It was the Fall of 2003. I'd just graduated from Texas A&M (yes, in College Station) and also completed four months of training with the Corp of Cadets USMC platoon to get into much better shape before meeting the gunny a few months later. I'd enjoyed some beers during those years, and needed to drop the 12-pack and pick up a grunt's pack.
Then it was off to Officer Candidate School, in Pensacola, Florida to become a 90-day wonder. The ash and the trash, as the academy grads refer to us, I hear. Head recently shaven. Personal belongings taken. We all looked the same, even the girls as I recall.
The transformation was fast, and went deep, too.
Reconditioning well underway.
For the good of the Nation.
Self & Identity Is Top Of Mind
Multiple "wingmen" have appeared out of the blue with this week's theme, and reinforced the importance of reclaiming one's identity during "#militarytransition." I'm grateful they did, and am tagging a few LinkedIn posts and pulling from their quotes to address what I consider the most serious of matters in this "military transition" discussion.
I encourage you to visit those posts, linked toward the end of todays article, and ponder on their wisdom after reading or listening to this 8th Edition in the KnowledgeBombs for Military Transition series, a 16 minute listen at 1x playback (12 min at 1.5x).
This is the most important edition to date.
Don't deny yourself this intel for your Liberty Battle, or for your people.
Concerning this week's photo, scroll back up and take a closer look at those four planes before continuing on:
A Flying Fortress (B-17)
A Liberator (B-24) ***The Liberty Lion Favorite!***
A Mitchell (B-25)
A Mustang (P-51)
Consider each of these aircraft. They're all of the same "type" and "mission:" fixed-wing fighters (as compared to other type/mission aircraft, such as Balloon, Glider, Helicopter (rotary-wing), Unmanned {UAV}, e.g.).
We're sticking with the fixed-wing "type" analogy today.
Consider this type designation as our affiliation with the U.S. military; it's our "type" as it relates to our uniformed service and the "mind state" basic training put us all in...and inside a box, too.
We'll be labeled "veteran" some day, also.
It's our "type" on the assembly line.
Self Aware on the Assembly Line
We're in uniformed appearance and in uniformed organization, and necessarily so. And we're uniformly un-informed, about it, too. Recall a previous edition where an assembly line of aircraft drove home a point. Imagine your identity is on the assembly line today, in the place of one of those aircraft.
We're all cut from the same general "cloth" wearing the Nation's robe, having been indoctrinated in one way or another to the rank and file structure necessary for disciplined action and duty in military organization.
The change we underwent was for the greater good.
We didn't change intentionally.
The change was purposeful.
Big difference.
Often referred to as "volunteered to serve."
Then we took a verbal Oath, for all the world to hear.
We all swore an Oath, both Enlisted servicemembers and Officers, and probably took it multiple times over the years.
Each version was slightly different, but both were to the same thing: The Constitution (and by affiliation the Declaration of Independence) and the ideals laid out in them. I consider your Constitution as the glove protecting the hand that is your Declaration of Independence. And they are yours, as an American Citizen and a member of "We The People." Have no doubt about that.
Have you read either lately? If not, get a CATO Pocket Constitution for both.
A Production Line Analogy for Self Awareness
All four aircraft had their own production lines, too. Just like the weapons systems of today. Production lines crank out every single "type" identically—they're all fixed wing, and all look the same. They all operate pretty much the same, too (no physics lesson here; ask the aviators in the comments dropping bombs on my technical deficiency to explain the nitty gritty to you!).
But then the types diverge into their own models and series. There exists a "fork" in the production line of fixed wing aircraft. And then, as time marches on, change occurs as the aircraft's service life lengthens and type evolves (i.e., more experience from operating the weapon is gained, and improvements made).
This is how incremental improvements improve the efficiency, resiliency, dependency, and even length of service life for the weapon "type." The same ideas apply to your (or your spouse's) journey through the rank and file of the military experience. You become more entrenched in your small sliver of the military machine with each passing year, or decade.
Then the type of plane's model (the four planes flying in the header picture today: B-17, B-24, B-25, and P-51) and series (only one series for each type/model is shown in today's photo, and I've got no idea what they are) begin to evolve from previous models and series within each type. Now I know the aviators reading this are saying:
"Darn logisitician...has no idea what he's talking about. Should stick to beans, bullets, and black oil...and let us do the flying."
Sidenote for the Critics
To you, I say, write a better article for me! We can link it back to this one to appease your frustration. I'm writing for the general population, not the subject matter Top Gun expert engineer or Blue Angel and Black Knight aviator. You are cool, though.👍🏼
If anyone desires to get into the nitty gritty on Type/Model/Series (TMS) for "a-typical" military aircraft (balloon, UAV, e.g.) and the Mission/Design/Series (MDS) designation for typical military aerospace vehicles like those we're covering today, fly right to here.
And bear with me as I tie the analogy back to your identity as a military servicemember and what you'll have to do with it to embrace Liberty and get Freedom back.
Back Onto the Self Identity Track
Then the identity you used to have gets buried underneath that heavier rank, the cool unit patches, all the medals and ribbons from exploits in foreign lands, and love-me-wall memorabilia.
