Courage to stand up for the truth - Patricia Blassie’s personal branding experience

Col. Patricia Blassie, USAF, (Ret) grew up in St. Louis, along with her parents and 4 siblings. Her oldest brother Michael received an appointment to the US Air Force Academy, a huge moment of pride for her entire family. He graduated in 1970 and went off to the Vietnam War. 

When she was in high school, recruiters from the Air Force came to her school and explained that the Air Force would provide travel, training and education for anyone who joined. So she joined and that’s exactly what the Air Force gave her. She was enlisted for 11 years and then commissioned, eventually retiring as a Colonel. 

Today, she is a speaker and an (upcoming) author who speaks about the incredible 26-year journey that her family went through to bring her brother home from the Vietnam War. 

I met Patricia in a speaker training program and was blown away by her speech. It was incredibly exciting when she reached out to work with me. While her speech is so much about her brother and her family, what intrigued me was: “Who is Patricia in this?” I was excited by the opportunity to capture the brave, badass woman behind the story. In this interview, Patricia shares her story as well as the experience of conveying her journey through a photo session. The blog post has been summarized and edited for clarity. 

Your speech is simply incredible. Could you share a brief summary of the story you tell in there?

Patricia with a photo of her brother Michael, who was killed in Vietnam

My oldest brother Michael graduated from the Air Force Academy in the class of 1970. Everyone knew he was headed to Vietnam. My entire family saw him off at the airport and waved, a wave that we would come to know as our last goodbye to him in January of 1972.

Then, just a few months later on May 11th, a team of Air Force members came to my home to tell my parents that Michael had been killed in action. I was 13 years old.

From what they told us, Michael’s plane was shot down in enemy held territory.  Unfortunately, the helicopters that normally retrieve service members came under heavy fire and couldn’t retrieve his remains as their lives were in jeopardy.  With that, my family was told that Michael was ‘killed in action, body not recovered’(KIA -BNR).

That’s what we lived with for many years.

Then we received two calls, one in 1994, and the other in 1997. Both individuals, Ted Sampley and Vince Gonzales, respectively said to my mother, “We believe we know where your son is. His remains were recovered and he was selected to serve as the Vietnam Unknown Soldier at the  Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery. 

After reviewing official government documents indicating that Michael was indeed found and interred as the Vietnam Unknown all unbeknownst to my family, we collectively decided that it was the right thing to do to expose the truth in order to  bring Michael home. 

A controversial cartoon in the 90s proposing the idea of DNA testing to identify unknown soldiers

We went up against the bureaucracy of the United States Government and the Department of Defense in January 1998 saying “We want to know the truth.”  “The trail leads to the Tomb.” “We want to bring Michael home.”  Our government answered the Blassie family’s request by disintering the Vietnam Unknowns remains to perform a DNA test by using my mother’s blood sample.

Just 1-1/2 months after the disinterment, the Secretary of Defence called my mom and told her that it was one of the closest matches the scientists had ever seen to date.  It was Michael and after 26 years of wondering, she could finally bring her son home.  

We brought him home to St Louis and now he has his own tombstone at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Over 4000 people gathered to celebrate his life when that happened. 

What a story! What got you interested in a photo shoot?

A year ago, on April 4th, 2022, I was introduced to Heroic Public Speaking (HPS). That date is also Michael’s birthday.  This year, he would have been 75 if he had lived.. 

Patricia with Michael's parachute and other artifacts from his downed plane

I want to share the story of what it took for my family  to bring Michael home. During my training with HPS, I increased my speaking skills to be able to share my family’s story in a more powerful and relevant way, and market myself as a keynote speaker.

I realized that I needed a speaker site, and I needed photos. You happened to be in my class and I approached you about a photo shoot.  It was one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far.

Thank you! What was the planning process like for you?

Patricia's mood board exuded elegance, quiet confidence, determination and contemplation

I had never done a professional photo shoot before, so I had no idea what to expect. As part of your process, you had me create a mood board by collecting pictures that I like. As I was doing that, I thought, “Why am I doing this?” 

