 Well, hey, Dr. Ludkey. I'm glad that you stopped by today to have a discussion about vaccines and our airmen and our wing. And you know, it's pretty remarkable. And what less than a year of vaccine was developed. And I'm sure in your time of medicine, nothing like that has happened, right? No, this is the first time ever in history. Yeah. It's pretty remarkable. And I think it was about a month ago. I got my first shot. And then several weeks ago, I got my second shot. So I'm fully vaccinated now. And you know, I have to be honest, it was not a quick decision to get vaccinated. There was a lot of thought that went into that. And I think, you know, I recognize that within our wing, the decision whether or not to get vaccinated, first of all, is voluntary. And it's also a big decision. But I want to share my story of kind of some things that were going through my mind when I made a decision to get vaccinated. And ultimately, you know, I want to encourage all of our members of the 173rd Fighter Wing to consider getting vaccinated. I think it's good for three reasons. I think it's good because it's going to end the pandemic a lot quicker, which I think we can all agree that the day that we can get back to normal is great. And we all know that the more folks that are vaccinated, the quicker the pandemic is going to end. And more on personal, lovely night. As so many people, I had a family member was in the hospital for several days back in North Dakota. And he's a couple of years older than me and he's very healthy and it was scary. It was not a good situation, he overcame it. And I also know that many family, many airmen in the wing have lost family members. And that's very tragic and to suffer that kind of loss. So the loss, the destruction, our lives, it's very real. And so I felt like anything that I could do to help my family, to help out the community so that more folks can get vaccinated would be good. And then lastly, I thought from our mission perspective, we think about the disruption to our mission and when we had to go into split shifts, we think about the importance of our mission here of turning out 15 pilots serving or supporting combat operations. You know, it really hits home when we had to reduce our flying schedule. We had to reduce our maintenance schedules to confront this pandemic. And the more folks that get vaccinated, the more that we can now get back to normal. It brings a lot of peace of mind to me now. If I'm exposed to somebody who's positive that if I'm fully vaccinated, which I am now, I don't have to quarantine, right? Correct, yep. So I can continue to come to work normally and I know for many folks, including myself, being able to come to work was the huge morale boost, right? So getting back to seeing our peers, our teammates, our women here on base is important in my life and in everybody else. So, you know, I really understand that it's a big decision to get vaccinated at the end. I think it's a great opportunity and it got vaccines available for the wing. But, you know, in the end, like I said, I think it helps bring the end of the pandemic quicker if we all get vaccinated, it helps our families, it helps our communities. But I do recognize it's a big decision and there's a lot of factors that are weighing on people's minds, right? It's very big. Thoughts on that. I would agree with a lot of what you said so far, but as a physician, my biggest concern at the moment is that the longer this pandemic goes on, the more likelihood that the virus will have further mutations. You know, we already know of hundreds, there's three big ones that we're watching, but there have been a lot of mutations already to the virus and the longer it's allowed to stay in the community, the more likely it could only make things worse than what it is now. So it's a big decision for a lot of people and I'm sure that for some people, it's as big of a decision as if considering having surgery and they recognize that it may not be, although it's a very safe vaccine, no matter what we do, there's always a risk and that they have to make that decision for themselves as to whether or not they think the small risk that there might be is worthwhile to getting a vaccine for them. Right and like you said, it's a big decision and I know for me, when I confront big life decisions, which I think this is, it's important to reach out to family, to friends, to coworkers, because we can all look at the data and the numbers, but there's that comfort in reaching out to somebody who might have already been vaccinated, right? Right. And we have a large number of people who may not have been vaccinated. So we're hundreds so far. So I think sometimes it's good just to ask your teammate, your friend, your family members, always like to get vaccinated and to share their story as well, that can kind of help us to gain an understanding of how other people approach this too, because it definitely isn't easy, especially if you have concerns about risk levels and there's so much information out there, it can become overwhelming, right? Oh, sure. And a lot of the information that's out there right now is not very good information. There's a lot of stories out there regarding the potential for microchips or for the possibility that it might have been developed in association with fetal tissue from aborted babies. There are so many scary stories out there that have no relevance to the truth at all in how these vaccines were developed. Even some of the less troublesome is the story that these mRNA vaccines are completely brand new, that we've never done this before and that's not true either. I mean, this technology has been used in veterinary medicine for quite a while now and we've been working with the technology for at least 10, 15 years. These are the first ones to actually be successful, but they're successful. And now at this point we've administered the vaccines to more than 40 million people across the United States just in the last three, four months and there has not been any pattern at all to actual safety concerns short of what we would expect with any other vaccine. Right, and my understanding and part of my decision matrix was extremely low risk of an adverse reaction. And, but I would say most people know from talking to their friends or family that you might encounter some side effects right from a vaccine, just like it was when it blew. And for myself, I'll be completely honest. I had a sore arm after the first one, after the second one. I kind of felt pretty run down the next day. So did I. And it