Reagan said, Hey, guys, but guess what?

We've got a chance.

He was my fraternity circle of about 200 people.

Hospice communities of healthy environments.

Trust me, she lived in Traficant for four years.

I really felt for a lot of reasons I felt, but I didn't have the guts to stand.

Rear Admiral Kyle Cozad career epitomized success in the United States Navy.

A Naval Academy graduate and esteemed aviator, numerous leadership roles and prestigious assignments, including a stint in the White House Situation Room.

Then it all changed when an unusual incident left him severely injured and in a wheelchair.

Challenged but not defeated, Cozadd continued on, finishing out his naval career and taking on a new role as president and CEO of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

And then writing a book entitled Relentless Positivity, a Common Veteran battling Uncommon Odds.

We welcome Rear Admiral Kyle Cozad The Conversation.

It's like you for joining us.

Well, thanks.

I look forward to spending some time with you today, Jeff.

So absolutely a pleasure.

Let me let me start kind of from the beginning of your military career, what inspired you to to join the Navy?

So I guess that answer is twofold, really.

Number one, I played basketball in high school and, you know, I was looking for the opportunity to get out of Las Vegas, a group in Las Vegas, Nevada, and go somewhere where I could play basketball.

Now, flash forward to the second part of that story.

We had a neighbor who lived across the street from us and Las Vegas is a big Air Force community.

So Nellis Air Force Base is right there.

And he took me to work one day, and I didn't really realize the gravitas of his position, but he was the commanding officer of an F-15 squadron.

So I got to go to work with him one day and see all this stuff.

And I thought, Man, that is really cool.

And, you know, that led to just a simple flight in a single engine Cessna 172 that another neighbor of ours had.

And I said, That's what I want to do for my that's what I want to do.

That's what I want to be.

And so, you know, as I went through the recruiting process, I was good, but I was not great, worked real hard.

And, you know, really our parents, you know, buckle down on us.

And, you know, life was about hard work.

If you work hard, if you really put your nose to the grindstone, then you'll be able to succeed at whatever you want to do.

And so, you know, I came up with, you know, the idea that a service academy would be interesting.

Now, being from Nevada, I really didn't have a whole lot of competition.

If I would have been in San Diego or Norfolk, Virginia, it would have been a different story.

But I was able to get a nomination.

I was selected to both the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, and as a typical rebellious high school teenager, You know, my folks said he'd be great if you'd go to Colorado Springs, we'd be close.

We could see a lot.

That's all I needed to hear.

So I said, I'm off to Annapolis.

In a way.

We went.

What were those early years in the academy like?

It was hard.

I mean, you know, I had never been away from home before.

And so you you deal with homesickness, you deal with, you know, just a ridiculously busy schedule.

So as an athlete, you know, you go through your summer and, you know, you have a good sense of humor and people yell at you and you take it with a grain of salt.

And, you know, that's that's not that tough.

But you get into the school year and so you're up at 6:00 in the morning and you have to memorize things as a freshman that, you know, newspaper articles, what the menu is for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And you have to be conversational in those newspaper articles.

So there's a lot of nonacademic academic studying that goes along with being a midshipman.

Then on top of that, you know, you start classes, you go from 8 to 2 in the afternoon and then it's over to the field house where you practice for 4 hours and you condition and then you go back to your room and you try to study for the next day.

Well, needless to say, I didn't fail miserably, but I did fail.

It was probably the third semester I was there and I had gone through a rough patch with academics.

My very first grade point average after four weeks was a 1.4 grade point average.

I wish I could tell you that that was on a 2.0 scale, but it was not in.

I'm probably rounding that up, but so I struggled with, you know, just being able to try to play basketball, focus on, you know, learning the plays, learned in the system and then going through 21 semester hours of classes.

Yeah.

What's the most valuable thing you took away from the Naval Academy as you look throughout your life?

You know, it was probably a carry on of, you know, the same values that my folks instilled in us.

And, you know, they always said it doesn't matter how hard things are, you know, put your nose to the grindstone, believe in yourself, work hard, and you'll be able to achieve those things.

So in my sophomore year, my academic advisor pulled me in and he said, you know, he's looking at my grades.

