Gen Z Mental Health Crisis: Military Doctor Reveals How to End It | Ep 073

What happens when a decorated combat veteran and ER doctor witnesses an entire generation losing their will to fight? Dr. Colonel Josh McConkey has seen it all – from battlefield trauma to the youth mental health crisis flooding emergency rooms. In this can't-miss episode, he shares his explosive theory on why Gen Z lacks resilience, the simple dinner table solution every family needs, and the jaw-dropping story of the $3.4 million bribe he refused that forced him to flee the country with his family. 

Whether you're a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen, McConkey's 'Weight Behind the Spear' philosophy might be the wake-up call America desperately needs.

Dr. Colonel Josh McConkey is a board-certified emergency physician, Air Force Colonel, decorated combat veteran, and bestselling author of "Be the Weight Behind the Spear." After witnessing firsthand the mental health crisis impacting today's youth, he developed a straightforward approach to building resilience and leadership that anyone can implement in their community.

In this episode, we discuss:

👉🏼 Why Gen Z is experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression
👉🏼 The dangerous impact of social media on child development
👉🏼 Simple strategies parents can use to build resilience in their children
👉🏼 His harrowing story of standing up to corruption that forced him to flee to Australia
👉🏼 How communities can come together to support the next generation of leaders

👉🏼 Get Dr. McConkey's book "Be the Weight Behind the Spear" on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or his website.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction to Dr. Colonel Josh McConkey
03:47 - The meaning behind "Be the Weight Behind the Spear"
05:31 - What inspired McConkey to write the book
07:22 - The Gen Z mental health crisis in emergency rooms
08:32 - Alarming statistics on youth depression and hopelessness
09:12 - How COVID isolation devastated youth development
10:43 - Simple solutions: The power of family dinner
12:16 - From helicopter parents to lawnmower parents
13:10 - Three critical tips for managing kids' social media use
14:16 - Why social media is like handing kids a loaded gun
15:50 - How to rebuild community engagement
17:00 - Leadership lessons from legendary Coach K
19:25 - Standing up to corruption: The $3.4 million bribe he refused
22:20 - Fleeing to Australia to protect his family
23:18 - A surprising lottery win after losing everything
24:00 - The heart of McConkey's message for everyone
25:56 - What's next for Dr. Colonel McConkey
27:11 - Closing thoughts

📲 Connect with Our Hosts:
Stacey: https://www.instagram.com/staceymgrant/
Mark: https://www.instagram.com/mark_lubragge_onair/

⭐️ Watch/Subscribe to Gurus and Game Changers on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@UCsRyuQWlLAYzM4IyJlF2IWQ 

📲 Connect with Dr. Colonel Josh McConkey
Website: https://www.joshmcconkey.com/
Books: 'Be the Weight Behind the Spear' - https://www.amazon.com/Weight-Behind-Spear-Josh-McConkey/dp/B0CKDLBP9X
Nonprofit: https://www.weightbehindthespear.com/Foundation
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSQ7OpDAy4hr3doGNtqwtcA

Transcript

00:01 - Stacey (Host)
Mark, are you the spear or the weight behind the spear? 

00:10 - Mark (Host)
That's interesting. You'd like to think you're a spear for your kids. 

00:13 - Stacey (Host)
Right. 

00:15 - Mark (Host)
And then you'd be a weight behind the spear for others. I don't know, I don't know the way that he described it the tip of the spear are like people who the doers. 

00:26 - Stacey (Host)
Like the people who captured Bin Laden. 

00:27 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, tip of the spear are like people who the doers, like the people who captured bin laden yeah, tip of the spear, right. So as a community, I'm trying to wrap my brain around his but we're supposed to be the weight behind the next tips spear, the next generation of leaders, the next generation of up-and-comers. We have to be the weight to be, to have an impact on them. 

00:45 - Stacey (Host)
So Dr and Colonel Josh McConkie was just on the podcast and what a guy like, what an incredible life this dude has had. He's 47, but he's done so many things. 

