I’m often called Colonel badass I’m
proud of that title I worked hard to get
it I work hard to keep it there’s a lot
of definitions for badass mine is around
leadership and power a bad ass uses
disruptive leadership to do the right
thing and to protect the powerless in
1977 I was a brand-new officer in the US
Army stationed over in Korea every day
men would try to disrespect me they
would try to refuse to salute me they
would call me very nasty names they
would even attempt inappropriate touch
it was exhausting my male peers who talk
about well they’re gonna stay in the
army 10 20 30 years they’re gonna make
Colonel they’re gonna make general I
just wanted to get through the four
years I owed maybe make captain and
leave with my dignity
well 1977 that is also the year that the
US army discovered equal opportunity oh
my gosh there’s this thing called equal
opportunity we have to have a conference
so the highest command a Thor me said
okay everyone send a representative
we’re having a conference well my unit
sent me because I was the only woman and
I showed up at a the army walked into
the conference room it was one of those
big conference rooms you know it’s
really big table and every seat was
taken around the table except the head
and every seat along the wall was taken
everyone in that room were black men
sergeants I was the only white woman
officer I did not want to sit at the
head of the table but as sergeant major
said ma’am here’s your seat I took my
seat I looked at them they looked at me
we waited and also the door flings open
and this white male major come storming
in and he says we have racism in Korea
you have three hours fix it and then he
left
and when I look back at all these brown
eyes I just said honestly it’s not my
fault
and they did what you did they laughed
and they go ma’am it’s not our fault
either so for the three hours they
shared with me what it was like to be
black in the army one sergeant said to
me ma’am you don’t know how many times I
was passed up for the good job because
I’m black another man’s man said ma’am
you don’t know how many times the white
soldier got credit for my good work and
then the sergeant major said ma’am you
don’t know how many times I’ve been
called nigger in uniform I realized I
was not the only one fighting for
respect when the three hours were over I
have to admit we did not solve racism
when they were over the sergeant major
came up to me and he said young
lieutenant you have power
would you please use your power to take
care of every soldier black white or
brown I said yes sergeant major and
that’s when I realized I did have power
I had power as an officer
I had power as a white person I had
power to protect the powerless few years
later I am a captain West Germany in one
Saturday afternoon I’m sitting in a car
outside of gymnasium I’m waiting for my
boyfriend to finish up and in front of
me is a playground and it’s empty except
for a picnic table there’s three young
black soldiers just sitting there
talking and I’m waiting and then I see a
military Jeep with four white military
police officers drive by and then I
heard this screech of tires and they did
a u-turn they came back and all of a
sudden those four jumped out of the Jeep
started running towards the three black
soldiers yelling racial slurs so I
grabbed my wallet and I jumped out of
the car and I ran between the two and
the sergeant of the MP said get out of
my way and I said no sergeant
I won’t he was well who the hell are you
and I flipped open my uh wallet and I
showed my military ID card and I said
I’m Captain Morgan thought who the hell
are you
well ma’am well ma’am we got a complaint
these soldiers have been yelling
obscenities at passers-by
I said no sergeant they’ve been sitting
here quietly talking to each other and
on their faces I saw this relief it
broke my heart
so I turned back to the MP and I said so
one of two things is true you were evil
you were either lied to or you’re lying
to me which is it sergeant
ma’am I guess we better go back and
check that false complaint yeah I guess
you better they drove off and I turned
to the three soldiers and said have a
nice day
and that’s when it really came home to
me the sergeant major was so right I did
did have power I had powers who use to
help do the right thing and protect the
powerless after the three sergeants I
said have a nice day I was an executive
officer an executive officer is
responsible for taking care of the
troops making sure they’re fed in combat
ready
I had several hundred soldiers I was
taken care of
I had three great sergeants working for
me they were women
they were black they were great Tanya
Karen and Lee Joyce one night Tanya
called me up and she said ma’am can you
come back to the office but don’t tell
anyone right sure and I went back to the
office and here were these three
sergeants scared I took them in the
office closed the door and I said what’s
wrong and Tanya said ma’am
Criminal Investigations is coming after
us what they’re gonna try and prove her
lesbians and kick us out what they
didn’t realize is at that point I had a
huge quandary months earlier the
