Sears: [00:00:00] This is Radio Stockdale. Welcome to Radio, Stockdale. I'm your host, Michael Sears at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership. I'm joined by a 1997 graduate of the Naval Academy. Captain Tasya Lacy has commanded the Navy Operational Support Center Baltimore. Currently, she is the Legislative Director for the Office of the Chief of the Navy Reserve. Captain Lacy, welcome to Radio Stockdale.

Lacy: [00:00:37] Michael, thank you for having me. I'm so excited for the opportunity to be here and to share with you today.

Sears: [00:00:43] This is going to be a little bit different from all the podcasts we have before, but I like this one because it's if I can say a little bit non-standard. You've had a very interesting career since you graduated from the Naval Academy. I wonder if you can take us through some of those assignments all the way to what you're doing now?

Lacy: [00:01:02] Oh wow. So maybe I won't give you all the details, but of highlight and note, I would start upon my commissioning from the Naval Academy. I was not physically qualified, and so I went directly into the intelligence community and I loved my experiences as an intelligence officer. I started off at a joint command. It was Atlantic Intelligence Command which became Joint Forces Intelligence Command. And from there I went to be an air intelligence officer for Patrol Squadron 16 in Jacksonville, and then on active duty still at that time. I would go to Commander Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11 as the N2, which was the intelligence officer back then. At that point, I actually had a bit of a transition in my career because I was a new mom and Herb again being dual military. My husband, Herb, is a classmate of mine and we got married and we had a son and he was a little less than one and we weren't going to be able to be co-located. And he had just finished a deployment. And so, I thought the best decision for me in our family at that time was to go into the Navy Reserve to continue on as an intelligence officer in the what we call selected reserve component or the drilling reserve. And so that way, when Herb moved to Corpus Christi to become a flight instructor, I would be able to relocate with him and our son.

Lacy: [00:02:27] And so I had that period of time for about two and a half years where I was a drilling reservist, and then I just couldn't help but to miss being back on active duty. And so, I reapplied as what we call a full-time support officer, soon to be called again, Training and Administration of Reserve, TAAR, for many folks who are familiar with what it used to be. We're going back to that title. And so, I applied and came back as an intel FTS officer. And then, of course, not long into my tenure, the Intel FTS community went away. And so, I segued way into the human resources officer community. And so now I am what's called an HR FTS or soon to be HR TAAR and I specialize in reserve management. So, a series of tours ranging from operational and supportive intelligence, to aviation intelligence specifically, then segue into I worked at Fleet Forces for my first duty station back on active duty. And then I've been stationed throughout different areas and increasing levels of responsibility in the human resources field. And I also had the privilege of being able to do a navy legislative fellowship in the United States Senate, and that was also a career highlight for me. So that's a quick summary as best I could. Hopefully, I didn't miss too much.

Sears: [00:03:52] I think you got a lot in there. Let me ask you to break it down a little bit more. You've navigated a dual military career with your husband, and your family and your kids. Tell me how that works. Tell me how you do that.

Lacy: [00:04:05] So, one of the key things that I would tell you as far as navigating a dual military career, believe it or not, some of the best advice that we received we got at the Naval Academy from one of the battalion officers at that time, and that was Captain Ron Brinkley. And he always talked to us about the importance of how he prioritized his family and his career, of course, his faith, but then his family. And so, when Herb and I eventually got married, we never forgot that. And so, as we made our career decisions, we chose to prioritize each other when we eventually would go on to have kids. We also made the decision to prioritize our family because we saw a real example of someone whom we admired and respected. It aligned with our values, and we just trusted God that that same model would work for us. But then additionally, what I would tell you is that some of the key takeaways I would give you about a dual military career is the importance of communication. So, for me, yes, I think it definitely helped that I was a Naval Academy graduate, and I understood what I was getting into as a military spouse, I absolutely understood that and I knew Herb's dream was to be a naval aviator, which he would become. But also, Herb was really good along the way about helping me to understand his career path and what the milestones were and what that actually meant. So we had a lot of conversations about it, so I felt that I could speak intelligently and also come from a place of understanding how I could best support him. So, for me, on a personal level, I developed what I call a no resentment policy. I started that from the beginning of our marriage, where I would not tell Herb what assignments he could or couldn't take because I always believed in his ability to lead at the highest levels of the Navy. I believed that from the time that I met him and I felt that part of my responsibility was to be a good teammate, to help him to get there. So, I never told him, no, you can't take that job or or anything like that. I understood what he needed to do for success, and I was willing to completely support that, and hold it down on the home front. When he had to deploy or whatever requirements he had to fulfill because I never wanted him to resent me if he made a decision, that was all about me.