00:58 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, I mean he's a decorated combat veteran. He's been an emergency room guy forever. 

01:04 - Stacey (Host)
Emergency room doctor. Emergency room doctor sorry, yeah, he's just not the guy that hangs around in the emergency room. 

01:09 - Mark (Host)
He had to leave the country to protect his family at one point from a business person, right? Just kind of crazy FBI involved. 

01:17 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
He went to the lottery. 

01:18 - Mark (Host)
There's this kind of story all over the place. Unbelievable and all of it's kind of fun to listen to. 

01:23 - Stacey (Host)
But his main mission is that he feels like Gen Z, on the whole, was robbed during COVID and that they have come out of this whole thing a lot less resilient. They don't have structure, they don't have ownership, they don't have accountability. 

01:43 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, and it's going to take us to be the weight behind the spear to move them forward but he's not preachy like I thought he would be really preachy yeah. 

01:51 - Stacey (Host)
I thought he would be like you know, this is the way things have to be, but he's not. I mean, he gets it. Yeah, he definitely gets it. 

01:58 - Mark (Host)
He's a very nice guy and he even ran for congress because he believes so wholeheartedly that he needs to be. Yeah, he seems like a nice dude and he even ran for Congress. 

02:05 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, he ran for Congress Because he believes so wholeheartedly that he needs to be a member of the community that helps push things forward in a positive way. So, wow, he was cool, I enjoyed that You're going to enjoy him. Who me again. 

02:19 - Mark (Host)
We're all going to enjoy him. 

02:21 - Stacey (Host)
Everybody enjoy. Enjoy, colonel and doctor. Doctor and colonel josh mcconkie. 

02:29 - Mark (Host)
hi, I'm stacy and I am mark. And this is the gurus of game changers podcast. Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. So today we have a special guest doctor and colonel josh mcconkie. He is a board certified emergency room physician, a decorated combat veteran, a best-selling author, a visionary, so much more. This man has seen a lot of things in his day and he has the stories to back all of them up, but what he sees right now is troubling him greatly. He sees communities crumbling, he sees neighborhoods with people so at odds that they just aren't neighborly anymore, and I imagine that sounds familiar to you as well as to us. 

03:10
So but fear not, because Colonel McConkie, colonel Josh, Dr Colonel, dr Colonel Josh has a solution that he thinks is going to change everything, so let's get into it, dr. Colonel first off, thank you for your service. We appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me on the show and that very nice introduction. 

03:31 - Stacey (Host)
Looking forward to it, so happy to have you here. So, okay, let's just get right into the book you want to go yeah, okay. So the title of the book is called be the weight behind the spear. Explain to our audience the title and what inspired you to write this book audience, the title and what inspired you to write this book. 

03:47 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So Be the Weight Behind the Spear. That's my personal leadership ethos. I have that inscribed on my challenge coin that I give to men and women in my squadron and people that I meet. It's to understand what it means to be the weight behind the spear. You really have to look at what's the tip of the spear. So I've been a really fortunate, very blessed in my military career. I've had some opportunities to work with special operations. When you talk about men and women that are the tip of the spear, so these are the people jumping out of helicopters, jumping out of airplanes taking down bin Laden, rescuing children in cave system. I've been very fortunate to work with these types of individuals and you realize very quickly that they have all had somebody in their life like a teacher, a coach, mentors, family that have given them amazing confidence. You know they're teachers and coaches. You know for me that was some of my biggest the weight behind my spear, but that's the best resource that we have in this country. 

04:44
And so as a military commander, you know I see the younger generation and as an emergency physician, I've just seen so much anxiety and depression and suicide in some of that population, that I just feel like America's kind of losing it a bit. We're losing that battle. There is an exponential increase in anxiety and depression in these age children that were, you know, shut out of schools for two or three years. Those years are critical for their development and you know some policy decisions there. These are the repercussions and we have to deal with it. It doesn't make any good to pass any blame or to, you know, chastise that whole generation. What are we going to do about it? Let's own the problem, and here's the prescription. 

