The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families. Through the perspective of a community of former graduates and Naval Academy insiders, this podcast will help you learn about life at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Through our shared experiences, Academy Insider guides families through the anxiety and frustration caused by lack of understanding, misinformation, and confusion. This platform is designed to better relationships between midshipmen and their loved ones. This podcast is not affiliated with the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy or Department of Defense. The thoughts and opinions are exclusively those of your host and his guests.
The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
#069 The Profession of Leadership: David Albritton's Journey of Leadership and Resilience at the Naval Academy
What pivotal lessons can transform a young person into a distinguished Naval Academy graduate and successful civilian leader? Join us for an inspiring conversation with David Allbritton, a 1988 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, as he recounts his journey from Philadelphia to achieving significant milestones in both military and corporate sectors. David shares captivating stories from his time at the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) and the Academy itself, revealing how these experiences shaped his leadership philosophy and resilience.
Discover the essence of authentic leadership and the critical role of mentorship in David's career. From handling media inquiries as a Public Affairs Officer to navigating the corporate world with roles at Sears and General Motors, David's career is a testament to the power of perseverance and relationship-building. Hear firsthand how foundational Navy lessons and authentic connections paved the way for David's transition to civilian life and his ongoing mission to support service academy graduates.
This episode is packed with heartfelt stories and invaluable insights into leveraging military networks for career growth. David emphasizes the importance of building genuine, non-transactional relationships within the military community. Learn how the bonds formed through shared service experiences can lead to unexpected opportunities and enduring support, highlighting the transformative impact of camaraderie, leadership, and dedication. Tune in for an episode that will leave you inspired by the unwavering spirit of perseverance and the profound impact of mentorship.
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast and the USNA Property Network Podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
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Welcome to Season 2 of the Academy Insider Podcast. Academy Insider is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families. At its core, this podcast is designed to bring together a community of Naval Academy graduates and those affiliated with the United States Naval Academy in order to tell stories and provide a little bit of insight into what life at the Naval Academy is really like. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for listening and reach out if you ever have any questions. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. In today's episode I'm joined by a class of 88 grad, david Allbritton, and we're going to talk all about his experiences as a midshipman candidate at NAPS, as an actual midshipman at the Naval Academy, his time as a surface warfare officer, transitioning to become a PAO, a public affairs officer, and how all of those experiences set the foundation for who he is today and the success he's had in the civilian world, making his way up the corporate ladder and then eventually going and starting his own business. And now what he's doing currently doing executive coaching and doing some pro bono work and helping giving back to service academy grads and other young men and women that are trying to make their way up the career ladder and path. So in this episode we're just going to share a ton of stories. We're going to talk about his experience at NAPS and, as a midshipman, dive deep into the lessons that he learned, that set the cornerstone of his leadership philosophy that he carries with him today, and it's super entertaining. So I hope you enjoy it. If you ever have any questions, feel free to let me know. Otherwise, I really hope you enjoy this episode. Feel free to shoot me a message anytime and enjoy the listen.
Speaker 1:The Academy Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that serves the United States Naval Academy community and other select clientele in both California and Texas. If I can ever answer a real estate related question for you or connect you with a trusted Academy affiliated agent in the market which you're in, please reach out to me directly at grantatthepremiergroupcom. You can also reach out to me on my LinkedIn page, grant Premier, and I'd be happy to respond to you there. Thank you so much, and now let's get back to the episode. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. David, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your time and giving back to the Naval Academy community. If you don't mind just telling us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, how you ended up at the Naval Academy, took part in the last real plebe summer, as you say, as a class of 88. And then what you did in the Navy and now what you're doing today in your life.
Speaker 2:Awesome, grant, thank you so much for having me on first and thank you for what you're doing. This is a tremendous mission. I'm very much committed to trying to recruit young men and women to come to this fantastic institution, and this podcast allows them to get their questions answered, because I can remember back in 1983, when I first applied to the Naval Academy, I didn't know much other than some booklets and some other things. So nice to see everybody. David Allbritton, class of 1988, originally from Philadelphia, but we spent some years living in Denver, colorado, when I was a kid, from 72 to 79.
Speaker 2:My interest in the Naval Academy got spawned there because one of my classmates in middle school, his oldest brother, was a midshipman at the Academy and he came home with his uniforms and his story and all of us said, hey, we're going to go to the Naval Academy, we're going to fly the planes for the Blue Angels and this is what we're going to do. And then 79 came and we moved back to Philly and I started high school. So this was before cell phones and email and all that. So I lost touch with those guys. But when I got to high school in Philadelphia, ironically my high school football coach did not go to the academy but he had been a reserve naval officer and when he heard of my interest going to the Naval Academy he just sopped me up. He just really took interest in that, helped me get prepared. Obviously he was my football coach. He was doing other things with me in terms of training but you know, he really helped me in many ways to kind of get mentally prepared and then go through the whole application process et cetera. So another one of my teammates actually applied to West Point. He got into West Point.
Speaker 2:I did not get into the Naval Academy, I got offered to go to Naval Academy Prep School. Got into West Point. I did not get into the Naval Academy, I got offered to go to Naval Academy prep school. But I'd also applied to the Coast Guard Academy and Penn State, being from Philly, all the Pennsylvania, new Jersey kind of schools, even though my intent was to go to Navy. And so I was disappointed at first that I didn't get accepted directly. Had I been accepted I would have been David Robinson's classmate in class 87.
Speaker 2:But as I look back in retrospect and I tell this story to parents and to young men and women all the time, going to NAPS was absolutely the best professional decision I have ever made in my entire career, bar none. I was 17 years old, out of Philadelphia inner city. High school had fantastic grades, was top of the class, but I was not a good student. High school had fantastic grades, was top of the class, but I was not a good student and I was not ready for the rigors of what I ultimately experienced as a plebe at the Naval Academy. And so going to NAPS, you know, gave me a year of experience with college level material, a year of maturity.
