Perth has become the centre of the global security debate with some of the highest-ranking naval figures touching down this week in WA. US Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti joins us in the studio to mark the occasion.
This is the Nathan, nat and Sean podcast, all right.
Because the Admiral is in the House of the US Navy, because we wouldn't have anyone else. Of course, we're only going trade with the top. Admiral Lisa Frank Ketty, Welcome.
Thank you morning. Is so wonderful to be here with you all today.
Lisa.
We're confused while you're here, but we're very happy you are eighty percent badgers.
You've got the full.
At the moment thing.
A lot of is worth a bling, right, So.
Win those badges, says Admiral here. Okay, strips the sleeve stock yees.
So we're looking at the gold stripes everyone. You would have seen these in the movies and on TV screens. Are they actually gold?
Is that? Oh? It is? Yeah, a little bit from spotlight. Okay, Lisa, it is.
Great to have you here. Of course you're checking out the Orcus steel and the fact that I'll still making a lot of stuff down here in Henderson. So is it amazing to be in a place that you would have I mean, you wouldn't even know where Perth was at the start of this, would you.
Well, I've always known where Perth is because you know, we are an incredibly important partner with Australia, and I've had a chance to work with the Australian Navy over a lot of years, so I did know where Perth was. What I didn't know and I learned from my colleagues here that it is actually the farthest point on the planet from Washington, d C.
You know, any day I can get out of the Pentagon is a good day as possible.
And of course there's a long history of US Navy ships visiting Perth of course for some R and R over the years. My neighbor is a former US Marine who fell in love with a local girl and moved here.
So yeah, yeah, it's wonderful here.
So it was a good opportunity. Admiral Hammond, a chief of your Navy, invited.
Myself and the Royal Navy Head of the.
Navy to come down and really talk a lot about Arcus, have a chance to visit each Maya Sterling and me with some of the teammates there. It was amazing to see in the workshop sailors from the Royal Navy, from the Australian Navy, from our navy working together as we prepare to move forward with all the great things that are going to happen here as our ships continue to come down here.
We got a visit coming up with Emory s.
Land and the submarine will be visiting as well to participate in a maintenance activity.
A lot to bring down here all the time. We just don't know about it. You can't tell me.
You know, we've had a couple of great visits just in the recent past, and we're looking forward to the future ones too.
I've never been on a submarine. Is it Is it a claustrophobic feeling?
How do you feel in elevators?
I felt like, I think you'll be fine.
I'm going to my head.
We'll just have to watch your head.
Yes, But you know what, when I was talking to Emil Hammond, it turns out that a lot of Australian submariners are very tall.
Are you fit right in?
But you do have to kind of skinny your way through a lot of the passageways. Although marine it's you know, you can't talk to.
People passing at one time.
Yeah, yeah, Lisa. Can I ask you about how you got to this career in the first place. I know you were starting to be a journalist to begin with, So, how did then you become the head of the US Navy an article in the Navy.
Well, it's kind of a funny story. I went to school at Northwestern University, which is in Evanston. I was at Meddill, the School of Journalism, and.
I was a freshman and I was walking by a parking lot cookout and it was a bunch of people throwing a football around having a cookout, and I.
Said, what do you all do?
And they said, we're ROTC students Reserve Officer Training Corps, and we are going to be in the Navy.
We're going to be in the Marine Corps.
We get a scholarship and if you join us, you can get one hundred dollars a month.
Yeah, books and apply for a scholarship.
So good looking.
From top gun, you enlisted, and then you've just worked your way to the cream, rises to the top clearly.
Yeah.
So I always say I joined for free college.
I stayed for the mission. I stayed for the team.
And you know, in our Navy there was a lot of things that women couldn't do when I joined.
This is back in nineteen eighty five.
Combat we were allowed to do combat.
We could not serve on combatant ships. We could serve on support ships or repair ships. And then over the course of my career all the laws started to change so we could do resupply ships and then combatant ships in nineteen ninety three.
So I was right there kind of the cutting.
Edge of the women that weren't able to do that, and it really opened all the doors for me.
So I got to command a destroyer, yeah, a classic destroyer.
A destroyer squadron, a carrier strike group, and then most recently, from an operational perspective, our six fleet, which is all the waters around Europe and Africa.
So amazing opportunities at sea.
Do you cross the woman who controls a destroyer.
