And we are activeduty teammates with the members there. Jill so you use the phrase remote pilot aircraft. There is always talked in terms of military not being a big fan of the phrase drone. Why dont you tell us the distinction . There is a distinction between drones, in amman, and remotely piloted aircraft. Rpa, vice drone. From the public perspective, we try not to crack you, but i have a chance here so i will make the correct you. Jill we appreciate you tolerating that. Can you tell me a little bit about a day in the life of someone who is remote piloting aircraft . I have an f16 background but i transitioned about two years ago. I do have good familiarity with rpa pilot. Look at that, you got me going. They work very hard at their craft. They typically work 38hour shifts. They get the latest information on the weather and intelligence updates and that sort of thing. Then they jump into what we call the Ground Control stations. For eighthour shifts at a time. Pretty grueling. Sitting in a fairly dark room, multiple screens with both operators, and it is a long day. You get breaks but it is a really long day. This goes on 24 seven, to 24 7, 365 days a year. Every day there is somebody bring it up because reports have come out gao did one a year or two ago now about how there is a growing need for Remote Piloted Aircraft and therefore there is not enough pilots and therefore the workload has expanded quite a bit. What is being done to balance that for the pilots . It is a fairly immature industry relative to the rest of the military. Really fast. It is the capability that Combatant Commanders cannot live without these days. Every time we come up with a little more capacity, Combatant Commanders say we want more of that. We bring more to the table and weve been providing that. We are trying to give folks a break. Command commanders say we will take one more. About a year ago the chief of staff the air force said stop. Forces whole again. We are trying to go through a number of programs to train more operators and pilots as well as Intelligence Officers to try to give the folks of break. They were typically five days on end three days off is how they are scheduled. More often than not they are called on the days off to work. One person gets sick and someone else has to come in and cover. Production, more pilots, more professionals, give folks a break and breathing room. No time to do things like fitness reports. All the administration asked to go on but they are not given time to do it and they are struggling. Theyre working very, very hard. Jill recruiting is sometimes challenging. Has that improved over time . Opportunity to serve from when they hear about the actual mission, it is not often that every single day in every single minute of your working our, they know they are providing information. Up to 20 different organizations working with the feet and using the information. Recruiting has been going ok. Retention not going so well. They are stretched to the max and theyve not seen a lot of they are trying to hit the smaller things, making it easier to get childcare, helping out with increasing bonuses and pay. Retaining has been a challenge. Jill i want to ask, the mission of unmanned is expanding in the military. Traditionally surveillance, where do you see going in the future . What will that mean for the pilots . I will start with where is it going. It is going to be used everywhere. We need more information. Whether it be disaster response, you will see more and more of this in firefighting areas, flood relief, that sort of thing. Happening all the time. Requirements will transfer was going to operate these things. You got to keep a person in the loop and you have to have a decisionmaker i can make the correct judgment call. Jill when we return, a new book ive dedicated my book to a corporal. We got ambushed on january 4, jill welcome back to defense news. A wellrespected voice in washington, he transition from marine advisor to many inside the beltway. Defense News Associated spoke with him about his new book. I wanted to talk about the brave marines who fought with me in vietnam. Their greatness, their courage, the toughness, what they accomplished. They never got the credit they deserve. We are at the 50th anniversary of the and all more and most 50th anniversary of the vietnam war and most people dont even remember it and those who do remember it remember it in a negative way. The marine who sacrificed to save your life how did that impact your decisions Going Forward . I dedicated my book to a corporal. We got ambushed on january 4, 1970. I was giving aid to my wounded corpsman and got hit deadly hit badly and he rushed to save my position and he died. Every day i get up i want to make sure im worthy of the sacrifice the corporal and others like him have made over the years and do everything i can. A lot of times in government you have got to blast away at the movable obstacles. Others in a military past and present, and future, did everything he asked asked of him by his country and more. Retired out and went to the hill. You are one of the people who has been able to see both sides. What experiences do you bring from your time in the field to the hill . A lot of the