Speaker 2:I got. I learned how to get yelled at, you know, really developed, you know team relationships and knew what it was to truly fold into a team relationship, different from being a football player, et cetera and really expand into what I needed to be, to be successful as a plebeian at the academy. And so I'm thankful that I made that choice and didn't go to Coast Guard Academy or any of the other schools, because it truly helped me develop. So I went to the academy for years graduating, became a surface warfare officer, went to surface warfare officer school in Newport, rhode Island, for four months and then got to, you know, a station on USS Portland. It was a dock landing ship out of Little Creek, virginia, norfolk. We used to call it the portless because we were never there.
Speaker 1:Always out to sea, always out to sea.
Speaker 2:I know I was on that boat for 39 months. I remember 26 of them being gone, but I know it was more than 20. Just deployed Just somewhere, always right. So we were an amphibious ship, carried Marines. I had about 450 sailors, we carried 450 Marines, did a med cruise six months and two and a half months after we came back from that med cruisedam hussein went into kuwait on august 2nd and we left august 5th and we were gone for just over eight months, and so just a tremendous life experience. You know a lot of boredom too, but I I you know sitting doing gator squares in the gulf for months at the time, but I picked up all my quals right. So, as you think about what a SWO career path was back then, you did two ships before you did your shore tour. Well, because I had so much sea time and got my SWO pin as an ensign and all this other stuff, I didn't have to do another ship and so I went to the Naval Postgraduate School.
Speaker 2:I was still a frocked lieutenant and there was only, if I recall, one other of my classmates out there at the same time. You know 87 was there and a bunch of you know older, more mature folks were there, but my classmates were 05s and 04s and senior 03s and I'm a frocked lieutenant at the time, which was pretty cool yeah pretty cool, and being a Monterey is not a bad thing either. Yeah, it was tough, arduous duty, but I signed up for it.
Speaker 2:I served my country well, so I did that for two years and then when it was time for me to prepare for graduation et cetera, I was wanting to continue. I love the Navy. I obviously picked up some more time than I owed but the way things worked out, I was year group 88. They were just sending year group 87 to department head school, so the Navy was wanting to send me back to a second sea tour. I was totally against that. I did not want to do that.
Speaker 2:With as much time as I'd spent away on the first ship, had all my quals, I didn't feel it was going to be helpful for my career and I didn't want to be deployed like that again. So I looked for ways to still be viable in the Navy but look for other careers. One of my best friends from NAPS in the Naval Academy had switched to public affairs and so I visited him where he was stationed on the Navy news desk in the Pentagon, got to meet the two-star admiral who ran Navy public affairs and a lot of the staff there loved it. And so I put in a package with SECNAV's office and got picked up to become Navy public affairs officer. So when I graduated from PG school I went to the defense information school and it was then in Indianapolis, indiana, at Fort Benjamin Harrison. It is currently at Fort Meade in Maryland. Side note about a month ago I just got elected into the hall of fame, the defense information school hall of fame, which was pretty cool. So congratulations.
Speaker 1:Thank you, that was pretty cool and actually I got a quick question. Sorry to interject here. No, no worries. I would say the vast majority of people when they think of public affairs officers today, right, it's just social media, social media, social media. Right. At that point there is no Facebook, there's no Instagram. What are you doing as a public affairs officer at that point, and do you think the mission of what you were doing then is very similar to the way it's being done today, just with different mediums and avenues, or what's your thoughts on that aspect?
Speaker 2:It's very similar. The job of the Navy public affairs officer is to tell the Navy story through all mediums, through all channels, to all audiences. You have to dissect who your audiences are and how you convey that. Social media just gives you another channel to react to. Now, social media also creates a two-way dialogue between us as well, so you have to be very cognizant of how you say it, communicating to the world the strength of US Navy and how we operate, where we operated all that.
Speaker 2:We dealt with issues as it related to personnel, but we also dealt with hardware issues. We dealt with unfortunate issues. Right, I remember being on the news desk in 1994,. Lieutenant Kara Holt Green was an F-14 pilot who unfortunately lost her life. She crashed, and that time was when women had first gotten the chance to fly in combat aircraft, and so the narrative that came out around that was women shouldn't be in aircraft, and it was unfortunate because this young woman had signed up to do something that was so dangerous.
Speaker 2:Yet she was serving her country well and people were focusing on the wrong area, and so for us it was very important to preserve her legacy, because, I mean, she was a hero, I mean honestly, and so that to me was the mission of being a public. I was proud to be a public affairs officer to kind of do that me, my teammates and other folks, and then, if you kind of expand that to all areas and all issues that we dealt with across the Navy, you know it was a very important role to tell that Navy story to kind of help us in positioning where we are around the world. So I was very proud of that service. So it's on the Navy news desk, you know, taking inbound media inquiries that the Pentagon press corps was walking through our offices daily, so dealing with that and learning how to think on your feet and say the right things and all that kind of stuff, which was a great tool for me later in my career.
Speaker 2:Then I had the honor, so I left the desk, the news desk, and I went to become the aide to the two-star who ran a Navy public affairs. He's iconic Rear Admiral Kendall Pease, class of 68, played quarterback here behind Roger Staubach, one of the best leaders that I've ever known and worked for. So I learned a lot from him. And then I went to. I left there and had another arduous tour of duty in London, england. I went to Commander Chief for US Naval Forces Europe in the West End of London from 95 to 98.
Speaker 2:And so raised my hand and served my country well in London 95 to 98.
Speaker 1:And so I raised my hand and served my country. Well, in London, monterey, in London, man, yeah, you're talking about you're trying to get away from that sea life.
Speaker 2:You did it well, brother. It was tough, but somebody had to do it and I was glad I was able to.
