TN-5 GOP Candidate and Retired Brigadier General Kurt Winstead Talks Growing Up in Tennessee and Career in National Guard

Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed TN-5 Congressional GOP candidate General Kurt Winstead in studio to talk about his background and career in the National Guard.

Leahy: We welcome to our microphones in studio with us, retired Brigadier General Kurt Winstead, who is one of 16 Republican candidates vying for the GOP nomination to represent the 5th Congressional District in Congress. Good morning, Kurt.

Winstead: Good morning, Mr. Leahy. How are you doing this morning? And thank you for having me on.

Leahy: It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.

Winstead: Yes, three hours? (Laughter)

Leahy: It feels like three hours.

Winstead: Last night was a lot of fun, though.

Leahy: It was a lot of fun. It was in Wilson County and eleven candidates. It wasn’t a debate, it was a forum, and every candidate had five minutes to present themselves. And you were there. So this was just one of your first efforts since you announced a couple of weeks ago.

Winstead: Yes, sir.

Leahy: And tell our listing audience about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your career and where do you live?

Winstead: First of all, I’m an eighth-generation Tennessean, and that’s important to me.

Leahy: You are a native of Tennessee. But you’re in East Tennessean.

Winstead: I grew up in upper East Tennessee, Rogersville.

Leahy: Yeah, I know Rogersville. Very Republican, conservative area.

Winstead: Very conservative.

Leahy: Of course, those of you who know the Tennessee flag, it has three stars and three divisions, right?

Winstead: Three grand divisions.

Leahy: Three grand divisions to East, West, and Middle.

Winstead: That’s it.

Leahy: So you live in the Middle.

Winstead: Yes.

Leahy: But you’re from the east.

Winstead: That’s correct. My wife and I, who was my high school sweetheart, moved down here about 35 years ago to make our careers and live in Williamson County.

We raised a family there, raised two daughters there in school in Williamson County, and have been practicing law in this area for about 35 years, the same amount of time, and have a small law practice here in Nashville.

Leahy: Where did you go to law school?

Winstead: I went to law school at the University of Richmond in Virginia.

Leahy: Spiders!

Winstead: Yes, sir.

Leahy: You know, there’s only one other team that I know in the history of sports called the Spiders. And you might know this, but back in the 1890s, the Cleveland Indians, now the Cleveland Guardians were called the Cleveland Spiders.

Winstead: I didn’t know that.

Leahy: Richmond Spiders.

Winstead: Richmond Spiders. Do you know how they got the spider’s name?

Leahy: Tell me.

Winstead: From the Civil Wars. A news writer wrote that they were fighting like they had eight arms.

Leahy: There you go.

Winstead: They called them a spider.

Leahy: Richmond Spiders. You’re also a retired Brigadier general.

Winstead: Yes, sir.

Leahy: In the Tennessee National Guard.

Winstead: Yes, sir.

Leahy: But tell us, have you been full-time in the Guard? Have you been part-time? You have a law practice. How does that work?

Winstead: It’s juggling a lot of things, but that’s been a good experience for me. The National Guard. About 85 percent of the people in the National Guard are what you call M Day mobilization soldiers.

And those are the people that work in the communities and then also serve in the Guard. And I’m very proud to say that the National Guard wears three hats.

We wear the hat of serving our country overseas if we’re mobilized, which I did in Title X. And then we wear the hat of serving our state.

We’re the ones that helped with the Gatlinburg fires. We’re the ones that helped the floods down in Waverly. We’re the ones that helped during COVID. We’re the ones that helped during the riots or the protests and stuff in town.

Leahy: I think you got it right the first time. (Laughter)

Winstead: That was a Freudian slip. But then at the same time, at the same time, we are leaders in the community. So it’s really wearing three hats and that’s been a lot of fun because in some of the small towns a lot of your guys will be firemen and police chiefs and mayors that are in the National Guard.

Leahy: When did you join the Tennessee National Guard? Is it a full-time gig? How does that work? And did you practice law during this period of time?

Winstead: Okay, I’ll answer that by saying they’re all three full-time gigs. Okay, that’s the way it works. Let me just say I can relate to three full-time gigs. (Laughter) But you know what? It’s good. It’s an honor to serve.

I got in the Guard in August of 1990, literally when Iraq was invading Kuwait on the TV behind me. I was sworn in at that point. And then a few years later I was sent to a combat zone in Iraq.

You probably heard this last night, but I came back and I decided there were three things that were important to me. One of them was to stay in the military.

The second one was to basically get involved in my community, in my state. And the third one is to take care of my family and not miss a hug.

Leahy: I think you’ve done well in all of those.

Winstead: Thank you.

Listen to the interview:

 

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.