Adam Torres and Sgt. Grant Tunell discuss the Texas FFA.
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Show Notes:
The National Guard was present at the 95th Annual Texas FFA Convention in Dallas, Texas. In this episode, Adam Torres and Sgt. Grant Tunell, U.S. Army / National Guard, explore why the National Guard attends the Texas FFA convention to recruit future soldiers.
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Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres and I am so thrilled to announce I’m over at the Texas F F A convention in Dallas, Texas, having a lot of. Fun. My guest today, Sergeant to now his first experience at convention. This is my second year, so I’m a little bit of a veteran here, you know Sergeant First I just wanna say, hey, welcome to the show.
Yeah. Thanks for having me. All right. So one of the reasons why I’m thrilled to have you on number one is I wanna know, you know, why the Army’s here today. Like, why they see, you know, a, a need to be and want to be represented and to get in front of the Texas F F A audience. Of course. That’s a great question here.
As a representative for the Texas Army National Guard. Mm-hmm. So, which is of course part of, part of the Army, and, you know, and as far as the, you know, the overall. You know, department of Defense and National Defense, you know, mission and things like that. We’re, we’re part of the reserve component for the Army.
Right. So that’s, that’s an easy way to think of it is like, we’re like part-time Army. Mm-hmm. So obviously you have your like, active duty guys that are always doing Army stuff, and then you have US and, and the Army reserves. So we’re, we’re, we’re doing like you know, essentially it boils down to like one weekend a month that you do army things, and then about a little longer period in the summertime, that’s about 15 days long.
So yeah, part of the army. Here, you know, but, you know, centralized to Texas essentially. Mm-hmm. You know, we are Texas’s National Guard and we’re here because, you know, obviously we’re always looking for, for good soldiers that can, you know, want to join take a, take advantage of what we have to offer, you know, and then obviously, you know, to, to support the mission and, and everything like that.
And we see a lot of overlap with our values and, you know, the values of an organization like the F f A. Mm-hmm. You know, we, there’s some of the. The core principles of being in the military and military service are, are the exactly the same. You know, things like the, the emphasis on hard work and accountability responsibility and things like that.
Yeah. So being your first year, I mean, what, what sticks out to you? Like what sticks out so far? So far? So far it. It’s a lot bigger than I thought it was gonna be. There’s, there’s a lot more people walking around. There’s a lot more stuff. It’s, it’s cool to see how big it is. It always And how many different boots.
What about the blue jackets? Like the blue and gold? Like, it’s like a C. Yes. Yeah. And it’s cool ’cause you know, I can, you know, when they turn around I can see exactly what school or what, what area they’re from, from they have their names. It’s really cool. You know, it reminds me a lot almost of like a, a military uniform in some ways.
Yeah. ’cause they have their name. They usually have like, their position if they’re like the president or the treasurer or things like that, it’s, it’s on the jacket. It’s right there for you. And then they have some of their like little awards and pins and things on there to kind of tell you about what they’ve, they’ve done or, or, and yeah.
I mean, it’s, it’s awesome. It’s, it’s very, It’s kind of, it’s kind of like a, a sea Yeah. Of of kids that are, that are very well dressed and the jackets look real sharp. Yeah. Any, any comment on like, any of the conversations you’ve been having? ’cause I know like the first time I came, I was having these conversations and I was just, the maturity level.
I don’t know if it’s the being organized or what, but like, I mean, I’m, I’m shocked that you can see kids talk, or I should say members. Mm-hmm. Right. They’re, they’re, they’re young adults. Talking to each other and everybody’s not glued to their phone. Like, I was just like, it’s, it’s different. Oh, yeah.
There’s definitely a, it’s a credit to the organization that, you know, the students are all walking around here and they’re well behaved. Yeah. They’re polite. They have good manners. Yes, sir. You know? Yes, ma’am. You know, and things like that. And, and it’s just when nobody’s watching either. Oh, yeah. Like this is just, this is how it is.
Yeah. I mean, it’s very, very impressive. So, yeah, when I, when I look at, and when people are talking about, you know, the, the future of the country or the kids or Oh, or like, what’s next or, and I think about the leadership that’s taking place and just the, you know, the, the organization and the structure.
Like, like, I’m optimistic. I’m like, come, come to a Texas f f A convention, you’ll see. Oh yeah. And it’s cool to see. I mean there’s obviously Texas is a huge state, right? Yes. Yes. You know, and, and so coming with that is a great diversity of, of people. From everything from the big cities to the rural areas to, you know, and, and you know, places that are, you know, it’s almost like, I mean, up things that are all the way up on the northern border of Texas might as well just be a different country in some ways than it’s like things on the southern border.
