Commanders Briefing Episode 5
Brigadier General Peter Riley of the New York Guard
Transcript:
This is a rough transcript of the episode. We are in the process of smoothing out the wording. Please excuse any errors.
BG Peter Riley: (00:01)
Hi, Jean, how you doing?
Jean: (00:02)
Hey general. How are you? Good,
BG Peter Riley: (00:04)
(00:04)
Good. How was everything?
Jean: (00:06)
Uh, it’s holding in there. It’s holding in there. Uh, thank you for, uh, doing this interview. I really appreciate it. Um, uh, it’s uh, it’s an honor to, uh, uh, to, uh, have you on the show and, uh, discuss the New York art.
BG Peter Riley: (00:18)
Great, great. Yeah, no, I’m glad to do it. Sorry. I had a, um, issue, uh, uh, getting on the site, but it just, it wasn’t going through, I tried it on my computer. It wasn’t going through, so
Jean: (00:29)
No, that’s fine. It’s um, yeah, discourse sometimes is a little, uh, finicky and little aware. Sometimes I, it took me a while to get used to it, uh, myself. Um, but uh, all the questions that I kind of sent to you, uh, that I was gonna cover. Are they, uh, are, were they good?
BG Peter Riley: (00:47)
Yes, that’s fine. That’s fine.
Jean: (00:48)
Oh, okay. All right. Um, I guess I’ll, uh, kind of just get into it. Um, and then I I’ll just do a quick intro. Um, welcome everyone to commanders briefing. This is episode five. Armir ho John MARAC. And today I have with me the commander, the new commander of the New York art, uh, Peter Riley. Am. Am I uh, saying the last name correctly?
BG Peter Riley: (01:15)
Absolutely. Yep. Riley for Riley. Yep. You spelled the same way.
Jean: (01:20)
Awesome. And, uh, I, you just kept promoted, I believe, to, uh, bring you to general. I believe
BG Peter Riley: (01:25)
That’s correct. I got promoted on October 1st, 2021.
Jean: (01:29)
Wow, congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I, I know you have a long, uh, military history, um, you’re combat vet. Um, I, I, that was the first thing that, uh, jumped out of the news once I, uh, first heard you, uh, assumed command of the New York guard. Um, and I guess my first question is, um, can you tell us a little bit about you and, and your history in the, uh, in the, um, in the military?
BG Peter Riley: (01:54)
Sure. I, I commissioned, um, outta St. Lawrence university in New York, uh, state as a second Lieutenant, uh, armor officer in the, uh, national guard. Uh, I, you know, ended up doing 30 years in the New York army national guard. Um, I was activated during nine 11 when I was a captain, so I, I spent a hundred days down at ground ground zero. Um, I, one of the, my duties was assistant division safety officer make control or national guard. Soldiers were their three Ms. When they were down at the rebel pile, I was, um, activated again, uh, to go, uh, deployed with the 42nd infantry division to, uh, Iraq and O I F three. Oh, wow. Um, yep. I ended up getting, uh, promoted to major, um, right before, um, deploying. So I, I did, uh, tour in Iraq with the 42nd infantry division. Uh, came back, uh, went to my civilian job, was called up again to train troops, going to Afghanistan.
BG Peter Riley: (02:52)
And then I got the opportunity, uh, to, uh, take command of joint task force, empire shield at counter, uh, operation in, uh, New York city. Um, and I subsequently got promoted to, uh, Lieutenant, uh, that was in, um, 2010. So I was, uh, commander of rep empire shield. Basically it was full-time counter-terrorism task force in New York city. And we actually expanded from 280 full-time army, the international guards and Naval militia, uh, personnel, uh, to, to 500. And then we actually, uh, went up to 780 by the time. Um, I retired as a full Colonel in, uh, may of 2019 did that, uh, full time. So I was there with, uh, hurricane Sandy, Chelsea bombing, working very closely with the four different partner agencies, including N Y P D counter terrorism, FBI, state police, uh, United States, secret service, um, port authority, um, all the, all the different agencies, uh, within, um, within New York city.
