TN50#98, Happy Thanksgiving, 21 November 2022
Hi Team,
Happy Thanksgiving, happy Monday and welcome to The Next 50 #98. It’s the week of Thanksgiving and outside of our home the world seems a little crazy, but inside our home this will be one of the quietists weeks we have had in months and for that I am very thankful.
What are you thankful for this year?
For whatever reason this Thanksgiving season, I find myself focusing on how thankful I am for all the times I failed bigtime in the past. Since I try and keep these blogs short, I’ll only tell you about 1 of those times.
Back in October, 1991 I joined the Army with a Ranger contract, this simply means that if I passed Basic and Advanced Infantry Training, I was automatically going to Airborne School and if I passed Airborne School, I was automatically going to the Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP) and if I passed RIP, I would go to one of the 3 Battalions of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
By early April 1992, I was signing in to 2nd Ranger Battalion at Fort Lewis in Washington State. Life was going exactly as I planned, the best of the best started their Army careers in the 75th Ranger Regiment and I was the best of the best!
By the end of July 1992, I was signing into I Corps’ Long Range Surveillance Company, also at Fort Lewis. That’s right, less than 4 months into my best of the best Ranger career I was RFS’ed (released for standards) out of the Ranger Regiment and on my way down to a “regular” Infantry unit.
In the moment I could not have been more disappointed in my circumstances, my military career was over 9 months after I joined the Army! Or at least that is what I would have told you back in the summer of 1992. In all actuality, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
When I retired from the Army back in October 2016, the thought of being kicked out of the Regiment didn’t cross my mind as a negative. Looking back, I actually believe that being kicked out of 2nd Ranger Battalion when I was a cocky dumb ass private was the best thing that could have happened to me at that moment, funny how time has a way of changing the past.
Needless to say, there have been plenty of other situations in my past when I thought the world as I knew it was ending and in every case not only did the world not end, I usually learned a valuable lesson and ended up on a better path.
If you’re 40 or older you definitely have these stories as well, reflect on some this week of Thanksgiving as you spend time with family and friends. Doing this from time to time will come in handy when you experience your next, “the world is ending” circumstance, and there will be another one, trust me on this one!
Finally, if you have anything you need to get off your chest and just need someone to listen, give me a call, I got you. So many of you have been there for me.
As always share the post with your team or anyone who might find it useful and let me know what you think!
Have a good one, Alex