Speaker 2:So, did that. But then I literally got out of the Navy from there. I didn't intend to, but it was just one of those circumstances that happened that you don't expect. And so the chief communications officer at Sears Roebuck Company came over to London with his wife and teenage boys and he had a retired Navy PAO-05 working for him at Sears. Well, that guy's former boss was my current boss in 06, who was the public affairs officer at Ksinkisnabur, and so he called his old boss up and said hey, my seer's boss is coming over, you mind taking care of him. Well, the 06 gives that assignment to the 03. And I said aye, sir, no problem.
Speaker 2:So I met this man and took him on a tour of our command. We were kitty-cornered to the American embassy. At the time the ambassador was Admiral Bill Crow, who was the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs. We went to lunch over there and it just so happened as we were leaving hit the elevator, admiral Crow turned the corner and got introduced and it was pretty cool. So I shook this man's hand, never thought I'd see him again, and this was June of 97. Well, august 1st of 97, I was scheduled to put on 04. So I was doing pretty well in my career. I was not even nine years in at that point. Well, a couple of months go by, right after Labor Day, and I got a call saying hey look, send me a resume. We want to think about you for a job. I'm like, I'm a naval officer. I don't have a resume. We don't have to submit those to the board.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. So my buddy who had been a public affairs officer he had gotten out by that time so I took his resume, doctored mine up and sent it in and fast forward. They actually flew me to Chicago for a week, put me up and had me interviewed for this job and it was just one of these jobs that as I look back I said if I turn this job down, I will never forgive myself. Here's why it was cool. A couple of things about me is I'm a huge bass fisherman and I'm not as big anymore, but back then I was a huge NASCAR fan. Jeff Gordon was my guy. I'm a rainbow warrior all the way through. Well, part of this job was it was the PR specialist for Sears Automotive. So Sears Automotive, right. So the Sears Auto Centers 750 Sears Auto Centers, 330 National Time Battery Stores and then anything dealing with diehard batteries, craftsman tools, those types of things. And if you think about NASCAR, back then we had the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Craftsman was the official tool of NASCAR, diehard was the official battery of NASCAR, daryl Waltrip was sponsored by Sears and we had the Diehard 500, I'm sorry at Talladega, right. So this job means I ran all PR for all Sears racing properties, which means I got to go to every race. I got to be behind the scenes. I would be sitting in the driver's meeting, jeff Bodine would be over here, jeff Gordon would be over here, dale Earnhardt would be over there, and I'm talking to them like I'm talking to you, and I was like, if I don't take that job, I'm probably going to be kicking my own butt for the rest of my life. And so I literally got out. I actually got special consideration, I got out of the Navy and I took that job. So that began my corporate career. I won't take you through all the details, but my goal when I got out was to become a chief communications officer which 13 years later, I was able to at a defense company called Excellus that had spun off from ITT in 2011. That company got acquired in 20. I'm sorry, yeah. So I was at Excellus and we got acquired in 2015.
Speaker 2:The president at General Motors was on our board at Excellus. He said we're not going to have a job. Why don't you come work for me? So I went to GM in Detroit and I ran all global communications outside the United States for three and a half years, but I'd also been on the board at General Motors Defense, so their aerospace and defense business. Well, they made some leadership changes in GM Defense and I got a call one day, you're going to be the new president of GM defense. And so I did that for a couple of years. And then I was the seventh executive from GM to go to Amazon, where I was a VP of communications, amazon Web Services. And then my life changed forever. My daughter was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in 2021, march, and so just do me for a loop I literally took a leave of absence that became a permanent resignation. So I had flexibility and decided that I wasn't going back to a corporate job.
Speaker 2:I was going to start my own company, and so I got flexibility et cetera, and it was around that time I started interviewing, being considered for a role as an independent director on a public company board of directors, which I have now been sitting since April of 2022. And Becta was a spinoff from Becton Dickinson. It's a $1.2 billion diabetes care business, and I've been on that board for about two years now two and a half and so, yeah, so that you know as I transitioned, my company first was a PR consulting business that morphed into executive coaching, and today I'm a certified executive coach by the International Coaching Federation and I work for a firm, a coaching firm, called CRA Admired Leadership out of Philadelphia, and so I have a wide range of clients, from senior level corporate folks to mid-level down to small businesses, across associations, nonprofits, educational institutions. It's an opportunity for me to just everything that I've done in my career been successful. I get to pour it into my coaching clients and be in that spirit of helping others advance in their careers as well.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, and how often do you come across service academy graduates or veterans coming through and do you have an ability to kind of like pick or choose and put a preference for coaching veterans in that, or how's that process been for you?
Speaker 2:In my official coaching capacity. Not many service academy grads just because of how it comes together. I'm very active. I still go to football games and still reach into the network and leverage LinkedIn and all that. When I come across academy grads most times I do a lot of pro bono just say let's talk about it. If you're transitioning, let's talk about it. If you are a grad and you're thinking about a new career path or a new job opportunity, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2:I don't necessarily get into official coaching monetarily or anything, just because it's. I recall just being here before I got my ring. One day you're going to knock that ring on the table and that network is going to step up for you, and so there's been times. It's part of my success. I go back to my ship, uss Portland. My first skipper was a class of 69 grad. Admiral Pease was a class of 68. These grads have been very helpful, supportive in my career and so for me that's just one way to get back in my career and so for me that's just one way to get back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I love it and you've talked about it in telling your story. You've highlighted the success you had in the Navy outside of the Navy kind of working in corporate America and making your way up to then even starting your own business and now giving back in a coaching and a mentoring sense. What about your Naval Academy experience? It was funny because you really highlighted even the NAPS experience even before the Naval Academy experience. Mm-hmm built inside of you as a person that kind of set you along this path.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's countless of those right. But if you think about just overall, right, you know coming up fairly disciplined, family and all that, but it wasn't the military right. My dad's brother was a Marine, you know drill sergeant, so you know that was one thing. But you know, I think one of the biggest you know kind of theses, if you will, that kind of came across, was you can't be a good leader until you've learned how to be a good follower.
