On Service: 44 Years in Review
This Wednesday we celebrate the 44th anniversary of the executive order (Executive Order 12008, August 25, 1977) that created the Presidential Management Intern program (which would later become the Presidential Management Fellows program). In honor of the program’s 44 years providing an opportunity to serve our country, we want to take some time to consider why we each chose public service. At the end of this post you’ll find a link to submit your own, shorter, reason. We hope to kick off the return from Summer with this bit of reflection on what it means to be in public service, and why we each chose to Overachieve for America.
Without further ado, Jim Newberry’s reason for serving his country both as an United States Airman and as a 2019 PMF...
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When I was a young boy, my father spoke of his love of country and of his time in Vietnam. What stuck with me most was that Veterans were not very welcome back home after returning from Vietnam - despite their service and significant sacrifice. This contradiction ignited something inside me. I was determined to serve my country in uniform - for my dad, sure - but also the people who had treated him and his comrades so poorly. My father wept as he hugged me on my first return home from service, welcoming me with open arms. It was the kind of welcome that, sadly, he did not experience but felt he needed to share with his son.
My service was never about me, but deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Korea have taught me so much - especially gratitude for how good we have it back home. Even in its worst moments, the United States is still the richest nation in the world, and free from the dangers and deprivations that define day-to-day life in so many countries. Honestly, it’s difficult for most Americans to comprehend without seeing it first hand. My service gave me that knowledge. I have seen the North Korean Guards staring at the South Korean guards in the Demilitarized Zone, an inch away from war. I vividly recall the toddler girl who approached me in Iraq on a patrol, dirty and in just a diaper, smiling at us. The interpreter shared that she was badly wounded at the beginning of operations in Iraq when she was an infant, and that U.S. Soldiers medivaced the child out, saving her legs.
I still serve - now as a civilian and a PMF, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That service is still teaching me new lessons about connection and gratitude. A while back, I was representing HUD at a resource fair in Houston - sharing information with the community. I met Kevin, a veteran who needed housing assistance. As we talked, I realized he did not have any medical assistance from Veterans Affairs (VA)— he said, “not sure I qualify.” I was in the right place, at the right time to serve, and directed Kevin to the very next table over. You see, I had arranged my table right next to one from the VA. Kevin wheeled himself over and got the help he was entitled to. Watching Kevin work with a VA employee, I felt the same love, joy, and pride my dad described when he spoke about his service. I honestly had to fight back the tears, as I felt such a tremendous sense of service and the weight of what we do. Though I recently converted, that was just one of many exceptional moments I had as a Presidential Management Fellow.
Service is service, and whether you serve in the DOD, HUD, or any federal agency--as public servants we all preserve, foster, and protect the freedoms that Americans enjoy. We all take the same oath, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees our freedoms.
And that is why I serve.
Isaac “Jim” Newberry, is a former (U. S. Air Force), PMF class of (2020) member (US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Field Policy and Management) and lives in Houston. He enjoys landscaping and recently began work on a rose garden.
Please take this week to help us celebrate 44 years of PMI/PMF excellence, what initially brought you to public service, or what it means to you now. Consider sending in your thoughts, ruminations, and reflections on service here [https://forms.gle/peKcjKjTWVtE8Ndt5]. We look forward to showcasing our collective thoughts on what service means to us!