Hug you about maybe, yes, no problem. I want to ask you about being in charge of those destroyers and or any other boat. Do you actually have So in Australia, in w A, if you're going to drive a boat, you have to have a skipper's ticket. It's called do you have to do? You have a driving lossense of sorts?
So we have a big qualification process for all of our ship drivers of course, for our pilots, for our submariners as well, and it's not a license as you're describing, but it is our own qualification. So when there's a lot of boards that you have to go through, sort of you would sit like this and they would ask you every hard question that you could possibly do. And there's a lot of simulation and trainers and then on underway evaluations before you can get the ability to drive that ship around.
So you Destroyer.
Does it have keys like to start it?
No, I'm not.
Like a push button.
I we were very lucky to sleep on a navy ship and do our show from there the next morning, fun many years ago. And the one thing that I noticed was the four stacks of bunks. So four weren't they three stacks of bun Which one did you pick? I got the top one, but I smashed my head on it so many times? How many times in your naval career of your smack to head on the roof?
Well all the time, sleep in one of those.
But you know the good thing for me is I'm short, Yes, so I actually don't ever have to duck walking around about yeah, five feet to you know, sixty two inches of like a lot.
Of power mind Destroyer, Yeah, exactly.
Being in your position. You're privy to a lot of conversations and secrets out there. Is it hard to keep that stuff to yourself?
No, not at all, really, you know.
And I think the most fun thing though, is, you know, we get to talk every day to our sailors about our mission and the things that they're going to get to do, and really explaining it in ways that will make sense to them and give them the big why. I think it is one of the most important things I get to do every day.
This is Sam who does that social media. He has been I'm dying to ask.
You've got a question questions for you. Are you aware of the presence of aliens? The presence of aliens? That's all I want to know about.
So one of my best friends asked me about aliens all the time, and I tell him.
I can't tell you.
Oh yes, that's because you just say no.
Yeah, because if there's nothing to hide, you just go you know, there's nothing there. But if they're yes, then you're like, I can't tell you because.
Much into it thinking about it, we always think aliens are in spice right, but they're no.
There's there's aqua bully.
Aliens are under saying because the amount of and Atlanta, this is a land.
Haven't come up anything your submariners, So take a look what they can shine screen? What about giants creed?
What do we need to know?
Lisa? I want to ask you also, the current world at the moment seems close to the wall. It does all the time, and maybe that's a media thing or has this been happening behind the scenes for quite some time. We know what's going on with China, They're around everywhere South China's sea. Where are the US presence is growing? And of course with the stuff that's happening in Russia, is it a nervous time for us? Is it a nervous time being in your position?
Well, I think it's really important to always be watchful of everything that's going on around the world.
But you know, I'm not worried about those things because I know that you know, we work.
Together all over the world with allies and partners with great capabilities, and I think our number one job all the time is to deter any type of disruption in that rules based international order that has supported us so well for so many years. And I feel confident in the ability that we have to work together to train together. We do exercises all the time to be able to be ready for anything that comes our way. And I think that's our job as militaries to provide that kind of combat credible power to deter adversaries, but also be ready to respond if something should occur.
I want to ask about a certain song that has haunted the Navy for many, many years. How do we feel about in the Navy by the Village people?
That is a really fun song to dance to. Yeah, and you know, actually, I think it's all an amazing opportunity to celebrate everybody that joins our neighbor from across that rich fabric of America.
You're motivating.
I love the privileged people.
So while we're on music, I want to know as well, have you and do many people that are serving in the Navy get onto the cannon gun put it in between their legs and the film?
Have you done that?
Nod?
Look if somebody would be problems, I think that would be away.
So you got off when You're destroyer, But Lisa, I wanted to ask you. So in Top Gun. At the start of Top Gun, when you see in the first time.
All about references, you can tell we how to get you to the submarine.
So Tom Cruise goes upside down in his plane and there's the Russian pilots in their meg and he gives him the finger sign, right, so they get really close up and personal to each other. When you are out on the seas, the or the navy representing the US, do you get calls back saying how close you as a nation come to the opposition China or Russia or someone else out there, And that could get really close to being engaging.
So you know, all of the Nietans all around the world can fly, they can operate on the seas, you know, in accordance with international law all the time, and we really expect, you know, everyone to behave professionally up there. And I would say that is what happens to the mid jority of the time. I think sometimes there are occasions where aircraft will get too close, and certainly I do know about that, and we find out about that, and you know, we have a lot of good dialogues to talk with other nations about those incidents to make sure that they don't happen again, because we don't want to have any untoward incident at sea. Or in the air, and it's really important to have those lines of communication.