05:26 - Stacey (Host)
Was there a moment when it hit you that you needed to write this book? 

05:31 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So 2021, 2022, it was a disaster. So, COVID, as an emergency physician and most health care practitioners, it sucked your will to live. You know that compassion fatigue is very real. It was absolute chaos. I have three kids, so we've done the best we can with our three children. 

05:54
Unfortunately, there's a lot more that maybe don't have some of that same support and so they're in my emergency department on a regular basis and it's just increasing day by day, by day. I mean you feel like it just gets worse month by month and then you see the suicides and you have to sit down with that family and you have to break that kind of news and unfortunately you can't save everyone and it rips your heart out and you sit down, you cry with those families and now, as a military commander, that same timeframe, I mean these kids coming out. They lack resiliency, some of the basic leadership skills they fold so quickly and basically the parents you take you know where these kids were just isolated for a couple of years there that were detrimental to their development. The parents kind of reaction has been we used to have helicopter parents, now we have lawnmower parents. 

06:47
And so they're mowing down everything in that kid's path and the kids are not getting even opportunities to make mistakes and learn. So you know, be there for your kids, be supportive, but you have to let them go out and make some mistakes, because if they encounter no obstacles when they get out of school, they get out of college, come looking for jobs. Guess what? It's now real life and they cave so quickly. Their resiliency skills are minimal and as a military commander, that's what I deal with. It's very difficult. We have a lot of room to go. 

07:22 - Mark (Host)
So a couple of things based on what you said. You said they end up in my emergency room. Is it all self-harm? That's what you're referring to. 

07:29 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
No, just mental health issues, just the anxiety, the depression. Right, um, social media is, is, is a is a blessing and a curse for a lot of those kids. It was their only tie to the outside world but at the same time, that obsession with social media and it's not real life. So they always see the best of everybody, the body image issues and the comparisons. And this is a generation that has never lived without having that iPad or that iPhone, that instant access to the information with social media. So Australia has gone, you know, quite extreme, but anyone under the age of 16, they've made it illegal to have social media. Wow, just flat out illegal. I'm not a big fan of government intervention like that. I think it should be a parent's decision. I agree with it. My children do not have social media. You know, the American Academy of Pediatrics has a great stance on that and some policy statements as well. But it's a multifactorial issue. But when you put all that together it's just a perfect storm and that's why we have this mental health crisis. 

08:32 - Stacey (Host)
So I have some stats just to back you up on what's going on. Your book discusses COVID's impact on youth, so here's some numbers 44% of US teens reported feelings of hopelessness and one in four young people experienced depressive symptoms. 

08:46 - Mark (Host)
And even more alarming, as you said, emergency room visits for suicidal ideation among girls have increased by 50 percent the children are a victim of the social isolation and social media right that are the two primary things that are impacting their, I guess, state of mental health. How does that translate to them not having a weight behind their spear? I know they need it. 

09:12 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So you know for children that you know the pluses and the minuses for the social media. You know that is their reality, so that perception is their reality. For me, you know being shut out and you know I certainly use some social media for business and for promoting the book. It's just not my life, it doesn't revolve around that. But for this generation that was everything and so that's how they developed. So instead of being able to like pick up a phone or talk face to face, they already had some of the communication issues anyways. You know, just because of the technology. You know just just because of the technology. But then you just completely shut them out of any environment where they could have progressed, shut them out of church, shut them out of school. That was literally everything. 

09:55
And you know, not everyone has a great family structure around them, unfortunately, and that's you know. I see a lot of that. My wife in the schools and my mom was a teacher as well. And you know a lot of those end up in my emergency department for for lots of different social issues. But you know a lot of those end up in my emergency department for lots of different social issues. But you know it's just a bad combination that they're so impressionable at that age. It's so critical that if you just erase that, you've just removed that education component for them. Some of them got shut out of some of their biggest milestones, like no high school graduations, and then there were some of that same cohort for other issues. They didn't have any high school school graduations, and then there were some of that same cohort for other issues they didn't have any high school college graduations. So those are huge milestones in a person's life that there's a whole generation of Americans that got none of it. 