BG Peter Riley: (03:53)
So it was, it was a great mission. Um, but I had my 30 years so mandatory retirement kicked in, and that was in, in may of 2019. I retired. And then, um, I joined the New York guard, um, about 10 months later, um, March, April timeframe of, um, uh, I can give you exact date, but, uh, that was, um, you know, during the, uh, the COVID pandemic when it was quite bad in 2020, um, I actually, um, activated within New York art as a Colonel. So I came back in it’s the same rank. I retired from the national guard, and I was, um, in command of the, uh, lake Ontario, uh, mission that the New York art has participated in, uh, for several, several years. That’s every time there’s any type of flooding within the, um, lake Ontario area that gets, um, really bad. They asked the national guard and of course, New York guard, uh, to go help with that.
BG Peter Riley: (04:45)
So I did that, uh, uh, for a little while. Fortunately, the flooding wasn’t as bad in 2020 as it was in 2019. And, and, um, they asked me as a New York guard, uh, person to, uh, take command of, uh, COVID north, uh, date, joint task was COVID north. So it was, um, New York guard, Colonel I commanded not only New York guard troops, but New York army national guard and New York air national guard troops as, as well. So I did that, um, uh, for about a hundred days. So, um, we were in charge of all, uh, testing sites and distribution centers in upstate New York. So we had, uh, everything from, uh, Albany to Niagara falls. So we were at the Buffalo saber stadium stadium. That was one testing site. We were at SUNY Albany. We were at, uh, SUNY Binghamton. We were all air force based. We were at, uh, uh, community colleges in Rochester and Niagara, you know, helping with the testing, but also with the, uh, distribution of P P E E. So that was, um, that was a great mission. And I was very impressed with that. We had obviously myself as the commander at New York art commander in charge of army and air national guard troops, and then New York art troops, that mission is still going on. Um, I had to go back to my civilian job, but I was proud to serve on it.
BG Peter Riley: (06:02)
And, um, I was honored to be asked, uh, to be the commander of the New York guard. So I was able to, uh, interview for that position. And, uh, I got selected and had a change of command ceremony, and I got my, uh, promotion on, uh, one October, 2020. So, wow. Yeah. So very, uh, you know, um, you know, one of the things that encouraged me to join the New York art is you missed the comradery, the military, especially in you’re retired. So that’s one of the intangible benefits of, uh, the, the military is just the, the comradery. So, uh, that encouraged me to join the New York art. Then of course, when COVID hit, I really felt that I, you know, could assist, uh, based on my experience. So I was really glad to go help, um, in that kind of a role. And as I said, we still have New York art personnel on mission.
BG Peter Riley: (06:49)
We have, um, right now, uh, 53 New York art soldiers. Oh, wow. Serving yep. Serving alongside, um, with, be an international guard and, uh, New York nav militia. And you really wouldn’t know the difference other than the name tapes, uh, really great, great Americans. Great, uh, great soldiers, um, you know, the New York guard right now. Um, we’re, you know, probably about 360 or so. Uh, so again, it’s kind of, um, fluid a little bit with, with the, uh, with the numbers, but that’s, that’s about where we are, but again, out of, uh, of that number, we have, um, you know, 53 serving, uh, on state active duty, um, in terms of recruiting. Yep. We’re always looking for good quality people. Um, and, um, you know, we, we, you have, uh, both, uh, prior service and non prior service members, um, you know, other people bring in, uh, maybe not military, uh, experience, maybe they have law enforcement experience, or maybe they’ve got a specialized skill.
