# Military Public Speakers



## Dienekes (Oct 19, 2015)

I would like to ask this community for some help. I have been bestowed with the responsibility of finding a suitable keynote speaker for my university's Greek Week contest. We always have a speaker come and they usually talk about sexual harassment or hazing, but this year, we would like the speaker's platform to be on leadership, and I immediately knew that I would do everything in my power to have a veteran become our speaker. Who better to speak on leadership than those who have had to be leaders in the most austere environments? However, this is not a top 25 school, and we do not have the budget those schools have. I have not been given a budget as a set date has not been set yet, but it is highly likely that it will be below $15,000 and around mid April. 

I have done some searching, but the only former military speakers that I have found are all generals that cost a whole lot more than $15,000. I have also contacted Dakota Meyer and Brandon Webb and am currently waiting to be contacted by their "people", but I'm not exactly holding my breath on those. With the unique veteran community here, I was hoping some of the members may know of some veteran speakers that I may be unknowingly overlooking. If anyone here could help, their assistance would be greatly appreciated.


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## Teufel (Oct 19, 2015)

What school?


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## Dienekes (Oct 20, 2015)

Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA

If there is anything else that I may have left out, please let me know.


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## Molinaro (Oct 20, 2015)

There's a former Marine Sergeant Major whom I served under he's retired and is now a leadership based motivational speaker, I don't know what his rates are but he's the most motivating human being I've ever met and I know anyone who's met him would agree. I can pm you a link of you want.


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## Dienekes (Oct 20, 2015)

Molinaro said:


> There's a former Marine Sergeant Major whom I served under he's retired and is now a leadership based motivational speaker, I don't know what his rates are but he's the most motivating human being I've ever met and I know anyone who's met him would agree. I can pm you a link of you want.



Absolutely


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## Marauder06 (Oct 20, 2015)

Ask General Russell Honore to do it.  IIRC he's from Louisiana and he gives... "interesting" speeches.


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## Teufel (Oct 20, 2015)

Do you guys have a ROTC? I'm sure one of the military instructors could set something up for TAD/per diem costs.


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## Dienekes (Oct 20, 2015)

Teufel said:


> Do you guys have a ROTC? I'm sure one of the military instructors could set something up for TAD/per diem costs.



That's a great idea. We have an AFROTC detachment; I'll go talk to one of the cadets in my class to see if he can help get me a meeting with the Colonel. And I'll definitely look into the General @Marauder06.


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## Dame (Oct 20, 2015)

@SAWMAN has said he's interested. PM inbound.


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## Marauder06 (Oct 20, 2015)

Dame said:


> @SAWMAN has said he's interested. PM inbound.



That would be pretty incredible.


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## Ooh-Rah (Oct 20, 2015)

LOL. You get Sawman to speak at your event and I'm gong to need to find an excuse to come visit your school!


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## x SF med (Oct 21, 2015)

Well...  I was trying to get CPT Florent Groberg to return a call to see if he'd be available...  he's not been around for the past few weeks:-", wonder why?

Sawman is an excellent choice...


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## Dienekes (Jan 21, 2016)

I am proud to announce that Craig "SAWMAN" Sawyer will be our keynote speaker. Sorry, it took so long to announce, but I wanted to make sure that I had crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's before making an announcement this awesome. I would like to thank the ShadowSpear community for being an outstanding resource and quickly offering assistance when I was in need of it. I would also like to give a special thanks to @Dame for going out of her way to put me in touch with Mr. Sawyer.


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## x SF med (Jan 21, 2016)

Sawman is a good cat, remember to have a tube or 3 of hair gel for him backstage, SEALs need their hair gel.


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## Dame (Jan 21, 2016)

No problem. I might see him tomorrow if I get my sad backside over to SHOT.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Jan 21, 2016)

Marauder06 said:


> Ask General Russell Honore to do it.  IIRC he's from Louisiana and he gives... "interesting" speeches.



Was thinking the same man, and I absolutely loved working for the man at First Army. Soldiers General through and through.

ETA: Didn't read the whole thread, awesome you got SAWMAN.


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## Teufel (Dec 23, 2016)

How was the event?


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## Dienekes (Dec 24, 2016)

I apologize, I completely forgot to provide an update.

Sawman did an outstanding job. Even a couple weeks after the event, I still had random people telling me that he was the best speaker we'd ever had. He spoke to the leadership message very personably and resonated with everyone in attendance. The women expressed concern initially that he might be too focused on the male perspective, but he demolished it, and I was told after that they thought he was phenomenal. His elephant story that made 700 women collectively say, "Aaawwwwwww" didn't hurt at all.

We went and had a couple beers and some etouffee after the event. I swear, if I didn't know better, I would have said I was just hanging out with a humble family man. He spoke a lot about his kids and being a father. I haven't been in touch with him since, so if you're seeing this, sir, I hope the family is doing well.

It was a great event that couldn't have happened without ShadowSpear, so thank you.

ETA: He also spoke to the football team who just went on to win a bowl game so that should speak to his ability pretty well.


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