10:38 - Mark (Host)
Right, yeah, that's a good point. What can we do? Covid's over. 

10:43 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Let them know that you love them, let them go out and make mistakes. I have proposed something extremely simple. It's almost been forgotten at times, but it's just something simple. Sit down and have dinner at night with your family. Just sit down, make the kids get off the phone, shut the TV off, sit at a dinner table and just talk about your day. And then, if you take that time, they know that number one that you care Like they might whine about it. Oh, I want to be watching TV, like no, we're going to sit down, we're going to talk about her day. Each of the kids I've got three of them. Tell me about your day. What was your favorite part? What didn't go well? What could have been different. And you know it. Just make that part of your routine and that that is a very positive growing environment for your children routine and that that is a a very positive growing environment for your children. 

11:33 - Stacey (Host)
We we were just talking about that because I had a feeling you're gonna you're gonna say that I have kids who are 25 and 23. We, we had them sit down for dinner every single night. It was I did and, for lack of a better word, a show. 

11:43 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Well, my daughter, my son and my daughter would fight every, every dinner, we did it. 

11:48 - Stacey (Host)
But after almost every dinner we had somebody running downstairs crying or you know, yelling or arguing or whatever so I do know I I totally agree with you. I think it's a wonderful thing to do. 

12:00 - Mark (Host)
I I don't think everyone has the capacity to do that there has to be other things too, because you don't do it, just spend the time, whether you're right, whether it's at the dinner table table or 8 o'clock at night or school. Have your family debrief. Family debrief. Family debrief. Spoken like a colonel? 

12:16 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Colonel, yeah, but you just got to let them know that you care enough to take that time. Even though they whine about it and they don't want to be there in the back of their mind, they know that you care and maybe it's going to give them an opportunity to ask some questions that they would have never asked otherwise. 

12:36 - Mark (Host)
Create that open dialogue. 

12:37 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
That's the way behind the spirit home. Yeah, I like the term lawnmower parent. I'd never heard that before. I had a helicopter, yeah, and I think I've done a little bit of it and you know what I'm talking about. You see, those lawnmower parents. 

12:43 - Mark (Host)
Oh man. 

12:50 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
But you also had to phrase Prozac parenting. What was that? You know, just just the Prozac parenting. I really tied a lot of that to social media and it ties into the mental health issues and the self-esteem issues and I had talked a lot about. Like Taylor Swift, right? So Taylor Swift, she dominates the music industry, she's very dominant in social media, but it extreme measures. You know too much of that exposure is not a good thing. 

13:10
So I had some some real simple, like three tips for parents that were very helpful. You know, number one just simple time restraints. You know our kids have access to iPads but only on weekends, like at 4.30,. You know we've got those time limits set on them. And then you know age restrictions to social media are very, very critical. So you know I am a big proponent of not having social media access until age 16. You know some pediatricians would say even to 18. But you know that is part of the digital world, that is their reality. So they do need to understand how to interact and how to do it safely. 

13:49
And then the third component was just like that drive-by audit where the parents just random times duck in, see what they're looking at, ask them some questions. Whether you really care or not is immaterial, like I have no idea what my kids are looking at at the time. But act like you're interested, ask some questions, give them an opportunity to explain, and then, the back of their mind, they know that you're kind of watching and so they. Hopefully you're not getting into anything too dangerous. But would you hand your kids a loaded gun or would you hand them the keys to your car? Nope, no, no. Why would you do that? 

14:14 - Mark (Host)
It's crazy dangerous. 

