A helpful hand: A conversation with U.S. Air Force veteran and ASU academic success advisor Brennan Walley

Brennan Walley was interviewed in October 2024 by Retired Col. Wanda A. Wright, the inaugural holder of the Peter M. and Michelle H. Wilver Directorship in the Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement (OVMAE) and an assistant teaching professor in ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.

Walley spent eight years in the United States Air Force before returning to ASU as an academic success advisor in 2023.

Wright initiated these dialogs to introduce the greater ASU community to the many veteran-affiliated faculty, partners and students who support or engage with OVMAE’s academic programs and community events.

Enlisting In the U.S. Air Force

The military has always been prevalent in Brennan Walley’s family.

“Most of my family has been involved in some way, shape or another,” he said. “Whether it was the U.S. Army, Marine Corps or Navy, I've grown up in that environment.”

A first-generation Arizonian, Walley enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2015 at age 25. His grandfather, a 22-year Marine Corps veteran, helped him through the process.

“I wanted to go the Marine Corps officer route,” Walley said. “Long story short, I went to talk to the recruiters, and there was a whole bank of them right there in a strip mall. My grandfather was smart and went to the Air Force door first, while I went to the U.S. Navy door. The Navy door was locked, but the Air Force door was open.”

Walley enlisted as a pararescueman, a motivation that came from the idolization of his grandfather, who served in the Korean War. However, when the pararescueman job didn’t work out, he quickly pivoted.

“I was approached by one of the MTLs (military training leaders),” Walley said. “He said, ‘You have two choices: you can either get out or pick a new job,’ and I didn't want to waste the opportunity that I had.”

Walley spent the day looking through the catalog for a new position.

“I was interested in cars and wanted to learn a skill I could use, so I put ‘mechanic’ down,” he said. “I thought being a cop would be interesting, so I put that down. And I enjoyed photography, so I put down some type of photojournalism or combat camera job. And I ended up being selected for a mechanic position.”

A life-changing assignment

Walley was shipped to a naval base port in Oxnard, California, for training, and after spending time there he reported to Minot, North Dakota, for assignment. Walley said that the experience was life-changing.

“It's a different world up there in the frozen tundra” he said. “It emphasizes the things that really matter in life — family, the people around you and the good that you're trying to put out into the world.”

He added that it was a good environment for him and it was what he needed at the time.

After spending five years in Minot, Walley was deployed to several bases across the world. He applied everything he learned in North Dakota in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where he worked on a missile defense system.

Assimilation and returning to ASU

When he returned to North Dakota, Walley noticed that the new talent in the U.S. Air Force needed guidance, so he leaped at the opportunity.

“I wanted to make an impact, so I put my name into the hat, and they picked me,” Walley said. “I went from North Dakota back to southern California and spent three years training the next generation of airmen as a technical training instructor.”

Upon separating from active duty, Walley called assimilation back into civilization “a shock to his system.”

“Throw me in the cold water. You know what I mean? It was like, okay, now what?” he said.

Walley came to realize that the things he once found solace and joy in, such as working out and interacting with new people, were no longer fulfilling him in the same way.

He was a civilian for a week before pursuing a new journey. Walley took on a weekender position — a term used to describe someone who only reports to the base on weekends — as an education and training manager.

As a weekender, he drives to California once a month, where he is part of the 146th Airlift Wing “Hollywood Guard” unit out of the Channel Islands in Oxnard. There, Walley plans, develops and coordinates training and staff development programs across the nine units on the base.

Walley beamed at the opportunity to continue as both a teacher and as a Sergeant.

“I found it to be peculiar in a novel way. Little by little, I kind of rediscovered that there's a life separate from uniform, even still somewhat in uniform. I get to keep my teaching cap on, I get to be the instructor again, and I still get to be Sergeant Walley.”

Along the same service thread, Walley also took on a role as academic success advisor in ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.

“The easiest way to explain it is I take students from point A and I say, ‘Where do you want to go? Here's how we're going to get there,’” Walley said. “It's incredible how you can break down walls with people in a matter of seconds.”

As an academic success advisor, Walley has a passion for assisting veteran students.

“With younger veteran students, I'm able to guide them and mentor them,” he said. “With older veteran students, I'm able to speak to them on a near-peer level.”

In his interview with Wright, Walley spoke about the abundance of opportunities for veteran students at ASU. He added that his advising peers have inspired him.

“Advisors have 30 minutes to an hour, and they're able to narrow down what each student is trying to achieve,” Walley said. “Many of the students aren’t sure how to identify and communicate their needs because they don’t know what they don’t know, yet advisors are able to find a way to understand and communicate with them. That's a skill to me and it’s what impressed me the most about my CISA co-workers.”

To create his own advising style, Walley took pieces of what he observed from other advisors and incorporated his military and instructing background.

Aside from his roles in the U.S. Air Force and at ASU, Walley has found peace in focusing on the little things, such as walking his dogs, keeping up with a garden and spending time with people he deeply cares about. He also rediscovered interests in traveling and real estate as some of his new endeavors. After nearly a decade of the demands of active duty, Walley emphasized the importance of resting yet staying active.

When asked what excites him as an academic success advisor, Walley kept it very simple.

“Helping people,” he said.

Walley concluded the conversation with words of encouragement and tips on navigating life at ASU.

“ASU is big enough that you can get lost in it, and no one will mind,” Walley said. “This can be positive though, because there is such an abundance of opportunities available to explore your interests as far as you want, so you can do your own thing, and that's okay. There are so many options that ASU presents. It's like its own living, self-sustaining entity. The possibilities are endless.”

Walley continues to serve in both his U.S. Air Force and ASU duties, remaining a helpful hand for new generations of recruits and students. As an academic success advisor, Walley remains one of ASU’s beacons of hope for veteran students aspiring to succeed in post-active duty.