Ramón Colón-López Shares the Significance of Being Match to Serve

The Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman (SEAC) is the highest-ranking enlisted place in america Armed Forces. Because the principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees (CJCS), the SEAC oversees joint integration, readiness, and the well being of the complete enlisted power.

That place wasn’t even in place when Ramón Colón-López joined america Air Drive in 1990. It was created in 2005. Nonetheless, by the point the person often known as “CZ” retired from service in November 2023, he had develop into the fourth to serve in that function. He was not solely the primary Airman but additionally the primary of Hispanic descent to sit down in that seat.

Colón-López was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Connecticut when he was a youngster. All through his total childhood, he was energetic in sports activities and loved the advantages that got here from each competitors and exercise. He discovered that health and efficiency as an anchor served him in all features of life.

“To me, health is about availability. Should you’re wholesome, you could be obtainable. You don’t need to be the man that missed the decision since you weren’t prepared and obtainable. That’s why health is so engrained in all the things I do, together with now in retirement.”

A Chief of Motion

After becoming a member of the Air Drive, Colón-López was a Transportation Specialist earlier than he turned a Pararescueman, the place he thrived for over 20 years. He additionally spent 10 years inside the Joint Particular Operations Command (JSOC), serving as a Particular Techniques Group Chief and Senior Enlisted Advisor for the twenty fourth Particular Techniques Squadron. Previous to being named the fourth SEAC, Colón-López was the Command Senior Enlisted Chief for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).

To sum up his service in a number of paragraphs can be practically not possible, however the service in complete required him to be somebody that not solely made essential selections however took decisive motion. One shining instance of that is in 2004 throughout a mission in Afghanistan. His helicopter was suppressed by enemy hearth, but he led an assault that overran enemy positions, ensuing within the seize of 10 fighters with none workforce casualties. That led him to obtain the Bronze Star with Valor.

That may be one among over 50 medals and honors he obtained all through his profession, together with being the primary recipient of the Air Drive Fight Motion Medal and the primary enlisted member in historical past to obtain the Protection Distinguished Service Medal, the best non-combat award within the Division of Protection.

Colón-López didn’t enter service to gather medals or honors, however his dedication to nation and people serving with him are explanation why he has been acknowledged as many instances as he has. He is aware of that he’s the results of many missions completed, classes realized, and energy put into him by leaders that he labored below all through his profession.

“In my expertise, I wouldn’t be the place I’m if it wasn’t for all the things I realized from my first day in primary coaching to the final day earlier than I retired.”

From Advisor to Writer

Colón-López knew he had extra to supply after he hung up his uniform. He had stored notes in journals all through his total profession and determined to share the knowledge on these pages with the subsequent technology. The results of that’s his upcoming guide “Carnivore Management: Taking Cost As an alternative of Taking Shit,” which is scheduled to be launched on Jan. 27, 2026.

Within the guide, Colón-López talks about his “silver bullets” that he has discovered served him finest, and people embody emphasis on bodily and psychological health. After initially changing his classes realized right into a shorter inside doc, it was instructed that he may flip it right into a guide.

“As soon as it acquired within the palms of the airmen, particularly the youthful ones, it was properly obtained,” he recalled. “Folks had been nonetheless speaking about it years later, and it acquired within the palms of a writer, who instructed that every bullet be stretched out into chapters.”

That is Colón-López’s second guide to come back out. The primary was truly a youngsters’s guide referred to as “Scarlett’s Huge Shot: Turning Setback into Success,” and he co-authored that story with retired Marine and Navy SEAL Mike Sarraille. “CZ” shared that there will probably be extra books coming sooner or later which can be focused for youthful audiences and their households.

“It’s a dedication that we’re making to the subsequent technology. Mike and I put our heads collectively to see how we are able to form a message that oldsters may share with their children.”

Like many leaders and heroes that retire from the army, Colón-López hasn’t stopped and exhibits no indicators of slowing down anytime quickly. Since retiring, he has labored as a strategic advisor and serves on the Army Board of Advisors for First Command and the Board of Administrators for the Robert Irvine Basis.

So long as he’s able to offering service and making a distinction, he’ll maintain transferring ahead. That effort and being part of initiatives that make a distinction is why he feels extra youthful Individuals ought to contemplate becoming a member of the army as part of their future. The rewards go far past day-to-day missions.

“Service is a selection that youthful individuals could make that may make them really feel part of one thing larger than themselves,” he suggested. “The extra you get the idea of it being not about you however the mission and workforce in your head, the extra profitable you’re going to be.”

His name to motion doesn’t solely exit to younger Individuals however veterans as properly. Current years have seen extra political divide, and Colón-López has seen that trickle down to people who have worn the uniform. Colón-López means that heroes which can be not on energetic responsibility can nonetheless play a job in uniting everybody on the frequent floor that they reside in a rustic that many individuals around the globe want they might. He expressed that better dedication was honored, then he feels extra alternatives for not solely service, however prosperity could possibly be attainable.

“It’s all about private possession. Be answerable for your phrases and actions, these round you, and your goal,” he acknowledged. “That’s one among my primary considerations, that it’s changing into two camps. None of that issues whenever you’re downrange. Variations don’t must be arguments. There shouldn’t be a wall and two sides. The one aspect we must always all be choosing is patriotism and being an American.”

For Colón-López, the mission has modified, however the usual stays the identical: keep match, keep obtainable, and at all times put America first.

Each of Colón-López’s books could be ordered on Amazon.

M&F Senior Army Editor Rob Wilkins contributed to this text.