And I pretty much, you know, knew exactly what he was looking at.

And he said and she said, What do you see yourself doing in a few years?

He said, Do you think you're going to go on to play pro basketball?

I said, No, I probably wouldn't even make the varsity team here.

He said, okay, that's a good that's a good assessment.

He said, And you probably need to think about hanging your tennis shoes up.

And so, you know, I went through a really quick decision making process.

And, you know, you hear about Division One athletes that get injured and then they're medically retired from their sports career.

Well, Kyle Cozad was academically retired from his sports career.

And I was able to focus on school and, you know, really bringing the grades up because I knew that I wanted to do one thing and only one thing, and that was flying off of airplanes.

So I worked hard for the next couple of years, was able to serve a select and, you know, have naval aviation is my number one choice and ended up coming down to Pensacola, Florida, about four months after I graduated in 1985.

What was it like when you first got on that airplane?

You know, it's it's it's a dream come true.

But I would say, you know, 25, maybe 50% of all naval aviator you get in there.

And I really the only flight I'd had before that was on a commercial airliner and on that Cessna 172 that I flew in Las Vegas.

And so you get in there and, you know, there's there's tension.

There's you know, you're worried, are you going to get this right?

And, you know, it's hot in the middle of the summertime.

So that first flight I went up, I remember, you know, I got airsick and a little queasy and I was like, yeah, maybe this won't be the career that's that's in it for me.

But, you know, you get through that really quickly.

Your body acclimates and it was just the most exciting thing in the world.

And, and I remember vividly.

So we did our initial flight training in El Centro, California.

So we left Corpus Christi, Texas, went out there.

The weather was always good.

The winds were calm, the skies were blue.

And I can remember that, you know, in a matter of about eight days, I had gone through all my basic flights.

I had soloed.

And next thing you know, I'm doing precision acrobatic.

And I thought, wow, this is this is exactly what I want to do.

What would a genesis from start to finish, you know, be able to handle to do this and, you know, say, and this is what I want to do at least for the next eight years.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Did you as you think back on it, what skills make a great aviator or a great naval aviator?

It's a good question because I was not a natural aviator.

You know, again, it was about hard work, repetition, doing things over and over again and I always used to think about, you know, basketball and shooting free throws, great free throw shooters.

Don't just go to the free throw stripe in the game.

You know, they shoot hundreds and hundreds and it's all about muscle memory and repetition.

And so and I kind of applied those same things in the airplane.

But you get to the point where you've got to be able to, you know, walk and chew gum at the same time.

So you've got to be able to think, you've got to be able to anticipate and understand.

And I think those are the things that make great aviators, is the people who really, you know, feel like the airplanes part of them, you know, you're part of the airplane, but you can anticipate what's going to happen next, you know, almost like a game of chess that you're playing.

Right.

Take me through the kind of the rest of your career.

So how long did you actually fly?

So, I mean, non technically, I flew for about the first 30 years of my career.

I was in positions, you know, I started off I did my very first tour up in Brunswick, Maine.

I flew P-3 Orion.

So I was not carrier based, but I was there right in the middle of the Cold War.

So we were up in Keflavik, Iceland, tracking Soviet submarines, and I was having the time of my life.

You know, I love flying so much.

I wanted to continue to fly.

I went to Canada and just had, you know, several tours where, you know, it was kind of unusual.

I stayed in the cockpit a lot longer than a lot of other people.

So had an opportunity to go to Canada, where I was an exchange instructor.

I did a department head tour in Hawaii.

I did a couple instructional tours where we taught people how to fly the P-3, as we call those the fleet replacement Squadron.

You know, I was blessed to get selected to command my own squadron, then eventually a wing.

And so I got to do a bunch of flying throughout the career.

And, you know, my last flying tour was in Norfolk, Virginia, where, you know, I actually commanded the entire P-3 group.

So, you know, lots of squadrons, lots of people, lots of airplanes all over the world.

And then after that, after year after year, flying was over with.

Where did your military career go from there?

So, yeah, there were some curveballs in there, and I got to do some really unique things.

I had just got my master's degree and I was putting a nomination package to work in the White House.

