Amber Smith is a former Army helicopter pilot who did tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to school eight years ago to get an advanced degree and begin her own firm consulting on veterans and national security affairs.
A stint as press secretary for caucus operations at the Republican National Convention led to her assignment to the Pentagon for what may have been her toughest mission: Bridging the gaping civilian-military divide.
In an exit interview last week shortly before she left her job as deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for outreach in public affairs to rejoin the private sector, Smith sat down with the Washington Examiner to talk about her career and her effort to get Americans better acquainted with their military.
Washington Examiner: Tell me a little bit about you. What’s your background?
Smith: I served in the 101st Airborne in Iraq and Afghanistan, was an air mission commander of an OH-58 Delta Kiowa Warrior. It’s a light attack reconnaissance helicopter. We worked with ground forces in all capacities.
Washington Examiner: Did you have any close calls when you were in combat?
Smith: I did. I had an AK-47 round land about a foot behind my back in Iraq in 2006.
Washington Examiner: But the helicopter kept flying?
Smith: The helicopter kept flying. We did have — our electronics were flashing on and off because we had a couple rounds hit the helicopter.
(Photos courtesy: Amber Smith)
Washington Examiner: What originally drew you to a career in the military?
Smith: I come from a family of pilots and military as well. My great-grandfather served in World War I. My grandfather was a pilot in World War II. He flew the aerial routes between Northern Africa and Europe. He was also an airline pilot after the war. And then, my father served in the Army in the 82nd Airborne, went on to become an airline pilot for Pan Am. My mom was a civilian pilot. She had all of her flight ratings all the way up to CFII, which is an instrument instructor.
And so, I just grew up around aviation and a very patriotic family, and I always had a strong love of country from a very early age, and I admired people who served in the military when I was young, and it was something that I always thought would be fantastic if I was able to do.
Washington Examiner: I take it you don’t get airsick?
Smith: I do not get airsick. I can say that that has not happened to me.
Washington Examiner: How did you come to take this job here at the Pentagon?
Smith: I guess you could say it began back in the summer of 2016, when I [served] essentially as the liaison arm to the campaign, the nominee of the Republican Party. From there, I went on to serve in the transition team, and I always knew that if I ever went into an administration or into the government in some capacity, I would want to go to the Department of Defense. It’s my background from my time in the service, and it was where I saw myself having the chance to serve my country again in a different capacity than I had before.
Washington Examiner: Tell me about This Is Your Military.
Smith: This Is Your Military is a Department of Defense outreach initiative. It’s aimed at educating and informing the American public on who is serving in the military. We want to introduce the less than 1 percent that’s currently serving to the 99 percent of Americans who are not. We want to show why the military is relevant to Americans in their daily lives as well as for generations to come. We want to talk about how we’re a force for good.
A lot of people, when they think of the military, they’re not necessarily thinking of hurricane response in Florida and Texas and Puerto Rico, or wildfires, or snowstorms, when often, the National Guard is called up for immediate recovery and response. So, we want to show a different side of the military. A lot of people are familiar with the negatives that come along with serving, but not necessarily the positives. We just want to get the facts out there and sort of balance that scale and fix some of the misperceptions that exist out there today.
Washington Examiner: What are the biggest misperceptions?
Smith: We have found that there’s this bell curve. You have one side where everybody thinks military servicemen and women, veterans are heroes who have saved the day, received these great awards that then have a movie about them. Or you see the other side of the bell curve, which is people who are basically looked at as broken, or victims of the circumstances of their service, or they come back wounded and are having a hard time integrating back into the civilian and private sector.
On that same bell curve, you have everybody else in between who are veterans that are everyday Americans who just happened to serve their country for one reason or another. And so, we want to tell those stories. We want to get to the information about why their service matters to them, what made them want to serve their country, especially the current people who are serving.
We’ve been involved in a conflict for a very long time now, and people still want to serve their country, so we want to make sure people get to know who’s serving, why they’re serving, and what some of their missions are aside from the standard jobs that a lot of people think of when they think of the military.
Washington Examiner: How big is the civilian-military divide, do you think?
Smith: The civilian-military divide is significant, but it is not new. But we have found from our own research here at the Pentagon that it is continuing to expand. That is a problem that poses some threats to the viability and the sustainability of the all-volunteer force, which has some long-term national security risks.
So, assisting with bridging that civilian-military divide is a priority of Defense Secretary [Jim] Mattis, and we want to ensure that we’re doing our part as a Department of Defense to engage with the American public and ensure that we’re getting accurate information about who’s serving in the military and why.
Washington Examiner: What percentage of Americans either serve in the military or have some sort of connection to the military through family or friends?
