About this episode
Send us Fan MailA Detroit childhood two blocks from his parents. Spanish-immersion school, homestays in Senegal and Venezuela, and a front-row seat to how neighborhoods rise or stall. Adam threads those early lessons into a life of service that moves from student government to City Hall, through Detroit’s bankruptcy, and into the dirt—mowing lots, demolishing hazards, and planting 15,000 trees to stabilize a community one block at a time.Then comes the late leap at 30: Army Basic, OCS, airborne school, and civil affairs. He calls some of it “manufactured angst,” but the grit is real—acing PT, navigating injuries, and learning the quiet truth that logistics win wars. Reserve service reshapes weekends and priorities, especially when his daughter arrives seven weeks early on a drill day and his son is born as Detroit tallies votes during a tense 2020 count. Training stops being abstract when NICU nights and a newborn CPR save make readiness deeply personal.As head of Michigan’s Veterans Affairs Agency, Adam meets the people policy often misses: a Black World War II sailor who waited 70 years to file a claim, women who served a decade yet won’t call themselves veterans, Vietnam-era troops who saw combat outside Vietnam and feel they don’t “qualify.” Adam argues for a simple standard—did you serve?—and backs it with action: veteran-friendly employers and schools, licensure fixes for military spouses, and forms that ask the right question. The throughline is clear: invest in people, not just hardware. Fund training that saves lives, cut gatekeeping that withholds benefits, and build systems that make it easier to raise a hand—and surer that we’ll keep our promise when they come home.Join us for a candid, fast-moving story about family, service, Detroit grit, and the policies that turn intent into impact. If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with the moment that stuck with you most. Support the showwww.veteransarchives.org