You know, our crew manager called and said, Would you be interested in this?

And I said, Yeah, it sounds interesting.

I didn't know anything about it.

And so, you know, much to my amazement, went to the White House one day for an interview and, you know, went to the West Wing and I was interviewing for the rector of operations at the White House Situation Room.

So basement of the West Wing.

And I thought, my gosh, you know, I'm a P-3 guy.

What do I know about this?

And so I continue to the interview process to a point, took about three months.

I had one interview every month, and then I got to go home and sit and wait for the phone to ring and, you know, see what's next.

What do I need to know?

Studied everybody in the West Wing of the White House.

So I knew who was who and I could be as prepared as possible.

And, you know, finally got the call that, hey, you're the guy they want you to start next week.

And I spent the next two years, my first year as the director of operations.

So the number two guy in the Situation Room.

And then I was selected to step up and become the senior director of the White House Situation Room in my last year.

Tell us what that's like.

What are you actually doing?

So, you know, the White House Situation Room is a lot of people, you know, think of a conference room and they think that's it.

It's actually a series of three conference rooms.

And we've got all kinds of telephone equipment, secure telephone equipment, and then a watch floor.

So we've got, you know, folks from and these folks are young people.

So 25, 26 years old from each one of the intelligence agencies.

So think about all the three letter agencies that are out there and they get selected, they get interviewed, they get elected, and they come in, they stand watch on a rotational basis.

And, you know, so my my job that first year was to train them, you know, And, you know, I approached this from a military perspective.

We use the term commander's intent a lot.

And basically that's, hey, here are my expectations.

Here are the expectations within the job.

This is what you need to do and you're going to do that when I'm not here.

You're going to do that when others aren't here.

And you're going to have to make calls in the middle of the night that are difficult and challenging because, you know, the White House situation Room assimilates, you know, a wealth of intelligence information, open source reporting from news channels and outlets puts those together to try to create, you know, the important story or what's important for the national security adviser to know when does the president need to be notified, when does the vice president need to be notified?

And so it was just a tremendous opportunity and, you know, everything that I had done in the Navy up to that point, you know, so I was really focused on, you know, how to train people, how to standardize, how to how to set expectations and hold people to standards.

You know, it was just a natural fit for that first year.

And, you know, developing that watch for in the second year, you moved up into a senior position, moved up into the senior position.

And so, you know, during those years, you know, you'd set up conference rooms, you'd make sure everything was, you know, good When the president would come down, typically two or three times a week and, you know, hold a meeting with his National Security Council.

And so, you know, you became aware and they became aware of who you were.

It was funny.

I wore a suit and tie and so, you know, until I left, President Obama was the commander in chief at the time, went in and got my end of tour award in the Oval Office with my wife and my son.

And he said, I didn't even know you were in the military.

And so, you know, you're at an arm's length distance.

But I got to go up in the Oval Office a lot.

Whenever the president would do a head of state phone call, you'd be there, President, you'd get the line set up.

They would actually switch the call down in the Situation Room, transfer it up to you, and then, you know, when the president's ready to take the call, they make an introduction and away he goes.

Sounds real cool, doesn't it?

It does until the phone goes.

And it happened more often than I wanted it to.

We changed our equipment up at some point, but I can vividly remember the president, you know, turning to me one day, and it was an exceptionally hard call to make.

You know, this had a head of state was in a very remote location.

We had to set up.

It was kind of a MacGyver adventure, set up different networks that, you know, they could make the call.

And, you know, the call dropped about halfway through.

And he looked at me and said, Why is this so hard?

It's just a phone call.

And, you know, I had many things spinning through my mind.

And I said, yes, sir, we'll get better.

But it was an incredible experience, incredible opportunity to include, you know, kind of being a fly on the wall in what I consider, you know, one of the most influential missions that our country has ever done.

And that was, you know, taking down Osama bin Laden.

Yeah, tell me about that, because that's a that's a famous picture that so many people see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There was the thing that, you know, I'll always remember was, you know, not just that night in that famous picture, but it was all the work and the planning and the preparation, you know, that really led up to that evening.

