[February 16, 2021] You hear this a lot in the U.S. military. On my first day at boot camp, the Drill Sergeants had us running around the barracks, carrying our footlockers and screaming as loud as possible, “My feelings don’t matter.” They were about to teach us something important and that that sometimes your feelings don’t matter.… Read More »
[February 15, 2021] Success begins with a vision. The very best leaders are those capable of setting a goal, communicating that goal clearly, and acting upon it. Drill Sergeant Bryant from my basic training days used to tell us that you [recruits] can’t hit the target if, at first, you don’t take aim. He was discussing our… Read More »
[February 14, 2021] On this date, February 14 in 270 AD, Valentine, a Catholic Priest, is executed by Roman Emperor Claudius II for marrying young Christian lovers. The people knew Claudius as “Claudius the Cruel.” What can we learn from the events in the life of who we know today as St. Valentine? First, a little context… Read More »
[February 13, 2021] Since the first thinking humans walked this Earth, the eternal question, “Who am I?” has been asked. There is general agreement that it is our character that defines us and thus best answers that question. This fact is why I chose Deeds Not Words as the title of today’s article. Bad things happen, and… Read More »
[February 12, 2021] The movie Dirty Harry (1971) came out in theaters 50 years ago to great fanfare. When a madman calling himself “the Scorpio Killer” menaces the city, tough-as-nails San Francisco Police Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan is assigned to track down and ferret out the crazed psychopath. This movie was popular because it tells an old story… Read More »
[February 11, 2021] Yeah, I’m an old guy (oh, should I just say age-challenged?), so I remember when no one got a trophy for winning a school baseball game. We competed for bragging rights. Not today. What’s more, some schools won’t give out grades below “C,” so no student will “feel bad.” This means that those in leadership… Read More »
[February 10, 2021] “Look at that, it’s weird,” my best childhood friend Wilson was transfixed. Hanging behind the bar in the small town we grew up in was a Gadsden flag with the words Don’t Tread on Me in bold letters. We were attempting to sell empty coke bottles1 to the bartender when the sheriff arrived and escorted… Read More »
[February 9, 2021] I’ve written of many battles in my leadership blog and frequently gave accounts of heroism, lessons learned, the horrors, and the struggle of the ordinary foot soldier and basic seaman. No other battle – actually a series of battles over six months – portrays the American spirit in times of great difficulty than the Battle… Read More »
[February 8, 2021] My final trip home to New York City after retiring from the U.S. Army took me through the Atlanta Airport; the largest airport in the U.S. Atlanta remains a central air-transport hub and is the site of the biggest USO on the East Coast. As I walked into this USO, it brought back fond memories… Read More »
[February 7, 2021] I spent my first year in the U.S. Army as a Private (E-1, in military jargon). A private is the lowest rank, least experienced, most impressionable soldier. They make up the largest population of soldiers, and we find lots of them on the battlefield. My peers from the Officer corps put little faith in them. … Read More »