Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Across all aspects of my life, I’ve done my best, with what I’ve had at the time, to be ready to respond rapidly to life’s uncertainties and changes. It’s through training, and a mindset to be prepared, that we may flou …

Bullet shell casings fell from the sky as the sun peeked through the clouds, raining brass on our camouflaged Kevlar helmets like a hailstorm on a sunny day—a peculiar sight to see. I looked up in the sky and saw the outline of the black AH-6 little bird helicopter and thought, “this is what they me …

Wilfred Thesiger—a British Military Officer, writer, and explorer—once said, “No man can live this life and emerge unchanged. He will carry the imprint of the desert, the nomad; and he will have a yearning to return for this cruel land can cast a spell which no temperate climate can match.” With Mr. …

My first experience in understanding what it means to be a leader came as a result of my attendance at the Primary Leadership and Development Course (PLDC) or what is now referred to as the Warriors Leader Course (WLC). I attended PLDC in the summer of 2000, as an 11B Infantryman. By that time, I ha …