Old Grad Podcast

Chris Barden laid down a challenge for the Old Grad Podcast. "You get the blood lady on, and I'll do OGP".... Challenge accepted. Along with Co-Host Brian Sharpe (F1) we hear from Ms. Jeannie Kays what it was like being the blood lady. We then interview Chris Barden about his journey. Along the way we stumble on some funny memories of cadet life as a G-1 Greek, drunken ferrets, unusual talents of...

Keener Gill, company I-4 is a member of the Class of 91 who was with us at West Point all the way until our Firstie year. He comes from a military family split between the Marine Corps and the Army. After leaving West Point under duress, he was commissioned as a Marine Corps officer through Vanderbilt ROTC. He served 10 years in the Marine Corps. After military service, he has held several senior-...

Vince introduces a good friend Dennis Gillan who brings forward an important message of suicide prevention. We also talk about Vince's Army career starting with his experience at West Point and culminating with a multi-decade career serving our country. Vince continues to serve to this day working with non-profit organizations as a consultant. It is with this work that he first learned of Dennis a...

Rob currently lives in West Hartford, CT with his wife, son and daughter. He reflects on his journey through West Point which included two summers of STAP and a whole lot of fun as a member of the H3 Hurricanes. He served a total of 26 years as active duty and reserve Army officer. Rob was an instrumental thought partner in the creation of the Old Grad Podcast so his interview is long overdue. 

Vonette served over 24 years as an Army Officer following graduation. She currently lives in Watertown NY in an 1800's vintage building that she bought while stationed at Fort Drum. She owns and operates a restaurant that occupies the downstairs of her multi-story building: Empire Square - Southern Fusion Restaurant and cocktail bar. She recalls her tough slog with academics and her priceless frie...

Following her active duty Army time, Karen Walsh served 21 years as an FBI special agent focusing on a number of areas including violent sex crimes, human trafficking, and domestic terrorism. She spent nearly 2 years in a deep undercover role to expose a domestic terrorist threat and bring those responsible to justice. We reminisce about her time at West Point where she developed her appreciation...

John Richardson (H-3) is currently serving as the Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division. He is our first guest to actually sing their walkup song "I want to be in the Cavalry." We talk about the importance of personal connections in leading soldiers, and the importance of building a climate of Trust. Johnny was nearly kicked out of West Point in the summer of our Cow year. His Tac officer...

Craig Peterson is surrounded by teenagers. He works as a high school teacher in Duluth MN and is a father to 6 children.  He shares his journey starting with a recruiting call in 1986 that led to 4 years at West Point and several years of service in the Army. In company D-2 he roomed with fallen classmates John Tiner and Tommy McTigue for several semesters. He also was close to our fallen classmat...

I coincidentally came across this other podcast - Through the Gray. It follows a similar format to Old Grad Podcast, but is about the class of 2001. I was struck by the similarities and even more struck by the differences. Listen to my conversation with Joe Harrison who is the creator of this incredible work.   https://open.spotify.com/show/4au1g8ibIuKwaFnwNSKozi https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podc...

Trent has been battling a brain tumor since 2016. He relocated to Florida during the pandemic to have better access to medical care. He continues to live life to the fullest including riding his motorcycle two days after brain surgery. A highlight of this episode is at minute 48 when he talks about some special additional instruction he received in French Class.  

After a 23-year career in the Army, Greg Mogavero is back at West Point working in the physics department. He picked his theme song from Sanford and Son because he loves to tinker with things whether it be fixing up his century-old house in Cornwall, or a high-power telescope for the cadets - he is in his element when he's taking things apart and putting them back together again. We talk about his...

Clay Lowe lives in the UK and has only been back to the US once in the past 20 years. In this episode, we hear about his life as an ExPat, a crazy camping trip that included experimentation with magic mushrooms, and his "Gap Year" at West Point after a self-reported honor transgression.  Clay is a deeply thoughtful person with a deep intellect and a keen sense of self. His walk-up song was appropr...

As we end 2022, these are some of my favorite clips from OGP. I am committing to do at least 12 episodes in 2023. Thank you to all who have continued to push me to keep doing this. Happy New Year All. 

Ovi lives in the Philadelphia area and is currently COO for the American Bible Society. An interesting fact is that the very first graduate of West Point Joseph Swift also worked for the Bible Society. He took on this assignment following a successful career in the oil and gas industry. Ovi is the Class Bereavement officer and reflects on experiences in dealing with the survivor families of our cl...

Interview with Kenny Mintz and Co-host Bernard Seeger. We interview Kenny as he gets ready to depart on April 1st, 2022 to walk across America. We discuss his motivation for taking on such a big audacious goal. Kenny will be walking to support three charities. LINK to charity links -  In addition to contributing to the various charities, the best way to support Kenny his to link up with him when h...

Warning - this is a LONG episode. We just had a great time talking through West Point, the Army and Life - Bret lives in Texas with his wife and 4 children. His eldest son Lou is an incoming plebe with the class of 2026. Bret reflects on the ups and down of his journey and makes critical observations about his good fortune. 

Heather Burruss was a chemistry major at West Point and was commissioned as a Military Police officer. She and the 5 other classmates who branched MP (all female) had to report to OBC in June of 1991 after only a few short weeks of graduation leave.  She served on active duty for 5+ years and worked in an 04 slot as a First Lieutenant. Upon leaving active duty she worked a few years in business ru...

BG (ret.) Mike Eastman reflects on his transition to civilian life over the past two months after service to our nation culminating with service in Afghanistan charged with shutting down Bagram Airfield.  His operational assignments included a range of artillery and fire support positions with the 25th Infantry Division, battery command in the 4th Infantry Division, battalion command in the 1st Ar...

General Bramlett talks about his 38-year career, his own personal cadet experience, and his memorable time being the Commandant of Cadets. 

Alex Rodgers commissioned a Field Artillery Officer and served 5 years at Ft. Still and Ft. Bragg. We talk about the role of West Point in his life. We talk in detail about his experiences as a black man at West Point, in the Army and in the business world. 

Reunion Update and Scott Halstead Post AT Hike. 

Rich Ryan is CEO and founder of Six-15 Technologies a technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures head-up displays (HUDs) for users operating in the world’s most demanding environments.  He was a lax player at West Point and commissioned as an aviator. Among many things we reminisce about "Lacrosse Tribe", a crazy spring break firstie year, a 125 hour slug, and having his best frie...

Tim Burnham lives in Nashville TN and recently transitioned into his own consultancy business specializing in saving money for small and mid-sized businesses. He bravely tells his personal story dating back to West Point where he began struggling with problems related to alcohol. Today he is 15 years sober with a stable marriage and home life. This is all a function of his grit, determination and...

Laurie Reider Jabbar lives in California with her husband and two sons. We chat about her journey from losing her mother at a young age, to being a corps squad athlete to serving in Germany, to navigating the challenges of being a serial entrepreneur. She has a podcast of her own "She's 10 times 5."

Traci Cisek Fisher was recruited to play soccer at West Point directly from high school. She didn't know much about West Point before showing up the night before R-day to meet her soccer teammates at Holly Fishburne's house. This was the start of the very strong bonds she would form with the other women on the soccer team.  She strongly considered resigning during Beast, but was talked out of it b...