'But I want employees - and reservists - to know I wouldn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do myself whether it's inventorying parts for the Reserve or washing dishes in my restaurants.' 'Sometimes in the military, when people see supervisors on the floor getting their hands dirty, they think it's poor leadership,' Paladino said. He said maintaining consistency as a supervisor and leading by example are two behaviors he always tries to exemplify - both of which can be seen when he takes the floor to build a bomb or to make a sandwich. On the weeks he does, he said he relies heavily on employees who come in to backfill positions - sandwich-making civilian reservists.Īs both a small-business owner and an assistant flight chief, Paladino is responsible for maintaining supplies, managing personnel and creating smooth workflow. Today, Paladino works nearly 65 hours a week - on weeks he doesn't have military duty. I feel like I just had it in me, because I come from a family of business owners.' 'I set up a popcorn machine and some soda and started selling,' he said. He began his first business as a child in his dad's store. While the two jobs are completely different, Paladino says the skills needed to accomplish them are strikingly similar. During the week however, Paladino is the owner and operator of two sandwich franchises in Springfield, Mo. Paladino has worked in munitions with the 442nd FW as a reservist for nearly 20 years. He is responsible for approximately 80 reservists - all of whom work to build, inspect, store and deliver deadly bombs. David Paladino is the assistant flight chief of munitions. The other 28 days a month, they couldn't spend their days more differently working as a small-business owner, a teacher and a lawyer. Paladino, McConnell and Wetzel have one thing in common - they are reservists in the munitions flight with the 442nd Fighter Wing, here. The next morning, he built a Mark-82 for an A-10 Thunderbolt II.

Jeff Wetzel spent his Friday evening building a civil litigation case for a national bank. Saturday, she assembled a laser-guided bomb. The same Friday, Nicola McConnell taught eight graders about the Cuban Missile Crisis. He owns two sandwich shops, but he's also a bomb builder. On Friday, Dave Paladino assembled a torpedo, but his job is probably not what you'd expect.

David paladino this american life