You had explained it to me before, but as I created the board, I began to understand why it was important and necessary for me to do so, and that it was important for you, as well,  in order to get to know and understand me. 

During the planning call, you asked me what I saw in those photos. And then you asked me, “I know it’s your brother’s story and you have a lot to say about that. But what about YOU?”

I thought, “Yes, what about me?” I began reflecting on what I wanted to share about  myself. I came up with several phrases: quiet confidence, unfailing resolve with courage, and inner joy. 

How did the day of the session go for you?

You found this lovely Airbnb in Miami that I booked for a couple of days. The morning of the session, I took some time to relax, do some of my daily reading and went outside to enjoy the city. 

At midday, the makeup artist Sabrina arrived. I had never had a professional makeup session before and I don’t know what instructions you gave Sabrina, but she brought out the best of me for this shoot!

After that, you introduced me to your assistant Emma. We started the session with some breathing. You coached me a bit around posing, what to do if I got tense, and also explained how Emma was going to be part of the experience. You would be taking the pictures, and she would be asking me questions and engaging with me to evoke the emotions that we wanted to portray in the photos. 

The session was a few hours, but it went by so fast! When it all was said and done, it was not only an emotional experience but also most enlightening!  It was so much more than I ever expected.

Raj, you have a special way of bringing out the best in people, really seeing who they are and almost getting inside the person.  At the beginning of the session, I was somewhat uncomfortable because we were so focused on me.  But Emma and you helped me relax, asked me questions and helped me see that I am indeed successful, powerful and a bad—! 

We wanted to capture the courage and determination that took Patricia through her journey

There was a point when Emma asked me to say the phrase, “I am brave.” It took me a while to even say it out loud. 

I have never thought that about myself. I mean, I know what I have done and how I handle situations. But during the session, as I looked back at what my family did and how I worked to lead them through that entire situation, I can see I definitely had elements of courage, resolve and grit. Emma and you helped me to see myself more clearly and you were able to portray these attributes in my photos. 

It was such a powerful experience for all of us! What has it been like to see your photos?

When you told me my photos were ready and we set up the reveal appointment, I was a little nervous. I couldn’t imagine how the photos might look. I had makeup on. I styled my hair the best that I could. I wore different outfits. But I couldn’t imagine the results.

But when you showed me the pictures, my first reaction was, you captured exactly what I wanted to portray; strength, grace, and determination.

I looked at myself in the photos and I had to say, “That’s a true picture of who I am!”

You shared your favorite picks and then gave me a folder with some extras that I could pick from. They were also good, but when I looked at them, I felt that you had picked out the best photos, the ones that were perfect for me. I didn’t need anything more.

I have shared it with three people who are close to me. They all said, “Yeah, he captured it!”

I haven’t shared it with my family yet, but I plan to visit St. Louis in May and I’d like to show them in person. Two of my sisters have birthdays in May, then there’s Mother’s Day and my brother Michael was killed on May 11th. I want my family to be together to share in the experience of these photos while celebrating Michael’s legacy.. 

I’d love to hear how that goes. Would you recommend this experience to a friend? If so, what would you tell them?

Patricia also wanted to make sure we captured her joyful, fun side

First of all, I would absolutely recommend it!

I recommend a photo shoot no matter whether it’s for a speaker site, like in my case, or other things that people want to portray about their lives. After my experience, I have been thinking about other aspects of my life I’d like to capture in pictures. 

But the reason why I would say that they should work with you is because of the care and the time that you took with me. I have no doubt you do that with everyone else that you work with; you worked with me to get to the core of what I needed to do for this moment in time, to get to where I need to be, where I want to be. 

There's no doubt in my mind how you work, how much you care and that you have the philosophy of bringing out the very best gifts and talents that a person has to offer.

I don't know how else I could say it.  I do believe that anyone who works with you, Raj, will be pleased and overwhelmed with the success of the shoot.  I have grown through this experience and am now ready to springboard to another level! Thank you!

You can book Patricia for speaking at pat.blassie@gmail.com