Speaker 2:And so, plebe summer, and just the summer of naps, this really broke you down to brass stacks. And then they took away all your earthly rights and gave them back to you as privileges, right. So that's what we experienced. And so you learned a lot. And then you learned that you had to lean on that person to your left and to your right to get through this place, because you're not going to do it alone.
Speaker 2:So even on your worst day and I think this is kind of the core of my leadership thesis is you never know what somebody else is going through you can have your worst day, but if you look over there at your classmate, they could be having a worse time because you don't know what else is going on in their world. And so when you figure out that you can put aside your own feelings OK, and about your own situation Right and then help somebody else who's struggling more than you, you feel better. Ok, your situation is not as bad as you think it is, but if you help that person get through theirs, then both of you are better because of that. I think that's the crux of how I kind of look at relationships, from that experience at naps and that, you know, during cleave summer and those types of things.
Speaker 2:But, then yeah. So then you know the whole summer both those summers were, you know really all about putting you in situations that were hard and stressful. You know pressure fill uncertainty and trying to allow you to find your own fortitude to get through it right, even when you didn't think you could okay. So you get motivated. You know the self-motivation becomes, you get inspired. You know all that stuff happens and, no-transcript, when you think you can't get it done, this inner strength pops out and you're just like, wow, I can take one more step, one story, and I tell one of my classmates who was a football player.
Speaker 2:We went to NAPS. He was in my platoon, big Joe Brenner. Joe Brenner was 6'4", probably 260 back then as a NAPSter and in the platoon he was ahead of me. And when we went on these fun runs in formation, every time I felt like I couldn't take another step. I'd look at Joe and if Joe could take another step, then I could take another step. And so I tell you know I've told that story a zillion times. Every time I see him I tell him oh, dave, shut up. But truly, joe Brennan was an inspiration for me to get through naps. And you know that's just one thing that helped me mentally get through, because there were days, you know, I thought I was in shape, I was an athlete, I played a lot of basketball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm a D1 athlete, I want to play football.
Speaker 2:Well, I played one, you know. So I played football and naps, but I played 150s, right, I wasn't a recruited athlete at all. Yeah, played in high school and stuff. So you know, it was okay, but I wasn't definitely not a D1 type of guy, but he was. But he was a big guy and if he could take another step, then why can't I take another step? And so you equate that to everything that you go through in your life and it equates well. And so you know that to me was very instrumental as well, but, I think, also too right. So we all come from all parts of this great country and if you think about just this diverse set of individuals who come from all backgrounds, et cetera, now they're plugged together in this situation.
Speaker 2:Right, the design is to create a cohesive unit that's going to operate as one, and that doesn't always happen in every aspect of your life. But we learned how to do it. We learned you know. Think about one of the earliest rates. We had to learn where you know, and for some point in time, I still remember where all my platoon mates and all you know where they were from. Right, I had to know that and seem asinine at the time. But no, it helped. You get to know these people because you're going to be leaning on them, like they're going to be leaning on you too. So you're creating authentic relationships because you know more than just superficial knowledge. That equates very well to being a leader at a senior level inside a corporation.
Speaker 1:Well, 100%. I resonate so much with each story that you talked about and your core philosophy of always just acting with kindness, because you never really know what's going on in someone else's life. This is literally a LinkedIn post that I made the other day a little infographic, right, and it's a big circle and it's like what's going on in someone's life and then a tiny little circle and it points to it. That says what you know about what's going on in their life, right, and so for me, it's always been about the fact that something I learned about the at the Academy is you should never underestimate the impact you can make in people's life with simple action, with simple kindness, with simple investment, with simple attention to that person, because you never know what they're going through, and that moment of kindness, that moment of conversation, that moment of care may be a huge difference maker in that person's life, may be a huge difference maker in that person's life.
Speaker 1:Right, there were multiple times for me where I was on the breaking point of being ready to like to leave the academy. And you know it's a story I tell Plebe Summer, my company officer, lieutenant Burke. He's my company officer. I'm standing in CMOD during Plebe Summer and down the hallway is walking the gunnery sergeant who's the staff duty officer, the SDO that day coming down that way and again I'm on the brink right. We talk about the fly that'll break or the straw that'll break the camel's back. There was just one straw left before I crumble right and that gunnery sergeant would have been more than a little piece of straw.
Speaker 1:I tell you what that dude had walked over there with me and my company officer walked out while I was on CMOD and just had a conversation with me. He stopped, he paused. He just talked to me, asked me about my family, asked me about where I'm from. We talked about this TV show what's your favorite TV show? What do you miss? I talked to him about how I met your mother, all this different stuff. And had he not done that, had he not had a three-minute conversation with me? Because, again, when the SDO is walking by now, the SDO is not worried about getting on me, the SDO is worried about greeting the officer, right? Hey, good morning, sir, how are you? Blah, blah, blah. And he just continues on his way, right, and so you can never underestimate the impact you can make in people's life based on very simple action, right? And so I love.
Speaker 1:That story that you told in. The story you told about your friend cracks me up too, because I had this guy, mike Brown. He was my teammate and we're a plebe, somewhere in the same running group during plebe summer, and I was like we are both done. We're like every, every day, we're running around like Farragut Loop, we're talking about it. We're like you leaving today. I was like, yeah, I'm leaving today no-transcript together, despite like not being happy about it, right? And so it's just, it's really cool and I I appreciate you like sharing those stories, cause I think it's funny when we look back and reflect on our time at the Academy.
