You Reach the Top—and Have to Start Over?

What Happens When You Reach the Top and Then Have to Start Over?

In this Unarmored Talk Podcast episode, I sit down with retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant Steve Maynor Jr., now a Communications Instructor at Davidson-Davie Community College, to talk about what really happens when the uniform comes off and the old playbook stops working.

After 23+ years of service, Steve reflects on the moment he realized rank wouldn’t carry him into the next chapter. We talk about preparing early, translating leadership into civilian value, and the humility of starting over. He also shares how education, therapy, and honest relationships helped him rebuild purpose and redefine success beyond the title.

This conversation is for anyone navigating transition, reinvention, or the uneasy space between who you were and who you’re becoming.

Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome & Purpose of the Conversation
00:41 – Introducing Steve Maynor Jr., Master Gunnery Sergeant (Ret.)
03:47 – The Mid-Career Wake-Up Call
06:20 – Education as a Lifeline
09:58 – When Injuries Force a New Plan
12:44 – Identity vs. Skills in Civilian Hiring
16:20 – Therapy, Listening, and Growth at Home
20:30 – Translating Leadership into Teaching
24:10 – Trading Command for Community
28:00 – What Starting Over Really Teaches You

Thank you for your continued support. Stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit. God bless!

Transcript

Welcome And Mission

Mario P. Fields 0:04

Welcome to the Unarmored Talk podcast where we remove the armor, have real conversations, and strengthen how you think and respond to life. If you'd like to support this show and our nonprofit mission behind it, uh please consider joining my YouTube channel as a member. If you want to learn more, go to www.stillinc.com. I'm your host, Mario P. Fields. And today, the show's been blessed with another guest. His name is Steve Maynard Jr. And he is a retired United States Marine. He achieved the rank of Master Gunnery Sergeant. That's what I'm talking about. And then he's also a current full-time communication professor at Davison Davy Community College and more. But I'm going to let him tell you guys a little bit more about himself and himself. Steve, what's up, man?

Steve Maynor Jr. 1:06

Hey, Mario. Good to be with you, man. Thank you for the opportunity to be on this podcast where we will have some real conversations about everything related to me and my transition and how that how that works. Did 23 years and some change. Current full-time communication instructor, like you said, here at the community college level. I found my happy place. This is where I think I'm supposed to be because I get a chance to continue to pour into and serve my students, serve the faculty, the staff here at my school, just like I served Marines during my career. I'm just excited to share something that I think may help somebody who has gone through the transition from uniform to this side, or somebody who is about to go through that transition and feeling anxiety and all kind of uncertainty about man, what am I going to do next?

Mario P. Fields 2:18

Yeah. Just for everyone who's watching it, especially those who have never served, um Steve reached the highest rank uh that you could achieve in the Marine Corps, which in the civilian sector is uh equivalent to a C-level consultant and hiring that. Now, people would think that the sergeant major is a higher rank, but don't get it twisted, everybody. Uh, I worked for people like Steve. And I'm gonna tell you guys before we get to the to the main show, the Marine Corps didn't need a sergeant major, they wanted one, they needed a master gun resarge. So I thank you. Thank you for for allowing me to have a job. Let's get right to it. All right, you mentioned helping people, and you know, from the military to civilian, even civilians. I mean, this is this this is applicable to to any uh professional, but for you, you you're at 23, you know, you're you're approaching 23, and you're you're starting to transition out after two decades plus of serving as a Marine. And from my basic understanding, at that moment, you didn't really understand the fundamental difference between the position and rank and skills, and how those two are different when you transition, and how if you don't separate those two, what kind of anxiety and depression and things can happen?

Mid‑Career Wake‑Up Call

Steve Maynor Jr. 3:45

Yeah, walk me through it, man. All right, so this journey, Mario, started back at about the midpoint of my career. I'm I'm fresh off the depot, 11 years in the Marine Corps. I'm uh Meritorious Gunnery Sergeant, under 10. Go back to the fleet after after drill instructor duty, you know, filling the highest of the highs. And then I go back to the fleet. I got fortunate enough to be assigned to a master gunnery sergeant, Bob Organo, old maintenance chief, 30 plus years, and this guy challenged me to think about life after the Marine Corps at the midway mark in my career. I was like, wow, why is he doing this? Bob was working on his second master's degree, and he asked a question one day that I didn't have an answer to. And he said, How are you gonna take care of your family when you take off the uniform? And I'm like, uh I still got a long way to go. And he's like, Yeah, but you need to start planning now. And if education is a isn't a party to answer, uh, you're you're on the wrong path.

unknown 4:58

Right.

Steve Maynor Jr. 4:58

I was like, wow, this is humbling. Uh, because all I could see tunnel vision-wise was how am I gonna get promoted to the next rank? Not thinking beyond when you take the uniform off. And at some point, every service member is gonna take the uniform off. He challenged me and forced me to start off-duty education. And when once that happened, I was addicted. And now uh I'm a lifelong learner. Started that journey, fast forward a couple of degrees.