Can you do if you burnouts around another boat in waters that you think you sprice some water animal any of that stuff?
Go on?
Oh, we don't want to ever do that. Only in fun.
And you know, when I was a younger officer, we used to have a balloon water balloon contest and you would drive two ships kind of close to each other, we launch balloons at each other.
There's a lot of fun things you can do. A see.
Yeah, So how do you maintain a family life when you're you know, in the serving as you have been over the years. Is that a challenge for people serving in the in the armed forces? I imagine it is because you're away from home a lash.
Well, you know, I think it is all part of that good family communication. I'm married, I have a daughter who.
Just graduated from high school, and as.
A mom who has gone a lot of the time, I always focused on having the most quality time as opposed to the quantity of time. So, you know, now things are so different with internet, with connectivity. You know, when I was a young roster here waiting for your mail to catch up with you. When you're traveling all around the world.
But today you can.
Generally say hi, you have a chance to talk on the phone or send a quick post or you know, something on Instagram so that you can talk to each other.
So it's a lot different now, but it takes a lot of work.
It takes compromise, and it takes making sure that you have those good quality times when you can.
For about ten years. So are having a good perspective on it.
But you know, one of the things I'm the most excited about when you think about the future here in Western Australia and SRF West and the Submarines will be here, is that our families will get to be here with their sailors. They're going to get to live in this amazing place and work, you know, really here alongside all the different teammates from the UK and Australia, but in the community. And I'm really excited about that because one of the things I felt since I've been here is how warm it is.
We have the welcome to country ceremony.
You know, it's a really it's a rich place, and I'm really I feel really warm right now.
Not warm outside and it's your winter, but his warm is DC for sure, but warm and spirit.
I want to talk about your daughter. What is it like for someone to grow up with their mum being the head of the US. I mean, it's a great flecks added responsibility onto your family members as well.
What what?
What?
How does that work?
But I don't think my daughter ever took it too seriously. You know, she got to go to seven different schools, you know, growing up we lived in three different countries, so she had a lot of great, kind of enriching experiences over all those years.
So I think she's just really proud of what her mom does every day.
School, the busses daughters.
We've tried to keep it really low key, you know, we're authentic people, just like everybody else.
Gosh, Lisa, what's your leadership style and what makes it different to other people that have probably been before you. There's a bit of a deeper one, I think I.
Would I would say I'm just very collaborative, and I'd say that comes from growing up as a coxin rowing team.
I was, Yeah, so you know, I learned a lot about teamwork.
I learned about what to do, understand telling men what to do, but understanding what motivated each rower.
In the boat to help motivate them, you know, when the tough times came in a race around a workout.
And I think that that spirit of collaboration and teamwork is something that I've always valued and I think that's a I think.
It's what my leadership style is about. Plus being authentic.
Also also, if the engine of a stuffs up on the bike.
There is this woman in this position, I am you're an absolute pioneer.
Thank you.
But I had a lot of pioneers going ahead of me, always say all the way, and I had the opportunity. Yeah, yeah, a lot of opportunity.
So are you flying back home when you leave Australia or just get the ship?
Well, actually, I wouldn't mind taking the ship back because you know, it would take a nice long time.
I get a lot of good sunrises and sunsets. Yeah, but no, I'm flying up.
We're actually flying up to Manila and I'm going to go visit my counterpart up there.
In the Navy and I'm looking forward to that.
Oh one last question.
When people are serving and you're out in the ship and you're on a mission or whatever, do you they do you fish off the sheep off the ship.
Do people fish?
Yes?
Do you have a lot of fun things that we do.
First of all, a lot of ships have gyms where you can work out McDonald's McDonald's, but.
We do have some variation of a coffee shop on each one.
And then we have steel beach picnics, so you have a cookout barbecue on the flight deck and everyone goes up and has to You can go flight deck movies, you can go fishing it hit golf balls, biodegradable golf.
Balls off the side of the ship.
Marine, your hairdressers in there, your y but.
Like risk with that? Do they do colors now? To bring that you can get foils?
They do it fast cut and that's it. Enjoy meeting you. Thanks so much for joining us this the morning. It's just been wonderful to catch up.
And we're glad you've enjoyed your stay here in per You put a really human face on the military, and yeah, I really appreciate it.
Surprising. I look for it to being back in Perth many games. We you're our first and only admiral so far, So thank you. All right, Okay, more, I'll tell them to come.
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