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You can hear it in my voice when I tell this one. The USS Belleau Wood out of Sasebo, Japan was my first command, and it took a kid with a GED, a chip on his shoulder, and a lot of bad habits and forced him to grow up fast. I’m talking steam ship life in the pit: heat, watch rotations, casualties, sarcasm, pride, and that brutal reality that nobody cares how tough you act if you can’t stand the watch and carry your weight.

I walk through how I showed up thinking I already had Japan figured out, how that mindset wrecked my early progress, and how a second class petty officer flipped the script with one move. Instead of just chewing me out, he handed me a boiler tech manual and made the point I never forgot: in the Navy, what matters is what you know. That book turned into momentum, qualifications, and real respect in the engineering main space, from the DFT and water levels to burners, drills, and the teamwork that only shows up when things break at sea.

Then we get into the complicated part: striking Damage Control, chasing my ESWS pin, making DC3, and still getting kept in the engine room because the ship “couldn’t afford to lose” a strong watchstander. I share what that felt like, what it taught me about leadership and taking care of sailors, and how teaching DC indoctrination unexpectedly opened the door to recruiting orders and a life-changing pivot. If you’ve ever felt stuck between who you were and who you’re trying to become, this story is for you. Subscribe, share this with a shipmate, and leave a review with the mentor lesson you’re taking from it.

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A single DNA match can turn a lifetime of questions into one hard choice: do I really want to know the truth? I’m Gary Wise, a Navy veteran and high school NJROTC teacher, and I’m continuing my adoption journey with the part that shook me most, finding my biological father after reconnecting with my biological mother.

After years of searching, I learn there are two possible fathers, and one possibility forces me to confront fears about identity, character, and what it means to come from a complicated past. I talk openly about faith, how I grew up with LDS beliefs about pre-existence, and how those ideas made adoption feel like a spiritual puzzle I could never quite solve. I also connect the dots between adoption, feeling different, and why becoming a dad made genetics, bonding, and “nature vs nurture” feel real in a way textbooks never could.

Then the breakthrough hits: a Painter surname in my DNA results, a trail of family names, and a cold call to a man who answers the phone without warning that his life is about to change. We get into what happened next, how siblings reacted, what it felt like to meet extended family in Utah, and how I’ve learned to honor my adoptive parents while still making space for biological roots.

If you’re into adoption reunion stories, DNA testing, Ancestry discoveries, identity work, and the messy truth of family, hit play. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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A calm sea story is never the real sea story. One heavy roll can turn a ship’s mess decks into a wrecking yard, and the next minute you’re welding tables together because hundreds of people still need to eat. That’s the energy Rob McDaniel brings to this conversation, raw Navy truth with the kind of humor you only earn after you’ve lived it.

Rob is one of my former shipmates from USS Ogden, and we start where every real origin story starts: high school confusion, money pressure, and the shock of losing a parent. Wrestling becomes his anchor, then the Navy becomes the next structured step when college doesn’t line up. We talk Great Lakes boot camp, showing up to the ship as a brand-new sailor, and why striking into Navy damage control can change your entire identity and your future leadership skills.

From there, we get into the unforgettable deployment moments and the hard reality of surface Navy casualty response: damaged spaces, toxic gas risk, old-ship systems that fight you, and the difference between a drill you “bomb” and the real emergency that hits the next day. Rob also shares what it feels like moving from an aging amphib to a modern DDG, where new equipment is easy but leadership can be the hardest part, especially when recognition and trust break down.

We close the loop on veteran transition and career change, including the regret of separating with no plan, the power of a grandparent’s tough love, and what it takes to earn degrees while raising a family. Rob also opens up about being an autism dad and what daily safety, support, and advocacy look like at home. If you care about Navy veteran stories, leadership under pressure, and building a second career in education, you’ll get a lot out of this one.

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This is the 100th Episode for the Words From The Wise Leadership Podcast!

A lot of people think a military career starts with a plan. Androcleas
"Lefty" Eleftheratos's starts with survival. He’s a rural North Carolina kid who drops out of high school, works to help his mom keep four kids afloat, gets into trouble, and then takes the one off-ramp that can reset a life fast: joining the U.S. Navy.

We go from Great Lakes boot camp to an overseas assignment in Sasebo, Japan, where friendship turns into real brotherhood and the world gets bigger overnight. We talk fleet life on the USS Belleau Wood, nonstop underways, liberty ports like Hong Kong and Bali, and what “high operational tempo” actually feels like for young sailors and for married families trying to hold it together. Lefty also breaks down the career chess that most people never explain, including orders, timing, sea duty versus shore duty, and why technical credibility matters when you make Chief Petty Officer.

The second half gets personal and useful. We talk grief, being present for family during illness, and how to make peace with hard seasons. Then we get practical about military transition, retirement choices, networking, and why you should file your VA disability claim and keep pushing if the first decision does not reflect your reality. If you’re active duty, a veteran, or a parent trying to guide a teenager, this one is built to leave you with options and next steps.

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The moment you retire, the pace changes and not in a gentle way. One day you are moving at Navy speed with a mission, a watchbill, and a team that needs you. Next, the calendar opens up, the phone goes quiet, and you have to figure out who you are without the title. We sit down with retired Command Master Chief Jason Brown to talk about that whiplash and what he wishes more military transition programs said out loud about identity, purpose, and the emotional and spiritual tax of starting over.

