Band of Brothers

A few noteworthy things happened to me this week. First the long elusive promotion to Lieutenant Colonel has finally arrived. I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 10 September yet my date of rank was back dated to 17 April 2008!. Unfortunately the pay is not retrocactive! The date of rank part only comes in play when I compete for future positions and may help me be senior in rank to other Lieutenent Colonels competing against me.

Another exciting thing that happened was that I was able to meet 8 of the surviving key soldiers that the HBO special "Band of Brothers" was based on. What an honor to hear their stories and relive through them some of the character defining moments that war provides. These men were all in their late 80's and they honored us by flying all the way over here to share the brotherhood of war with us!

What I learned from them is that although life can really suck and the odds can be stacked against you, only you will determine how it changes you. The stress of war (or trials of any kind for that matter) will define who you are. These men suffered through unthinkable trials. Every day was a day with an uncertain outcome. Every sunset could have been their last. But together they managed to make it through. All eight of these men attribute their survival to their preparation and their unwavering duty to each other.

Stress is the body's perceived inability to handle a situation. How we react to stress is part personality and part learned. I am fortunate that in part due to personality and in part due to preparation and education, I have always been able to work through stress. I still feel it, but it is never dramatic. I have never allowed myself to have one of those "this is the end" type of moments.

I hope that as a result of this deployement I will have further developed my critical reasoning skills and increased my ability to make sound judgements in very critical circumstances. I believe that the hallmark of a good leader is the ability to make sound judgements and decisions when everyone else around you has lost that ability! I once heard it said that good judgement is based on experience and unfortunately a lot of experience is based on previous bad judgement!

I wish all of my family and friends the very best and as you pray for me, I too pray for you! For as I have learned it is through duty to each other that we succeed!

More to follow.