contact during a conversation, taking one’s hat off when inside, holding a door for the person behind you, refraining from texting while someone is speaking to you, or taking a knee during the National Anthem. Depending on the person with whom you’re interacting, your actions or words could be viewed as disrespectful, or maybe they won’t register as an issue with the person at all. Different definitions and different expectations can lead to misunderstandings. But it doesn’t have to be that confusing.
I recently listened to a TED talk by Dr. Christine Porath, an Associate Professor at Georgetown, in which she highlighted several of her themes in her book “Mastering Civility.” Dr. Porath provided a helpful tip on how to gauge what is respectful. She opened her talk with a question: “Who do you want to be?” On one hand, you can be the person who lifts people up by treating them with respect, in other words, being civil. On the other hand, you can be the person who holds people down by making them feel small, insulted, or excluded. People in the latter group, as Dr. Porath’s research concluded, adversely impact performance and motivation. If you choose to interact with people by holding them down or making them feel small, they won’t have your back, ultimately costing the organization time and resources.
While our definitions of respect may vary, asking ourselves “who we want to be” may provide us the appropriate guidance. We should all strive to be civil, perhaps by smiling, listening, and offering constructive feedback. After all, isn’t that how you want to be treated? By following the Golden Rule we can create a high functioning organization where everyone feels valued and included.
Want to hear Dr. Porath’s TED TALK? Use your personal computer to watch her presentation on YouTube.
The Vermont National Guard is about to issue a revised Equal Opportunity Standard Operating Procedure for its military members. The information sheet below is designed to assist complainants understand the process.
The checklist below is designed to assist Commanders understand their responsibilities under the new SOP
Questions about anything you read? Want to contribute to the next JDEC Newsletter? Contact Duffy Jamieson - duffy.w.jamieson.civ@army.mil
Credits:
Created with images by John Gomez - "Black Female Soldier" • MarkMartins - "vermont farm farm vermont" • KeithJJ - "team girls basketball team girls" • Andrius Maciunas - "golden ruler"