Tag: veteran

Why I Always Carry

I didn’t want to venture into the political realm here because this is about helping all veterans, and as we know, vets come from all areas of the political spectrum.  As I got ready to head to the barber shop with my son a couple days ago and concealed my pistol I asked myself why I didn’t like leaving the house unarmed, and I think this is something for all veterans.

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I don’t like to go anywhere without a weapon and a spare magazine.  In fact, if I could conceal a long rifle and a basic load, I probably would do that too.  Many of us know that first magazine in a firefight goes insanely fast, and when the adrenaline is pumping hard and bullets are flying your way, your accuracy percentage plummets.

An anti-gunner would say that I’m afraid or paranoid, and somehow they are braver for venturing into the world daily without paranoia.

I’m not afraid.  I’m not paranoid.  I’m also not naïve.  Police, firefighters, paramedics and military are more likely to carry than the regular civilian population.  You know why?

Because we don’t have the luxury of pretending that there is no evil in the world.

Cops deal with the worst of us every single night.  Take a cop like my buddy Geoff who patrols one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Orlando.  This guy chases real bad guys down every night while you dream about gumdrops and rainbows in your violence-free fantasyland.

A few months ago I went to visit him.  We walked into a restaurant together, both scanned the room, both moved to the booth in the back corner, and then fought about who gets to sit with his back to the wall.

I’ve seen the world as it really is.  I’ve lived through the experience where a situation goes from calm to chaos in a millisecond.  I’ve seen the horrific things that people are capable of and I don’t get to forget that shit.

TED Shot

I carry because I know there are evil men out there.  I carry because I know how hard it is to take a violent man down.  I carry because I know how hard it is to protect someone and fight at the same time.  I carry because I know a controlled-pair center-mass is the fastest way to end a fight.

For you jackasses that think that disarming me somehow makes you safer, you should know that my guns are only dangerous to those who seek to do harm; that includes someone that wants to harm you.

So don’t feel guilty for wanting that sense of security.  You’re not broken, your eyes are opened and they can never be closed now.

Godspeed out there



You are not prepared for your Interview

You’re excited, you’ve got an interview!  So you go to the internet and google the 50 most common interview questions because you’re high speed and shit so you’re going to be ready.  Particularly you’re thinking about how you’re going to answer that “What are your weaknesses question”

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Well guess what Airborne, every other swinging dick out there is doing that, and companies are getting wise to it.  The point of the job interview is to see what you’re going to be like as an employee, not to stump you, and recently companies have started to move to behavioral interviewing.

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Behavioral interviews are the best way to figure out what a person is going to be like when they’re on the job because past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.  Questions sound like this:

Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult and unpopular decision

Tell me about a time when you had to negatively counsel someone

Tell me about a time when you had to identify a customer need and deliver to that need

Yeah, not so easy now huh hotshot?

I wasn’t ready for this, and really, haven’t started getting good at it until the last year or so.  Luckily I have a gift.  Some people are gifted athletes, or amazing singers, or incredible artists, I have none of those skills.  God’s gift to me was the ability to think on my feet and bullshit like a real-life Axel Foley. So when I encountered these questions for the first time, I was able to maneuver my way around them.

Let’s be honest though, i’ve seen plenty of you fuckers at promotion boards, even when you know what the question is going to be, you still screw it up, so here are some tips for you.

All your answers need to be in the STAR format

Situation- what was going on

Task- what was your role

Action- what did you do

Result- the result of course

One of the mistakes I made was trying to explain too much of the Situation when I was giving a civilian a story about the military.  It went something like this:

Our unit was finishing our deployment and the incoming unit was going to relieve us.  This is called a RIP/TOA or Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority.  Our AO or Area of Operations encompassed about 128km of main highway from a bit South of Baghdad almost all the way to Kuwait.  We did right-seat/left-seat rides which basically means you’re driving for a while, then they are….

AAAAAGGHHHHHH!!  Stop!  I’ve talked for several minutes boring the shit out of the interviewer and I haven’t even started talking about what I did!  Here’s this same example today:

The situation was that our unit was leaving Iraq and we were getting replaced, which generally is the most dangerous time of the deployment.  My task was to create the plan….

That’s it.  One sentence.  You don’t need to educate these people on military operations dude.  Just give them exactly what they MUST know to understand your story and nothing else.

I know some websites are going to tell you not to do this, but memorize what you’re going to talk about.  You need to have 5-8 solid examples of what a badass civilian you’re going to be.  Go back to your OER or NCOER and find some of your favorite bullets of things that don’t involve direct enemy action (if you can’t think of them off the top of your head).  Write them down on a separate sheet of paper in the STAR format.