BG Peter Riley: (07:49)
Maybe they’re very good at it. Um, maybe they they’ve got, um, accounting background or background in human resources, so we can do a lot, you know, with, with that, that kind of just trained them. Uh, but based on the civilian skills, um, you know, in terms of training, um, a lot of what we do is, uh, similar to the, um, what the national guard does. I mean, everything from, um, you know, basic, uh, counter-terrorism to, you know, uh, also types of civil support operations, um, you know, um, awareness of, you know, any type of, um, issues that may be going on. So we, we try to, uh, we try to kind of mirror mirror the, the, uh, training that the national guard, uh, does. Um, again, it’s gotta be tweaked a little bit based on, um, what our needs are, but, um, if anyone’s not prior service, uh, we do have a, uh, a week long, uh, basic training. Uh, it’s pretty long. Yes, yes. So, um, yeah, um, they can go through and then they have other, other training, I E T um, I mean, for officers, we got, you know, commanded staff, we do like a basic non-commission officer. Uh, so again, uh, we make sure that, you know, they at least know the rudiments of, uh, military, uh, protocol.
Jean: (09:06)
Um, I kind of, I kind of wanna go a little bit, uh, back, uh, cause I’m kind of curious, uh, you did 30 years in national guard, um, yeah. Seeing in combat, you know, got deployed to a combat zone. Um, what made you kind of, what encouraged you to kind of, uh, go back into the military? What was, was it that, well,
BG Peter Riley: (09:24)
I think I, I, I missed the camaraderie a lot and I really did. I, you know, I, I, I just, you meet so many great people in the military, so, you know, obviously mandatory retirement kicks in and, you know, once you’re out, you’re realizing which how much mission miss it. And then of course, with COVID, um, I really wanted to help out because I, you know, I I’d been, you know, on state active duty for over eight years doing counter-terrorism full time in New York city. So I really felt like GE um, here it is, I retire. And then 10 months you have the worst, you know, civil disaster since nine 11, and I wanna help out so best way to do that was to join the New York art
Jean: (10:02)
And as, uh, new, as the commander of the New York garden. Um, I’m, I’m one thing that kind of like hit me when I saw that article was, um, with the old, that experience, um, running these joint task forces, uh, serving in Iraq. Um, what kind of, um, what do you want to like bring to the New York art or what kind of things that you wanna see improve, uh, with all that experience that you have under your belt? What, what, how, how would you wanna mold a New York garden in, um, in the image that you see it?
BG Peter Riley: (10:33)
Oh yeah. I have a vision for the New York art. And again, um, it’s close, fully aligned with, with the mission of the New York army and international guard is we’re all part of the same, uh, state defense forces. We’re all part of the same team. It’s, uh, one team, one fight. Um, so we, we’ve gotta continue to integrate, um, with the army and international guard. We’ve gotta, um, make their priorities, our priorities. We’ve gotta support them in any types of, uh, of missions that we can. So, uh, a lot of this is just, um, awareness, uh, training, uh, communication. So everybody realizes, you know, what, what our history is and what we’re were there for. I mean, if you look at the history of the New York art, I mean, it was formed during world war I, because the national guard units were deployed, uh, back then they were worried about German. You know, they didn’t call terrors when they called it sabotage, but, you know, that was one of the, you know, the big concerns. So we still have the terror threat. That’s not going away, but we have the COVID disaster. So we’ve gotta be, uh, ready, willing, and able to provide whatever we can, uh, to support New York state. Cuz that that’s what our mission is. That’s what we exist for is, is to help support and backfill the, the national guard.
Jean: (11:43)
Oh, okay. And going to, uh, training, uh, do you guys, uh, have, uh, do you have specific units for, uh, specific things? I remember, uh, that you guys had a engineering unit that did some really incredible work, uh, building, I believe the, um, um, uh, the mounts for the, uh, for the national guard, urban, uh, assault courses. Um, do you still have engineers? And I mean,
BG Peter Riley: (12:09)
Units, we, we do have engineers, we have people, um, you know, we have it, everybody brings a different skillset, but it’s more the skillset. You, you, you, you bring to the national guard because they’re not gonna activate a whole engineering unit, but they definitely need people with engineering backgrounds or with it backgrounds or whatever specialized skill that you have. Um, and then they would be integrated into, into, you know, regular L national guard, uh, units, other task forces that they create. So that’s more of the, the skillset, um, that, that they, they bring. So they train yes as an engineer unit, but they only need, you know, they need need five engineers or 10 engineers or general purpose people, but Hey, you’ve got an engineering background. That’s a real help, especially with like a lake Ontario mission.
