WEBVTT 00:00.109 --> 00:02.640 Is this the Halloween episode ? Should 00:02.650 --> 00:04.706 it be the Halloween episode would be 00:04.706 --> 00:07.739 very scary . Oh , CS S in the building . 00:07.750 --> 00:10.010 Very scary trashy . And 00:11.550 --> 00:13.819 guess who's got a PT test every month ? 00:13.829 --> 00:16.360 He is also the fitness monitor . That'd 00:16.370 --> 00:19.709 be nice to know . He is very menacing . 00:19.719 --> 00:22.219 He should be the Halloween episode . I 00:22.229 --> 00:24.379 think he just might be . Oh , boy . 00:24.770 --> 00:26.992 Yeah , it's a lot of pressure . I got a 00:26.992 --> 00:30.309 holiday . How are you ? Dude ? You 00:30.319 --> 00:32.041 could do a special intro too . 00:37.189 --> 00:41.139 Yeah , I 00:41.150 --> 00:43.372 am senior airman , Nathan Wingate . And 00:43.380 --> 00:45.491 this is welcome to Selfridge where we 00:45.491 --> 00:47.436 showcase airmen from Selfridge Air 00:47.436 --> 00:50.310 National Guard Base . So , welcome to 00:50.319 --> 00:54.009 Selfridge Happy Halloween . I have with 00:54.020 --> 00:57.970 me . Airman , Adam Kupchak . Hi , I'm , 00:57.979 --> 01:00.090 uh , Airman Kopi . Um , right now I'm 01:00.090 --> 01:02.970 working with the headquarters CS S . Um , 01:04.099 --> 01:06.500 I came over here from the Air Fueling 01:06.510 --> 01:08.566 Group CS S , uh , that's where I was 01:08.566 --> 01:11.370 assigned straight from tech school . I 01:11.379 --> 01:13.323 was wondering how you knew so many 01:13.323 --> 01:15.212 people . I know , I know a lot of 01:15.212 --> 01:17.435 people and they're scary . People think 01:17.435 --> 01:19.435 about it . Um , no , but , yeah , I 01:19.435 --> 01:21.490 mean , I'm from the area locally . I 01:21.490 --> 01:23.657 only live about 1015 minutes away . So 01:23.657 --> 01:25.823 it's easy commute . And , uh I've just 01:25.823 --> 01:27.935 grown up in this area my whole life . 01:27.935 --> 01:31.059 So , what made you join then ? Oh . I'd 01:31.069 --> 01:33.069 have to say like family tradition , 01:33.069 --> 01:35.236 kind of , um , kind of just keeping up 01:35.400 --> 01:38.849 staying with it . Uh , my uncle was a 01:38.860 --> 01:40.971 major in the army . He was actually a 01:40.971 --> 01:43.027 green beret . Uh , my dad was in the 01:43.027 --> 01:46.050 Navy and then my grandma was , um , she 01:46.059 --> 01:48.170 retired air force but she was also in 01:48.170 --> 01:50.226 the army as well too . So , your dad 01:50.226 --> 01:52.448 was in the Navy ? How did you end up in 01:52.448 --> 01:55.010 Michigan ? So , um he joined the Navy . 01:55.019 --> 01:57.075 Uh Not right out of high school . He 01:57.075 --> 01:59.297 went to college for a bit and then went 01:59.297 --> 02:01.352 to Navy . He only did his four years 02:01.352 --> 02:04.500 and then he got out . Um but uh yeah , 02:04.510 --> 02:06.510 I , I don't know , I was originally 02:06.510 --> 02:08.843 going to go navy and then I went to him . 02:08.843 --> 02:11.066 I was like , I'm going to join the Navy 02:11.066 --> 02:10.339 and he was like , don't do that . You 02:10.350 --> 02:12.406 made the right choice just like join 02:12.406 --> 02:14.572 the Air Force , better quality of life 02:14.572 --> 02:17.119 for sure . Um So here I am . Awesome . 02:17.130 --> 02:20.830 Cool . Um So why CS S and 02:20.839 --> 02:23.539 CS S is command support staff , right ? 