"It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it" - General Douglas
MacArthur
MacArthur
Command is a lonely job. When something good happens you heap the praise on your subordinates. If something bad happens you take full responsibility and get to the bottom of what happened in a quiet fashion in the days that follow. You constantly fly "top cover" and do your best to keep external forces from keeping your Soldiers from staying focused on the mission. When the work for the day is done you relish in knowing your Soldiers are happy as you retire back to your own privacy for a few hours. No matter what you are feeling or what mood you are in personally, you give your subordinates the exact same leader every minute of every day - unwavering, unflinching. Command requires you to always see the big picture and continually place the needs of the mission above your own. Command is exhausting. Yet it is exhilirating and satisfying. The shaping, molding and emergence of a winning team is an accomplishment that few people truly master as an art. The pressures of command can be crushing at times. But the rewards of success, of mission accomplishment cannot be measured. I love command. There's really nothing else I'd rather do in the Army. When life gets too easy it's a surefire sign you took the wrong fork in the road. Command gives you no option but the harder right at every turn of events. At some point I'll take a vacation but not now - I'm the commander. We've got a mission to accomplish and it always comes first. Mission First, Soldier Always!
As soon as we took over responsibility from the previous weekend we had 
the opportunity to celebrate Easter. We held a cookout at the Battalion HQ. My staff and I served the Soldiers steaks, chicken and burgers fresh off the grill. It was a mellow afternoon. Slowly the Soldiers made their way back to their billets or off to their work shift. Our first week wouldn't be easy. The war didn't stop to give us a practice run. We had already been hit with a big FRAGO from our higher command. Extra convoys were already being planned. Welcome again to Iraq. Work here is every day and it isn't until you get home that you realize just how fast you were really going. My experience is that when you finally get home you physically screech from 95mph to 5mph. However, mentally you are still moving at lightspeed. None of us are thinking about that transition right now. We're speeding up. We'll slow down later.
the opportunity to celebrate Easter. We held a cookout at the Battalion HQ. My staff and I served the Soldiers steaks, chicken and burgers fresh off the grill. It was a mellow afternoon. Slowly the Soldiers made their way back to their billets or off to their work shift. Our first week wouldn't be easy. The war didn't stop to give us a practice run. We had already been hit with a big FRAGO from our higher command. Extra convoys were already being planned. Welcome again to Iraq. Work here is every day and it isn't until you get home that you realize just how fast you were really going. My experience is that when you finally get home you physically screech from 95mph to 5mph. However, mentally you are still moving at lightspeed. None of us are thinking about that transition right now. We're speeding up. We'll slow down later. On top of everything I had on my plate as commander, the first week of our post-TOA responsibilities would be shared by a graded, week-long online forum for Army War College. Thanks to the fact that Iraq is eight hours ahead of the East Coast, I couldn't even have a healthy interaction with m
y fellow students until around 2200 my time (10pm). So every day was spent working battalion command issues until complete, followed by a quick jaunt to the gym, and then back to the office to be war college student by night. Bed would follow around 0100. At around 0600 I was back up and would do it all over again. Banjo suffered. There was simply no time available. I took the banjo in the office one night and found it to be too distracting - making me stay up even later. My forum group was discussing U.S. National Interests and Security Strategies for Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. My desk reflected this, as it was covered with neatly stacked reading requirements for easy reference - not. I made it through the week. Best of all, nobody in the battalion had to be burdened with my nightly study forays. Unless they specifically asked me about the papers stewn on my desk they wouldn't even know I was moonlighting. That's the way it's supposed to be. Mission first.
y fellow students until around 2200 my time (10pm). So every day was spent working battalion command issues until complete, followed by a quick jaunt to the gym, and then back to the office to be war college student by night. Bed would follow around 0100. At around 0600 I was back up and would do it all over again. Banjo suffered. There was simply no time available. I took the banjo in the office one night and found it to be too distracting - making me stay up even later. My forum group was discussing U.S. National Interests and Security Strategies for Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. My desk reflected this, as it was covered with neatly stacked reading requirements for easy reference - not. I made it through the week. Best of all, nobody in the battalion had to be burdened with my nightly study forays. Unless they specifically asked me about the papers stewn on my desk they wouldn't even know I was moonlighting. That's the way it's supposed to be. Mission first.Friday night of week one brought about an event all the Soldiers were looking for. "Boot up your Ass" (aka Toby Keith) was performing at the Speicher stadium on a USO tour. I'm all in favor of events like this but I'm really not a big "Boot up your Ass" fan. Given that my last night of the forum was the same Friday it was a given that I would not be at the concert. However, I encouraged all of my Soldiers to go. Many of them didn't even realize what I was referring to when I asked if they were going to see "Boot up your Ass." Saturday morning several Soldiers were quick to say, "Sir! Now I know what you were talking about!" Guess they all enjoyed Toby Keith. I'm glad. They deserve events like that. Thanks "Boot up your Ass"! I'm not really a fan but you truly are a Patriot and Soldiers love you for your support. If you come back I promise I'll be there. Well, so long as I don't have another Army War College forum. Or mission requirements...
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