To the kind friend who figured out the clues about who I am, Thank you for the kind words. I pray that you are doing well, and perhaps even remembering some of what I tried to teach you.
Overlordd, thank you for your kind words. My posts to you were very similar to some of the lessons that I tried to pass on to my kids ( I call the students that I had the honor of working with my kids, because I care as much for them as I do my own). Passion with action is empty, Idealism with out judgment and experience is dangerous. I pray that by the time you are my age, you will not have as many scars on your soul, but I hope that your life will be as interesting a mine has been so far. Your not much older than my kids, and you definatly have the passion & idealism. Those are wonderful qualities to have. My fear is that you may fall into the old trap of ? good initiative- bad judgment? Believe it or not I admire you, not many young people today are willing to make such a sacrifice as joining the military. Now that we have crossed paths, I would b remiss in my personal duty to not pass on some of what I have learned. Military leadership 101 is all fine and dandy, but it hardly scratches the surface of what those that have come before you have learned and paid for in sweat and blood. I would hate to think that somewhere down the line you found yourself on a dirt airstrip in some God-forsaken country with people with AK47?s trying to carve you a new one, and I didn?t take the time to pass on even a sliver of the knowledge and experience that I have gained, that bothers me. Since it is bloody ass early and I ?ve not slept much in the past few days, I?ll give you a few of the threads that are in my earlier posts. #1 NEVER ask your troops to do anything you are not willing to do yourself, It?s even better if you do right along with them. #2 If your going to fight: take a stand, dig in, hold on and give it everything you have and then some. #3 Your troops will not care what you know, until they know that you care. ( Your troops come first ALWAYS ) You asked the condition of my discharge: Honorable RE1A
Although I have a 10% service connected disability for having both of my eardrums blown out.
Deborah, you asked how I go them out, My meaning was a bit metaphorical. I took care of them as if they were my own children, I tried to pass on some of the hard lessons that I have learned in life, I pushed them to do their best ( not what I considered their best) , I got after them when they made poor choices, tried to help them learn form their mistakes, mostly I cared for them and because of that I was honest with them about everything. I stood by them, went to bat for them, and didn?t give up on them. Lord knows that there were many times when I wanted to, things were really shitty towards the end. My wife had a hard time understanding why I wouldn?t quit. She supported me, even though she was not happy with me a lot. How did I circumvent procedures, I put my own spin on the ?curriculum? I took what I call the Home Depot approach. I had a lot of tools and material to help them build anything that they wanted to in life, all they had to do was to pick it up and do it. Life is all about making choices, we make good ones and we are happy, we make bad ones and we find ourselves in times of troubles. The key is in learning how to make a choice, stick with it and handle the consequences. Behavior modification is a short term change, hell you can teach a horse to play the piano, f you shove enough voltage up it rear. The real lasting change is when you deal with a persons values and beliefs, mostly I focused on how they valued and believed in themselves. I tried to show them that they were all great kids, that I cared about them, and only wanted to help them see themselves in a better light, and how to make wise choices. As much as I taught them, they also taught me. Because of them I am a better father to my kids and a better husband to my wife. I am not going to bash on the school, because there is no point, all I can honestly talk about is what I personally did while I was there. Nor will I defend the school, there are still some great kids there, that I miss seeing everyday. The ones that are out now, if I hear that they are making poor choices, I?ll go to them and try and remind them of the lessons. There are some truly wonderful people there, I learned more from them than I can ever say. If some of them follow in my footsteps and continue what I started, the kids will do well and I will be grateful that I was able to touch so many lives.
I?m sure some will say that I am full of shit, that?s fine by me. I know and those that were there with me know the reality of it.
Semper Fidelis
