Interview Series

Good morning and happy Friday!

I hope you had a productive week.

Welcome to another edition of The Matt Viera Newsletter.

I started this newsletter with a focus on personal finance and building wealth.

However, I had the idea of creating an interview series.

I have many friends who are incredibly successful in their respective careers.

Each of these individuals can provide valuable insight into life and career success.

I emailed each individual a series of questions for them to answer.

My goal is to find key takeaways from their answers that I can apply to my life and career.

My hope is that their answers can do the same for you.

This week, I'd like to introduce my good friend Matthew "Iceman" Eyster.

Matt served over 20 years in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. He recently retired at the rank of Major from the Air Force.

I first met Matt in Nurnberg, Germany in 1992 while serving in the U.S. Army.

Not only did Matt and I work together, we were roommates for about 3 months.

Our favorite shared memory of living in Germany was the road trip we took (along with our pal nicknamed "Bones") from Germany, through Switzerland, into France. We drove along the French coast of the Mediterranean (the French Riviera) until we made it to the small Spanish coastal town, Lloret del Mar.

Since we were running low on money, we figured the best way to brainstorm what to do next was to spend more money and have a few beers in a bar. Bones (being Bones) was able to get us a hotel room above the bar for about $25 per night. We decided to forego Barcelona and stay in Lloret del Mar for a few days.

From Lloret del Mar we drove through the Pyrenees into Paris, France then back to Nurnberg.

Speaking for Matt, I know when either one of us thinks back on that road trip it is with fondness.

I left Germany in 1994 to be stationed at Fort Bragg. Matt stayed in Germany until he left the Army in 1995. He put himself through college while supporting a family and entered the Air Force as an officer.

Matt and I lost touch until about 11 or 12 years ago. Since we reconnected, I don’t think a month has gone by in which Matt and I haven’t spoken or exchanged emails.

We recently had a reunion with some of the other guys we served with in Nurnberg which was an absolute blast. It was the first time since 1993 that the four of us were in the same place, at the same time.

Matt is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in my life.

I consider Matt as a brother.

Here is my interview with Matt.

How long did you serve in the U.S. Army? When your enlistment ended, you decided to go to college and ultimately enter the U.S. Air Force as an officer - walk me through that decision making process (Army to College to Air Force).

I had always intended on going to college and becoming an Air Force officer as a pilot. I was persuaded by recruiters that the fastest way to accomplish this was to join the Army, get into the Army's Green-to-Gold program to become an [Army] officer, and then branch transfer to the Air Force. I was young and naïve and didn't see all the fallacies in this path.

I served in the Army just under 4 years and had no intention at the time of ever serving in the military again. I intended to go to college using the GI Bill and join the civilian workforce.

During the first semester of college, I realized that my lifelong dream of becoming an Air Force pilot was still available. I joined the Air Force ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] and went through that program for the last 3 1/2 years of college.

About 6 months before graduation I was offered an alternate pilot's slot. This was in 1999 and the Air Force was really hurting for pilots, so there was about a 99.99% chance of that getting upgraded to primary slot as long as one was medically qualified (which I was). However, by that time I had fallen in love with electrical and computer engineering and turned it down to get a computer engineering slot.

How long did you serve in the Air Force before retiring?

Just a bit over 16 years for a combined service time of about 20 years and a month. I had lost out on some benefits from my prior Army service because I was a few days under 4 years and this time I was definitely making sure there was no questioning the service time to get "over 20 years" for my retirement benefits!

What was your motivation in joining the U.S. Air Force (if you didn't elaborate in the first question)?

See first question, but I want to elaborate a bit. After getting to my first duty station as a computer engineer, I ended up being a bit discouraged by the actual job duties as I was really just mostly doing computer support. So, I re-engaged with my pilot aspirations and sought to get "points" so that I would have a stronger candidate package. Some of the best ways to get points were through completing private pilot's license steps. I actually completed the ground school portion, but then my second daughter was born which made me rethink my goal since pilots spend so much time away from family. I sure am glad that I did rethink my goal and I've never regretted that decision since then.

What are some highlights/accomplishments of your career? 

I had an unusual Air Force career in which I [attended a lot of training] early in my career. This pushed my more significant accomplishments later in my career.