And it was, you know, several months when, you know, I can remember John Brennan was the director for homeland security at the White House at the time.

And he came into my office one day and said, you know, we've we've got a really sensitive you know, briefing coming up.

So we need to shut this off.

We need to disable cameras.

You know, it's just the people in the room.

And he said, you know, I only want you and the director coming in.

I was the director of ops at the time.

He said, if there's anything to pass, just the two of you come in.

And so we got all set up and he said, We've got some people from the CIA are coming over.

They've got something they need to bring in.

And so I worked with Secret Service.

We got them in the back door and they came into the large conference room in the situation Room and had this model.

And it looked something, you know, very much like when I was a kid, we had a big, you know, two before in plywood box that we would open up and it had the, you know, electric train station that sat in there.

And that's really what that looked like.

It was a big box.

They opened it up and it was a compound.

You know, I could tell that it was compound.

No idea where that compound was, no idea what the significance of the discussions were.

But, you know, for the next several months, you know, there would be routinely schedule meetings, talk about the same things, same level of sensitivity.

And, you know, we got to a point where the Air Force general and his name is Brad Webb.

That was in the center seat with President Obama off to his right sight the night of the raid.

You know, came in and we're helping him set up communications so that, you know, they could talk to people downrange.

And that's when we found out specifically that, hey, we're going to go in and get Osama bin Laden.

So pretty, pretty amazing time in history to be involved in that.

And a fly on the wall.

I take no credit for any of the success.

But, you know, I feel like I had a small part in enabling some of the things and decisions that happened that day.

So they were watching it on screen as it was.

They were.

They were.

And that's and you were in that famous picture.

I can't confirm or deny that, Jeff, but I was I was a big part of what happened that night.

Well, what was the president like that day?

I mean, I can only imagine that he had so much had to have had so much on his shoulders had something gone wrong.

I mean, it would have.

Yeah, he was a pretty cool cucumber because I think he played golf that morning.

And so he, you know, went out and played nine holes of golf.

And then they came in the afternoon and, you know, they had sandwiches that were brought in and, you know, the environment felt like it was just another just another meeting with with really high stakes.

You know, there was a lot riding on it for you.

Yeah, no doubt.

No, no.

Talk to me a little bit about coming to Pensacola and kind of in your rear admiral and tell me about your career here.

Yeah.

So we got to Pensacola in July of 2017.

And, you know, for me, I went through, you know, my initial six weeks, the academic portion of flight school.

You know, in 1985, at the end of 1985.

And we hadn't been really back other than when my son, who graduated from the academy in 14, he got his wings out at Milton Fields of Whiting in 2016.

And so that was the only time I never really thought we, you know, there was anything here for us.

But, you know, I got tapped on the shoulder and, you know, was actually headed to Belgium for another joint job.

And, you know, I got a phone call that, hey, we're going to change our mind and we'd like to send you to Pensacola to be the commander of Naval Education and Training Command.

And so, you know, for me, that was kind of a dream job, responsible for everything in the Navy that, you know, deals with, you know, training and education to include, you know, kind of the street, the fleet process.

So I was responsible for the Navy's recruiting command in Millington, Tennessee, for the Navy's training command up in Great Lakes, Illinois.

So the Navy's boot camp, all the ROTC units, and then, you know, hundreds of schoolhouses around the country that do technical training to include here in Pensacola for the aviation rates and was able to, you know, jump into a job like that.

I had a passion for it and came in with, you know, just a different perspective to say, hey, let's think about how we could do this differently and, you know, really innovate, really get creative and, you know, do a better job for our sailors in training.

And so you were living on base when the accident happened.

Tell me about the accident.

We did.

So we'd been here just a few months.

And, you know, you hear all the time that a single moment in life can change the direction and, you know, the entire complexion.

And, you know, for me, that happened on March 16th of 2018.

We've been here just about six months, maybe a little more than that.

And, you know, it was a it was a slip.

And fall accident in my house, very steep steps.

So we lived in a, you know, a house that was erected in 18, you know, the 1830s.

It was burned down during the civil War, rebuilt.

And so it had been there forever.

Super steep steps, very small stairs and a handrail that was came about to my knee.