Most of your time needs to be in the “Action” section talking about what you did.  You want to highlight your initiative, and remember this interview is about what YOU did.  So if there was a group of you on something, then highlight what your role was and what your contributions were.

For double extra super points, read the job description and know what qualities they are looking for in a candidate and prepare to highlight that in your responses.

Finally, now that you have your answers/stories memorized, be prepared to adapt them to the question asked.  The same example can be used to highlight different traits.

If you want more specific advice, please ask!

Good luck!




“…the best that is in me.”

Guys don’t become soldiers for the paycheck, they do it because they believe in something.  As a soldier it is easy to find meaning and purpose in what you do. There is plenty of symbolism and history for us to hang our hats on.

I still get goosebumps when I stare at a flag during the national anthem.I remember reading about the 504th Parachute Infantry 82nd Airborne and how our unit was named The Devils in Baggy Pants by a German soldier in WWII.  Jumping in Arnhem with men that were there that day, and fighting alongside my brothers are all things that give me pride in what I accomplished in my time in uniform.

That part is easy.

What about when you get out though?  Not only does that camaraderie not exist, but few companies have a rich an awesome history for you to be a part of.  Some guys like my buddies John Dill and Micah Neibauer decided to venture into the great unknown, take huge risks, and start their own businesses.  Crossfit Sua Sponte and Southern Pines Brewery are both successful businesses and each of them can be proud of that accomplishment. By the way, if you’re in the Raleigh or Ft. Bragg area, I recommend both!

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that I chose John Deere.  Deere is a company rich in history and symbolism as well.  It’s a logo that is recognizable and stands for quality products.  It’s a market leader and a company that I can say I’m proud to work for.  It’s been around 175 years surviving a number of recessions and depressions, and has always been at the forefront of innovation.

Every day, as I walk in to start, I’m greeted by this picture below:

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“I will never put my name on a product that doesn’t have in it the best that is in me.” -John Deere

Every time I see it, I want to go back through time and high-five him.  It’s the civilian equivalent of this:

 

Airborne!  Nothing Runs Like a Deere!

 

 




The Christian Soldier

Being a Christian and a soldier has its own particular set of difficulties.  Some may call you a hypocrite, and they would be right but for the wrong reasons.

You see, all of us Christians are necessarily hypocrites.  We proclaim loudly that no one should sin, yet we admit to doing it every day.  That truth holds for me as I suspect it holds for many of you, and therefore as a Christian, I am also a hypocrite.  Being a soldier, however, does not make me a hypocrite.  I can be a soldier and still live as Christ and God expect me to.

Even a cursory glance at the Bible shows that God does not punish the soldier.  Abraham conducts the first recorded night raid to rescue Lot, Saul had his thousands, David his tens of thousands.  Even in the New Testament, John doesn’t tell the repentant centurion that he must quit, and both Peter and Jesus commend Roman soldiers for their faith.

The military is very much the context under which my faith was born.  What started as a ruse to get communion bread in Ranger school resulted in my actually hearing the word of God.  Slowly I began my conversion.

Two groups that typically have larger percentages of religious belief are soldiers and the elderly.  Both groups have come to grips with their own mortality.  I realized this quickly after my first firefight when the whizz and crack of bullets all around me showed me that it was luck, or maybe grace, that one of them didn’t find me as its target.

I accepted that I was indeed going to die one day.  All of us know this intellectually, but to believe and embrace it is quite a different story.  Many people see their eventual death as they get older and their body begins to break down.  As an Infantryman I realized that it really could happen any day, not in an intellectual way, but I knew it…I felt it.

Not everyone is built to do this job.  Some hesitate in a door, some don’t fire, and some will suffer emotionally for years.  Then there are the warriors who move with no apprehension straight into the face of danger and inflict whatever violence is necessary to eradicate the threat.  I’ve come to believe that you need to be designed that way, that’s not something that can be trained or taught.

In my walk with Christ over the years I’ve met men that can preach sermons that bring you to tears, others that give me goose bumps when they pray, and other still that can make music that brings you right into the very presence of God.

Some of us were given a different skill, like Peter who didn’t hesitate to draw and cut off a Roman soldier’s ear when they tried to take Jesus, we shouldn’t hesitate when confronting evil.  Also like Peter, however, we should be willing and able to show mercy, empathy, grace, and love.

Although some evil requires action in the physical realm to eradicate, other types of evil live in man’s heart, and can only be reached with love.  One of the efforts of CONUS Battle Drills is to teach you how to quell that beast so you can find love, compassion and empathy and live it in your daily life.

Violence is a tool, but it shouldn’t be your only tool.  When you lean on Christ you will find many other tools to add to your arsenal and you will not only be able to fulfill your purpose as a warrior but also as a Christian.