Recalling my experience from OCS. I got my tail kicked there. The USMC Drill Instructor was brutal, and it was good for my military service. It was terrible for me as a human, though.
Your indoctrination experience was terrible for you, too, warrior.
Hanging onto it is the most serious of domestic threats.
And it's right under your nose.
First Wingman's View:
Referencing War is a Racket by Smedley Butler, little to nothing has changed for "transition" to civilian life in eight decades. The solutions in place offered for free from the government aren't changing fast, either:
“There they were remolded; they were made over; they were made to ‘about face’ to regard murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and, through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a couple of years and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or of being killed. Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another ‘about face!’ This time they had to do their own readjustment, sans [without] mass psychology… Many, too many, of these fine young [people] are eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make the final ‘about face’ alone.”
This idea of SELF and the STATUS you perceive along with it is way more than simply the rank on the collar and the weapons platform of choice, or the multiple feathers in the hat from command and academic achievements.
The Liberty Accelerator STATUS OF SELF/IDENTITY pillar elements resonating best with me are:
Information | Authority | Influence | Autonomy| Relationships
A Junior Officer's Questions - They're All About Purpose
A junior officer in a training pipeline provided me a long list of questions about this topic a few years ago. Many of them are covered under this STATUS of SELF discussion:
How much does shore tour location affect [my] future plans, both in and out of the military?
Financial freedom with regards to separation - Where to start looking/planning?
Family Affairs - How to ensure your spouse’s success within their career as you relocate every few years.
Need for higher education for career progression - What’s required vs. expected to continue forward?
Decision to buy vs rent - Is there a general rule of thumb on how long to remain at a duty station before considering a home purchase?
Importance of maintaining contacts as you move forward, in or out of service?
Differences in pay based on where you are stationed (excluding BAH)?
Family Benefits - What lesser known benefits are provided to service-members and their families that should be taken advantage of?
Higher Education while on active duty and using GI Bill (Montgomery or 9/11) vs. scholarship opportunities for service members?
STATUS of SELF and IDENTITY Landscape
It took me way too long to realize that the STATUS of our individual SELF is an asset to utilize, not one to hold us back. The questions posed by this young officer all point to the five elements of my STATUS OF SELF and IDENTITY pillar:
(Information-about our individual self; Autonomy) How much does shore tour location affect [my] future plans, both in and out of the military?
(Autonomy) Financial freedom with regards to separation - Where to start looking/planning?
(Authority; Autonomy) Family Affairs - How to ensure your spouse’s success within their career as you relocate every few years?
(Influence; Relationships) Need for higher education for career progression - What’s required vs expected to continue forward?
(Autonomy) Decision to buy vs rent. Is there a general rule of thumb on how long to remain at a duty station before considering a home purchase?
(Relationships; Influence; Authority) Importance of maintaining contacts as you move forward, in or out of service?
(Information; Autonomy) Differences in pay based on where you are stationed (excluding BAH)?
(Information) Family Benefits - What lesser known benefits are provided to service-members and their families that should be taken advantage of?
(Information; Influence) Higher Education while active duty and using GI Bill (Montgomery or 9/11) vs. scholarship opportunities for service members?
These are all inquisitive questions that young #military personnel [let's not kid ourselves, old folks, too, and it applies to #MilSpouses as well] at all ranks should, in fact, must, understand to allow for intentional and strategic planning. The tactical missions you'll face continue encroaching on the Armed Forces Family Liberty Battle preparations and mission planning for that inevitable Transition Mission that we're all on, right now.
The fog of work on the crushing strategic staff and burdensome tactical/operational assignments keep both eyes focused on the "mission" at the expense of neglecting preparations for the biggest "Mission."
Don't get ambushed.
Deployment Readiness is Transition Readiness.
And answers to each of those young [wo]man's questions must be traced back to “Your why?”
In initial training, no matter the source of commissioning, our why, if we ever even had one (very likely didn’t, though), was most likely taken from you.
It was taken from me, too, at the ripe young age of 23.
Replaced with a rank, title, and mission to support the team and defend the Nation (model and series become more engrained the longer your in the prizagon of rank and file structure and the fog of work in DoD) while taking care of my people, it’s a missing piece of you that must be found again, well before that Transition Mission (Herb Thompson's shockwave through the transition space in 2020) turns into a full on Battle for Liberty.
A retired Master Sergeant from the U.S. Air Force said on a call one day,
"Decades in government service does damage."
I couldn't have said it better myself.
And the individual must fix themselves.
Nobody will do it for you.
That battle will very likely begin via unanticipated ambush (force drawdowns, admin separation, medical discharge, pick your poison for unplanned separation or retirement), or your calculated, sequenced approach alone (i.e., planned with partial information, on your own, in a silo’d mission planning environment inside a box, which we don’t do with any other mission, by the way).
Finding your why is a very doable process, but it takes intentionality and your willingness to go and get it. A team and expert guides knowledgable on this aspect of psychology can be useful, too. I used two to break out of my own fog of service. I'm happy to point you in one direction, so schedule a RECON call and engage.