So I don't have a ton of recollection, but you know, best I could piece it, my wife, if she were here today, she'd argue and say I was wrong.

Something else happened.

But I think I got up about three steps, fell and landed on my back in the trauma, you know, did damage to the point where I had two vertebrae that were just completely decimated and I suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury.

And, you know, I don't have a ton of memory about that night.

I can remember being confused.

I knew I was in shock.

And, you know, really the first vivid memories I have were waking up in a hospital after about an eight hour surgery and, you know, really grasping the fact that I can't feel anything below my waist.

I can't move my legs, I can't roll over by myself.

And, you know, you want to talk about a gut punch and, you know, kind of the soul searching.

I did a whole lot of soul searching, you know, in a very short amount of time, because I can I can only imagine because you're you're essentially at the peak of your career.

I was I wasn't you know, I loved what I was doing.

You know, I loved serving.

And, you know, quite frankly, when I was a young guy and I had every intention to do in eight years and getting out and flying for Delta Airlines, I was a big Delta Airlines fan.

You know, I knew the pay scale.

I knew the you know, how long it would take me to upgrade.

But, you know, I loved serving and I loved being able to the more senior I got being able to influence other people's lives in a positive way.

And so, yeah, I was kind of the the peak of that being able to, you know, help and really influence Navy policy, Navy training and, you know, thousands of sailors that fell under me.

And so, you know, the doctor at the time told me he came in and said that, you know, my wife was with him and he said, hey, this is this is tough.

But, you know, that was one of the worst surgeries I've seen.

He said, you know, your the damage to your vertebrae really looked like you've been in a high speed auto accident.

And he said, unfortunately, you're never going to be able to walk again.

You know, you'll be confined to a wheelchair and, you know, life as you know it today will change.

And, you know, so, you know, I really I process that for a couple of days.

And, you know, I'm a pretty pragmatic I'm a big planner.

And so I can remember, you know, after all, my painkillers were off and, you know, I became lucid enough to use an iPhone.

And you think an iPhone is a dangerous thing in a kid's hands.

Give it to a guy who's on, you know, painkillers.

And, you know, I was looking up retirement pay because that was the first thing I'm, you know, the breadwinner for the family.

I've still got to take care of my kids.

I have grown adult kids.

But, you know, I still felt an obligation.

And, you know, I'm going to have to retire.

I'm going to have to get a a minivan that you can put a wheelchair.

And all these thoughts, you know, went through my mind.

I was going to be medically retired and, you know, is as I thought through all those, you know, likely events, I just came to this realization that now, you know what, I can do more.

I get it.

I got to find the purpose for this.

I got a I got to, you know, process everything and get to a point where, you know, I can lay in bed and feel sorry for himself and watch ESPN for 20 hours a day, or I can find purpose in what others would call a tragic accident and figure out how to move forward and do good things with my life.

And you were able to go ahead and finish your career, huh?

That was yeah, I'm definitely a unicorn.

If you if you come to, you know, accidents like that and outlooks like that, I you know, I went through about eight weeks of physical therapy where I was at West Florida Hospital at the time.

And, you know, I got to the point where, you know, I could stand up, I could use a walker.

And, you know, today I use a walker for, you know, shorter distances.

I use wheelchair.

My wife and I travel all over the country.

We've been to Hawaii.

We went to Paris, France, for our anniversary last year.

And so we've we've really tried to, you know, just kind of raise the bar in I can remember in physical therapy the very first time, there was a big clunky machine.

It's called An Hour, Joe and so basically they put a waste belt on you.

They put straps on your shoulders and they hook and it's almost like a parachute.

And there's a big mechanical, you know, motor and it pulls you up out of your wheelchair.

And I was standing up for the first time between you and I had nothing to do with that, you know, that was all the machine.

But, you know, I'm a type A personality, kind of a cocky naval aviator.

And I said, Look what I'm doing, doc, you told me I'd never be able to do this.

And that was the evening where I said, I want to stay in the Navy.

I want to make them tell me no.

And so, you know, I was very persistent on how do I get back in the game.

And, you know, with that respect, there were a couple of guys.