14:16 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Well, if you're giving your children they say you're a 10 year old or a 12 year old access to social media, you are factually increasing their risks of depression and suicide. Studied, there's data to support that crystal clear. So if you wouldn't hand your kid a loaded gun, why would you give your 10-year-old social media, especially unsupervised? It is detrimental to their development and it increases their risk for suicide. 

14:41 - Stacey (Host)
This episode is brought to you by Mainline Studios and the Podcast Factory, where great content feels right at home. Located in beautiful Wayne, pennsylvania, our creative rental space offers high-end tech in a space that feels like your best friend's living room. Book your session or a free tour at mainlinevideostudiocom. And back to the show. What do you do with your kids when there are a bunch of kids around who are on their phones and your kids are like Dad everybody's on yeah so we just have this year have got phones for our children. 

15:15 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So my son, luke, is in eighth grade and then I have twin six-year-olds who are now doing some sports and activities in multiple directions. We got two parents and three kids Divide and conquer, so they do have access to that. We take the phones when they get home. They don't have access to the phone 24-7. We're not perfect by any means. 

15:36 - Stacey (Host)
Right. 

15:36 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
But we try and we make sure we put that time and investment in there and try to educate. But yeah, you're right, when they're somewhere else or they're at school, you can't always control that. 

15:46 - Stacey (Host)
What else would you suggest besides a family dinner to build resilience back? 

15:50 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Engage your community. Life is a team sport. We need everybody and everybody has something to give. So teachers, coaches, volunteers, families everybody has something to give. 

16:01
Maybe you don't want to work with five-year-old kids coaching soccer, like I did, because it drives you absolutely bonkers or t-ball, but volunteering your church, volunteering your school, or maybe you just don't like people at all, then go to your local animal shelter. All those animal shelters have animals that can need homes for somebody, can be emotional support for somebody. There's great studies that show pet owners and these emotional support animals have huge differences in anxiety and depression and suicide risks. So you know, maybe just volunteer at your local animal shelter. There there's something for you. There's so many organizations out in your community. I started one myself, a nonprofit organization, the weight behind the Spear Foundation. You know we're raising money for Western North Carolina after the hurricanes and you know trying to promote volunteerism. I just there's so many things you can do. Business owners and business leaders. You know, maybe you don't have kids. This is still your problem, because who's hiring those kids? 

16:57 - Stacey (Host)
In your book you have a chapter on leadership. You did a reading online. 

17:00 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
You know I was very lucky as a professor at Duke University. It was a residency recruiting season and I thought somebody just roped Coach K. You know who Coach K is. 

17:10 - Stacey (Host)
Yes. 

17:11 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
The legendary Duke basketball coach. 

17:12 - Stacey (Host)
Legendary, brilliant mind. 

17:15 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
He came and gave a lecture on leadership to our residency program and I thought he just probably owed somebody a favor, was going to pop in and say hello. It was two hours. Wow, pop in say hello, it was two hours. It blew me away. We couldn't record anything. I literally was typing up on my phone. I have so many notes. A lot of those notes made it into my assumption of command speech when I took command of my squadron in 2022. And those stories are in the book. It was just mind boggling. You know. The big ones for him were that just ownership, accountability and standards, not rules. I've taken that to heart. I've been very successful in leadership for quite a while now in the military and in business, and if people aren't meeting those standards, I sit them down, I chat with them. Hey, I care about you. You're a valued member of this team. I need you to get to this standard. If you can't get to the standard, you're not on the team anymore. 

18:05 - Stacey (Host)
You to get to this standard. If you can't get to the standard, you're not on the team anymore. 

18:08 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So when you were coaching those five-year-old soccer players. 

18:14 - Stacey (Host)
I'm serious, like I think I think a lot of coaches, so I coached too and I know you always want everybody to be a winner and you know like not to get upset or sad. How do you put these standards into something like that? I mean, that's something that parents might be watching or listening. 

18:25 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Yeah, and they say wait, how can I do this? Yeah, so there's two things there. So number one everybody is not a winner. All right, they're not. There's winners and there's losers. 