Jean: (12:55)
Okay. Um, let’s see. Uh, so in, in regards to the New York mission, uh, New York art missions, uh, besides the COVID, uh, which we can get into a little later, um, what other missions, um, I know you were mentioning lake Ontario mission, um, besides COVID and lake Ontario, what kind of missions is the New York guard? Uh, been up to?
BG Peter Riley: (13:15)
Um, well we do, um, work with, uh, the national guard supporting any types of, um, uh, missions that, uh, that they may have. So we, we just, uh, recently had a, uh, me, which is communication, um, exercise that, uh, help, um, help support with, um, with the, with the army and air national guard. So, um, I end with it with COVID and, and, um, like Ontario, maybe on the horizon again, um, those are more the priorities, but, uh, you know, we do, uh, participate in, um, uh, you know, communication types, exercises, it signal exercises. So anything that, you know, they need that expertise. Um, we will be there for,
Jean: (13:54)
You mentioned it a few times. Uh I’ve I’ve had, uh, I’ve interviewed a few other, um, uh, state defense force commanders, and that is the number one thing that I’ve, uh, hear them talk about, uh, a great deal and, and mention, um, how, how important is, uh, providing it professionals to the national, uh, to the national guard. I feel like that’s, uh, like that mission is expanding and becoming very important.
BG Peter Riley: (14:20)
Uh, it is, it is especially with the threat of, um, uh, cybersecurity. I mean, now you can get a degree in, in, uh, it’s cybersecurity, uh, there’s units, there’s a branch now cyber branch within the, uh, regular army. So again, it’s, uh, yeah, they have a cyber branch, there was armor, you know, they have, uh, you can get branch cyber, so it’s, uh, big cyber units. So, I mean, it’s, it’s huge. And again, we have, um, you know, people, you know, in their professional careers are, are, are really knowledgeable and experts subject matter experts in it. So that is, uh, something that they can, they can, um, you know, help bring to the table and, and even just, you know, so much of administration now, it’s not manual it’s over your TAC card, it’s called computer programs, it’s all databases. So in order to, um, you know, get people, uh, paid and billed and keep track of them and missions, it’s so automated. So, you know, the more it experience somebody had, the, the, the, the better off they’re, they’re gonna be in any type of support role.
Jean: (15:21)
Um, one other question that I had was, um, how is the New York arts, because you mentioned this multiple times, um, how is the New York arts, uh, relationship up working with the, uh, national guard, um, and, um, kind of like, um, is it a, a, a good friendly relationship? Um, how, how do, how do, um, how does that relationship, uh, be between, uh, the New York art and the national guard?
BG Peter Riley: (15:46)
Well, uh, recently I, um, I went to visit, um, uh, New York art soldiers that at the mission sites, I was up at Binghamton over Christmas week visiting, um, New York arts soldiers. But again, they were all integrated with army and air national guard soldiers. I went to testing site, um, down in Yonkers, uh, mere Evans college, um, couple other locations, um, you know, within New York state. And again, it’s that integration, all the feedback I got a hundred percent was, was positive. Um, you know, there was no like us versus them or anything like that. All, all the feedback was, was, was a hundred percent positive. And, you know, for my being in commanders, a New York art commander, I mean, I got absolutely all the support, uh, respect and cooperation that I would want, you know, from the army and the air national guard. So that’s, that’s the key to success is that integration and building that great, uh, relationship. And, and from what I’ve seen from all the feedback from visiting troops, talking to regular national guard troops and New York art troops, everything I’ve heard is positive,
Jean: (16:48)
Uh, with these, uh, joint, uh, missions. Um, you mentioned in multiple times that, uh, New York guards working hand in hand with the army national guard, the international guard, are they basically, when they’re on these missions, are they basically working basically the same pose going to the same? Oh, okay. Wow.