So it’s, it’s cool to see such a, like a melting pot of all these different kids from all, all over. And that, you know, something like the FFA is like, kind of like their common ground that’s united them to bring ’em to something like this. Now, did you have any history prior to this or even in this, like of agriculture?
Like in your background or just in general? I’m curious. So I, I’m from Iowa. Yeah. Originally before I joined the military and was you know, transplanted down here into Texas. And then I have never left, of course. Mm-hmm. You know, so I’ve, I’ve been here for many, many years now. So Iowa being a pretty agricultural you know, based state lots of, of farming there and, and things like that.
My brother-in-law is actually a, a farmer. My wife tells me that you can’t. That, you know, it’s offensive to, to say that, you know, to like that down here in Texas, they’re ranchers, you know, they’re not farmers. Alright, got it. So she’s, I’m learn, I’m learning that every day of Texan. Yeah. So she’s the one that, you know, it’s like, oh, no, no, don’t call ’em farmers.
They’re ranchers. But in Iowa, they’re, they’re farmers. My brother-in-law’s, a farmer and, you know, has cattle and, and corn and soybeans and so I have some experience with the agricultural in industry but not a ton of, of firsthand, so, so yeah. As I’ve been having these conversation with kids, I, I’m from Michigan, but I didn’t have any farming background or I didn’t know much about it.
And every year that I come to convention, I learned just a little bit more. And what kind of amazes me is just how broad it is when we think about what a farmer does or a rancher or like, just the whole ecosystem of our. Food and all those different facets, like it’s vast. I feel like it doesn’t get enough attention, enough media.
You think about Hollywood and, you know, maybe you have, you know, the stereotype of what it’s like, but it’s, it’s different. It’s changed. It’s big tech. Oh yeah. It’s, it’s crazy. I mean like, obviously I don’t have it, like I said, yeah, I don’t have a ton of firsthand experience, but like I’ve talked, I’ve had those conversations with my brother-in-law at different times and you know, the things that like they’re using G P S.
To determine exactly where the planter is in the field so that they can plant the seeds at the appropriate depth that they’ve determined is the right for this part of that field. You know, I mean, it’s, it’s high tech. It’s, there’s a lot of science involved. Right. You know, so it’s not like you said, what, what you know, maybe like Hollywood tries to like, you know, pigeonhole it into like this, this, you know, low tech.
You know, blue collar, rough and gruff type thing. Like it’s, it’s everything. Yeah. It’s, it’s from everything from A to Z. Yeah. What’s been one of your favorite parts about convention so far? Just interacting with the, the kids. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like they’re just, They’re just fun to talk to that energy.
Right. Yeah. Well, and you know, a lot of times I get, you know, military guy, right? Yeah. Trying to, you know, be a recruiting presence. You know, like that’s either well received or not, you know? And sometimes when it’s not, it’s not that people are rude, but they’ll kind of have like that little like the blinder where they’re like, don’t look at the army guy, don’t look at him.
And, you know, sometimes it’s kind of fun to see if I can like, You know, like, I’m like kind of trying to draw them into some sort of conversation, you know? And if, you know, if I can, usually they open all up, you know, and then we have a good little chat and mm-hmm. You know, provide ’em some information about the military and, you know, answer any questions, give ’em some free stuff and, you know, send ’em on their way.
Hopefully a little bit more educated about. What we offer in the National Guard. Have you had a chance to, and maybe you have, maybe you haven’t, have you had a chance to walk into any of the sessions or see any of the things going on? I we’re pretty early on in the week, by the way. It’s only, it’s only Tuesday when we’re recording this, so there’s some more days going on.
Yeah, so I’ve only, I’ve only been here today. I just drove in Oh for the afternoon, so I, I basically walked in and started working in the booth and, and so I haven’t even really got a chance before and then got interviewed right after. Come on. Like you that talk about you got the luck. Yeah, I.
Everybody else is still standing down there and I get to come up here hanging with you, so I know you get to go sit down. It’s awesome. Oh, well, Sergeant Chanel really appreciate you coming in the show today and to get your perspective of what, what the magic that’s at Texas f f a and really the kids.
So this whole thing and why we’re out here is we wanna showcase what all the members are doing, all the, all the young adults out here and the Texas f f A members, I mean, Phenomenal work they’re doing and the work just in leadership. I mean organization building, like all the different structures and things they’re doing.
I think it’s a great thing. Just wanna say, hey, thanks again for making some time for us and coming on the show. Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. Awesome.
