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Hail Mary, I talked with Steve Young this weekend
September 2, 2010
What was he like? What was he like?
Well, let me tell you. He was the embodiment of commitment, dedication to his profession, and bravery. Not to mention all-around good guy with a love of country beyond what you could ever imagine. He has a great sense of humor. And he eats M&M’s like the rest of us.
What was even better? I got to meet a few of his teammates as well. And a few days earlier I was able to see them perform on a private field doing what they train their bodies and minds to do day in and day out. Seriously. These guys totally rock. It was a once in a lifetime experience.
I suppose this is where I should tell you, it wasn’t the Steve Young you’re thinking of, maybe even hoping it to be. However for me, it was an even higher honor to meet this great man and his comrades.
Stephen Young is a Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army Parachute Team. He is a Special Forces Medic and Team Sergeant who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia combat tours. I was humbled to be in his presence.
Steve and the rest of his team were in Dallas for Open Camp, a symposium for webmasters, developers, bloggers, podcasters and social media enthusiasts. So why on earth (pun intended) would the Army be at an event like that? Well, because the Golden Knights – aside from being an elite team of skilled parachutists who perform around the county and compete in exhibitions – are a recruiting asset of the Army to spread the message about opportunities, education and leadership. And they realize the importance of being relevant in today’s social media climate. Kudos to them.
Since you’re reading this blog post, it’s probably apparent to you why I was in attendance at Open Camp. One of the greatest take-aways from my weekend donation to learning was getting to spend time in the presence of these amazing men — and one woman. (You go girl!) Rachel Medley made her grand entrance Friday night by landing gracefully on both feet with a Texas flag billowing out from her chute. Tell me that wouldn’t get you right there.
I have to admit, prior to Open Camp, I hadn’t heard of the Golden Knights. (Sorry guys.) But I googled and thought, “Holy Crap. I have got to see this.” So the hubs and I went out to the Thursday morning Celebrity Jump at Greenhill School and for 2.5 hours had the rare opportunity to sit and talk with these brave soldiers in a very small group setting. To say that I hung on every word and left swelled with patriotism for our country could be nothing less than an understatement. The Golden Knights certainly set the mood by cranking Top Gun at 100 decibels as the parachutes were falling at neck-breaking speeds from the sky. Despite the sweltering heat, I had goose bumps the entire time.
It was during these conversations that I was struck with the parallels between what these soldiers do to ensure their safety and the safety of those they are jumping tandem with, and what a business owner SHOULD do to solidify the stability of their company and the job security of their employee assets in the future. Certainly, entrepreneurs are not risking life and limb to ensure our nations freedom – I’m not making that quantum leap (again, pun intended), but if you’d like to be so bold as to make the parallels for the purpose of entrepreneurial grandeur, let’s do it.
You know I used to always liken starting and owning your own business to visiting a haunted house. It’s scary, but the adrenaline is a blast and you just want to do it over an over again. And if you keep going through that haunted house, you start to learn where the boogie men are, and the guys jumping from behind the wall with the machetes and the heads falling out of the coffins to where it’s no big deal anymore. I think that adrenaline rush may be the similar to leaping from a plane and plummeting towards the earth. (I say “may be similar” because I haven’t done it YET. Hint, hint GK…) Scary as hell, but with some practice, you get better. And in the beginning if you have the right training with the help of your friends, you don’t get yourself killed.
Colonel Fred Johnson was another of the gracious soldiers I had the privilege of talking with at the jump site and he shared with me the Army’s fabulous website called Army Strong Stories. I pulled a great quote from just one of Colonel Johnson’s posts that I think as a business owner, should resonate with you:
“While there were intense moments in combat, there was not an instance we were overcome by fear. That is not say we were not afraid at times, but we didn’t succumb to the emotion. The reason, I am totally convinced, is that we were trained well. There were few, if any, situations we had not experienced in field exercises and live fire drills. We were well prepared.“ – Colonel Fred Johnson, Active Duty, Infantry, Fort Knox Kentucky
It was a true gift meeting these elite soldiers and The Golden Knights have made a significant impact on my perspective of success. For the Golden Knights, their mission is to generate conversations about the many facets of the Army and the generous opportunities that it can offer to those with a calling to serve our great nation. Their platform to get this message out happens to be to hone their God-given skills and jump out of airplanes on average of 240 days per year. I won’t put words in their mouths, but I’m going to wager that one evaluation criteria of a successful jump is that everyone walks away alive. They practice day in and day out to improve their show and impress and wow mere mortals like me who stand on the ground and gape up at them so that we’ll spread the word about how the Army is way more than toting a gun and shooting at terrorists.
As a business owner, the day in and day out for me is to hone my craft and make sure that when I jump tandem with my clients, I make sure we both land safely and with one jump closer to our end goal. It’s the daily leaps where we both make that landing smiling and without injury – and sometimes saying, “Geez, what a rush!” that’s the real success. And as we all know, success is a journey – not a destination. Sometimes is just happens to start with a push out of an airplane.
You can follow the Golden Knights at http://armygk.com or on twitter at @armygk. You can follow Stephen Young at @gkSteve or the rest of the GK team @gkJoe and his new blog, @gkRachel, @gkDave, @gkMikeTT, and my apologies as I’m sure I missed someone….
submitted by Trista Perot on Sep 2 2010
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Fred Johnson
Sep 7, 2010 6:39 AM