02:23.550 --> 02:26.380 Personnel . And so it's a combination 02:26.389 --> 02:30.130 of personnel and admins . Um So myself , 02:30.139 --> 02:32.940 I'm an admin , a lot of personnels most 02:33.044 --> 02:35.485 they'll work in like our uh FSS or our 02:35.494 --> 02:38.184 military personnel flight . Um But the 02:38.195 --> 02:41.785 few I'll say outliers of personnel um 02:41.875 --> 02:45.774 they'll be in your CS S and FSS 02:45.785 --> 02:48.514 is for support squad . Yes . What prior 02:48.524 --> 02:50.802 experience did you have before joining ? 02:50.880 --> 02:53.102 I didn't have a whole lot because I did 02:53.102 --> 02:55.158 join straight out of high school . I 02:55.158 --> 02:57.269 actually enlisted in the middle of my 02:57.269 --> 02:59.491 senior year of high school . I mean , I 02:59.491 --> 03:01.658 was a COVID senior so I sat home for a 03:01.658 --> 03:03.991 while and then they're like , all right , 03:03.991 --> 03:06.102 you're going to basic . I did do a it 03:06.102 --> 03:08.158 internship . My dad works in it . So 03:08.158 --> 03:10.158 one of his friends started up an IT 03:10.158 --> 03:10.100 company . He was looking for interns , 03:10.110 --> 03:13.669 some younger uh employees . So I was 03:13.679 --> 03:15.901 like , oh , why not give it a shot ? So 03:16.080 --> 03:19.649 a lot of it , I didn't mind it . I 03:19.660 --> 03:22.520 don't know if it's something that means . 03:22.529 --> 03:25.259 No , don't uh I don't think it's 03:25.270 --> 03:27.214 something I could see myself doing 03:27.214 --> 03:29.326 career wise , but it was , I mean , I 03:29.326 --> 03:31.548 learned a little bit how to work with a 03:31.548 --> 03:33.881 lot of , um , customer service programs . 03:33.881 --> 03:35.937 Got more familiar with the Microsoft 03:35.937 --> 03:37.937 office . Nice elements , stuff like 03:37.937 --> 03:37.869 that . All right . So we kind of jumped 03:37.880 --> 03:41.229 the gun . Usually . What I do is I ask , 03:41.240 --> 03:44.169 uh a , a couple , maybe a few , um , 03:44.179 --> 03:47.520 icebreaker questions . So I need you to 03:47.529 --> 03:50.350 pick a number between one and 11 . 03:50.990 --> 03:54.949 Let's go 77 favorite season , 03:54.960 --> 03:58.679 not sports season , weather . I think 03:58.690 --> 04:00.857 weather season , I'm gonna have to say 04:00.857 --> 04:03.399 summer . Ok . I just , I like the 04:03.410 --> 04:05.466 warmth L A just , there's more to do 04:05.466 --> 04:07.720 outside , get out , go have fun . Go in 04:07.729 --> 04:10.309 the water . Michigan has the best 04:10.320 --> 04:12.509 summers . I don't know about the best 04:12.520 --> 04:14.464 summers , but they're , they're up 04:14.464 --> 04:16.576 there . Some pretty good ones who has 04:16.576 --> 04:18.576 better summers than Michigan . I've 04:18.576 --> 04:20.631 heard Oregon is pretty nice . I have 04:20.631 --> 04:22.850 heard Oregon is nice but we have Great 04:22.859 --> 04:24.915 Lakes . We do have the Great Lakes . 04:24.915 --> 04:27.730 They're great . Do have great in the 04:27.739 --> 04:30.089 name . No , I mean , yeah , Michigan is 04:30.100 --> 04:32.100 definitely up there . It could be a 04:32.100 --> 04:34.211 little biased . Could not be , but go 04:34.211 --> 04:36.790 Michigan National . Very . All right . 04:36.799 --> 04:38.910 Let's pick another number between one 04:38.910 --> 04:41.188 and 11 , but not seven , but not seven . 04:41.188 --> 04:45.070 Let's go . 1010 favorite type of music . 