Jason walks us through the turning points of his Navy career, from Damage Control to the Command Master Chief program, including the vow he made that pushed him into senior enlisted leadership. We get honest about what happens when you bring a shipboard engineering mindset into an aviation squadron, how triad relationships can fracture, and how fear of failure can keep leaders silent when they most need support. We also revisit the realities of carrier life, TAD and FSA demands, and why alignment in the Chiefs Mess matters when the mission gets heavy.

Then the conversation shifts to the COVID deployment era: abrupt guidance changes, moving on base, embarking USS Nimitz, living in a controlled bubble for months, and Guam as one of the only real pressure-release valves. From there we talk VA disability claims, facing mortality through medical appointments, and the tough mental space of naming everything your body carried through service. Jason also shares the heart behind a free curriculum for men focused on integrity, honesty, self-control, faith, and recovery from pornography addiction fueled by secrecy. If you care about Navy leadership, veteran transition, resilience, and building character that lasts beyond the uniform, this one goes deep. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest lesson you are taking into your own next chapter.

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He signed up chasing a straightforward goal: become a firefighter, earn college money, and build a future. What he got instead was a 36-year journey that ran through the Army National Guard, Navy boot camp in San Diego, damage control maintenance on small ships, a pre-commissioning build, a destroyer deployment in a world that was rapidly changing, and eventually the kind of senior enlisted leadership where you answer for everything the crew does.

We’re joined by retired Master Chief Dylan Inger, a leader who’s lived the full arc from junior sailor to Command Master Chief, then into a flag-adjacent civilian role supporting Navy shipbuilding. We talk candidly about what the Damage Controlman rate really is: halon systems, AFFF, repair lockers, inspections, and endless PMS, with firefighting as the capability you prepare for, not the job you wait around to do. Dylan and I also compare Army versus Navy training, how early leadership roles can shape your confidence, and why some commands feel like a rocket ship while others feel like you’re pushing uphill all day.

The turning point is Great Lakes, where Dylan pivots from a dysfunctional fire school environment into Recruit Division Commander duty and launches a network and leadership skill set that follows him for decades. From the JFK carrier recovery era to a frigate CMC tour and beyond, we dig into retention, liberty risk, career counseling, and the pressure that lands on the senior enlisted triad. We close with the realities of military transition, TAP prep, LinkedIn networking, project management as a post-Navy “sweet spot,” and what happens when you have to job-hunt again after a layoff.

If you care about Navy leadership, senior enlisted development, military career paths, or veteran transition to civilian careers, you’ll get practical takeaways you can use immediately. Subscribe, share this with a shipmate, and leave a review with the leadership lesson you’re taking into your own team.

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A single Google search at midnight finally returned what years of searching never did: a post titled “Baby Boy Leishman,” written by the birth mother who never stopped wondering. Gary Wise and Teri Leishman share the full adoption reunion story from both sides, including the reality of a closed adoption in the 1970s, the fears that come with reaching out, and the moment a photo on the internet made the connection undeniable.

We talk about what it’s like to grow up knowing you’re adopted while still feeling the “missing chapter,” and how becoming a parent can turn curiosity into urgency. Teri explains why she posted on adoption reconnection sites for years, why she didn’t want to disrupt her son’s life, and what it felt like to get the first message after decades of silence. Gary walks through the chain of events that made the timing feel almost impossible to ignore: a DNA test, a first hit online, a fast exchange of emails, and a new baby being born within the same 24 hours.

Then we go deeper into the practical side of modern family discovery, including how consumer DNA testing and genetic genealogy can connect first cousins, surnames, and entire branches of family that old records never revealed. We also zoom out to resilience and second chances as Teri describes going back to nursing school around age 50, building a career in healthcare leadership and quality, and eventually moving to Florida to be close to her son and grandkids. If adoption reunion, birth mother stories, adoptee identity, and DNA results are topics you’ve lived or wondered about, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe for more, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review with the question you’d be afraid to ask.

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She started beauty school at 16 to get out of high school. Then life hit hard: a family breakup she never saw coming, a teen pregnancy, and an adoption that left scars nobody around her knew how to talk about. And somehow, Teri Leishman still kept moving forward. In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, we walk through the real mechanics of reinvention: the messy choices, the lonely seasons, and the moments when you realize you either rebuild on purpose or you repeat the same pain.

We trace Teri's path from Utah to California and back again, including what it’s like to start over when your job depends on rebuilding clientele from scratch. She explains how she became “accidentally” self-employed by opening a tiny salon in Garden Valley, Idaho, then growing it into a thriving small-town business that served as community, counseling, and connection all at once. We also talk openly about marriage strain, infertility, and the unique pressure of divorcing when everyone in town knows your name and your story.

Then the episode takes a sharp turn into survival and transformation: Teri sells her shop, gets pulled away from her support system, and has to find her way out of a controlling situation. That dark stretch becomes the spark for a midlife career change that still blows my mind. At 49, Teri goes back to school, steps into nursing, and graduates at the top of her class, proving “too old” is usually just fear wearing a mask.

If you’re searching for stories about starting over, entrepreneurship, nursing school later in life, healing after trauma, or rebuilding confidence after divorce, this is one to save and share. Subscribe, leave a review, and send this to a friend who needs a reset. What’s one reinvention you’re proud of right now?

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