Mario P. Fields 5:32

Uh you guys, I just want to make sure everyone heard that. Uh, a couple.

Education As A Lifeline

Steve Maynor Jr. 5:39

Three specifically, all paid for by TA. That is awesome, man. No, no student loans, none of that stuff. T I maxed out TA every every chance I get. And fast forward, I get the third degree, start teaching, adjunct teaching. Little did I know adversity was gone through come at me in this in the form of multiple knee surgeries. I planned on doing 30 years. I got promoted to Master Guns right a little short of 20. And uh my career was interrupted. My plan was to stay in, do 30. Knee surgery said, You probably need to stop right now. Mind you, I was teaching already. So I've I had a second life outside of the uniform. Now I gotta transition out. And even the with a solid plan in place, I still felt lost. Like, what am I going to do? Because I'm counting numbers, I'm counting income, I'm counting my bills, and I'm like, uh, I need a I'm I'm gonna need a job. Like, this ain't gonna be this ain't gonna be enough. Disability is not guaranteed until you get your final VA rating. So I'm thinking numbers, and I'm really sweating and and pressing, like, what am I gonna do? And it took my wife to say, you know, you're you're teaching, right? You're already doing that. So why what are you afraid of? And it was one of those ex-hill moments where I had to think, okay, you're right. I do have the ability to teach, and I could probably teach full time. So that helped somewhat until I start applying for jobs and realizing these people don't care nothing about none of my military stuff. All this 23 years, all this stuff out on my fitness reports for my OMPF, on the application, they want to know why we should hire you as an educator, not what you did in the Marine Corps. And that was kind of humbling. You know, I'm filling out my resume or my CV, and I gotta eliminate all of that military stuff into like one line.

Mario P. Fields 7:59

We it would you say, Steve, you had you had six star achievement statements, and and then they were like, that's a little bit too much. Go give me some coffee. We only need one, and we only we needed nine words or less. And and it's interesting you mentioned this because it's because not a lot of people have a parallel job to um when they're on active duty. And and it's interesting how you were already in, let's just go ahead and say it scientifically, your passion was helping people through through teaching, yeah. And your identity was so strong to the the Marine Corps that it literally clouded your ability to cognitively recognize you were already transitioning, and it took your wonderful wife to to to highlight that. What do you think it was that allowed you to stop listening to her and go, What the hell? I'm already therapy.

Injuries Force A New Plan

Steve Maynor Jr. 9:02

Okay, yeah, therapy help. Uh I had a problem. Uh, I had a listening problem, not a listening problem at work in my professional life, not a listening problem in my social life with my friends. I had a listening problem in my personal relationship with my wife. I was terrible, terrible. And it didn't register to me until we start. I started going to therapy because I needed therapy once this uh these knee surgeries started coming up. And now I have I'm dealing with these emotions of all of this transition that I was gonna have to go through that I I didn't have the ability to deal with. So I started going to therapy and I started revealing things to my therapist about what I'm feeling and what I'm going through. And long story short, my wife shows up to a session and she reveals to the therapist uh how terrible of a listener I am. And I'm like, now the therapist is piling on. And I'm like, okay, this is uh I'm gonna just have to sit there and take this because it really forced me to ask myself, are you a good listener? Especially with your wife. And the answer was no. So at that point, I started telling her, I started letting it out.

Mario P. Fields 10:17

Yeah.

Steve Maynor Jr. 10:18

And just sharing with her everything that I had going on in my head about uh the struggles that I was feeling making a transition from being at the top of the top to now transitioning from the top of the top and having to go somewhere and earn my place. Not expecting to go in from master guns and then go into this teaching world and be in charge. Like, nah, dude, you ain't you you don't have no credentials to be in charge. What can you do for us here? Yeah, when you're not in a leadership role, right? Can you conform? Can you play by the rules? Are you a willing uh a good team player? And that was that was humbling.

Mario P. Fields 11:02

You know, Steven, that's powerful, and thanks for for you know, again, removing your armor. Um, because active listening is different than listening. And what you highlighted is is how you you took the initiative to go to therapy, which there's the the the there's sometimes a bad stigma tied to therapy. Yeah, um, I disagree with that belief system, it is very productive, as you just highlighted. But to go into therapy, taking the initiative, and then to self-reflect, I mean, again, that's another just amazing skill that you demonstrated to self-reflect, to to not react to your emotions as you feel like everyone's suplexing you, and and and and to realize that you are already in an occupation, a field that you are actually better suited for at this this season of your life. Yeah. Now that you are, you know, because you and everyone, this is not uh Professor uh Maynard's first uh job. He's got he's got you can go on his LinkedIn profile, check out his bio. But now that you've been doing this for quite some time, you know, you you you've gotten past that when I'm professor. Master Guns is third or fourth, professors first, and you've and you've got through that therapy, you're you know, you're still working on yourself. What what significant changes have you seen in in your the way you think, your belief system, and the lens and and ears that you you look and listen to your lovely bride?

