We Lead From The Front

You only get to make one first impression 😉

That rock was freezing 🥶

“Land navigation? I am good.” That’s the conversation I had with myself when I heard that there would be training for it. The last time I did land navigation, I almost stumbled into parts unknown, outside of the training site. I was smacked by numerous tree branches and I think a deer chased me. It was really a squirrel, but we were both running for our lives. So, no, I didn’t want to do that again, especially on a weekend. My attitude changed when I heard that the Soldiers had to be out there, but I was asked if I wanted to participate. So, when I was asked, I said I would join. Maybe it’s the air here or maybe it was delirium from lack of sleep, but I said I would participate, and I was actually looking forward to it.

There were a handful of us that participated in the training. As we drove to the site, we experienced every weather season known to man. I started to regret my decision to participate a little. When we left the weather was beautiful. I felt like the weather was setting the tone of what was to come.

When we arrived at the site, the command team had us to break for lunch. This gave time for the weather to clear up. It had been snowing pretty intensely. While purchasing my lunch the First Sergeant walks over and tells me that I will join them and tell them about myself since I snuck into the unit while they were on leave. All I could think was, “I really should have stayed in my room”, but the only words that came out of my mouth were “Roger, First Sergeant.” As I finished telling them about myself and my goals, the first sergeant points out that I am well on my way to succeeding. I tried my best to not look puzzled, but they went on to say, “that you are setting the tone by being out here with your Soldiers”. I told them that, “we lead by example. I wouldn’t feel right telling them to be out there for training that I know I need myself.“ After that, we finished up lunch and headed to the site.

The weather cleared and the training continued. I partnered up with the Soldiers in my section. They were the most junior out there, but they did awesome. They even saved me from walking off of a cliff. Yeah, that was interesting. During our time of finding points, I reassured them that this training is necessary and the unit is going about correctly. I told them that whenever opportunity presents itself, jump on it. Since the company around me was great, I totally forgot that I was venturing up the sides of mountains and it was freezing. We had a great time and it was an awesome learning experience.

I am actually looking forward to the next training.