I think my best accomplishments happened during my last six years once I was assigned to the Air Force Space and Missile System Center in Los Angeles. It is the central hub for space-based acquisitions. I worked on the SBIRS [Space Based Infrared Systems] program. SBIRS provides missile warning for early ICBM [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile] detection and is the only system in the world that provides global missile warning coverage. It is a huge ACAT 1 [Acquisitions Category #1] program that was well over $20 billion back in 2015.

I worked payload first, the part of the satellite that performs the mission and consists of telescopes, electronics, control systems, and computers, really state of the art stuff for space!

After a couple of years, I was given the leadership position for payload systems and eventually was also put in charge of the satellite "bus,” the part of the satellite that does all the communications to ground and maneuvering on orbit.

I led a team of several dozen very talented military and civilians and got to be a part of building, integrating, and testing 8 different satellites. I was also a member of the launch team for the first geosynchronous satellite which launched in 2011. A first-of-a-kind launch is a really big deal and paved the way for SBIRS to replace the aging DSP [Defense Satellite Program] satellite constellation.

My last 2 years I moved over to work in Cyber Defense. I led Cyber Defense for the $20 billion SBIRS program the last 18 months of my career.

How has failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I think my whole experience of wanting to be a pilot and the lack of success there set me up for later success, because engineering, and especially computer engineering, has really become my success story.

Engineering and math led to my success working SBIRS and computer engineering and all of my experience there has led me to a successful career in Cyber Defense.

What are three lessons you have learned during your overall military service?

Perseverance, striving for excellence in every area, and continual improvement.

I want to expand just a little bit about what I see as “excellence”. To me, excellence is performing a task the best that you can and not compromising on quality, regardless of the task or the visibility of the task. This creates a habit throughout your entire life.

What obsessions do you explore on the evenings or weekends?

I love being outside and in nature. Nothing crazy like extended camping trips or survival challenges! Just a few hours hiking on the trails out in the forest or mountains, just pretty much alone out in nature. My dog, Baggins, usually accompanies me. I do like to challenge myself from time to time and have hiked and bicycled Pike's Peak a few times.

What advice would you give your 20-year old self?

Invest in bitcoin and sell off when it hits $60k about 8 years later [laughs].

Real advice would be to always strive for excellence. Never give up. And set realistic goals.

I think there is more value in setting high, achievable goals than striving for the impossible. No matter how hard you jump, you will never reach the moon. But, setting a goal to dunk a basketball is challenging, but not impossible.

I over-reached when going to graduate school for my PhD and was never able to finish my dissertation because I made it way, way too ambitious. It was literally about the equivalent of about 3 - 4 PhD programs' worth of work.

Part of success is learning how to set proper scope.

If you could have a billboard anywhere in the U.S., where would it be and what would it say?

It would say, "View both sides, before you decide!" and post it everywhere, especially in areas that lean heavily in either direction politically. I think that too many Americans are being swayed by politicians and their ads because they fail to research the issue or person and make an informed decision.

A less political billboard would be, "Go STEM! It's the best path to success!" [STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]. Our country is suffering massive shortages in STEM and I think this is one area that is ripe with opportunity. Not sports. Not Hollywood. Not Nashville.

What advice would you give someone who is interested in a career in either the U.S. Air Force or a civilian engineering career?

Advice for a career in the Air Force/Space Force: Choose a career field that allows you to learn a job skill that can be used post military. Use every opportunity that the military gives you to further your education, especially as an enlisted troop. A good career field in the military for officers is Acquisitions. Even if you aren't STEM inclined, it gives you a broadly applicable skill set for a post-military career.

Advice for a civilian engineering career: STEM careers are readily available and offer good pay and stability. I just saw an article yesterday that said that Electrical Engineering offers the highest average wage straight out of college. I don't see STEM jobs lessening any time soon and Cyber Engineering is probably one of the best opportunities out there. I know that schools are now starting to offer this discipline and it's a great career field!

However, the best advice I have across the board is “choose a career or job that you enjoy.” Money doesn’t matter if you hate your job and there is more joy in doing something you enjoy than a well paying job that you hate.

Key takeaways:

• Lack of success in a career pursuit may set you up for later success in a different career pursuit.

• Excellence is performing a task the best that you can and not compromising on quality, regardless of the task or the visibility of the task.

• Money doesn’t matter if you hate your job and there is more joy in doing something you enjoy than a well paying job that you hate.

What are your key takeaways?

Interesting reads:

The California Effect (could easily be titled, "The New York City Effect."

The No. 1 action Americans took in 2022 to build wealth.

Thanks for reading!

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