BG Peter Riley: (17:05)
Yep. Uh, pretty much, um, you know, um, well, hotels now, mostly with, uh, COVID , but, uh, yes. Um, you know, they, they work, you, you know, integrated, um, you know, you may have a spot of, um, soldiers and, and, you know, rear New York guard and four army national guard and three air national guard, and they all get along fine. You really wouldn’t notice any difference other than the, uh, name tapes. So,
Jean: (17:33)
Uh, so if I, if you had to put a, like a number on it, in terms of, like, let’s say the amount of missions that New York art is performing, um, if you had to kind of put like out of 10, uh, how many missions, um, is it like nine outta 10 missions, you working hand in hand with the national guard? Um, what’s kind of like the ratio, do you
BG Peter Riley: (17:52)
See? Yeah, I, I would say probably nine outta 10. I mean, one of the things we bring, uh, expertise to is, uh, supply logistics. So, um, you know, running warehouses, which, you know, we can do all our on our own. So I said nine outta 10 probably would be working alongside with the national guard. Now we may have a mission we’re running, you know, just one warehouse, but again, who are we supporting? Who’s our, our customers, you know, the, the, the national guard. So, uh, so the vast majority are, are integrated missions. That integration is key.
Jean: (18:23)
Uh, that’s a very big, uh, difference. Cause I remember, uh, years ago, um, uh, uh, when, uh, the New York art, um, I would say even pre or even a little bit post nine 11, it was, uh, primarily New York art had their own missions. Uh, it’s really nice. Uh, it’s really great to hear that now, uh, it’s nine out of 10 that they’re working hand in hand with the national guard. Um, that’s an incredible,
BG Peter Riley: (18:47)
Yeah, no, it’s, it’s great. And you need to that integration, you can’t be in silo. You can’t be not knowing, you know, you know, what’s happening, you know, in other sectors or the, uh, in the battlefield, you need to know, you know, what thes on your left and what units on your quite filming what their mission is. So it’s great that we’re working so close together.
Jean: (19:06)
Uh, I’m, I’m kind of curious through the, um, thousands of the mission, uh, through thousands of, of the missions that the New York art has, uh, been participating in, um, over the years. Um, have, I’m just curious, have they ever deployed out of the state, um, or is that like
BG Peter Riley: (19:23)
A, not aware on the, I’m not aware of any, uh, missions, um, where they’ve ever deployed outta state, cuz that’s not really what their role is or what, what, you know, what they were designed for. It’s really the New York art. One of the things is you can’t be deployed at any state, so I’m not aware of any, any mission ever, um, where they’ve deployed out New York safe.
Jean: (19:47)
I know the, uh, do you think that would be like, let’s say if there was a neighboring state, like New Jersey or Connecticut, uh, or even, you know, further south, like North Carolina, if, um, if like a natural disaster happened, do you think that would ever be a possibility? I noticed a lot of state defense forces, uh, lately, uh, especially, um, one thing that kind of caught on my radar, which, uh, was reporting on the news for, um, which it took me as a surprise that, uh, during the hurricane that, uh, struck Puerto Rico, the Alaska state defense force got deployed all the way to Puerto Rico. Um, I believe for a few weeks to assist in disaster relief. Um, and I’m seeing that more and more lately over, uh, the last couple of years than I’ve ever seen that before. Um, do you think that a possibility with the New York guard, if that ever, um, if that was ever, uh, asked of New York,
BG Peter Riley: (20:38)
Um, I, I don’t see us deploying out of state. We never had, it’s really not part of our, our core mission. I mean, we’re a relatively small unit within the whole New York state defense forces. When you look at, you know, how many thousands and thousands of army and air national guard and, you know, we’re maybe, you know, a couple hundred. So I, I don’t think, um, uh, we would ever be deployed out of state because I would assume that we would make more sense to send in army and air national, regular national guard troops through the EMAC agreement, um, which is the emergency management, um, uh, compact because there’s a lot of other, you know, legal issues and support issues. So I would think it would be much easier to just send in regular army and international guard troops, but we’re always gonna be needed.
