COLUMBUS, Ohio –
As a military retiree, I vividly remember a
variety of occasions where I was required to step up
and take the lead. One specific incident which I’ll never
forget occurred during the beginning of Operation
Allied Force while stationed at Aviano Air Base, Italy.
Operation Allied Force was the code name for a
NATO military operation which consisted of air
strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
from March to June 1999. Many combatants of this
operation were deployed to my location in Italy and
it unexpectantly became my responsibility to conduct
an on-boarding and intake process for everyone
upon their arrival.
Before this process began, I was notified that
I would only shadow and assist one of my seasoned
peers to gain future experience. Well, after only one
day, that plan changed and I was notified that I would
run my own shift. Not only did I not have experience,
but I also had no plan to pull from and no guidance to
refer to. My previous shift only consisted of “prepwork”
and a great deal of idle time. So now, I was expected
to receive, brief and control hundreds of military
professionals to include high-ranking senior
members. In addition, my responsibilities also included
overseeing the intake actions of other base
organizations, making sure that all of the deployers
were accounted for and ultimately ensuring everyone
was provided group transportation and routed
to their end-destination; a hotel or a tent-city location.
If you know anything at all about the military,
you know one thing is certain; you must get comfortable
being placed in uncomfortable situations. At
first, I was extremely frustrated because I felt as if I
was being placed in a position to fail. After all, I literally
had no training, no guidance and was now expected
to stand before a Base Commander and others
as an “expert” and provide guidance. Those “others” I
speak of included hundreds of servicemen and servicewomen
who had just arrived from the United
States on 12+ hour flights; naturally they were not in
the best of moods.
I truly had to “wing it” a bit until I learned
what was going on, display outward confidence and
just move forward. It actually worked and I did become
the expert; primarily because I had to and failure
was not an option. Whenever I have moments of
self-doubt, I always call upon this event to reassure
myself that no mountain is too big for me to conquer.