1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,590 My name is major Kathleen Reuben . I am 2 00:00:02,590 --> 00:00:06,200 a 71 alpha microbiologist . I am an 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,960 astronaut . I work at Nasa . So I've 4 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:11,071 always wanted to be an astronaut ever 5 00:00:11,071 --> 00:00:13,071 since I was a little kid and it was 6 00:00:13,071 --> 00:00:15,293 definitely a big dream of mine . So why 7 00:00:15,293 --> 00:00:17,349 did I choose the Army Reserve ? Um , 8 00:00:17,349 --> 00:00:19,404 that's a good question . And my Navy 9 00:00:19,404 --> 00:00:19,130 friends are going to get real mad right 10 00:00:19,130 --> 00:00:22,320 now . I really thought about , you know , 11 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,487 what are my skills as a professional ? 12 00:00:24,487 --> 00:00:27,430 And my area of research is in stem and 13 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,870 in biology specifically . Um , and in 14 00:00:29,870 --> 00:00:32,092 biodefense and when I thought about all 15 00:00:32,092 --> 00:00:34,314 of the services , um , and really who's 16 00:00:34,314 --> 00:00:36,314 doing biodefense , that really made 17 00:00:36,314 --> 00:00:38,481 sense to be in the army domain , There 18 00:00:38,481 --> 00:00:40,592 have been some other people that have 19 00:00:40,592 --> 00:00:42,648 inspired me , my stepdad , he was an 20 00:00:42,648 --> 00:00:44,759 Army reserve chaplain . He was like , 21 00:00:44,759 --> 00:00:46,814 wow , you know , I didn't think that 22 00:00:46,814 --> 00:00:46,730 you would do something like this , but 23 00:00:46,730 --> 00:00:48,952 this matches what you do , this matches 24 00:00:48,952 --> 00:00:50,619 the skills that you have your 25 00:00:50,619 --> 00:00:52,619 enthusiastic about it . You want to 26 00:00:52,619 --> 00:00:54,786 serve like what a perfect thing . Well 27 00:00:54,786 --> 00:00:56,897 bear true faith and allegiance to the 28 00:00:56,897 --> 00:00:58,619 same . I was really excited to 29 00:00:58,619 --> 00:00:58,250 commission in the army . Lieutenant 30 00:00:58,250 --> 00:01:00,361 general Jody Daniels for me and I was 31 00:01:00,361 --> 00:01:02,528 just a little overwhelmed , you know , 32 00:01:02,528 --> 00:01:04,583 I want to say maybe starstruck to me 33 00:01:04,583 --> 00:01:06,472 being a soldier means that you're 34 00:01:06,472 --> 00:01:08,680 serving . It's a super interesting job 35 00:01:08,690 --> 00:01:10,930 and particularly from a stem career 36 00:01:10,930 --> 00:01:12,930 field perspective , but we're also 37 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:15,107 learning and we're engaging our brains 38 00:01:15,107 --> 00:01:17,329 and some really interesting stuff . One 39 00:01:17,329 --> 00:01:19,440 of the coolest things so far has been 40 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,440 meeting all the people in my unit . 41 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,384 I've had a great time talking with 42 00:01:23,384 --> 00:01:25,384 people both in my specialty and the 43 00:01:25,384 --> 00:01:27,162 people that are doing something 44 00:01:27,162 --> 00:01:29,218 completely different . My advice for 45 00:01:29,218 --> 00:01:31,440 the next generation of leaders , people 46 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,607 who want to be leaders in the army and 47 00:01:33,607 --> 00:01:35,607 who want to be astronauts um is you 48 00:01:35,607 --> 00:01:37,607 know , really think about what your 49 00:01:37,607 --> 00:01:39,829 technical excellence is , um what field 50 00:01:39,829 --> 00:01:41,996 you wanna pursue , be the best in that 51 00:01:41,996 --> 00:01:44,162 field . There will be people that will 52 00:01:44,162 --> 00:01:43,220 tell , you know , that's not a good 53 00:01:43,220 --> 00:01:45,276 idea and just don't listen to them . 54 00:01:45,276 --> 00:01:48,060 Army just does such an incredible job 55 00:01:48,060 --> 00:01:50,282 at developing leaders . And I think the 56 00:01:50,282 --> 00:01:52,200 skills that I learned in the Army 57 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,300 Reserve will hopefully help me be a 58 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:55,260 better astronaut .