04:45.079 --> 04:47.135 So I don't know if I have like a set 04:47.135 --> 04:49.190 favorite . I kind of bounce around a 04:49.190 --> 04:52.160 lot . Ok . Um , so , I mean , me being 04:52.170 --> 04:55.769 a young , 22 year old , I , uh , I do 04:55.779 --> 04:57.890 like to listen a little bit of , um , 04:57.890 --> 05:00.001 some like hip hop and whatnot growing 05:00.001 --> 05:02.057 up , especially like with my dad and 05:02.057 --> 05:04.279 how he was , uh , there was a soft spot 05:04.279 --> 05:04.079 in my heart for rock and roll . And 05:04.549 --> 05:06.660 when did you first realize you wanted 05:06.660 --> 05:10.540 to be in CS S or an admin since that's 05:10.549 --> 05:12.493 what you are specific ? So kind of 05:12.493 --> 05:14.605 going back to that , it type , that's 05:14.605 --> 05:16.716 what my dad had done . That's kind of 05:16.716 --> 05:19.480 what I've known , um , growing up . So 05:20.049 --> 05:22.271 kind of wanted to follow in that suit a 05:22.271 --> 05:24.271 little bit . Um , but true . It , I 05:24.279 --> 05:26.557 don't think I could do it in my career . 05:26.557 --> 05:29.260 Um , so knowing I wanted to do military , 05:29.269 --> 05:32.329 I figured , why not try to do somewhat 05:32.339 --> 05:36.329 close . It ish . Um , CS S , we're not 05:36.339 --> 05:40.130 in so much it . Um , we're not coms but 05:40.140 --> 05:42.500 we have a lot of that customer service 05:42.510 --> 05:44.929 type . Um , we work with a lot of 05:44.940 --> 05:47.549 different people . Um , all tons of 05:47.559 --> 05:50.250 different statuses ranks everything . 05:50.880 --> 05:53.047 Um , very true . You kinda gotta , you 05:53.047 --> 05:55.047 gotta know your audience as soon as 05:55.047 --> 05:57.213 you're talking to someone and you just 05:57.213 --> 05:59.436 gotta gotta be there and support them . 05:59.436 --> 06:01.491 What are your career goals ? I wanna 06:01.491 --> 06:03.602 stay CS S probably my entire career . 06:03.602 --> 06:03.510 Not that I'm opposed to venturing 06:03.519 --> 06:05.686 outside and looking in some new jobs . 06:05.686 --> 06:08.059 Um I enjoy what I do . I actually , I 06:08.070 --> 06:10.014 had a conversation with uh General 06:10.014 --> 06:12.070 Brancato a little bit ago and he was 06:12.070 --> 06:14.292 asking me what I kinda wanna do where I 06:14.292 --> 06:16.619 see myself in my career . Uh I think 06:16.630 --> 06:18.797 being like a first sergeant for sure , 06:18.797 --> 06:21.950 kind of interests me . Um I don't know 06:21.959 --> 06:24.015 just something about being there for 06:24.015 --> 06:26.070 the people , being that like line of 06:26.070 --> 06:29.690 support , just being comfortable . And 06:29.799 --> 06:33.239 um I don't know , I think just working 06:33.250 --> 06:35.850 with what they work with it molds you 06:36.570 --> 06:39.170 and I don't know what I'm trying to say 06:39.179 --> 06:41.880 here . First Sergeant . No , that , 06:41.890 --> 06:44.001 that's , that's good . It sounds very 06:44.001 --> 06:46.168 inspirational . So what do you think ? 06:46.168 --> 06:49.429 What , what is your motivation to , 06:49.970 --> 06:52.248 to inspire ? Where does that come from . 06:52.820 --> 06:56.339 That's a good question . Yeah . Um , 06:56.350 --> 07:00.109 motivation to inspire . I think it's 07:00.119 --> 07:04.029 just , if I can show people I'm happy I 07:04.040 --> 07:07.470 enjoy what I do . It just rub off on 07:07.480 --> 07:10.559 people and , um , maybe like , someone 07:10.570 --> 07:12.799 who doesn't , the CS S is gonna see me 07:12.809 --> 07:14.865 and they can be like , kind of looks 07:14.865 --> 07:16.976 like he kind of enjoys what he does . 