Sergeant Major Garza

Let's go. It's going to be straight. You know what I'm saying?

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So I guess right out of the gate you know Cody. I know it must be Donut. I know he's Donut. Okay. Hi, Sergeant Major. Hi.

I think you're the fat electrician today.

Well, it's a history buff. I did a little research on you. Okay, that's fair. Great historian. That's fair. I think right here we got the, I think you ran for Congress. Yes, sir. All right. You came close. Came very close. Very close.

Herrera, right? Yes, sir. That's correct. Brandon? Is it Brandon Herrera? Yes, sir. Okay, fantastic. Thank you. And then, of course, Eli Quivas.

super i'm just i'm glad that we now outnumber the whites i know there's three three brown people over here with only two whites this time how you doing man hey doing fantastic doing great uh it's a great opportunity to come in here and meet with y'all i mean the sma when the sma asks you to do something you never say no oh you got volunteer research yeah you're like i need to see uh-oh uh-oh i'm going in on this cody what cody we're minorities we are the minorities

That's fine. We got a little notification and then Esme really wanted to do this. And so he said, hey, the best thing to do is to get a couple of sergeant majors in here and, you know, work it from there.

There you go. Here's what I did watch. I realized there's a lot of individuals that actually watch your podcast, which is incredible.

It reaches an enormous amount of people, and I didn't know that. And so this was the first time that I did get online and watch. Some of it's comical. Some of it's great information. I absolutely love what y'all stand for, so...

Well, I don't know. Several of y'all have served, so it's a big deal.

So first time in the Pentagon. Yeah.

Oh, no. So this is actually my second stint in the building. So the first time I came was in 2018. And have you seen the movie Gladiator when they get to the Coliseum? And it's like, ah. And so I thought, wow, I'm going into the Pentagon. I'm going to get to learn how the Army runs. What you learn is, I mean, you almost learn how hard it is to get things done in the Pentagon.

It's tough to get things done. You need leaders pushing things.

It can be. It can be at times. It can be at times.

Well, you know, the thing is, this thing can go wide right, wide left, but what an opportunity to get to the young kids and get them into the Army. Yeah.

I was two. No big deal.

I think SMA Daily was the fastest promoting to SMA. I think he was 26, a little over 26 years, maybe 27. No shit. It was fast. I don't think we've had a Sergeant Major make it that fast in the Army. Now, you have some 12, 13, 14 years. They don't make Sergeant Major in the Army.

He's almost 30. So I think he's either 30, a little bit over 30.

And most soldiers that want to spend time in the formations won't want to come to the building. But you need the experience. You need to come in and kind of figure some things out. You build those relationships so that when you go back out to the force, then you can work, network, and get things done.

It's so easy to get things done when you know a Rob Haney who's coming behind me or you know a Chris Mullinax. They pull a lever or two and the bureaucratic process won't exist at that point. So no, the Pentagon was not a dream job of mine at all.

I think it was, wow, the Pentagon. Yeah. And then the next question was, what are you going to do in the Pentagon? And then you realize how the Pentagon operates. And then maybe the second time was, oh, I'm going back to the Pentagon. You kind of know. You can kind of come and influence things you need to influence for your boss.

That's right. You know that it's all about the people and getting to know the people, networking with the people to get the decisions made. At the end of the day, we're just trying to get things to the soldiers.

Yeah, so Army Futures, the headquarters acts in Austin, Texas. And so I'm in the building when Command Sergeant Major Hester can't make a meeting and the SMA needs a Futures representative, I'm that guy. For instance, JMRC, we just went out to Germany and watched 310 in the box using a lot of the latest technology. Cool.

And so I go out, talk to soldiers, meet with soldiers, see if that equipment is actually working for them or if we can get feedback from the soldiers and make improvements on the equipment. I bring it back to Hester and the SMA, Commander Major Hester and the SMA, so that they can get in front and back brief the chief.

At the end of the day, it's about getting equipment, the right equipment to soldiers so that we can fight and win.

Absolutely. I love it. Have you heard of the IVAS? No. The Integrated Virtual Augmentation System. HoloLens. You can actually map a room anywhere in the world. And then you can execute 25 times inner and clear in that room.

Has anyone drank anyone?

No. No. I think the next individual will absolutely probably take you up on the offer. I don't know. He's a struggle. But Rob Haney. You want to announce him, man? Yeah. Rob Haney, who's the ASALT Sergeant Major. He works for the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.

He's responsible for procuring everything that Army Futures puts in the hands or basically writes the requirements. He puts it in the hands of soldiers. So come on in, Rob. And he loves alcohol, apparently. General. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much. Donut. All right. Thanks very much.

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