Originally posted on 10.07.13
I rode on top of the LAV on the way home, wind in my hair, day-dreaming and smiling. It was still loud as hell, but at least I wasn’t in a confined space. Our event was coming to an end, but I felt an incredible sense of satisfaction fall over me. I was tired, but I felt like I’d accomplished something big.
The day ended with us changing out of our equipment, washing our painted faces and converting ourselves back into civilians. As we brought things to a close, we were lined up and presented a certificate for completing the Paratrooper for a Day course. As I stepped forward to receive my recognition, I was sincerely proud and thankful for the experience. I shook hands with the officer, and returned back in line to watch my friends deservingly receive their awards. It was an informal, but memorable ceremony.
It’s been just over 2 weeks since this great day concluded. I’ve been writing this series since, and had a lot of time to reflect on the day, and the overall experience. In no particular order, I want to bring forward a few observations to share with you.
The Soldiers:
I have an incredible amount of respect for the men and women who choose to serve our country through a life in the military. It’s not an easy life they are opting for, and the game they play is for keeps – their lives are literally on the line. These people are committed professionals, superior athletes, expert technicians and above all, highly disciplined individuals. They know what they do is important.
I can’t deny that I expected the stereotypical army ‘SIR, YES SIR” as we walked through our day with the soldiers. While they are respectful and follow protocol, I didn’t experience the ‘robotic army’ mechanisms I expected to.
The soldiers speak with familiarity to each other. They are friends, colleagues and they help each other constantly. They are smart, articulate, hard workers who enjoy a good joke. I was caught off guard as I witnessed them texting each other on their iPhones and wishing each other a good weekend as their workweek came to a close. I know it’s obvious, but these fine soldiers are also human beings. They are dedicated friends, brothers/sisters, Dads/Mothers, husbands/wives etc…they cheer for hockey teams and drink beer just like I do. I didn’t get a chance to speak with them about how they separate ‘work’ from the rest of their lives – but it was clear that while they love and live the army, they also have other lives, hobbies and dreams. They are good people, and I was lucky to have met them.
The Raid:
While we were sharing a beer with several of the soldiers after the day was done, one of the commanding officers told me that if the raid we did at the end of the day had been real – we would have needed to outnumber the enemy 3 to 1 in order to take the camp. He also said that a raid of that design would have anticipated heavy casualties and losses. That really struck me.
As I looked around the table at my friends (who were alongside me an hour earlier “raiding away”), my stomach sank at the thought that some of them could be dead or wounded if that had been a real attack. I just couldn’t get my head around how hard that would be for me to accept. I found my mind easily leaving this topic, for the want of happier thoughts. I may have been able to ‘play soldier’ on this fun and educational day…but I’m not one and don’t know if I ever could be. I don’t know that I could handle the death and dismemberment of the lives that are my friends’.
SharePoint:
In preparation for our arrival, several of the soldiers planning our day researched our group – particularly my company, NeoStream. They knew we deploy Microsoft SharePoint solutions to the oil and gas industry. Since the army uses SharePoint, we had a common point of connection. Through the day, it was shared with us that the Army’s SharePoint solution isn’t that great. This isn’t that uncommon for me to hear, as many organizations struggle to get a good instance of SharePoint deployed. I was sorry to hear this for my new friends though, and I started thinking of ways NeoStream could help.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with anything realistic. The army is a big engine, and the Canadian government’s procurement process isn’t one a company like NeoStream could ever enter – let along survive and ‘win’. This had me reflecting however, at how unfortunate it is that many of Canada’s great companies, products and services will never be used by our military simply because it’s too hard to do business with the military. I have no answers to this challenge, but I’d be willing to bet that within about 4 weeks, if given the opportunity, NeoStream could have had 3 PPCLI’s SharePoint instance humming…and the soldiers loving it. Too bad we can’t share our abilities and excellence in return.
Offline:
As an unplanned effect, I ended up spending the entire day, off line. There was no time to check email or respond to texts while running the obstacle course, jumping out of the jump tower or while firing our weapons. It’s been a long, long time since I spent a day without technology telling me what to do. I liked it…and you know what…the world kept on moving even though I wasn’t available.
Connections:
While I wrote this series, friends and family followed the stories through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the SeanFromCanada blog. I was struck and encouraged by how many people mentioned the writing, and shared things they liked about it. I was contacted by people I’ve never met to share their stories and connection to the army, Afghanistan, Paratroopers or, in one case, a soldier who was killed outside a LAV. I was forever encouraged by this outpouring and elated to connect with people through my writing. It is my intent and hope that more connections and interactions will come from the writing I produce.
Kids Cancer Care Foundation:
The people at KCCF, and indeed all those involved in the Children’s Oncology program in Alberta, are special people, deserving of our support, thanks and money. My wife Catherine has dedicated her professional career to providing care and comfort to many families enduring the worst experience of their lives – having a kid with cancer. This is important work for our family, and I was really touched by how many soldiers approached me through the day, thanking me for my donation to the Kids Cancer Care Foundation. They’d shake my hand and speak to the importance of the cause and their personal appreciation for our contribution. This was about helping kids and families with cancer…and we all knew it.
Friends and Smiles:
I have over 300 pictures of the day. Particular thanks goes out to the army for providing an army photographer to chronicle our experience. Many of the pictures taken will be cherished for the rest of my life – and I know others in our group feel the same. There is something that needs to be pointed out about many of the pictures we have…we’re smiling. As I flip through the collection, I’m struck by how many times my friends and I are smiling in the various shots. It’s obvious we were ‘kids in a candy store’, having the time of our lives. I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to share this with some great people…and I thought we looked pretty good with our smiling green and brown camouflage faces!
The Series:
For a long time, I wanted to start a blog to encourage me to write frequently, and ultimately improve upon my writing style and abilities. I had no intention of writing a series – frankly, I didn’t even know what a series was – I thought I’d just write single entry blog items.
I’ve really enjoyed writing this Paratrooper series, it’s been a ton of fun. Sometimes I felt a little rushed to produce the content to ‘keep the momentum going’, but it was worth it. I was challenged, entertained and stretched to deliver all of these entries, but I learned a lot along the way. I would sincerely value hearing what you thought of all this – including feedback on things like:
- length of the articles
- frequency
- and even the time of day the posts were released.
Don’t worry about coming across too critical, I’ll consider all input, and pursue whatever tips make sense to me.
One Great Day:
As we drove back to Calgary late Friday evening, we were exhausted. You would have thought the car would be silent and still, but we just couldn’t stop talking. We recounted our many experiences and played the event back from each person’s perspective. Of the 10 of us who participated in this, every single person has referred to it as a highly memorable and great day… certainly one of the best in my life.
It truly was one great day! Thanks for sharing it with me.
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