This chapter is not in the book

  • Published
  • By Command Chief Master Sgt. Doug Hodge
  • 65th Air Base Wing
LAJES FIELD, Azores (AFPN) --  As many of you study for promotion in the coming days, I should caution you. There is a chapter in the Promotion Fitness Examination that has been left out. It is called “experience.” We senior noncommissioned officers asked the book’s makers to leave it out for a good reason. Here is why.

Recently, I had the privilege of being allowed to spend time with wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Injuries to the patients there varied. Some would be returning to the fight. Others were fighting a second war in intensive care to stay alive.

Many of these brave recovering soldiers are my son’s age. As I listened to their stories and asked them questions about their service, I heard the same message repeatedly: “I want to get back to my unit.” “I want to fight again.” “I want to continue this important mission of freedom.”

Sometimes we become numb to a fact we should never overlook. Those of us who wear the uniform swore to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. Lying in those hospital beds, those soldiers with missing arms and legs have more than fulfilled that oath.

However, at times, the fact we are sworn to give our lives for our country can escape us. The 8-to-5 routine, the gray cubicle walls, the comfortable vinyl seat of a GMC pick-up truck and the monotony of daily work can dull our edge.

What may help is keeping in mind the greater good, the big picture, how our mission fits in the overall effort. It is about knowing that your efforts contributed to helping an F-16 Fighting Falcon put a bomb on target; or helped a combat controller guide an A-10 Thunderbolt II air strike on target. You need to tie it all together.

The experience of seeing those wounded warriors, feeling their spirit and sharing camaraderie could not be read in a book. Moreover, knowing that all of those soldiers wanted to continue supporting America’s message of democracy and freedom is an emotion I cannot fully describe here. It is overwhelming and reinforces the message of duty, honor and country.

Their collective experiences cannot be written into any book, studied or shrunk into flashcards. It is something you can and should see for yourself.

While none of these experiences are something you will find in a book, we can all learn from the experience we get from sharing, working and promoting our mission of freedom and peace across the globe.

Continue to study hard.