Speaker 1:These things that seem minuscule, these things that seem like funny little stories in the moment are really like these massive cornerstones of our leadership philosophy, or the cornerstones of our personality and foundation and what we carry with us, right? And so you know, I just I appreciate you like sharing those experiences for you. And another piece I talked about at the Academy is all about mentors, and so I'm going to turn this back to you. And another piece I talked about at the Academy is all about mentors, and so I'm going to turn this back to you. You're telling this did you have any mentors during your time at the Academy, whether they were senior enlisted staff officers, your company officer, instructors? That helped you really realize some of these lessons you were going through and navigate the difficulties of the experience?
Speaker 2:So as a coach, I differentiate the term mentor and here's how I call. I've got big M mentors and I've got a lowercase M mentors. A big M mentor is kind of assigned to you it's more formalized, right or you've asked somebody will you be my mentor? I've had a good number of those. But I've gotten more out of my smaller mentors, where we never even used the term Okay, but they mentored me in ways because they reached into me, they poured into me, reached out to me, poured into me, gave me insights, gave me knowledge, gave me access, explained things, and it didn't necessarily have any benefit to them but it was going to help me tremendously, okay. And so I've got countless of those people inside the academy, outside the academy, you know, throughout my entire career Inside the academy there were so many upper class who I mean obviously as a plea, you know the second class for us were just the enemy.
Speaker 2:But I have some of my best friends today are guys who were second class back then, you know. But you know those experiences were, you know, developed and designed for you to grow to, you know, to kind of understand yourself in a different context, and they did it for a purpose, and what I've explained. You know, particularly when I was a Blue and Gold officer some years ago, the reason that you go through plebe summer and you have, you know the reef points and you've got to learn all the rates and do child calls and all that other stuff and then you got six people here screaming at the top of your lungs. That might've you know. I don't know if they do that today- but, for us.
Speaker 2:But reason you have to learn that, then, is to develop the skill so that if you were flying jet aircraft later in your career and something goes wrong something happens with the wing, something happens with the engine right, you're going to use your training, you're going to fall back into what you know, you're going to stay calm, go through your procedures and you're going to save your life and the life of other people who you're responsible for, who somebody might be sitting in the back seat, or that plane may go down in a residential neighborhood, whatever.
Speaker 2:That is right. The Navy, the military, the country needs you to stay calm and to handle it. So if you equate that back to getting yelled at when you're giving them menu for noon meal and being able to okay, when you first started pre-plebe summer, freaking out about it, by the time you get to end of plebe year and you have somebody screaming at you, it doesn't matter, right? You've learned the core essence of how to stay calm and cool and collected under pressure. That's why it happens, and so, as much as it sucked when you were going through it, it was not designed for you to like it. It has tangential benefits for you in so many ways and other aspects of your life, and so that's the crux, that's how you understand why and how these things happen at the academy, to prepare you for whatever's coming next for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, without a doubt, and just to answer your question, I saw a photo the other day of Plebe standing on the little tiles in Bancroft Hall, the deck plates in the front, leaning rest. One dude still up on it up yelling chow calls. Three dudes are on their face in the front leaning rest. One dude's still up on it up yelling chow calls. Three dudes are on their face in the front leaning rest.
Speaker 1:So, chow calls are still alive and well and people are still. It's still going. Yes, there we go, it's good to know. The Naval Academy is still the Naval Academy.
Speaker 2:It's a rite of passage.
Speaker 1:But yeah, the core is always what it is and yeah, I just I love what you're talking about because it and I love how you differentiated again between big M mentor, little M mentor, because I think, again, I think another thing the Naval Academy really teaches in the military is that words matter and the way you explain things are really important.
Speaker 1:And for me, I love talking about the Naval Academy experience about building resilience, and I feel like a lot of time resilience for people is like this idea around surviving, oh.
Speaker 1:Resilience is like oh yeah, you just like survive and get through.
Speaker 1:But what I love about the Academy experience that you're talking about is it's really about overcoming adversity, continuously getting repetitions and repetitions of being in stressful environments, of overcoming adversity to be better for the next harder moment, for that moment, that critical moment in your life, whether again in your career, whether in your personal life, whatever it is you're going to be prepared for that moment as best as you can possibly be because of the constant difficult times, the constant stress that you're put under at the academy right, and it just it sets you up. The power of the midshipman experience is becoming someone who handles the hard moments in life better and you just get better at it because you get repetition after repetition after repetition of overcoming failure and like facing really difficult moments, and so it's very cool. And I want to transition out a little bit into how the Naval Academy experience set you up for your time as a surface warfare officer. Right, we joke again, your time on the portless, a lot of time out to sea, baby a lot of time out to sea.
Speaker 1:What about your Naval Academy experience? Had you ready to stand in front of your sailors in your division and operate as a surface warfare officer at that time?
Speaker 2:That was a scary moment and I reflect on it a lot. I'm 22 years old, I'm fresh out of Academy. My head's this big because I'm wearing that ring and I'm a graduate. I'm an ensign now. But now, okay, I'm a division officer of men. I'm 22 years old. My chief petty officer had been in the Navy 24 years, so he'd been in the Navy longer than I've been alive. It's a kind of hilarious story, but it's one I tell a lot and it actually helped me think about leadership in a different way.
Speaker 2:My first day on the ship, I'm introduced to my chief petty officer, so I was going to be the gunnery officer on the ship. So gunner's mate, chief Robert R Wager, steps up to me. Hey, ensign, welcome aboard. We shake hands and he says hey, you know he goes through his little spiel. Hey, welcome to the ship. You know, he said but look, let's break it down. Let me tell you something. He pointed at me You're the boss, and then he pointed his thumb back at him. But I'm in charge. You listen to me and I'll keep you out of trouble. I'll teach you the ropes and you're going to be very successful here.