Sears: [00:06:43] So Captain, you've made some very good points about the things you did for the relationship in the Navy. Tell me how your partner, how Captain Lacy, your husband, what's his part in this?

Lacy: [00:06:56] So one of, I mean, Herp has a lot of amazing qualities. Let me just put that out there. But one of the key things that I think was very helpful for me. He is my confidant, my mentor and my number one supporter. So, he always gave me a point of view from his eyes as an as someone who was in an unrestricted line community. You know, I being a restricted line officer, different, the career path for me looked very different than it did for him. And so, I would consult with him often and get his feedback on ways to kind of help navigate my own career. He helps me, he helps push me to do the things that I don't always feel like I can do or should do. He's like, Nope, you need to do that. And then he kind of holds me to task to get me there. And from a family point of view, one thing I would also say is when I was in Command, I absolutely was not able to be as available for my family in the same way that I had been during, you know, maybe Herb's operational assignments or even, you know, when he was in Command, he took on the main objective of focusing on our family so that I could put as much of my energy as possible on being in Command. So, at that time, I was assigned to Baltimore. He was assigned to Pax River, even though we live here in Bowie. And so, he was making commutes of more than sixty-six miles one way, to go to work every day and still trying to juggle all the demands and responsibilities of making sure that our children were cared for. And at the time, we have three of four kids at home. And he was trying to take on all that responsibility of getting people to practices and do those things while also commuting quite a distance so that he could fulfill his responsibilities at Pax River.

Sears: [00:09:00] And that wasn't an accommodation, that was a joint understanding, a partnership that you guys were able to build together, right?

Lacy: [00:09:08] Absolutely. Everything in our relationship, and I'm glad you used the word partnership because that's the best way that I would describe it. That truly is how you make a dual military career work. I speak from that experience because that's just my personal experience. I don't I don't necessarily know what it's like to do something other than be in the military. And I would say the partnership part of it is key, and that's why the communications were so essential, because it allowed us to support one another equally. If he didn't, if he doesn't understand what I have to do or need to do, then he can't support me well and vice versa.

Sears: [00:09:51] I want to get to this term warfighting in a second, but let me ask you a question before that, and that is, how has your experience shaped you as a leader in the Navy?

Lacy: [00:10:02] Upon being commissioned from the Academy, I started out as an intelligence officer. Then I made this transition into the reserve component in a drilling reserve status. Then I came back on active duty as a basically a full-time reservist or that's what I do, reserve management, I, on active duty similarly and then oh, by the way, not only did I have these component changes going from active to reserve, but I also changed what we in the Navy called designators. Or I'll just say career paths for others. So, I also had that shift as well. And then in the same vein as I'm trying to navigate all of these transitions in my own navy career, still being a Navy wife, still being a mom. And so, there was just always a lot going on. So, the takeaway for me was as a naval officer. First of all, I understood the importance of being prepared to pivot. Not everything in life goes the way you expect, and when life happens, you need to be prepared to pivot, to meet whatever it is that you're facing at that time. And I also had to accept that there isn't just a cookie cutter way to get to the rank of Captain. I actually never aspired to be a Navy Captain. I I think some of that was just early on in my career. I, I honestly didn't know that I had the ability to make it that far up in the ranks. I just, I guess, self-doubt, if you will.

Lacy: [00:11:38] But I think the other part of it was very early in my career, I didn't have a lot of mentorships, if you will, so I couldn't see myself in the Navy down the road. I can only kind of see what was in front of me at the time. And so having had all those transitions, it helped me to be much more open minded about what it takes to start in the Navy and then kind of go through a whole career path that doesn't look like everyone else's, and still achieve success along the way. So, it open minded as one of the things that I would say that I took away, I learned how to be more approachable. And I also learned to keep all of my options open. As a Mid coming out of the Academy. I didn't even know that I had options, so I would say that the career that I've had has exposed me to those options, and I try as much as humanly possible to share with those whom I mentor. So that way, everybody fully understands what they're able to do, and they can kind of look ahead. I think when you're young, you can only see what's right in front of you. You don't you're not always thinking about what's ahead. Sometimes it's because you don't know. So, I try to make sure that I share with people what my experiences has been so that they can maybe formulate what they're look ahead might be.

