From The Chapters: (Each page starts a story from a different person)

LEADERSHIP:

Ranger School emphasized one of the leadership principles stressed at West Point; lead by example. That did not mean only when you were in a leadership position. A true leader always did the things he knew to be right, whether he was in charge or not. At West Point they called it doing your duty. At Ranger School leadership was demonstrated, not by doing great things but by meeting a simple standard. He stayed awake when he was supposed to stay awake and did what he was supposed to do without someone telling him to do it. Not only was this leading by example, but it was showing compassion for the current leader by making his job easier and giving him a better chance for success.

INNOVATION:

On patrol in the mountains at about 0200 we came upon a pretty large stream without a readily available bypass, which forced us to cross where we were at. At that early hour and already bone tired, we had to face one of the greatest demons of winter Ranger School – water. The possibility of getting wet was enormously disturbing. In so many trying times at Ranger School our only saving grace, and one that we hung our hat on to keep things in perspective was, ‘At least it’s not raining.’ To take that away from us was to leave us with no worse place to imagine to comfort our minds. We could go no lower. There was no relative pain we could imagine that could hurt more than having wet clothes in freezing temperatures overnight. Even if we stopped and were allowed to sleep, there would be no sleep, only shivering huddles of ranger students. It was better to keep moving and keep warm even though in the meantime our soggy feet were paying a high price.

The air temperature was somewhere around the low thirties, and the water was near forty degrees. The reality that we were going to have to get wet sat on each of our chests with the heaviness of regret at our bad luck. The word came back, “Strip naked from the waist down and put on your rubber boots. We’re going to cross, dry off and re-dress on the other side.”

I didn’t ask whose idea it had been. I simply thought, ‘What the hell, I’ll try anything once.’

I dropped my ruck and sat on it because I did not want to put my bare butt on the ground. I shoved my clothes into my rucksack and stood up. Together with my squad we looked like a rubber boot clad chorus line ready for our swim. The air was cold even without the water, and as we waited, I could feel it sinking deeper into my skin.

Following the man in front of me, I started the slow movement toward the edge of the water and cautiously took my first step in. It was only a few inches deep, but I could feel the cold water press the rubber boot against my foot and the buoyancy of the air in my boot. My next step forward was into water that was deeper than my boot was high. The splash of the current into my boot, onto my bare foot and ankle, was painful. My goal now was to get to the other side as fast as possible.

Each progressive move forward brought the water higher and higher on my leg and a new level of disbelief at what I was doing. The splash of icy water was like acid on my skin, burning deeply into my muscles and taking my breath away. At 6’2” it crested at my mid thigh, and I felt sorry for those shorter than me. I bounded up onto the other side with a gasp and a chin quivering like a cold baby. I got out of the way of the movement of those following me and threw my rucksack down. I tried to dry myself with a towel, but with no sun or warm air to aid in the evaporation there was no way to completely dry off. I quickly put my pants, socks and boots on and waited for what seemed an eternity to start walking again.

It took an hour after we started moving for my body temperature to get back to normal, but I was then comfortable and prepared for a long night without the fear of hypothermia or loss of precious sleep because of wet, freezing clothes.

That innovative move prioritized long term success over short term comfort. We got to the other side, dried off, put our clothes on and we were fine. We traded that 30-40 seconds of discomfort for hours of comfort later. It seemed illogical at first but it was actually a very smart thing to do.

I take that lesson and relate it to problems I’m facing now. I try to look at different ways to solve problems that fall out of the normal way of thinking while keeping long-term success the highest priority. ---//////////

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