Speaker 2:Now, instant David Allbritton, fresh out of Naval Academy. My head is this big and I'm like who's he talking to? I'm sitting here. Successful today is because that man taught me so much about how to be a leader of men on that ship. Right, because you're going to come across circumstances that you can never anticipate. Right, because you know the difference in being an officer in the military, marine Corps, navy, doesn't matter. You are a leader, you're not a people manager. And when I say leader, you're going to be involved with these men and women under your charge. You're going to be involved in their entire life. If they're having challenges outside, with their marriage, with alcohol, with you know, get into, you know, a car accident, those types of things, guess what? As their leader, you're going to be involved. You need to be involved to make sure that their care and well-being is taken care of, because you need that for solid leadership. But the Navy needs that too. The Marine Corps needs them to be okay as well, and so just that caring, that understanding is different, but then also being cognizant of the fact that you can learn in a 360-degree sphere of influence.
Speaker 2:It does not matter what your title is. You can call me Grand Poobah if you want to, but what do people relate to, and how am I learning from these individuals, from this man who has 24 years of experience in the Navy, if I don't take advantage of that experience, and shame on me. And so when I got out of my own way and then folded into, okay, chief, teach me. And I've had plenty of times when chief will pull me aside. Okay, anson, you're screwing up. The old man wanted this and you're giving him that. You should have been giving him that. So here's how you need to do this right. That helped me and helped me stay on track. So I'm forever thankful for him pouring into me that way. I've tried to find him for many years. I don't know whatever happened to him, but you know I tell that story for anybody who hears it. If they hear that name, then just know. David Albritton is very thankful for Gunner's Mate, chief Robert R Wager.
Speaker 1:Love every bit of it, because I think what you mentioned it's something to highlight, especially for the young men and women who are considering a service academy education, and for parents to understand what your kids, who you feel like, are your babies and are your children, but the reality of the world that they're about to enter into is that when you're at the academy, it's really like again. You're in your own little world, right? The Naval Academy really is its own little bubble and it's a difficult bubble, but you're not again. You're being taken care of, you're being fed every day, right, like you have a place to live. It's a controlled environment.
Speaker 1:The moment you step out into the fleet, it's no longer just your problems. When you have sailors, you have to help them deal with real life situations, absolutely Right. And that chief, like you're saying, may have been in the Navy longer than you've been alive, right, and sailors are going to come to you with real life problems, like you're saying, marital problems, financial problems, drinking problems, whatever the case is, and they're going to come to you as the officer looking for solutions, looking for help, looking for advice, and that is your job is to take care of them and to like genuinely, genuinely help them win and like get them on the right track.
Speaker 1:And that's really difficult because, like you're saying, whether you're a SWO, whether you're a submarine or whether you're a cryptologic officer, yeah, you have your tactical mission and job, but your job first, your primary responsibility, is being a leader of men and women, absolutely, and helping them with their real problems, and there are going to be real problems. I told my dad my dad's on the backstage listening to this thing I told the story. I'm a 22-year-old ensign. We fly out to Scotland. We're getting ready to board a submarine, right, and I get a call. We're supposed to get like to the pier at like 6 am, right.
Speaker 1:I get a phone call like 1130 pm the night before, one of my sailors bawling his eyes out, crying, right, and I'm like what's going on? I call my chief. I'm like I don't know what's going on. His battle buddy just gave me a call. He's breaking down. We got to go and these teams were comprised of three different commands that I'm going to be in charge of Right. And so we're at different hotels.
Speaker 1:So, me and my chief, we jump in a cab.
Speaker 1:We drive like 20 minutes to another hotel in the United Kingdom to go meet with this sailor Right, and we find out that he's having extreme marital problems, he's going through a divorce, his wife has a power of attorney for all of his assets as they're separating and he's about to get underway on a submarine for the next 90 days and be out of communication.
Speaker 1:And guess what? That's being presented to me as a 22-year-old and I'm supposed to be the one to help provide guidance, mentorship and solutions, right, right. And so when we talk about all these things, when we talk about all silliness of the quote, unquote, silliness of the academy and all the ridiculous stuff that's meant to put pressure into their lives, it's because you're going to, you're going to end up in that situation where you're being tasked with taking care of people with real life problems and if you want to run away from them, you can't, right, like. You need to be the person, the back, the backstop, to like, help, provide that support along with the chief right and like and take care of those things, and it's just like whew, it's crazy, but that's the reality of being a naval officer or a Marine Corps officer.
Speaker 2:Absolutely right, absolutely right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now just turning it back to you again a little bit, is these experiences, that relationship with your chief experiences at JO, as you're making that transition out of the military and into the civilian world, what really changed for you and what things stayed consistent, right, like what things did you want to bring with you from your time in the military into the civilian world and what things did you realize? Hey, I'm going to have to adjust my ways and kind of adapt to a new culture.
Speaker 2:It was totally different. And particularly, I went into a company at Sears, on a team that had nobody who was a veteran. Okay, so I'm the only veteran and I'm fresh out of uniform. Even using the term sir and ma'am sometimes that offends people I didn't know that, okay. So even the simplest things you have to understand. And the other people who'd never served don't have your context. And so, rather than the world adapting to you, you got to adapt to the world that you're now in, and it was tough for me. That's a that's a huge transition.
Speaker 2:A lot of transitioning veterans face is that the world's not about you anymore. Okay, you're not in this military structure. You know this world doesn't really know that much. I can't tell you how many times when you try to explain well, you know I was a lieutenant commander, oh, is that the same as a sergeant? Right, I mean, because they don't have context, and so you have to kind of get into the space where you're going to experience some of that, and so you've got to be able to be patient and explain it and understand that there's going to be uncertainty and they're going to have questions or they're not going to resonate with you automatically, and so you're going to have to prove why you are here and why you're adding value and all that. So what that does is just forces you to have a relational capacity that's much different. Have a relational capacity. That's much different. And so you're going to have to leverage some of what made you successful in the military in terms of how well you were able to easily make relationships work and all that kind of stuff. You're going to double down on that and fold into it. On the corporate context Learn as much as you can about them, educate them as much about you so that you at least have a common baseline so that you can operate as you're learning what your new role and responsibility is in this civilian context.