BG Peter Riley: (21:23)
I mean, just like COVID, it’s not like, okay, nine 11 hit new really, really bad, but you know, Midwestern states weren’t affected, um, same thing with hurricane Sandy. Um, when I was down, uh, you know, working, uh, with hurricane Sandy, you know, we had national guard troops in from Ohio, but it seems like the COVID and a lot of disasters it’s, it’s more, it’s more widespread. So I don’t, I don’t see that, uh, that at were happening, um, again for, for a lot of different reasons, but it’s, it’s not that easy to just deploy them without, you know, the proper support, uh, you know, all the way up, uh, probably through the, uh, through the governor. But again, we can always backfill if they gotta send an army or national guard unit and, you know, there’s a vacancy there within the state and we can help.
Jean: (22:07)
Oh, wow. Okay. , uh, moving on to the COVID 19 pandemic. Um, so when, when it kind of started was the New York art, uh, immediately activated and, uh, what kind of missions, uh, were, I, I know you mentioned a few earlier, what kind of a missions were, um, they involved in primarily and, uh, throughout the state.
BG Peter Riley: (22:27)
Okay. Uh, the New York art, um, you know, was activated. Um, we still have people, um, almost two years later. Um, that’s incredible. Wow. Which is, which is incredible. Obviously I was, uh, I was part of that. They switched me, um, you know, from lake Ontario mission, uh, to the COVID mission to be COVID, uh, north commander. So I was in, you know, charge of several hundred army, uh, an air national guard in addition to New York guard. Um, so again, you know, the main thing was, uh, was the testing sites at, um, all the, uh, various locations like, uh, across, uh, New York state, uh, but also, um, warehouse distribution, uh, supply and logistics, administrative functions. Um, that was, um, that was a real big mission because they had so much, you know, EPE and, and, you know, Hannah sanitizer and all the other things that needed, uh, to be, uh, distributed.
BG Peter Riley: (23:18)
Um, now with the vaccine, a lot of the, you know, testing sites are now vaccination sites, which is, oh, which is great. So it’s now vaccination sites. So when I was up visiting troops and in, uh, early December, uh, visiting again, New York guard troops that were commingled intermingled with, um, army and air national guard troops, uh, with the expo center, which was one of the vaccination sites. And they said, oh, sir, do you need your, uh, booster? I said, yeah, actually I do need a booster. So they gave me my booster. I mean, it was that easy, had my, uh, they said, you have your, uh, copy of your vaccination card. I said, oh, keeping my wallet next to my license. So, uh, pretty much transitioned over from testing sites now to, uh, vaccination sites and, uh, booster sites, which is, which is great because it was a lot, it was hard for people again, you know, you know, the booster when it came out, but, uh, if they could get it free, go to the, um, sites at the national guard, uh, you know, all over through New York state.
BG Peter Riley: (24:15)
So it was, it was, uh, it was a big, big help, uh, helping out with, uh, nursing homes as well. There’s national guard, uh, and oh, New York guard soldiers that are helping out with nursing home homes, because with the, with the COVID mission, there’s a shortage of trained, uh, people. So we took some of our EMTs, um, and they were able to help out, you know, in the nursing homes. So there’s, there’s always a need. You’re not always gonna be sure exactly what it is, but, you know, we’re always flexible. Um, we’re always, uh, resilient and always ready to, you know, conform to the mission, whatever that may be.
Jean: (24:48)
Yeah. That’s, that’s amazing. I, I, that’s what I was actually about to say. I was gonna mention, like, it feels like that, uh, the New York art kind of molds itself to the mission. Uh, so whatever the mission is, you have bodies to put in for that.
BG Peter Riley: (25:02)
That’s correct. Yes.
Jean: (25:04)
Uh, the other thing I wanna her to kind of, uh, kind of like go over, cuz I did see some, uh, news clippings, uh, which I posted on the website, um, regarding like is New York art and the supply and logistics. It seemed that, uh, like ever there were multiple sites and New York art was kind of was New York art handling all the, like the PPE and all the, uh, supplies coming into the state that were to be distributed. Cuz I always, uh, I constantly saw numerous articles on that.