07:16.976 --> 07:19.142 Maybe I can give CS S a shot or just , 07:19.142 --> 07:21.350 um , I don't know , I think it would 07:21.359 --> 07:24.250 just be me and hopefully people keep an 07:24.260 --> 07:27.579 open mind and kind of lead by example . 07:27.920 --> 07:30.031 But yeah , that's you say that that's 07:30.031 --> 07:31.864 good . Um So what would you tell 07:31.864 --> 07:35.579 someone who wants to be in CS S um , be 07:35.589 --> 07:38.269 prepared to work with every rank across 07:38.279 --> 07:41.959 the board ? Um You just gotta , you 07:41.970 --> 07:44.309 gotta be , I'd say you gotta be 07:44.320 --> 07:46.549 confident in your answers but everyone 07:46.559 --> 07:48.781 knows you're not gonna know the answers 07:48.781 --> 07:51.003 to everything immediately . Um You just 07:51.003 --> 07:53.059 gotta , people are gonna come to you 07:53.059 --> 07:57.040 with everything . Um , and you just 07:57.049 --> 07:59.450 gotta , like I said , customer service , 07:59.459 --> 08:01.626 you gotta have that smile on your face 08:01.626 --> 08:03.792 even if it's something you don't wanna 08:03.792 --> 08:06.015 do because you're gonna work with every 08:06.015 --> 08:08.070 personality type everything . Yeah . 08:08.070 --> 08:10.329 Yeah , that's good . Um So what would 08:10.339 --> 08:12.506 you tell someone who wants to join the 08:12.506 --> 08:15.609 military in general ? Um , be prepared 08:15.619 --> 08:17.786 to be uncomfortable . You're gonna get 08:17.786 --> 08:19.675 put in a lot of situations . Um , 08:19.675 --> 08:21.897 you're gonna experience a lot of things 08:21.897 --> 08:24.149 that may make you uncomfortable . Um , 08:24.160 --> 08:26.779 not like a bad way , I think . Um But 08:26.790 --> 08:28.957 definitely it's gonna push you outside 08:28.957 --> 08:31.160 your comfort zone a lot . Um which is 08:31.170 --> 08:34.200 gonna help you grow your , I , I 08:34.210 --> 08:36.760 definitely grew a lot and I grew fast , 08:36.770 --> 08:38.937 especially coming out of tech school . 08:38.937 --> 08:41.159 Um , just the situation and experiences 08:41.159 --> 08:44.919 I got um here itself for Jone . It made 08:44.929 --> 08:46.929 me uncomfortable a little bit but I 08:46.929 --> 08:49.040 think it panned out somewhat . Ok . I 08:49.040 --> 08:52.900 mean , I'm alive . Yeah , he's made it 08:52.909 --> 08:54.909 ladies and gentlemen , he made it , 08:54.909 --> 08:58.530 would you recommend uh joining the 127 ? 08:58.729 --> 09:00.896 Oh , for sure . Yeah , definitely . So 09:00.896 --> 09:03.969 what , what is your , or uh what is 09:03.979 --> 09:07.250 your reason for the recommendation ? It 09:07.260 --> 09:10.599 feels like a family almost . Um And I 09:10.609 --> 09:12.776 don't know if it's sap or cliche , but 09:12.820 --> 09:14.876 there's a lot of people in this base 09:14.876 --> 09:17.098 being in the guard especially . I think 09:17.098 --> 09:20.500 it's a guard thing . Um You , you're at 09:20.510 --> 09:23.380 the same base like your entire career 09:23.390 --> 09:25.112 unless you want to move and go 09:25.112 --> 09:27.001 somewhere else . Um Active duty , 09:27.001 --> 09:29.729 they're moving every few years . Um So 09:29.739 --> 09:32.169 being here your entire career almost , 09:32.179 --> 09:34.401 you get to know a lot of people and you 09:34.401 --> 09:36.568 get very close to a lot of people . Um 09:36.568 --> 09:38.623 So it kind of creates naturally just 09:38.623 --> 09:41.690 that family environment . Nice . And 09:41.700 --> 09:43.367 you're a gr right now , I'm a 09:43.367 --> 09:45.589 technician . Oh , you're a technician . 