lessons i learned on the battlefield in capitol hill. You have to work as a unit. No one person, no one individual, no one Political Party can solve the pressing problems our nation faces today or during the 24 years i worked with the senate. In the military on the battlefield you succeed as unit. A lot of the lessons i brought my work in the u. S. Senate. Instrumental in crafting the Goldwater Nichols reforms which underpin the military process. Again, were their experiences you were drawing from . Maybe some concerns you learn about . Goldwaternichols reform in 1986, one of the things you learned on the battlefield is you want to have a crisp, clear chain of command. We have learned from desert the beirut bombing, and others, the chain of command wasnt clear. Your commanders ought to be in charge. Goldwaternichols emphasized and enhance the role of the Combatant Commanders, the ones in charge of fighting the wars in iraq and afghanistan , enhanced civilian control of the military, and put in a clear, crisp chain of command. You have got to lead from the front as well. Senate you went to the industry. Again, what are some of the lessons you have the military side, senate side. How do you apply that the industry and where do you see the issues the industry faces today that can be worked back in . One of the things i paid a lot of attention to during my years in the senate, leer general electric. You pay careful attention to the way they approach decisions. They made rapid, quick decisions. You dont see that happening in government. If you apply the way the pentagon operates to the battlefield, you are in the middle of a firefight and you call the conference and meeting what you have to do in every endeavor is make rapid decisions based on the best information you can get at the time. Industries that way today. They dont waste a lot of time. Jill when we return, some of the robots delivered to the military and action. You are watching defense news. Great for years ive trained dogs for the marines like me, some of these dogs have seen many tours of duty. And for the past 15 years ive been a navy federal member. Thanks to their fast approval process, when it came time to buy a new car, we got everything we needed to transport my wifes little bundle of joy. D forces, the dod and their families. Navy federal credit union. Jill the company has reached in israel but a growing footprint in the u. S. Asked to great interest from the pentagon and a i visited the company and spoke to the ceo about the companys transition. Young company. Headquarters. Something very interesting that happened to us that we have managed to create relationship with the u. S. Government almost immediately after we opened the company. We started with organizations like cttso, invested money in robo team in the early days, supporting the development of our products. U. S. Market. We opened the u. S. Side almost four years ago. Each one of the robotics programs in the u. S. Government with all the spectrum law enforcement, military, statelevel, everybody. Jill in terms of the u. S. Military, we will talk more what the robots you all use, the functions they do for the military. Evident reduce stays on the tactical level. We are developing vehicles, not today, not too heavy. Not to big, not too heavy. In the latest the contract we got from the u. S. Air force. This is basically regular missions. We provided for them are leading product jill is that this right here . Basically designed to do any kind of task the traditional eod system used to do. Now i can be carried now it can be carried with additional features on the system. The system was developed with cttso, being deployed afan u. S. Forces, israeli forces, many other forces. It is the lightest system in the market, really effective, really can do things in the field. Great maneuverability. Can climb stairs. Fully integrated camera. Rights very good understand that of provides very good understanding surroundings. Most important, very simple. This used to be a big challenge for robotics. A robo teamcreated system, simple to operate. Dont need to be an expert. We did it with a lot of understanding of the use. Jill the device. The operator control unit, we designed it with all our systems and we are selling it as a standalone product. Seven inch touchscreen, controlling the systems. With all the military standouts required, and the operator just today , new features that even allowed the owner to use the systems means special sensor can follow you as an operator. Jill you dont necessarily have to direct it with this. Brought a lot of technology into the military systems. To not only hold the controller, but with several systems, we like to call it one too many. It makes it more effective, more simple, and this is the way they are looking for the next future. Jill you talk about these being carried by the soldier. Necessarily knowing how they will be utilized . Is it the field depending on the circumstances and the moment . The history starts with users saying even light systems provided to them there are systems that are considered to be light. The accessories become just to have a, i can too can tell you you dont like to carry heavy stuff with you. And we have managed to