Second Lieutenant Bryan Meek, Student Pilot, United States Air Force
Why did you decide to come to Leeds?
My father was a career U.S. Army officer, and his last assignment was as the commander of the Army ROTC department at CU. Growing up around CU, I knew it was an incredible place to go to school. I started my college career at a different university but decided to transfer to CU and enroll in Leeds because I knew the school had: a quality Air Force ROTC program, a quality business school, and honestly, I wanted to try to walk on to the football team (which I did for my junior and senior year). It was an incredible experience. I was able to study operations management and leadership (which will absolutely help me in my career as a military officer), play football and commission as an officer in the Air Force.
Could you share an experience (or two) that was particularity memorable at Leeds?
Because I knew I wanted to be a military officer, I chose the leadership route as one of my areas of emphasis at Leeds. While at CU, I was also in Air Force ROTC, in which cadets are given leadership roles over other cadets, similar to a military unit. In my leadership studies at Leeds, I learned various strategies and techniques I was able utilize within my cadet squadron, and they really worked. That was an awesome thing to see鈥攊nstead of just concepts written in a textbook, these concepts could work in the real world.
Any particular professors or mentors that influenced you while you were at Leeds?
Aside from the quality professors and instructors I was able to work with as a student, I found a fellow student to be a great mentor. He was a former Army intelligence analyst, who was attending Leeds after separating from active duty. He provided his experiences and knowledge from his time in the military to me, which was extremely valuable considering I was beginning my military career just as he was ending his. That鈥檚 one of the great things about Leeds鈥攊t has a wide cross-section of very different people, who bring unique experiences and knowledge to the table.
Where has life taken you since you graduated Leeds?
Since graduating from Leeds, I was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force through the Air Force ROTC program at CU. From there, I was selected to attend Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT), a prestigious pilot training program involving instructors and students from the U.S. Air Force as well as the air forces of fellow NATO nations. I have one month left in this 13-month program, after which I will earn my Air Force Wings and be a pilot in the Air Force.
What is one piece of advice/best practice that has stuck with you throughout your career?
Even when I was in college, every time I would ask an Air Force pilot about how to succeed in pilot training, for some reason, they all had the same answer: 鈥淒on鈥檛 suck.鈥� It might not have been the most informational piece of advice, but now that I鈥檓 actually in pilot training, it makes a lot of sense. The profession of military flying is a very demanding career field, in which people鈥檚 lives and millions of dollars of equipment are on the line. While it may sound aggressive, 鈥淒on鈥檛 suck,鈥� embodies the high expectations and confidence needed to fly fast jets.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
There are a lot of incredible people who have graduated from Leeds and from the University of Colorado that most Buffs don鈥檛 know about. For example, Vance Brand (from my hometown of Longmont) graduated from the CU business school, was a Marine aviator, and later became an astronaut for NASA. He was the commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission, an unprecedented mission showing cooperation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (or at least cooperation between their space programs). Leeds has produced leaders in all industries and occupations, both inside and outside of the business world. And as always, SKO BUFFS.
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November 2019