09:45.589 --> 09:47.756 So the difference between active guard 09:47.756 --> 09:51.359 reserve and technician is . So a GR is 09:51.369 --> 09:53.840 kind of the the way I like to describe 09:53.849 --> 09:56.190 it . Um , to put it pretty simply is a 09:56.200 --> 09:59.890 GRS are your active duty people , but 09:59.900 --> 10:02.140 in the guard . So they have all the 10:02.150 --> 10:04.039 active duty benefits . They're on 10:04.039 --> 10:05.928 active duty orders . And then the 10:05.928 --> 10:07.983 technician part , technicians are uh 10:07.983 --> 10:10.206 still your full time members paid under 10:10.206 --> 10:13.020 the GS or more like civilian scale wear 10:13.030 --> 10:15.530 my uniform to work every day and just 10:15.539 --> 10:17.729 kind of a different pot of money . Put 10:17.739 --> 10:19.906 it like that . Are you going to school 10:19.906 --> 10:22.250 at all ? No , I've had probably almost 10:22.260 --> 10:24.204 every commander in this space . It 10:24.204 --> 10:26.371 feels like yell at me for not going to 10:26.371 --> 10:28.427 school . And I keep saying I'll go , 10:28.427 --> 10:30.649 I'll go and I just haven't and I know I 10:30.649 --> 10:32.816 got there's all those benefits that we 10:32.816 --> 10:35.729 get and everything , but I just not 10:35.739 --> 10:38.119 interested . Not right now . No , I 10:38.130 --> 10:40.390 like what I'm doing . Have you thought 10:40.400 --> 10:43.510 about doing any like certifications or 10:43.520 --> 10:45.631 anything like that , man ? Going back 10:45.631 --> 10:47.742 to this , it , I say I don't wanna do 10:47.742 --> 10:49.853 it and then it just ties back again . 10:49.853 --> 10:51.964 Uh There's some , it , certifications 10:51.964 --> 10:53.964 that I know look really good . Um , 10:53.964 --> 10:56.020 like resume wise and just stuff like 10:56.020 --> 10:58.229 that that I've debated . How long do 10:58.239 --> 11:00.900 you plan on being in the guard for in 11:00.909 --> 11:02.965 the guard ? Um You plan on doing the 11:02.965 --> 11:06.559 full 20 right now , honestly . Yeah . 11:07.250 --> 11:09.250 How long ? And you've been in , how 11:09.250 --> 11:11.440 long currently ? Uh So December 7th is 11:11.450 --> 11:13.840 gonna be my fifth year in the guard 11:14.169 --> 11:16.799 only 15 to go , only 15 to go . 11:16.809 --> 11:19.840 Congrats . That's it seems so long but 11:20.000 --> 11:22.222 it goes but these five years have flown 11:22.222 --> 11:24.111 by . So what are you gonna do for 11:24.111 --> 11:26.440 Halloween ? I don't quite know . Um 11:26.760 --> 11:28.982 I've just started recently getting into 11:28.982 --> 11:31.038 like going out with friends and like 11:31.038 --> 11:33.299 going around going downtown but uh I 11:33.320 --> 11:35.431 don't we haven't nothing set in stone 11:35.431 --> 11:37.153 yet but I was a guess probably 11:37.153 --> 11:39.153 something like that . That's good . 11:39.153 --> 11:41.309 That sounds like fun . Yeah . Yeah , 11:41.320 --> 11:44.570 nice . Just let us know I will . All 11:44.580 --> 11:48.010 right , cool . Alright . And this has 11:48.020 --> 11:49.964 been another episode of Welcome to 11:49.964 --> 11:52.710 Selfridge . Thank you for watching and 11:52.719 --> 11:54.719 Erin Kopek , is there anything else 11:54.719 --> 11:58.000 that you wanna uh talk about ? Not talk 11:58.010 --> 12:00.809 about ? I've got nothing . Just uh 12:00.820 --> 12:02.987 thank you for the opportunity . Yeah , 12:03.059 --> 12:06.520 appreciate it . Thank you for watching 12:06.530 --> 12:08.940 and welcome to Selfridge . Who knows 12:08.950 --> 12:09.960 you might be next .