commanding the commander the colonel had
called me into his office and he had
said Morgan thaller
we have lesbians in this unit I want you
to hunt them down and kick them out and
I remember looking at him thinking I
joined the army to hunt down communists
not lesbians and so I’d gone back to my
office and I opened up the military law
book and I realized oh my gosh it’s a
felony to be gay they could go to prison
they would lose their GI Bill they could
never hold a federal job and now I had
three self-confessed
lesbians looking at me and that’s when I
became a disruptive leader I decided I’m
disobeying an order and I’m helping
these women break the law so I opened up
the military law book and I showed them
exactly what the Army was gonna try and
prove then I looked at the three women I
said whatever you do whatever you do you
cannot admit that you are lesbians and
Tanya got this big smile she said ma’am
I can’t hide the fact that I’m a woman I
can’t hide the fact that I’m black I
cannot hide the fact that I’m a lesbian
and the three stayed in on their own
terms and did great things so rule
number one on disruptive leadership to
do the right thing to protect the
powerless be willing to disobey an order
break a law ignore a regulation
fast-forward 20-some years
to my surprise I am still in the Army
and I’m now a colonel
and in 2004 I was stationed over in Iraq
one day my phone rang it was a civilian
from the Midwest
mr. see and I was surprised I despised
mr. C and he knew it he used his power
for personal gain I remember one time he
misappropriated laptops and I raised
holy hell and I actually had a general
say play nice with mr. C and I said no
sir he’s dirty so I was very shocked
that mr. C called me and he explained to
me that he was mentoring a young man
let’s name him Eddie
he’s mentoring Eddie and anyone to do
something for the troops in Iraq so
Eddie was willing to set up web sites
for all of us 2004 web sites were a
mystery
so I I said I would love to have a
website please connect me to Eddie I
loved getting to know Eddie he was 15
years old same age as my son a great
young man
one day Eddie called me up in Baghdad he
was so excited he had one Patriot of the
Year award from that Midwest Command and
the prize was to visit these military
installations and mr. C would be his
chaperone and inside I screamed no this
is wrong I had no proof this is wrong
but one thing I have learned in life if
you are dirty in one area you might be
dirty in another area I wasn’t the only
one who felt this a group of mothers
went to the commanding generals had sir
don’t let this happen he berated them
for casting doubts on mr. C’s character
in hindsight I know now what I should
have done I should have given someone
the authority to push me to do the right
thing to listen to my gut to protect the
powerless someone like the sergeant
major to say ma’am it’s not about being
a woman it’s not out of being a mother
you are a colonel you go use that power
and you tell that general this is wrong
but instead I did nothing mr. C rape
rule number two give someone the
authority to push you to push you to do
the right thing because sometimes it is
so easy not to give someone that power
to remind you that you have power and
you are there to do
the right thing and you are there to
protect the powerless a little later now
Iraq I was given the opportunity for
redemption and I took it if you remember
back in 2003 we had seven soldiers do
terrible things to the prisoners at Abu
gorab things countered to the Geneva
Convention well the White House and the
Secretary of Defense suppressed the
story suppressed the facts suppressed
horrible pictures 2004 when I’m in
Baghdad in May the whole story blew up
the Pentagon assigned me as the
spokesperson and I said to the Pentagon
I am NOT going to say I’m sorry this
will never happen again we have a
process in place believe us I was going
to tell the truth Pentagon said fine so
I just kept researching everything that
went on that in that prison and I just
kept pushing out the facts pushing out
the facts and one day the White House
called a high official and he said
Morgan thaller if you don’t stop this we
can send you home in disgrace you will
never see general your career career
will end and I thought of General George
as Patton and one of his quotes is do
your duty as you see it and damn the
consequences so I said to him I accept
the consequences rule number three when
you use power for good when use power to
protect the powerless there may be
consequences
accept them I entered the army hoping to
do 40 years hoping maybe I make captain
well I got to be a badass i dot my
badass mojo back after Abu gorab and I
realized these three rules were so
important rule number one you must be
willing to disobey an order ignore
regulation break the law to do the right
thing
rule number two give someone the
authority to push you to do the right
thing and rule number three there may be
consequences accept them so at 30 years
I retired
the White House was right I retired as a
colonel not bad
and the army gave me the Bronze Star for
telling the truth thank you [Music]