Sears: [00:13:06] Captain, last question for you. So, you know, my military experience was all focused at what I thought was the pointy end of the stick, the tip of the spear. So, there's a lot of different types of warfighting, and not until I actually got a little bit more senior or mature in myself in my career. I realize there's a lot of stuff going on behind that tip that makes that tip that much sharper, that much more powerful. I'll leave that analogy right now, but I guess I'm what I'm getting at is give me your sense of your contribution to war fighting not only as a Captain in the United States Navy, but as a military spouse, and as a mom and as a citizen. Where is war fighting fit in for you?

Lacy: [00:13:54] So I appreciate the question and what I would say is, first of all, warfighting. It comes down to the war fighter. A war fighter is a human being, a person, and there are things that each person needs in order to be able to leave home, deploy and perform well in an operational environment. So, if you're going to if you're the war fighter, you need to know that everything on the home front is OK. Is your spouse going to be OK or your life partner? If you have children, are your children cared for? Are they well adjusted? Are they settled in school? All of those things? Who's going to take care of your responsibilities at home so that your head can be clear, so that you can deploy and do your job when you're not at home? I think that that's where it really all comes together. So, in the roles that I have played throughout my life as someone who has deployed, I needed to know that everything at home was good. And thankfully, I'm married to a supportive spouse who made sure and gave me those assurances, and in turn, I've done the same. But it takes a lot of coordination to make sure that those things are good to go. And then I think when it comes to being the warfighter actual, in addition to knowing that everything is good for you on the home front, you also need to be technically and tactically proficient, whether you're in a community like myself where you are, I was, being a restricted line officer, I needed to know how to do my job and I needed to know how to do it. Well, that says, that's the same for every single warfighter. Know your job and learn to do it well. I think that those are key. And the other thing about being a war fighter is the importance of self-care. A lot of times we're so focused on, we're very mission oriented. What does it take in order to get the job done? Or we're looking out for our family members and taking care of everyone but ourselves, and we always refer to the way, we think about the airplane when we're advised, when we're passengers on a flight, how you need to put your own oxygen mask on before putting on a mask to help someone else. We at different points throughout this marathon of a military career, you're definitely going to need oxygen yourself before you're able to administer oxygen to someone else. And so, I think that's important. Now, from a professional standpoint of someone who's worked a little bit more from a support element role in the military, I think that my contributions have been and what others who are in a similar position should consider is don't ever underestimate those tough staff jobs where policies are made and a lot of times the decisions that influence outcomes of how we take care of our sailors or marines or the other policies that we have out there. Those tough jobs that you take, whether it's at the Pentagon or which is considered to be an echelon level one command. If you're working at what we call OPNAV, the CNO staff or whatever that looks like for you, if you're working at a like, I worked at Fleet Forces and S2 command at one of my assignments. The insights that you gain from working at various levels of command that are sometimes maybe people don't consider the pointy end of the spear. It's just important like you wouldn't go and build a house with just one tool. You need a number of tools in order to build a house and having various assignments of different levels of difficulty help you to have more tools in your own toolbox from a personal and professional perspective. So, what I found is while I absolutely enjoyed being an operational commander, I loved being an intel officer in a squadron. I enjoyed that experience. But once I got the chance to, get where the heart of the decisions are made at the top levels of leadership in the Navy, and I got to be in those rooms, hear those conversations, I would say that I became a much more well-rounded officer than I was in the beginning because in the beginning I was just worried about how do I do my job well. While I evolved of course, I still focused on how to do my job and to do it well, but I also had a broader context of why what I did was important, and that made me more motivated to do my job.

Sears: [00:18:46] Captain Lacy, it sounds like you've been in the room where it happened. Thank you for joining us on Radio Stockdale.

Lacy: [00:18:52] Thank you for having me.

Sears: [00:19:00] You've been listening to Radio Stockdale, a series of podcasts produced by the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the United States Naval Academy. You can hear more podcasts at stockdalecenter.com/podcasts.