So, this is both a test drive of the blog and a chance to mention something good that has actually happened here. As a warning, I will not give two craps about political correctness. I know I am active duty military and thus an officer candidate, so I will not lie on this blog by hiding my true feelings with the exception of mentioning names that may cause harm or speaking direct ill of my boss, POTUS.

Today and yesterday has been all about NCLS (National Character and Leadership Symposium). And when there is NCLS there is not class. I like this. I wasn't sure if I would like it coming into it, but it turned out completely awesome.

My first lecture was titlled "Peak Performance Under Pressure." I had no idea what to expect, but expected it would be combat related. They had a Top Gun instructor come in. Yeah, that's right, Top Gun like the movie, I guess that would make this guy "Viper" from the movie. Well he is an ace meaning he has shot down four enemy air craft (Vietnam was the last war for Aces to come from), he has a Silver Star, Navy Cross, and Distinguished Flying Cross, and he is a Medal of Honor nominee. AKA Hoss Boss. He did a really good job of making a solid presentation along with entertaining us. Told about how dog fights are far from being a game, and that either you or the enemy dies if one starts. At one point he talked briefly about God and how each and every one of us needed to find out who he was becasue in the cockpit there are no aetheists. He mentioned that 20% of prisoners are excecuted, 20% are tortured to death, and 60% suffer extreme malcare as a prisoner of war. At another point he mentioned how he was being hunted down by a very good enemy and asked who in the room wanted to be fighter pilots. He picked someone on the first row and asked them what they would do as he recounted what the enemy did. In the end he told the kind that it was an outstanding job and pulled out a Top Gun instructor's hat and gave it to the cadet saying he was allowed to wear it because this instructor had given it to him. Talk about me being jealous.

Then last night we had a Medal of Honor recipient talk to us. He was cool. He had been in a fire fight and had a grenade thrown in by him just after he was shot. He grabbed the grenade and threw it around the wall, just as it got around the wall it detonated blowing off his hand. When he brought his hand back, correction, arm back, he saw some burn marks on his.... stub. He says he remembers thinking, "Why isn't this thing shooting blood off into the wind like in the movies?"He said that ultimately he did that act because of his love for his men. It was actually funny because he said that it wasn't popular to say that he loved his fellow rangers but that that love was still the very reason he grabbed that grenade. Ultimately it was just a very impressive display of humility that really surprised me. He had an awesome sense of humor and a great capacity to love that surprised me considering he was... is a ranger. At one of the audience questions about his prosthetic he mentioned how it cost $90,000 and then proceded to twist his hand 360 degrees. It was a cool funny trick. He said he had expected a hook but a whole hand was a special treat, however he still has special attachments like special knives and cuttlery, and even a fishing pole.

Today we had some more good briefings but one stood out in a way I never saw coming. Among the many many special guests, we had Aron Ralston, who is better known as the man who cut off his arm while stuck in a canyon. He is far from anyone that is an especially strong leader, but thankfully he recognized the true hero, the man who lost his hand saving comrades not himself. He even said that the only reason he cut off his hand was to save his life, that he deserved no recognition as a hero for that. He did talk about his movie, 127 hours, and even showed some amazing humor and public speaking abilities. James Franco was the person who played Aron in the movie, and even when Aron came on stage he said he was sorry he wasn't James Franco and that he was sure that the ladies were likely to be particularly sad. He had us watch the trailer for his movie. It was funny because the trailer showed a couple cute girls that he found while hiking and gave them a tour of some scenery. Just before showing the clip he said we would see if James Franco's good looks would help him escape from the rock. He then showed us actual pictures from his journey and when we saw the girls he had actually met, well they were not attractive, or thin, or anything really worth talking about which we thought was hillarious when compared to the girls from the film. Well overall as the guy talked he mentioned some really excellent life lessons. To quote he said that if you're having a bad day to just stop some time and ask "Aron, have you had to drink your urine today?" and if you say no then it's probably going alright. He also talked about right from minute one he knew he would have to cut off his hand, he just didn't want to admit it. He said that when he really got the gumption to stab into his arm he thought of the psycho song... EEk EEk EEk, and then he made the big jolt of shoving his knife in between his bones. He mentioned about how he had to break his bone, then realized there was another one... not something he was expecting. He talked about how when he touched his nerve that it was like touching 110 Volts, so he took his knife and had to flick/jerk hard to cut it. He said the pain was like shoving his whole arm into molten metal because the pain was so intense. However, he did not scream or cry or even say ow. That was when he said the "how you react to pain is proportional to your motivation." I found that to be an awesome little piece of understanding the human spirit.

As one last note, I learned about Captain Lance Peter Sijan, the only academy graduate to earn the Medal of Honor. His sister talked about how even during his torture he wouldn't lie to make the torture stop, when asked why he said he didn't lie. Now I don't know how that could have been learned (seeing how Lance died from the torture having never given a piece of information), but I want to believe it. Then there was another cool treat. One of the guys they had there to talk was the fighter who got Lance's signal for help and identified him positively, was also the guy who had me stay at his house the first night I got to Colorado Springs for the Academy. He gave me breakfast and wished me well. Like an idiot, I threw away his card writing him off as just another guy who wanted to keep in touch with me because of how I am able to charm people. The arrogant fool I am. Well I went to say hi and dog gonnit, he recognized me. He hit me in the chest and shouted "Deakins!" he was glad to see I had made it this hard and said his wife would be happy to hear I was still here as well. Well I got a card from him again, but this time, I intend to hold onto that card and let the connection build. But back to when I went to say hi to him, I could see tears in his eyes because he was still upset all these years later that he hadn't saved Lance, it cut him aand hurt. But when he saw me he smiled and lit up so much, like somehow I had made his day brighten a little.

Jared Wesemann went up to talk to another one of the guys who had been through the prisoner camp that Lance had been in. He said how they were given such horrible living conditions, like fecal matter covering the floor. Wesemann didn't get specific, but he did mention other things like how the prisoners kept good american spirit by comparing the length of their tapeworms to see who had the longest. That when the prisoners would be talking they would sometimes start coughing and cough up worms. Horrible... horrible... The ex POW said that after that he gets so mad whenever people complain over simple discomforts. Wesemann and I felt that we should never even complain about heat/cold. Just another good humbling day that says anything I have given so far is so pale in comparison to these soldiers and servants of the union.