Vice Admiral Bob Burke was the chief of naval personnel.

He was my direct boss at the time.

And Admiral Bill Moran was the vice chief of naval operations and, you know, to their credit, you know, they saw that, hey, it's not about your mobility.

It's about what you have up here and what you have in here.

And I was able to stay on active duty.

You know, I got back to the point where I'm going in to work in a wheelchair.

I'm traveling around the country to schoolhouses and blows blowing up explosive ordnance down at Eglin Air Force Base from a wheelchair.

And I was able to do the job for two and a half more years before I retired.

Amazing, amazing.

I've got about 4 minutes left, which leads me to your book, Relentless Positivity.

What is what's the what's obviously, the title tells us something, but what's the real crux of the book?

So I was able to participate on the Navy's Wounded Warrior team, went to the DOD Warrior Games in 2019.

And, you know, that really instilled this affinity in me that, you know, I could be a mentor.

You know, I had something and I hated it when people said, Hey, I understand what you're going through.

Well, no, you don't.

But I was in a position where I can empathize, I could sympathize.

And so I started to mentor people and, you know, the book was really an opportunity to reach more people.

And, you know, if you have a chance to read it, it's got a positive message.

It's about overcoming life's obstacles.

And, you know, that obstacle for one person may be, you know, a dent on the fender or a raise that they didn't get or, you know, a girlfriend who broke up with him or it could be something more significant like a cancer diagnosis or an injury like mine.

And so, you know, the book is really about encouraging people and, you know, not giving them the keys to success, but just kind of showing them what motivated me as I went through my recovery and, you know, to the point where I'm at today, how do you stay positive?

So I told people there were three things that really, really I leaned on when I was in the hospital.

And, you know, still to this day, the first one was my faith, you know, my faith in God.

I knew there was a purpose out there.

And, you know, I think he's answered what that purpose is, to get out there and tell your story and encourage people.

The second one was my family.

I had a tremendous family support to include the community of Pensacola.

In the third was a promise.

And so I'd been in the hospital for about four days.

My son came to see me and he was getting ready to go.

On his very first deployment.

And he told my wife, Amy said, Mom, I'm going to I'm going to see if I can stay home for a couple of months and help.

And, you know, you're going to need some help with that.

She said, Nope, you got to go.

And it is he was ready to leave.

She said, When you get back, your dad's going to walk across the ramp in Jacksonville, Florida, and give you a hug.

And.

Greer I said, What are you talking about, lady?

You just heard this doctor.

He's a little smarter than we are on this type of stuff.

But sure enough, there is nothing more motivating than, you know, trying to deliver a promise like that.

And I did.

He came home seven months later and we've got a picture that brings tears to my wife's eye every time she sees it.

And it's me walking across the ramp with my walker to give him a hug and welcome at home.

Wow.

Wow.

How does someone go about getting a copy of the book?

So we sell that at the museum and 100% of the proceeds go to the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, where, you know, we want to tell stories about heroes.

Coach Ed's not a hero.

I'm just a normal guy.

But there are lots of other stories out there.

So Naval aviation dot com is our bookstore, and it'll give you an option.

I'd love to, you know, personalize and sign that for anyone who's interested.

Wonderful.

What's what's what's the next few years look like for you?

So I'll be honest with you.

I've turned down a couple other jobs, you know, some very, very meaningful to us.

And, you know, we've struggled with it, but, you know, my wife and I have, you know, really come to the conclusion that Pensacola is our forever home.

I love the museum.

We've got tons of potential now that we're reopened to the public.

So you know, I think I've got five or six more years left in my gas tank at least.

Yeah, well, the museum is wonderful.

Is anyone who has ever been knows and what a great inspiration you are.

I thank you so very much for spending some time with us and wish you all the very best.

Thank you, my friend.

This have been great.

Thank you.

Thank All right.

Thank you, Admiral.

The name of the book Relent Lis Positivity.

Admiral Kyle Cozad, by the way, you can see this and many more of our conversations on the PBS video app and at WUSA record conversations.

I'm Jeff weeks.

Thank you for hanging out with us.

Hope you enjoyed the program.

Take great care of yourself and we'll see you soon.