didn't come on immediately but the next morning I woke up and I felt, oh, I felt pretty run down. I didn't have a fever, but I remember thinking, okay, I'll get through this and the next day I woke up, felt fine. And I still think that the minor discomfort for that day is totally worth it to me knowing that I'm fully vaccinated and I think, like I said, the risk overall was very, very low for a serious reaction. So to me that was something good for behind me but I do acknowledge that many people are going to be looking at all the risk factors and ultimately it's going to be their decision, right? This is a volunteer. That's one of the common questions that we hear is just going to be mandatory. Is there gonna be a day when this is gonna be mandatory? And the answer is no and this is each airman, each teammate at Kingsley Field, I really want them to discern what is right for them. My personal belief is I think it would be great as we can get as many airmen and teammates here at Kingsley Vaccine as possible. Definitely. Bring it into the pandemic as soon as it's best for our mission in my opinion and as best for our families and as evidence, I think one of the things that was fairly significant is there's a large percentage of the pilots that are now vaccinated. Correct, yeah. Very large percentage and that's huge because our business is, here at Kingsley is to train at 15 pilots. So if any one of them are exposed, that could seriously put a damper on our mission capability. And for a group of folks that are the most concerned about their health and being able to continue to fly, they were the first to stand up and volunteer for the vaccinations. And the moment they heard there was even a possibility we would have them on base, they were calling to get scheduled and to get in as soon as possible. So I was very impressed with that group. Yeah, and I just want to also acknowledge that I'm really thankful for people that are willing to share their story. I think that's important. So we have people on the wing that've been vaccinated. So as I'm encouraging everyone to get the facts, make their own decision, but recognize the value in it to reach out, reach out and because, like I said, oftentimes in life when we're encountered with what seems overwhelming amount of information, we go to the people that we know and we trust the best, especially the people that have been through that experience and off of that perspective. And I think the more that we are willing to share our story or decision process of what we got vaccinated, the more of our teammates may consider stepping up and getting vaccinated. Yeah, and I would hope that if anybody does have any significant questions that they just don't feel like they can get enough information about that they're willing to reach out and contact me as well, I'm more than happy to talk to anybody and just simply give them the truth and let them make their own decisions. You know, I also am not too concerned. I would hope that everybody would be vaccinated, but I'm not going to be too concerned about trying to pressure anybody into it because it is a decision for themselves. And hopefully we will never have an adverse event here at the base. And we have not yet with the several hundred that we have vaccinated so far, but there is always that risk and I always keep that in the back of my mind. So it is a gamble, but hopefully the gamble has a lot more reward than there is potential risk out of it. And if the fair men want to receive the vaccine, it's pretty easy, right? It's very easy. All they need to do is reach out and contact the Med Group. You know, we have been sending out now both the telephone contact numbers as well as an email now in the weekly updates that Colonel Orscheron is sending out and all they need to do is contact us and we will get them, at least add them to the waiting list if not get them scheduled. You know, there is a little bit of complication on our end with the Med Group in the fact that we do need 10 people at a time to open up a vial. But you know, we are trying to make it as easy as possible for everybody on base because we know it's a big step for somebody to even raise their hand in the first place. So if they're willing to go that far, we'll try to make it as easy as possible for them. You bet. And you know, I think you've commented already, but you know, I think you had mentioned kind of your decision matrix and getting vaccinated. What were some of the things in your mind that you thought, you know, this is what's leading down that path to get vaccinated? Yeah, for me, you know, I haven't had somebody close in the hospital or dealing with COVID yet, but as a physician, I actually did have an opportunity where I talked to several of the physicians face to face who were in New York City last year, in the heat of it, in the middle, you know, dealing with people passing away on almost a daily basis in the hospitals in New York City. And it really hit them hard. I mean, and that's the thing with COVID is a lot of people talk about, well, you know, the fatality rate isn't as bad as influenza or it's the same as, but there's so much more to this. I mean, you know, I know lots of people who now are suffering from PTSD because they've been in the healthcare system in the thick of it, dealing with people passing away from COVID and there are also, you know, non-fatality side effects of the actual illness as well. You know, some people are suffering from long-term nerve damage just because they had COVID and it was a rather mild illness, but you know, the virus can affect other things than just giving you those flu-like symptoms. So to me, you know, I mean, fortunately with my background, I have a much better understanding of the vaccine technology. I was perfectly comfortable with it and knowing the significant impact that COVID has had on the community and the world as a whole. You know, I didn't even hesitate with the possibility of getting vaccinated because I knew this is the only way we're gonna get out of this in the next couple of years. Yeah, you know, and I think we've got, probably days ahead, I think we've got a great opportunity here for our team to volunteer to get vaccinated. Again, thanks for the conversation today with you, Doc. I think you've given a lot of great perspective on sharing your story and some of your insights. And I look forward to seeing as many of our teammates step forward if they want to volunteer to get vaccinated for them to do so and in their future. Appreciate your time today. Yes, sir. Thanks.