BG Peter Riley: (25:35)
Um, again, it, it, we didn’t run, you know, all the, all the warehouse operations by ourselves. Um, you know, there was maybe a couple that was just pretty much primarily or totally New York art, but again, it was that integration with, you know, supply experts from the army and international guard. So again, um, we’re um, definitely, uh, a force multiplier and we can, you know, provide expertise, but again, it’s, it’s that one team on fight. Um, so there’s really not separate missions necessarily for the New York art. It’s like, Hey, this is what they , uh, national guard needs and we’re there to support.
Jean: (26:13)
Yeah. And that, that’s, that’s great to hear. I, I feel like, um, you know, I’ve been tracking New York art ever since, uh, you know, um, I began the website in, uh, 2004, uh, and it seems the New York art now is, uh, night and day different then, um, 2004, it, you know, um, it seems to be at the top of its game now. And, um, that, you know, that the focus of working with the national guard is the primary thing. And it, that’s just, it’s just incredible to see of, um, how far the New York guard came. And it’s, it’s incredible, honestly. Um, I kind of wanna, um, kind of ask, uh, since the New York guard’s at top of its game and, and that is your primary role, like nine outta 10 missions working with the national guard. I wanted to ask for your recommendation for the less active state defense forces and state guards out there, what recommendation do you have, uh, for them to get that better working relationship with their national guards? So they get more missions and they become, um, more important, uh, in regards to, um, uh, being part, part, being part of mission
BG Peter Riley: (27:24)
Um, yes, I mean, I think one of the key things is you wanna recruit good people, um, but you want to make your organization where you can provide a service or support to, you know, whatever your state, uh, national guard needs are. So see what the needs are in your state and kind of gear your training, gear your organization, um, towards what those needs are. And then you, if, if you are an asset, you will be, you know, you will be asked to, uh, provide, um, assistance soldiers, whatever the, the need may be. So I think that’s, that’s, what’s key. Every, state’s a little different, obviously, you know, we look at the wildfires out in California or the, or the Midwest, or, you know, we went on with the hurricane, uh, you know, Sandy here in New York. So every state’s a little bit different. Um, even just population wise, you know, other, you know, some states have hurt much more so with the COVID than others.
BG Peter Riley: (28:19)
So, so find out what the needs are in your state and kind of gear your, your training, your organization, your goals, your mission to align with, with, uh, what your state is is doing. And relationships are key. I mean, um, you wanna make sure you build those relationships, you know, with your, with your counterparts. And then, then you’ll be asked to, you know, participate in missions. And, and again, it’s, it’s more of a mindset, Hey, it’s one team, one fight, um, we’re on this together. Um, and let’s see what we can do to help, you know, support the people in our state.
Jean: (28:51)
Uh, kind of, uh, piggybacking off that I wanted to ask. Um, what do, what do you think collectively, uh, state defense forces slash state guards need to do, uh, to better grow and develop in a, in kind of like the short term? Like, um, uh, do you feel like there should be, uh, one kind of thing I wanted to, uh, ask was, uh, do you believe, like there should be like a central organization, um, almost like a national guard bureau, but for state guards slash state defense forces where, you know, um, it has a certain, you know, um, thing where it require a certain, um, training standards, certification, standards, height, and weight, uh, uniform standards, things like that. What are your thoughts on something
BG Peter Riley: (29:34)
Like that? Uh, my, you know, my thoughts, um, it’s, it’s, it’s great. If you can see what other states are doing and maybe, you know, use them as a role model. Um, but it’s, it’s a little harder to do with, with a New York art, which is, you know, basically a, you know, a volunteer organization and, you know, every state’s a little bit different, so, you know, maybe their needs are, are, um, um, are, are, are different. And then it’s gonna be hard to, you know, up with, you know, one type of standardization and then enforcing it. So I would think maybe as more of a voluntary or recommendation, Hey, this is what worked well with us. That’s great. But, uh, to, to, you know, try to form a, you know, much bigger bureaucracy and try to come up with all these, uh, standards that, you know, may not be applicable and, you know, one state as opposed to another, or I think, I think that would be a little bit too much because it’s a little bit too, uh, diverse and a little bit, a little bit more, you know, loosely organized than you do with the, you know, with national guard because, um, you have, you know, people paid, you know, exactly, you know, where, where they’re at with it’s a little bit more fluid with the, uh, with each state defense forces.