I can’t answer this young officer’s questions without asking the officer what it is [he], and his family, want from life. What’s [her] “Why?”
Why do you get up every morning?
Why do you desire to live? For what?
Why did you join the service and pick the career field you did?
And on and on it can go.
These are deep and personal questions that only the individual can answer. And the answers can change, too. I’d be foolhardy to provide anyone guidance without asking about “your why” and getting to know you on a very personal level.
Back to the Airplane Type/Model/Series Analogy
So the one type of airplane across the four different models in today's picture provide a great analogy to our individual identity. Each of those Type/Model/Series and the individual aircraft number assigned to each, as well as that aviator's call sign written on the fuselage looking so cool, are unique to that aviator and that numbered aerovehicle in the squadron.
The paint colors and design on each aircraft, unique to it and it alone, is you.
Not the call sign you're given. Not the pictures themselves, but the intricate paint colors, strokes of the brush on the metal, and the uniqueness of the placement of those drawings on each aircraft are you at your very core. These traits are the essence of the craft.
Have you found your essence?
Answer "What's Your Purpose?" or "What's Your Why?" without referencing your military affiliation, and you've found it.
Bombs Inbound
Anything less than that, and you haven't.
Your identity (you, too, MilSpouse) is very likely buried somewhere deep down underneath the rank, weapons platform, and service branch that indoctrinated you (and through you your family, as applicable) years or decades ago.
The cultural and psychological makeover continued through subsequent training, follow-on assignments, academic experiences, two decades of "warfighting" posture with one deployment...or several, and a scarcity mindset in the prizagon of military service — it does damage, too.
And it's broken most all of us because of what the culture does to perpetuate the mindset necessary for successful military operations and the slow motion of bureaucracy.
💥It doen't care about you, or your family.
So you must own this yourself.
🤯Nobody else will.
"Say it out loud: 'It's my fault.' " - Jason Stapleton, USMC Veteran, NOMAD Network, YouTube Podcaster
Second Wingman's View
A Navy Seal (CDR, Ret.) refers to a former Army Corporal as "boss" now.
This is the perfect post to meet your identity challenge head on.
Tying Self Back to the Life Column in the Series
Recognizing your status beyond a rank, weapons platform, and service branch in the real world beyond uniformed service is a crucial first step in achieving your Liberty...and Autonomy once you return to society...and that day is very likely to arrive sooner than you might believe. It's central to your Health and a major aspect of your Wealth, too, which also touches every aspect of the Work Column (Jobs | Efforts & Energy | Taxes). Seen the federal governement's debt burden, lately?
Surpassed $30T, yes with a T, and accelerating exponentially. And that's only part of the problem.
Corporate and private debt levels are at nosebleed levels, too.
And it’s not a partisan, political argument.
Both sides are equally awful.
Uncle Sam is drunk and insolvent, and a serious domestic threat with the out of control deficit spending.
Do you believe he'll be able to continue paying you that great salary and funding all of those "benefits" including those for our non-military affiliated citizenry (Social Security; Medicare/Medicaid; e.g.)?
It's the purchasing power that matters, not the nominal paychecks and annuity income streams and allowances that are falling way behind the rising cost pressures. See the previous editions to get up to speed on these most serious matters pertaining to your domestic household economy.
These economics and finance touchpoints are linked to your identity journey because both are paramount to getting your Liberty back.
The Business Section for the TLDR Crowd - YOLO and TINA
To Long Didn't Read?
I'm not summarizing this post. It's too important for a Cliffs Notes version to be written in a few sentences here. Carve out a half hour, read this entire post of 15 minutes long, and visit the external links (another 15 minutes). Just a 1/2 hour of your day. Take care of your people. Take care of your family. Take care of yourself. You owe your world that.
To close out this week's edition, some situational awareness on the Liberty Movement for Armed Forces Families:
I've pivoted much of my writing and editing efforts to polishing off the book, for major release and marketing to begin on Memorial Day...only a month away! So expect more daily 2-minute videos in the weeks ahead. If you desire to grab a seat in the catapult launch book club, and contribute to the Liberty movement through Independence Day and into Labor Day, follow the book catapult page!
On 30 September, before getting my Liberty back on 1 October, I'll be saying the Citizen's Oath to Liberty, streamed online.
Then we'll be celebrating a #1 Best seller achievement by Veteran's Day, what do you say?!?!
We're holding a weekly Liberty Power Hour where you can fly in and drop some bombs about the book, or anything else that's on your mind! Participation has sucked. My marketing effort for that has been bad. I'm trying different things. The timing could be the issue. Let me know in the comments what days/times you'd carve out to attend.
We’re going to ensure you utilize all of your time and experiences DURING military service to perfect the skill sets and position yourself to return to society not as a military veteran dependent on it (there’s no Liberty in that), but a full contributor to it, living life fully alive well beyond service, bathing in Liberty enjoying total Freedom.
If you're a military veteran (or spouse of one) already, we've got solutions for you, too. Anyone in the Armed Forces Family is invited to partake in Liberty and Freedom beyond the uniformed.
There Is No Alternative.
You Only Live Once.
To Your Liberty,
🗽