proud of that title I worked hard to get
it I work hard to keep it there’s a lot
of definitions for badass mine is around
leadership and power a bad ass uses
disruptive leadership to do the right
thing and to protect the powerless in
1977 I was a brand-new officer in the US
Army stationed over in Korea every day
men would try to disrespect me they
would try to refuse to salute me they
would call me very nasty names they
would even attempt inappropriate touch
it was exhausting my male peers who talk
about well they’re gonna stay in the
army 10 20 30 years they’re gonna make
Colonel they’re gonna make general I
just wanted to get through the four
years I owed maybe make captain and
leave with my dignity
well 1977 that is also the year that the
US army discovered equal opportunity oh
my gosh there’s this thing called equal
opportunity we have to have a conference
so the highest command a Thor me said
okay everyone send a representative
we’re having a conference well my unit
sent me because I was the only woman and
I showed up at a the army walked into
the conference room it was one of those
big conference rooms you know it’s
really big table and every seat was
taken around the table except the head
and every seat along the wall was taken
everyone in that room were black men
sergeants I was the only white woman
officer I did not want to sit at the
head of the table but as sergeant major
said ma’am here’s your seat I took my
seat I looked at them they looked at me
we waited and also the door flings open
and this white male major come storming
in and he says we have racism in Korea
you have three hours fix it and then he
left
and when I look back at all these brown
eyes I just said honestly it’s not my
fault
and they did what you did they laughed
and they go ma’am it’s not our fault
either so for the three hours they
shared with me what it was like to be
black in the army one sergeant said to
me ma’am you don’t know how many times I
was passed up for the good job because
I’m black another man’s man said ma’am
you don’t know how many times the white
soldier got credit for my good work and
then the sergeant major said ma’am you
don’t know how many times I’ve been
called nigger in uniform I realized I
was not the only one fighting for
respect when the three hours were over I
have to admit we did not solve racism
when they were over the sergeant major
came up to me and he said young
lieutenant you have power
would you please use your power to take
care of every soldier black white or
brown I said yes sergeant major and
that’s when I realized I did have power
I had power as an officer
I had power as a white person I had
power to protect the powerless few years
later I am a captain West Germany in one
Saturday afternoon I’m sitting in a car
outside of gymnasium I’m waiting for my
boyfriend to finish up and in front of
me is a playground and it’s empty except
for a picnic table there’s three young
black soldiers just sitting there
talking and I’m waiting and then I see a
military Jeep with four white military
police officers drive by and then I
heard this screech of tires and they did
a u-turn they came back and all of a
sudden those four jumped out of the Jeep
started running towards the three black
soldiers yelling racial slurs so I
grabbed my wallet and I jumped out of
the car and I ran between the two and
the sergeant of the MP said get out of
my way and I said no sergeant
I won’t he was well who the hell are you
and I flipped open my uh wallet and I
showed my military ID card and I said
I’m Captain Morgan thought who the hell
are you
well ma’am well ma’am we got a complaint
these soldiers have been yelling
obscenities at passers-by
I said no sergeant they’ve been sitting
here quietly talking to each other and
on their faces I saw this relief it
broke my heart
so I turned back to the MP and I said so
one of two things is true you were evil
you were either lied to or you’re lying
to me which is it sergeant
ma’am I guess we better go back and
check that false complaint yeah I guess
you better they drove off and I turned
to the three soldiers and said have a
nice day
and that’s when it really came home to
me the sergeant major was so right I did
did have power I had powers who use to
help do the right thing and protect the
powerless after the three sergeants I
said have a nice day I was an executive
officer an executive officer is
responsible for taking care of the
troops making sure they’re fed in combat
ready
I had several hundred soldiers I was
taken care of
I had three great sergeants working for
me they were women
they were black they were great Tanya
Karen and Lee Joyce one night Tanya
called me up and she said ma’am can you
come back to the office but don’t tell
anyone right sure and I went back to the
office and here were these three
sergeants scared I took them in the
office closed the door and I said what’s
wrong and Tanya said ma’am
Criminal Investigations is coming after
us what they’re gonna try and prove her
lesbians and kick us out what they
didn’t realize is at that point I had a
huge quandary months earlier the
commanding the commander the colonel had