Identity Vs. Skills In Hiring

Steve Maynor Jr. 12:38

Yeah, uh having a I can't stress enough the importance of having a good partner that you can trust with your vulnerabilities, and they're gonna be completely honest with you. And my wife has been totally and completely honest with me, and she forces me all the time to think about what I'm doing before I get into it. Now that I know I I can let my guard down and be vulnerable with her, it's so relieving to know that I could go to somebody and talk to for a sanity check and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking about doing, or this is how I'm feeling about this particular thing. And I'm I need a sanity check. And she is really honest with me. Nope, you shouldn't do this, or uh don't overthink it. You're naturally good at what you do, just embrace it, and uh that turned into now she is a full-time faculty member here at the same school teaching uh nurses and CNAs. So she encouraged me to dive at first into teaching, and then that turned into now her teaching as well. So it was a perfect blend of each one of us listening to the other and giving good advice about where we can make the most impact in our profession in that discipline.

Mario P. Fields 14:03

So man, that is you know, listening to your story, Steve, for the first time remind me of Oprah, where sometimes it takes an unexpected external factor to actually get you to go into something that's a path, a true passion with your natural um abilities and interests. Yeah, because again, her story when she started off as a broadcaster, and and then now look, you know, I see you when I see you as a professor compared to a master guns, a master gunnery sergeant, your impact on those students every semester, just the moment I've met you, is beyond the reach of an active duty um you know, master gunnery, and and your your reach is global. So good on you, good on your wife, congrats. And if you had to give yourself one piece of advice, if you were standing next to yourself before you met Bob at 18 years old, I'm gonna take you back. Yeah, and you were standing next to yourself, you're sitting in the car at a red light. What one piece of advice would you give young Steve?

Steve Maynor Jr. 15:16

Off-duty education.

unknown 15:18

Awesome.

Steve Maynor Jr. 15:19

You got to be as passionate about off-duty education as you do uh your time wearing a uniform. Had I started when I first joined in in the mid-1990s, how much further I could have been. Uh, that's what I would tell myself. And that's I translated what I would tell myself into what I actually told young PFCs, Lance Corpus, who checked in to my to the to the squadron. Off-duty education wasn't optional. That's a part of your evaluation.

Mario P. Fields 15:51

That's awesome.

Therapy And Learning To Listen

Steve Maynor Jr. 15:52

You gotta go. Uh, the TA money is out there. You are going to use it, and I'm gonna accommodate your ability to leave work and go to class if that needs to be. So if I got to take the trash out and sweep vague from the floor, you go to school, I'll do that. Setting that type of example for them was probably has been the most rewarding thing for me, Mario, because now I have those young Marines that I invested and forced to do that, also graduating with bachelor's, master's degrees, and and and beyond. So that is the greatest fulfillment uh that does go outside of the uniform. And I just I took all of those lessons really and I translated it over into the professor or the education space. I just had to tweak it a little bit and remove myself as this guy up here in charge to somebody who is now a full-time permanent mentor to 90 to 120 students every semester. I mean, what a great opportunity for me to share and pouring to that many people because I I didn't have that kind of reach as an active duty uh master gun, right?

Mario P. Fields 17:08

That is the power of life learning. You know, man, I will have you on the show forever, bro. But uh this has been powerful. And I and I know, not my belief, I know without a shadow of a doubt, Steve, that every student that you were the professor at Park University, Craven Community College, and Coastal Carolina Community College, and now David, you know, um, you know, Davidson, Davy. Did I say it right, Davy? David Davidson Davy. Davidson Davy. Let me get it right around. But Davidson Davy Community College, they will never forget you, man. And they will never forget you. And then the 23 years won't take away of all the Marines and sailors and civilians, and you know, that you came came in uh contact with. I am happy. I don't know how this may sound, but I am happy that your niece and Bob and your wife got you into shaping industry. And uh, I love you, brother. And uh how can people find you before I let you go?

Steve Maynor Jr. 18:08

Man, thank you, Mario. I love you too, brother. And I and I just uh again want to say I appreciate the opportunity to be in this space with someone of your caliber. That that means a whole lot to me. But people can find me very simple at stevemaynor.com. Steve Maynor.com. Take you to my website. Uh uh, you'll see when you go there. There's some there's some things on there that you you probably just need to see for yourself. Some some things I'm getting involved in outside of you know this professional role uh as a as a as an instructor or professor. Uh, but that's all I'm easy to find. Easy to find.

Mario P. Fields 18:49

That is cool. Well, guys, if you guys don't, if you guys don't link up with them, shame on you. Shame on you, every single single one of you, man. Well, you man, you've you've been great, my friend. And um, everybody you guys know the deal. Uh, make sure you guys stay stay mentally fit, stay focused, and definitely stay grounded in your faith. God bless you all. Until next time. Be safe. Take care, Steve.

Steve Maynor Jr. 19:16

All right, thanks, Mario. Take care.