18:35 - Stacey (Host)
I would love to hear that. 

18:36 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
And you either worked harder or they were better than you. Right, there's no excuses. You either win or you don't. Period. Some of my coaches growing up had a big influence on me, so at those younger ages we don't really talk about winning as much. It's about having fun. 

18:51
So, everyone isn't a winner, but we are all here to have fun, so I don't focus on the winning. I mean I don't care if we win the game. At five years old, like, are you having fun? Is everybody getting to play? Is this a safe environment? You know, some kids don't come from safe environments and these are outlets for them. But as you get older, winning is very important and if you don't win, you don't get a trophy, like that was a problem. So we have a generation where everyone was a winner, everyone got a trophy and participation ribbons. 

19:20 - Stacey (Host)
It hasn't panned out well. Were you actually applying to be on the National Security Council? 

19:25 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Yes, oh, that's a that's, that's all chapter in the book. Boy nightmares are dreams too, and so this was in Texas and things are going very well, making a tremendous amount of money. And I came from a family, my entire family is like a railroader, so my dad, my grandfather, my great grandfather, all railroaders. I was the first McConkie to go to college, hence uncles, cousins, anybody, so you know making some, some really good money. Well, I find out that the CEO he's, he's. He's making some poor decisions. He's embezzling money, he's skirting some Medicare laws, he's self-referring patients from one business to another business that he owes, whichling money. He's skirting some Medicare laws. He's self-referring patients from one business to another business that he owes, which is illegal. It's called anti-Stark law. 

20:11
And I had applied for a national security position. I'm dual board certified in disaster medicine with FEMA, ems type of stuff as well, and so I applied on a position there as a reservist on the council Very cool, very prestigious position. And you have to go through a extremely strenuous top secret level security questionnaire and I've got all this business stuff going on that I know is not above board. So I went to this individual. I was like listen, this has to stop. All right, I cannot be part of this. I'm applying to a national security council position. You can't number one. It's very unethical. 

20:51
Anyways, I felt it was illegal. It was, but he went berserk. He first offered me a bribe, so he offered me $3.4 million. Oh man, I know now that he's done that at several businesses. He always has people sign these nondisclosure agreements and then just give them some cash and they walk away. I told him to shove it up his ass. Unfortunately for him he found the one dude in America that will not take $3.4 million. I told him listen, I'm a colonel in the United States Air Force. I will not compromise my integrity for a single penny. 

21:26
And I reported him to the FBI, the Texas Department of Insurance. He went nuts, tried to bankrupt the company, drove it into the ground. He was majority shareholder so controlled the bank account and just starved us out. And then COVID hit. So we filed a lawsuit to prevent him from bankrupting the company and COVID just destroyed the courts. We couldn't get a court date, he just ran rampant and then he threatened my family. So I actually moved to Australia for a year. We we picked everybody up and moved to Australia. I got a position in Adelaide at a Flinders university and, yeah, just, I lost $5 million. Super, super bad, nasty dude. The FBI did not press charges because everyone was just lost with COVID and their excuse was well, we're not, we're not, you're not sure we're going to get conviction. So we're really sorry. I'm like he's threatening my family. He's like, well, you haven't done anything yet, I go, okay, all right, I mean he was already willing to give me $3.4 million, so he was obviously concerned. 

22:20 - Mark (Host)
Right, very, very you know it's a crazy story, but you know it's, I can't control what other people do. 

22:30 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
I can control what I do. I'm not taking that for anybody. So you know, unfortunately it didn't work out well for me and I lost a bunch of money, but my integrity is completely intact. I feel great about myself. I showed that example to my children and then really, really crazy is several years later, so February of last year, I won the North Carolina educational lottery. It was at the gas station over by Gabriel's gymnastics. So I had bought some tickets on that Wednesday night Now I'd done like the online thing and then didn't win and rolled the numbers forward Thursday night and then Friday morning we're getting kids ready for school. It's like six, 30 in the morning and you know if you've got kids like brush your teeth did you make your lunch, you know where's your water bottle, like feed the cat. 