Smith: Less than 1 percent of the American population is currently serving in the military right now. We have found that in 1995, 40 percent of young Americans had a parent who had served in the military. Today, just over 20 years later, it has dropped to 15 percent, so that is a drastic drop that we’ve seen in just over 20 years, and veterans are some of our best communicators.
When they leave the service, and they go back out into society, and they tell their stories, that is coming direct from someone who has been there and done that, so that fixes some of those misperceptions that I talked about on their own. But, as we’re seeing, only 15 percent of young Americans have a parent who has served, so it’s getting a little bit more isolated in terms of the military community.
Washington Examiner: We had a case recently where a high school teacher in southern California – local city council member – was talking to students and referred to the military as the “lowest of the low.” White House chief of staff John Kelly told him he could go to hell. You had a much more measured response. Did you see that as a teachable moment?
Smith: I do see it as a teachable moment. He is very uninformed about the military. I have seen his comments, and they are inaccurate in terms of who is serving in the military, why they are serving, and he is an extreme example. I do not think that he reflects the views of Americans.
We just want to use this initiative as an opportunity to have the American public to get to know who is serving. I think that once they have a connection with those who are serving, people will be more interested in getting to know more about the military, what the careers are, what the opportunities that exist in the military, how it is a leadership institution, how you are able to operate equipment that is worth millions of dollars at a very young age, make life-and-death decisions in a very short amount of time.
So, they have these large responsibilities at a very young age. That is essentially priceless leadership and professional development experiences that you gain while you’re in the service. So, that is where I think we as an entire nation can do a better job at getting to know what the military is all about.
Washington Examiner: This teacher, Gregory Salcido, said he was just trying to encourage his students to go to college. But college isn’t for everyone. What would you tell somebody who’s considering a career in the military out of high school. What would you tell them about their opportunities?
Smith: Well, I will tell you that I ended up finishing my undergraduate degree while I was serving in the military. So, I got to experience firsthand some of the opportunities that the military gave me, and I served for seven years and eight months, and I will tell you that I feel like my time in service, everything I gained from serving in the military, I got a lot more than I feel like I gave.
Washington Examiner: You mentioned the misconception of the broken warrior who comes back from war, suffering from PTSD, having a hard time functioning in society. What’s wrong with that stereotype?
Smith: The majority of young Americans today think that veterans, once they’ve left the service, they think that you’re going to leave with a mental or emotional issue, or you might even have a physical injury, and I would just say that that’s incorrect. Like I said, everybody serves for their own specific purpose. Do some people face challenges upon leaving the military? Absolutely, but there’s issues out in the civilian world as well. So, I would just say that Americans are being fed that stereotype of a veteran, and it does represent a very small part of the veteran community.
Washington Examiner: Now, one of the challenges these days is it’s sometimes hard to change people’s opinions about something just by presenting them with corrective information and facts. How do you get around that? How do you tackle that challenge?
Smith: Well, that is going to be a challenge, and the way I look at it is you have to present information in a way that your audience is willing to receive it and that is articulated in a manner that will keep them interested. So, we’re going to be using modern video techniques, we’re going to be producing a mini-documentary series in a way that fits with an audience that isn’t used to watching these standard, government-style produced videos. We’ll be looking to specifically make videos to fit social media platforms and keep them new, and interesting, and up to date so people want to gain more information.
Washington Examiner: The president has said that he’d like to see a parade to honor the military. Do you think that could somehow dovetail into your effort in terms of raising people’s awareness about the military and its role?
Smith: I will tell you that we are looking at a variety of opportunities to use This Is Your Military as a way to help get the word out. So, as those opportunities arise, we will definitely be thinking about seeing what we can do to amplify our efforts.
Washington Examiner: If somebody wants to know more, what should they do? Where should they go?
Smith: They can reach us through our hashtag. It’s #KnowYourMil. They can also follow us on all of our social media platforms at the Department of Defense as well as – our website is knowyourmilitary.osd.mil.
Washington Examiner: What’s the right thing to say to a veteran to acknowledge their contribution to the country? These days, it seems like some people say, “Thank you for your service,” and other veterans say that’s not what they want to hear. What would you tell somebody who wants to know the right thing to say?
Smith: I personally do not have a problem with “Thank you for your service.” I understand the intent behind it. Americans appreciate veterans today, and I will say that we are fortunate to grow up in an era where we have the American support of our military, and that has differed from previous generations and different wars. So, I’m thankful for that support that we’ve had from the American public, and if people say, “Thank you for your service,” I say, “It’s my pleasure.” So, I appreciate it.
