Be Excellent

It's something I've not always done.  But keeping in mind that whatever I am about today, let me get it right.  Pull the string.  Turn all the stones.  Exhaust the sources.  Keep moving until it clicks.  Go the whole nine yards.

So now, the centers of my life are my little family and the next stage of my career, which is slowly defining itself.  Everything else I can loll about, pick and choose where my diversions lie, a little piano here, some Japanese there, keeping my brain active and filling up with interesting bits of this universe, letting some of it go...  There's enough time in the day, but not enough time for everything.

American Military Heroes and Criminals

I was moved to tears by Jessica Buchanan's 60 Minutes interview when she described her rescue by Seal Team 6.  There are true heroes in the American Armed Services.  I am embarrassed and disgusted when I hear the widespread reports of American military men assaulting women, including both other service members and civilians. With one and a half million service members, it's unrealistic to think we could eliminate all cases of rape and sexual assault, but according to the latest assessments, it's way too pervasive and a serious compromise of operational readiness.

It needs to be the attitude of America's fighting force to not let our desire to be a global force for good be sullied.  Overall, if every proud rescue we make is counteracted by ruining a life of one of our servicemembers through a rape or sexual assault, we are a net liability to our country.  Dammit, leaders, get this right.  Use the same mission mentality we have when we're going to neutralize the enemy to neutralize the internal enemy.  No equivocating.  No negotiating with anyone who would perpetrate harm on any one of our fighting force.

How would we react if an enemy combatant were to infiltrate our military and rape our female members?  We would route those bastards out and pillory them.  Same thing; let's do it.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges: Becoming Expert

When I fist started flying, keeping track of the overwhelming amounts of information about the flight condition of the airplane and the greater environment was hard.  Without an instructor pilot and/or plenty of time in the simulator, a new pilot will crash.  Period.

After a thousand hours flying, a person gets pretty good at knowing what's going on in the cockpit, outside the cockpit, on the radio, in the airspace, and in the battle space.  What used to take intense concentration to interpret and understand eventually becomes matter of course and instinctive -- a quick glance at the 10 or 15 gauges fits into a well-known pattern, and is instantly registered.  Anything out of the ordinary stands out like the a Coco-Puff in your Cheerios.

You always read about how chess masters experience a similar faculty.  They can glance at a board, read strengths and weaknesses of each side, and come up with a few quality options on where to go next.

I've been immersed in leadership and management theory, strategic thinking and planning, educational theory and the real-time operation of all of that for many years, with the constant intention to understand, learn and explore.  When I see a clear pattern of something emerging, it's not a mystery.  The influences, personalities, and potential solutions are loud in my head.  Watching others remain oblivious to problems that are so apparent is hard.  When they can't see the problems, how can they see the solution?