I’ve returned from a brief sabbatical, after a long period of time of regular posting. And glad to be back, because it feels right to me. The Everything Drawer here in Off Topic felt like the right place to slip back in.
What Happened. In brief, a relatively new poster attacked me, by deliberately and with malice, posting personal information about me. I’m not going to rehash the thread discussion where this happened. SAF mods reacted swiftly to remove the information, deal with the poster and related threads, and I thank them for that. Candidly, I was so taken aback by someone who, with consciously negative intent, took the time to do this, it launched me into a mini-grief cycle. I moved through shock, numbness, etc., to acceptance, reaffirming I believe in the right of free speech, spending years of my life in uniform defending that right. I had to get to a point where I could accept that someone chose, for whatever reason (still stumps me), to exhibit such essential meanness and willingness to harm someone. I have forgiven them, not that they care, I am sure, but I needed to do that. I decided to generate some good from this, and took my time away to do some thinking.
Outcomes. I include my time spent on this forum as another exercise in my professional quest to infuse servant leadership in my life, as a continuation of my military service. I counsel and coach here, both in the open forum and through many posts with candidates, cadets/mids, grads, parents and others in the DMs. This parallels my third career after a full Navy career and corporate career, where I spend time on veteran career transition platforms as a coach and mentor in a pro bono manner. I also perform contract work for a firm specializing in executive resume coaching, where I handle veterans, federal service employees, law enforcement, including admirals and generals attending executive transition seminars – the common theme being careers spent in service to the nation and the community. I like “coming to work” on SAF as part of my regular daily schedule, as it offers the benefits of community and the fun of “off-duty” conversations in the Off Topic threads. One of my outcomes is I have increased my available monthly call hours on the two veteran mentor platforms I work on. Another is I am in talks with another veteran non-profit about doing some consulting for them or possibly joining their board. I volunteered for a new role in my undergraduate college’s veteran alumni group. I also contacted every one of our USNA sponsor alumni family for a howgozit check-in, ranging from those in major command as O-6 captains and those at their first duty assignment. This is me and what I do, help others to the best of my ability, so why not do more of what makes me, me. I intend to do it as long as God permits my brain to operate competently. It’s a two-way street. I share accumulated wisdom and insights, and I continually learn from others. I am a member of the veteran community, and we are bonded through service – it simply doesn’t matter what age or stage or life others are in. This isn’t a hobby for me.
Fun Stuff. I faithfully lurked every day without logging in, to keep up. I confess it killed me to not jump in and add congratulations on the growing appointment threads. I blew the cobwebs out of my brain and confirmed I am not yet teetering at grave’s edge (my forum friends know I love to work this phrase in whenever apt) by going and doing some BMW M Track Days at one of their events in the Northeast, something I enjoy doing as someone who appreciates performance cars and manual transmissions. I hadn’t done a session since before COVID, and I can proudly report my skid pad skillset is intact. I read or re-read bios of people who really did great things for others and for the country, such as RADM Grace Hopper.
Appreciation and Apologies. Thank you to my friends and shipmates here on SAF who know me “in real life,” who immediately checked on me via other channels. As I watched and read from my lurker chair, I was impressed and awed all over again by the kindness, knowledge and willingness to help of the many regular posters on SAF, as well as newcomers and others. I apologize to those who had left notes in my DM box, and who I didn’t answer before I checked out on my break. I’ll be catching up to those. I also apologize to long-time forum friends who I didn’t get a chance to drop a note to before stepping away. Thank you to all those who tagged me in a post or mentioned you missed me or other kind words. And, welcome to all the new members who have joined while I was out on break.
I kept going back to a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou, with whom I was privileged to have a creative writing seminar course during college. I can still hear that rich voice:
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I will keep that in mind as I write responses.
Happy Easter. Happy April Fool's Day.
I have to get to work now, go hit Like in the Appointment Threads, drop in at the Bacon thread, start contributing, but of course, I have to work in a musical interlude link to mark my return, as I have a weakness for doing here. It really kicks in at about 1:14. “Unleashed,” Two Steps From Hell.