called me into his office and he had
said Morgan thaller
we have lesbians in this unit I want you
to hunt them down and kick them out and
I remember looking at him thinking I
joined the army to hunt down communists
not lesbians and so I’d gone back to my
office and I opened up the military law
book and I realized oh my gosh it’s a
felony to be gay they could go to prison
they would lose their GI Bill they could
never hold a federal job and now I had
three self-confessed
lesbians looking at me and that’s when I
became a disruptive leader I decided I’m
disobeying an order and I’m helping
these women break the law so I opened up
the military law book and I showed them
exactly what the Army was gonna try and
prove then I looked at the three women I
said whatever you do whatever you do you
cannot admit that you are lesbians and
Tanya got this big smile she said ma’am
I can’t hide the fact that I’m a woman I
can’t hide the fact that I’m black I
cannot hide the fact that I’m a lesbian
and the three stayed in on their own
terms and did great things so rule
number one on disruptive leadership to
do the right thing to protect the
powerless be willing to disobey an order
break a law ignore a regulation
fast-forward 20-some years
to my surprise I am still in the Army
and I’m now a colonel
and in 2004 I was stationed over in Iraq
one day my phone rang it was a civilian
from the Midwest
mr. see and I was surprised I despised
mr. C and he knew it he used his power
for personal gain I remember one time he
misappropriated laptops and I raised
holy hell and I actually had a general
say play nice with mr. C and I said no
sir he’s dirty so I was very shocked
that mr. C called me and he explained to
me that he was mentoring a young man
let’s name him Eddie
he’s mentoring Eddie and anyone to do
something for the troops in Iraq so
Eddie was willing to set up web sites
for all of us 2004 web sites were a
mystery
so I I said I would love to have a
website please connect me to Eddie I
loved getting to know Eddie he was 15
years old same age as my son a great
young man
one day Eddie called me up in Baghdad he
was so excited he had one Patriot of the
Year award from that Midwest Command and
the prize was to visit these military
installations and mr. C would be his
chaperone and inside I screamed no this
is wrong I had no proof this is wrong
but one thing I have learned in life if
you are dirty in one area you might be
dirty in another area I wasn’t the only
one who felt this a group of mothers
went to the commanding generals had sir
don’t let this happen he berated them
for casting doubts on mr. C’s character
in hindsight I know now what I should
have done I should have given someone
the authority to push me to do the right
thing to listen to my gut to protect the
powerless someone like the sergeant
major to say ma’am it’s not about being
a woman it’s not out of being a mother
you are a colonel you go use that power
and you tell that general this is wrong
but instead I did nothing mr. C rape
rule number two give someone the
authority to push you to push you to do
the right thing because sometimes it is
so easy not to give someone that power
to remind you that you have power and
you are there to do
the right thing and you are there to
protect the powerless a little later now
Iraq I was given the opportunity for
redemption and I took it if you remember
back in 2003 we had seven soldiers do
terrible things to the prisoners at Abu
gorab things countered to the Geneva
Convention well the White House and the
Secretary of Defense suppressed the
story suppressed the facts suppressed
horrible pictures 2004 when I’m in
Baghdad in May the whole story blew up
the Pentagon assigned me as the
spokesperson and I said to the Pentagon
I am NOT going to say I’m sorry this
will never happen again we have a
process in place believe us I was going
to tell the truth Pentagon said fine so
I just kept researching everything that
went on that in that prison and I just
kept pushing out the facts pushing out
the facts and one day the White House
called a high official and he said
Morgan thaller if you don’t stop this we
can send you home in disgrace you will
never see general your career career
will end and I thought of General George
as Patton and one of his quotes is do
your duty as you see it and damn the
consequences so I said to him I accept
the consequences rule number three when
you use power for good when use power to
protect the powerless there may be
consequences
accept them I entered the army hoping to
do 40 years hoping maybe I make captain
well I got to be a badass i dot my
badass mojo back after Abu gorab and I
realized these three rules were so
important rule number one you must be
willing to disobey an order ignore
regulation break the law to do the right
thing
rule number two give someone the
authority to push you to do the right
thing and rule number three there may be
consequences accept them so at 30 years
I retired
the White House was right I retired as a
colonel not bad
and the army gave me the Bronze Star for
telling the truth thank you [Music]
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