Speaker 2:Some people do really really well with that other struggle. You have to understand and be cognizant of where you are along that continuum and then do what you need to to make sure that you stay on track. You still show up as that military rank and you're wearing your rank on your collar and all those types of things. The long-term viability of your career is going to take a huge hit, right? You can't still show up as that military person. I found that even going into aerospace and defense companies that work with the military directly. It's run by civilians who may or may not have served in the military. So they don't know the rank structure, they don't know the difference in services or the missions and those types of things, and you can't assume that they do and you can't show up wearing that rank just because it's important to you. Again, you have to fold into an environment instead of vice versa.
Speaker 1:Absolutely and kind of talking about this transition. Now we've really touched on the power of the midshipman experience, the power of life as a junior officer and the adventure associated with that, and now jumping into again the influence of the Naval Academy network, especially in relation as we're talking about having mentors and advocates and champions in the civilian world, where it is a different culture. And so you know, I want to turn it to you at this point in your career and your life is talking about how has the Naval Academy Network helped you in your life in kind of post-military, and how would you describe what is the Naval Academy Network and the benefit and the power of it to someone who you know may be considering this institution?
Speaker 2:Actually, I would expand that concept to the service academy network, because there have been people from West Point Air Force Academy, coast Guard Academy who have been as instrumental in my success as other fellow grads. Because, as you think about it, after we get out of the military, whether it's after five years or after 30 years, we're all men becoming civilians and have to form into this new world and do what we're going to do, whatever we choose to do, functionally and, you know, professionally, et cetera, even if we're owning our own business and doing something. So, but being able to knock that ring on the table and have a very similar experience to somebody from West Point or Air Force Academy, we have that common bond and only us, only we can joke each other. I do the all Army Navy thing and Air Force thing and all that, but it's only we two can do that when we're having a conversation. However, those people folding into me, giving me information, introducing me into the network, give me access to things.
Speaker 2:I've had so many of those folks across my career, across the broader academy network, that have been very helpful for me and you know it doesn't necessarily mean, hey, I'm going to find you a job, or because that's not their job to do, but can they be helpful and impactful.
Speaker 2:You know making their network your network, giving you information about how and why.
Speaker 2:You know they chose their own functional.
Speaker 2:You know discipline and you know how that might be relevant for you as you think about transitioning all those things.
Speaker 2:So leveraging all those voices is a tremendous value and the fact it's it's kind of like its own fraternity in a way, and it's a very unique fraternity that only we serve, that we sit in, that I've leveraged countless times and it's a pride that you know I'm able to do that and do it differently, and not to say that graduates from Harvard and Stanford and you know they don't have, you know, similar unique experience from their own networks, et cetera. But ours is different in that we served our country and we wore the uniform and you know some of us went to war and you know there's something else that we have that others don't. And you know I'm close with folks that went to ROTC and went to OCS and all that. But there's something about wearing that ring across the academy system that just makes the relationship instantly different and you can fold into it like you've known that person 20 years, and then you're off and running as soon as you hit the ground.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what would you offer as advice to again, if you were talking directly to a midshipman or something of the sort, what would you advise them on how to really leverage and capitalize on this network, especially while they're still in the service and taking advantage of it and building those relationships now and kind of not making it you mentioned even before the show like not making it a transaction, but really relationship building?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's really thinking about the concept of creating a relationship before you need it, because, as you think about transitioning, going off in your career and doing other things, other people are doing the same thing, and so where you are envisioning where you're going to be 20 years from now and you can have no certainty on where that's going to be, just because life is going to come at you You're going to get married, you're going to have children, bad things can happen with health and whatever happens to you. Other people are also progressing as well, and so that person who was in your company, who was two years ahead of you you don't have to be best friends, you don't have to be going out all the time, but now you have tools. You've got LinkedIn, you've got Facebook, instagram, text messages. You can stay in touch and abreast of what other people are doing and be genuinely concerned about what they're doing and how you might be helpful. So you're adding value to that person, even though you know they're not your best friend. You know you're not trading Christmas cards, but your network is your net worth and if you invest in it now, when you need it, 20, 25, 30 years from now and sometime in between. It will definitely impact your level of success because you can pour from you know you can pour into, but also get a pouring from that network to help you think about something differently, get introductions, find a job, et cetera.
Speaker 2:I mean today's, you know, second class as you're, a plea, might be the CEO of Google in 30 years, right, and then, ok, let's just make it up. Ok, now you're a senior vice president at company X and guess what? That company just got acquired by a bigger company and your job goes away. You know, you might be 52 years old, you're making a ton of money and all that. But now your life changed in a way that you can't control somebody else making that decision. Your network is what's going to get you to that next thing if you're not ready to retire.
Speaker 2:And that guy who was your second class, you know, 40 years ago or whatever it was, who's now CEO of Google? Hey, george, you know, hey, how you doing. You know how's Susan doing, how are your kids doing? You know, because you got a relationship, you'd be surprised how that turns into something that can be, you know, a value to you. It may not even be a job, it might be a consulting gig to tie you over. Tied you over until you get something else, but it's all based on the relationship. So think about that now. You know, as I tell my own kids, right, you need to be thinking about now how you're living when you're my age. Okay, so the decisions you're making now are going to be impactful for how you're my age. Okay, so the decisions you're making now are going to be impactful for how you're living when you're my age. So you know, if your kids don't go to Naval Academy, are you taking student loans or are you writing checks? You're making that choice right now.