23:18
You know who did the, you know, just crazy. And then I get this ping on my phone and that's that's interesting. You know it, just my phone, and that's that's interesting, you know. It says you know, um, we need to provide your tax information. I'm like, oh yeah, okay, whatever I'm not clicking on that email. 

23:33 - Mark (Host)
There's no way. Total scam, yeah but intriguing. 

23:35 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
So I log in to the website north carolina educational lottery and there's just this monstrous amount of money sitting there like claim, claim your prize. I'm like what are you? 

23:46 - Mark (Host)
What If you had 30 seconds? Just to talk to that one person, the heart of your message, what you want to, what you want to get out from our time together, what what would you tell that? Person who's watching or listening. 

24:00 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
I would tell them that what they do every single day matters. They have a part to play. Life is a team sport. Maybe your input is going to be something different. It's different for everybody. You want to engage your community in different ways. There's other places you can use those skills different organizations. Just get out there. What you do really does matter and you're contributing to our national security right when you build stronger communities and you build these leadership skills, these kids. They're the future of our country. I want to retire. I assume you guys want to retire at some point. You're handing the keys over to someone. I would like them to be ready, and so we have a part to play in that. What you do every day matters. 

24:42 - Stacey (Host)
It seems so logical it seems so logical and so easy. Why don't we all do it, Josh? Yeah, why don't we? 

24:47 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Life is busy, you get pulled in a bunch of different directions. You know sometimes people you know get a little bit more selfish than others, like there's bad people out there. I found that out the hard way. You know you can't control those people, but you can control your reactions to that. So you know there's always challenges, there's always things to navigate around. You know throw some different punches at you. You just have to be able to overcome that and just refuse to give up. So for me that was one of the bigger reasons for writing the book. 

25:16
You know this is the most politically and generationally divided we have been in my lifetime. I'm 47, I'll be 48 later this year. It's the craziest I've ever seen it. I'm 47. I'll be 48 later this year. It's the craziest I've ever seen it. And I think if you try to find something that everyone can agree on, like everybody, no matter what walk of life that you come from or how much money you make or what your job is like, everybody wants this next generation to be successful, because that's our future. So everybody can agree that developing leadership skills for this next generation only makes us stronger as a country, and so that's something we can all focus on. 

25:51 - Stacey (Host)
What's next for Dr Colonel Josh McConkie? Where do we go from here? 

25:56 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Yeah, for me, I really enjoy command. My command tour ends here this summer, so I've got to find another command job or another job for the Air Force Reserves. I'm only 47. I don't feel like I'm old enough to retire. I've got to find another command job or another job for the Air Force Reserves. I'm only 47. I don't feel like I'm old enough to retire. I've got 23 years of service. I still enjoy what I do. I'm still working as an emergency physician and then focusing on family. I just keep myself open and always prepared. But yeah, I'm pretty excited to wake up every day and see what we can do. I, legitimately, am happy to be alive. I had some very close calls in Iraq and I'm just happy to be alive. And I try to wake up every morning to see what I can do to make this country a better place. And we just keep on trucking. 

26:35 - Stacey (Host)
So Be. The Weight Behind the Spear is on your website, right, you have a website. 

26:39 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
Yeah. 

26:40 - Stacey (Host)
People can still buy it, it's on Amazon. 

26:44 - Dr Colonel Josh McConkey (Host)
It's on Barnes Noble. We've got audiobook, e-book and the paperback. 

26:47 - Mark (Host)
Well, Kent, thank you enough for coming on the show. It's been great. 

26:50 - Stacey (Host)
Oh, it's been wonderful, guys. I really really enjoyed this conversation. 

26:53 - Mark (Host)
If you run again, let us know. We'll put the word out for you. All right, thank you, I hope you guys, for watching. We'll see you again soon. 

27:11 - Stacey (Host)
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