take it the basic system is 16 pounds. On the back of the soldier, this is a reasonable number of the soldier can put on his back and take just in case. We can also see today, maneuver forces need the capability to even without special bomb technicians. Jill i know it then evolved to this system, which is obviously much larger. This is very interesting. We, the we call it the probot. It has been originally it is government and israeli government. Carrying the agreement of the soldiers equipment of the soldiers. One of the configurations of the probot can carry up to 1600 pounds of equipment. The unique features that make it usable in the field. It is very quiet. Charging the batteries. The way you are controlling the system is in a very simple way. We have a sense of identifying the person, you can focus on it and not on the system. And the basic joystick from you can hold it in your hand and you can see it easily jill the maneuverability. Absolutely. Ok, lets see here. Doesnt seem like it should turn on a dime. It is simple. This is the key word. It must be simple. Dont need to be to complicated. It is very interesting. Once you see the product, out in the field for 20 years now. Jill practical, logical. When we came to develop the system, we talked to users are the problems, number one is size and weight. Not too big, not too heavy. Again, replaceable batteries. Stuck in the field, donate to call a special vehicle. Dont need to call the special vehicle. And it is designed to be affordable. Yet but you know to be fielded by many users it needs to be reasonable prices. Jill on this weeks money minute, sponsored by Navy Federal Credit union, tips on when to take out a Home Equity Loan. People often wonder when is the right time to take out a Home Equity Loan or line of credit. Many people, especially military families, of the ways these loans can improve your financial situation. Because those who are serving are often on the go and sometimes require selling homes on short notice, taking out a Home Equity Loan could be key to helping you sell faster. Renovations may increase the value of your home and can increase your equity further once the loan is repaid. Do your research and talk to her realtor to find out the best ways to boost your home value. Home equity may be a way to borrow for college as the Interest Rate may be lower than particularly useful for assurance whose children are a few years apart. Use the money for tuition and pay down the balance in time for the next child to enter college. Consolidating high interest debt from credit cards and car loans and personal loans is an abuse of homeequity. Another use of homeequity. Your home is on the line so make a point to maintain your newly improved budget could whether it is homeimprovement, borrowing for your kids education, or consolidating that, situation equity loans are a great way to go. Jill see you next week. When we return, getting a closer look at the companys creations. Ive been a soldier for 3 years. Ive scaled the toughest terrain and faced plenty of my fears as part of my training. And for the past two years ive been a navy federal member. So even out here i can pay securely with mobile pay linked to my free checking account. I dont know about this, what did she say . She said i dont know about this. I couldnt hear over my helmet. Your ears are completely exposed. Mmhmm, yeah i just. Open to the armed forces, the dod and their families. Navy federal credit union. Jill he is going to give us a little bit of a demonstration of some of the robots. One of the most important things for the user is how easy it is to climb the stairs with these systems. You can see it takes no user interaction to get to the top of the stairs. Jill do you have an example of how this is being utilized by the military right now . Are merrily used by primarily used by eod right now, anywhere there is something that could be a hazard to the user. Jill that. It looks like rugged terrain. Other kinds of terrain they might deal with. Jill this is a different system than the one we just saw, correct . A few other pieces of equipment added onto it. They could choose what type of gear they need. Key for the systems is durability. This one is designed to be thrown to a very rugged system. Jill is it used as a standalone system . Gotcha. Tell me in terms of function this is our throwbot, camera on wheels good requires minimal training. You could throw it upstairs and they dont need a lot of training to climb other systems. Jill and it has to modestly, cameras, and it can still be thrown. Lets give it a try. Here i go. Wow. All right. Ok, that is terrific. Thanks so much. That is all this week at defense news. Tune in next week when we honor veterans day and look at the aftermath of the current efforts [music] dr. Charles stanley and you know that every building if its going to stand has to have a foundation. And the better the foundation, the longer itll last. You build a house and you dont take much to make it start crumbling. A nation that does not have a solid, Firm Foundation also can crumble. Male announcer next on in touch, if the foundations are destroyed. Announcer join us during the program and follow along with the sermon notes. Go online to