Speaker 1:So think about it, think about it.
Speaker 1:I love and I'm going to double down on what you said, which is build it before you need it, build it before you need it right.
Speaker 1:And if you can build those relationships now and establish those things now and again, build genuine relationships with people before you actually need something right, then you know like, again, it's not a it's never a transaction right, like it's a genuine friendship, it's a genuine shared experience. And, again, the beautiful thing about this community and about this network is, if you pour into it, if you invest into the relationships, there is someone who's going to be there, who is always going to be able to take care of you and help you, right. But but the onus is on you to let, to build it right, To like actually take advantage of it and create those relationships Right. And so I just I'm so grateful for you taking the time to come here and give back and share your experiences. And as we start to wind down here, I really want to turn it over to you. And again, almost in the recruiting realm here but what is your best recruiting pitch for? Why a young man or woman should consider a service academy education based on everything we've discussed today?
Speaker 2:It will change your life forever in ways that you can't even fathom right now. You can go to Harvard, you can go to Stanford, you can go to Penn State, you can go to all the big football games and have a great time. But outside of the fact that you're getting pretty much an Ivy League level education, you're going to get to serve your country in a very meaningful way. You're going to get to travel the world. I've been to 55 countries in my life. Okay, I've had experiences that I would have never had in any other context, but I get to lead men and women as well. You know, as an officer in the military as well, this network of folks, the people I went to school with, to NAPS and to Naval Academy. They're my best friends in my life. I don't necessarily talk to them all the time we have text groups of folks and that kind of stuff but I know that tomorrow, if I needed it, I could make a phone call and I get it and they know that if they call me, they got it right. Whatever that is, it's very unique, it's different. You won't experience anything like that at any other institution and, again, because you're serving your country, there's a pride there that you won't experience in other places. It'll be the toughest thing you've ever gone through.
Speaker 2:I look back at everything I've done. You heard my story about my corporate career and everything else, but to me there was nothing harder than Plebe Summer. And if what I'm dealing with right now in front of me is not harder than Plebe Summer, then guess what? I can get through it. And so in my mind, my attitude is okay. Now I just got to figure out a way to how to get over the bridge, get around the bridge, get under the bridge, blow the bridge up, whatever I got to do to get there. But I'm getting to the other side because Plebe Summer was much tougher than that. That's the mentality, and so if that was, you know, that alone helped me get through most of my life, and if I had that as just part of the experience of going to the US Naval Academy, I'd choose a 50 times over 100%.
Speaker 1:I love it. And again I think, doubling down one more time on what you said, which is the opportunity to lead people, when we talk about people who, genuinely, you can tell when you're in high school, if you have a desire to help people, to be of service in general, there's no better opportunity than being a junior officer in the military. You told of how you dealt with your sailors and with your chief. You know my story of all these things. There's no better opportunity to make a positive, a direct positive impact in people's lives than being a junior officer, the responsibility and power and authority you have. If you truly invest in those relationships and you truly invest in the responsibility that you have, that you can make people's lives better.
Speaker 1:You can make a positive impact, right, like the ability you have to genuinely be of service, to be a man or woman for others and help people. There's no better opportunity and never that fast, right as a 22 year old, as a 23 year old, to have the means and avenue again to make people's lives better. It's incredible, right? It's really cool. It's really cool. And so we'll finish this up with one final question back to you, which is going to be again I had mentioned earlier is to never underestimate the impact you can make with simple actions and the power of people investing in your lives. Do you have anyone from your time at the Academy that you specifically remember made a really positive impact on your Naval Academy journey? Is there an instance or a story or a person who you look back on and say, with a simple action, they made my life and my journey a lot better?
Speaker 2:No, I have too many of those I got to tell you it's my best buddies. Right, it started at NAPS and then I picked up another core crew. You know from my Naval Academy years. But every day, you know, even on my worst days, I knew I had a core cadre of folks that would just help me get through it, whatever it was. And they did, and you know they are the best friends in my life. They will always be. I've got great friends. They are the best friends in my life. They will always be. I've got great friends who I've met later in life and all that who I'm very close to, I love like brothers.
Speaker 2:But those Naval Academy guys, those NAPS guys, you know I just I was at the football game last weekend and some of my best friends had flown in from Atlanta and from Charlotte and you know they were there. There hadn't seen him for a couple, you know, for a little bit, but you know we got to hang out and then we ran into other classmates. Some of us were Napsters and and man, the old stories from, I mean literally 41 years ago, and all of that. Right, you know that was impactful for us. I don't necessarily talk to those guys every day just because life has happened. We all have families and kids and grandkids and all that kind of stuff, but the impact that those young men had on me were life-changing and so I love them like brothers and they love me like a brother and that, to me, means everything.
Speaker 1:Yep, love every bit of it. Any final words, any parting thoughts that you want to leave with the Academy Insider audience before we finish up the episode today? Go Navy, beat, army, beat, army. Well, david, thank you so much for taking your time, coming back, sharing your story and giving back to this community Again, if anyone is interested. You got to follow David on LinkedIn big presence there as well and, again, like he mentioned early on, really just invested in the beautiful thing of our network and really interested in helping give back to to service Academy grads who are getting ready to make that transition as well. So you know, if you want to stay in touch, feel free to shoot me a message. I can get you connected.
Speaker 1:Otherwise, thank you so much for listening today. Shoot any questions you have to podcast at academyinsidercom. And thank you so much. Have a great day, insidercom. And thank you so much, have a great day. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Academy insider podcast. I really hope you liked it, enjoyed it and learned something during this time. If you did, please feel free to like and subscribe or leave a comment about the episode. We really appreciate to hear your feedback about everything and continue to make Academy insider an amazing service that guides, serves and supports midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families. Thank you.