BG Peter Riley: (30:39)
So to get together, to share, uh, best practices, uh, to see what, you know, uh, what works in one state. But again, what way work in one state? I may not, not be practical in, in another.
Jean: (30:52)
Okay. Uh, and my last question that I have, um, is, uh, what are your long term plans for the, uh, for the New York art?
BG Peter Riley: (31:00)
Well, I think, uh, you know, any, any the organization always needs to, to constantly, uh, improve. And one of the ways to improve is to, is to learn, is to communicate and to, um, really be, uh, aligned with what’s going on. You know, what’s the threat out there? I mean, yes, it’s, COVID, um, it’s, it’s terrorism, it’s tornadoes, it’s hurricanes. So be we really cognizant of what the thread is. That’s why I make sure, you know, we always have, when we have our meetings, we have an Intel brief, what do we need to be aware of what’s going on? Um, also, you know, recruitment, you, you want to always recruit, get good, good quality, uh, people build those relationships. Um, and when you’re on mission, make sure you, you know, set a good example. So people like, wow, New York art, you know, oh, those guys are, are fantastic, what they did. Um, they really helped us, uh, support couldn’t have done the mission to win a, which is the feedback I’m getting. So if you’re doing that, you’re doing doing the right thing. So I think we’re doing the right thing, but again, we’re always want to always improve.
Jean: (32:01)
Okay, awesome. Um, that, it’s all my questions. Uh, is there anything that, um, that I didn’t cover that you want to go into or anything you wanna mention?
BG Peter Riley: (32:11)
No. No. I just wanna say, uh, it, it, you know, state defense forces are greater organization, uh, especially for those, you know, maybe not unable to, or, you know, retired, um, unable serve regulatory, or maybe they’re retire. Maybe they, you know, can’t be deployed outta their state, but it it’s a great, uh, great organization. And again, it’s those intangible benefits. The, uh, the people you meet and work with, which, you know, will really make it worthwhile. So I would encourage, uh, uh, anybody who’s thinking about it. Yeah. Go ahead and, uh, give it a try. I think you’ll, uh, think you’ll enjoy it.
Jean: (32:45)
All right. Awesome. Um, thank you for coming on the show and, um, I, uh, really appreciate you taking your time outta your, uh, day and, um, and thank you for, uh, you know, coming into the New York art and kind of leading them into the new decade.
BG Peter Riley: (33:00)
Well, thank you. Thank you. And you’ll, you’ll send me a link right. To the show.
Jean: (33:04)
Yes. Uh I’ll uh, I’ll actually cut the recording now. Yeah. Um, but yeah, uh, just, uh, off, uh, um, I, I just wanted to say thanks again. Um, uh, you know, coming on this show, uh, I really, uh, really gotta, I did, when I saw the, you know, the news article that you, you took a man, your combat vet 30 years in a national guard, it was, um, I felt like that was like the perfect marriage between a New York guard, uh, and the commander, um, uh, you know, and a commander. So it’s, uh, it’s really exciting that, uh, you’re leading them and, uh, I wish I was back in new. Yeah, I would, uh, enlist where you, uh, I’m in, uh, currently in Virginia. Um, okay. Okay. Yeah, my wife’s family’s here, so, um, I’m currently living in, uh, in Virginia Beach.
BG Peter Riley: (33:53)
Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah, I was there, I went to, um, national defense university joint forces, staff college. Yeah. So, oh, wow.
Jean: (34:00)
But yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s nice area, but, uh, it’s, it’s not New York. I miss the food and the people and the people. Yeah. Um, but yeah, thanks again, sir. I really appreciate you coming on this show and, um, hopefully, um, you know, um, down the year, uh, hopefully we can have you back on. Okay. Sounds
BG Peter Riley: (34:19)
Great. Okay. Thank
Jean: (34:20)
You. All right. Thank you, sir. Have a great night. All right. Bye. Bye.
