In June of 1998, my wife and I lost our first child, Tess, in delivery. This book and everything associated with it are dedicated to her. You can't replace a child. You can only look forward to seeing her again in Heaven. You can take comfort in knowing that she still exists.

In August of 1998 I started working on a book that had been a shelved priority for over ten years. I always thought it would be a fun project to compile a bunch of Ranger School stories. I didn’t think it would be anything more than funny and perhaps disturbing tales about the events of the School, however, what quickly became evident was that I couldn’t write about the best leadership school in the Army without writing about leadership.

The content of No Excuse Leadership is made up of the stories of 10 graduates, stories which are down-in-the-mud fun, eye opening and illustrative. The book has it all, guys from the Ranger Battalions, West Point, ROTC, and more. They relate different aspects of how they decided to go, how they prepared, what experiences they had at the School, and how the lessons they learned have helped them in their personal and professional lives.

The important question now is what are these rangers going to do for you. One of the most powerful ways to develop a habit or skill is by associating with people who have that habit or skill. In No Excuse Leadership you will associate with ranger students. If you want to develop the habit of perseverance, the trait of personal mental strength, the ability to work and succeed under difficult circumstances, it is important to know what they look like in practice, and these people will show you. They set an example that is unrivaled, short of combat, and even then, minus the fear factor, these guys take personal achievement to the limit. When you read this you will change your expectations of yourself and your organization. You are capable of so much more.

In addition to the leadership lessons, No Excuse Leadership illustrates the experience like no other work has ever attempted. Before I attended, no matter how many people I talked to about Ranger School, the same picture remained in my mind. "The night is perpetual, and day never arrives to dry the moldy ruck sacks on our backs. Slimy vines from the jungle ceiling hang down to slap our dirty faces as we march forward on another patrol. The forest is a maze of trees, always anchored in marshy soil which clings to our jungle boots with sucking teeth of mud. We march for days at a time, no specific mission, just weariness and hunger to keep us company. It is a cold, lonely world, meant only for those who have been challenged."

The Ranger graduates I asked, had the same problem explaining the diversity of misery there, as I do to the people who ask me now. How do you convey the feelings of frustration and anger at the paradox of being too tired to march any more, yet freezing is the alternative if you stop, or how the simple pleasure of a cup of coffee was worth more to a Ranger than the company of his girl back home?

No Excuse Leadership explains!

NEXT STEP ORDER No Excuse Leadership : Lessons from the U.S. Army's Elite Rangers

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