Knee Deep in the Hooah!

I wrote about the various life lessons that I walked away with after hearing Mr. Hooah’s! adventures in his land navigation course a couple of weeks ago at Ft. Benning. I really enjoyed hearing my husband’s stories, writing them out and extracting from them the little golden nuggets of wisdom. I also received from readers a lot of positive reaction through email and comments on the article. I hope you all like the following stories as much. I found them very amusing and inspiring!

The two youngest kiddos and myself all piled into a car and headed down to Ft. Benning this past Labor Day weekend. A glorious time was had by all of us! It was nothing short of positively wonderful to spend time together, and it was long overdue. Mr. Hooah! joined us on Saturday morning, and we just left him today (Tuesday) around noon. It was a glorious time together, but the good-bye was much harder than I had even anticipated. I know it is only a matter of time before we can be together under the same roof again. I just have to remember that.

On the first night that Mr. Hooah! got to come “home” to the hotel with us we stayed up very late sharing stories with each other. Even if we do have more phone contact these days it seems as if there are a lot of details that get left out of the mix when we are trying to say as much as we can with life happening in the background. There is nothing better to me, in these days of late, than my husband present, a quiet room, sleeping kids, and the rest of the night ahead of us to get caught up with all of the important matters of life and love within a marriage.

At one point in our time together Mr. Hooah! said he “… had some more good stories for me if I wanted to hear them.” If? Did he just say “if?” Of course I was dying to hear his tales of challenges in the field, camaraderie, failures and successes. These are experiences of which I will never have personally, but hearing him tell them is the next best thing to being there for me. He is a pretty good story teller too. The hardest part for me was to not laugh too loud or get to loud in my excitement when he was reliving his latest adventure in the field. I will do my best to retell it in a way that gives it justice.

The next field adventure for our guys in OCS was called a Leadership Reaction Course. In this particular training there are several challenges set up. Each Candidate is given the opportunity to lead a group of men through a given challenge. The course is set up over a shallow pool, and there are lanes. Each lane has a different challenge to face, and a different scenario to play out. The goal is to meet the objective given to you by only using the resources in front of you, your wit, your teamwork, and within the allotted time. No pressure, right?

Mr. Hooah! was up and his scenario left him on the bad end of a swinging bridge that had been destroyed — a swinging bridge that he and his men needed in order to get ammunition supplies over a gorge to the rest of their unit. Oh great! They had a gorge, two trapeze type hanging boards that represented the left over steps of the bridge, and two boards. They had several men to get over, and they had to get the ammunition supplies over with them. No man could be left, and no ammo could be lost. They had to succeed in every aspect.

So, Mr. Hooah! and the guys begin developing a master plan! Oh it was a beauty! They were in the process of building the 15th wonder of the world, for sure. To give you an idea of how creative they were being, Mr. Hooah! related to me that at this point in time the Captain rating him in the process was laughing so hard that he nearly busted a rib. This good man had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. From what I can tell it sounds like the guys had decided to build an “uber board” from the two boards in front of them. They had figured out all of the physics behind using that “uber board” as a large plank that would be shifted from spot to spot on either end of the gorge, and on the trapeze pieces. They had it all figured out. They used twine, belts and anything else they had just to get the “uber board” constructed.

Once the “uber board” was as constructed as possible they began to realize that this was not going to work for various and sundry reasons — not within the time frame allowed anyway. The Captain looked at one of the Candidates at this point, and trying to give them all a clue that they were not on the right path, he said “Candidate, what do you have when all hope is lost?” The Candidate he asked, in a stellar voice and with much resolve, answered “Fortitude, Sir!” The Captain liked the answer, but the guys were still on the wrong track.

Mr. Hooah! knew he had to pass this challenge. He knew that at this point he was fighting for a satisfactory passing mark. He would be happy just to get these guys and the ammo across this gorge. It didn’t matter to him any longer if it were going to be on a bridge that was built through nothing more than sheer genius and fortitude. He realized that time was of the essence, and the goal of the mission had to be achieved. This is where the rubber met the road that day.

He began to redirect the team and at first they were resistant. They wanted to finish that masterpiece they had started. They knew it would work if they just had more time. Time is what they were running out of though, so they finally let go of the master plan and followed Mr. Hooah’s! lead again. This time they made it. They came up with a very simple solution and it worked right away. They got the ammunition supplies and all but a couple of men over the gorge before time ran out. Mr. H! got that satisfactory rating, but the Captain told him it would have been an “excellent” if the last couple of guys had made it before time was up. He said it was one hell of a recovery to behold! Way to go Mr. Hooah!

So, I asked Mr. Hooah! what life lessons he had pulled out of this adventure. This time I wanted to hear his thoughts on it. He said he learned that:

• it is possible to be too clever! The whole group was so awestruck with this awesome idea of a bridge that really could have worked had they more time, that they did not even think of the most simple and most obvious answer right before them. Remember when at all possible, KISS — Keep It Simple Soldier!
• as a leader it is important to always maintain the trust of your men. His team members trusted him enough to abandon an idea in which they were heavily invested, and they followed his lead even though they did not quite understand where he was going with it in the beginning.
• never fear admitting the need to regroup and rethink an idea. Pick up where you are and with what you have left and move forward. You can dwell on things later, but in the battlefield time is of the essence, and the mission can not fail.
• the achievement is in the success of the mission, not necessarily, in the way in which it is done. The simple, less glorified path is the one that won them the mission. The glory filled wonder bridge would have cost the entire mission, and if that were in the battlefield it would have cost more than anyone cares to even imagine.

These lessons are so valuable, and the fact that they are learned while hanging over a pool and not in the middle of Baghdad is very reassuring to this Army wife and mom. My dearly beloved also got to witness a Hooah! moment that left me cheering out loud as he shared it that night. This was seriously beautiful, and the excitement in my husband’s voice was genuine — he was moved by witnessing, up close, a Captain’s actions at the end of this course.

As I had mentioned the course’s lanes were set up over a pool. Many failures would be heard by all around as a Candidate would fall into the water. Some Candidates were wet, some were dry and a few were damp. It was hot, and the men were tired when a Captain stepped forward and demanded that all Candidates come to the area where he was going to give a recap and talk about the day’s events. Mr. H doesn’t know if the following is a tradition that the Cadre always does for the end of this course, or if this was 100% spontaneous, but it was awesome for him to behold regardless.

The Captain gave a talk as he stood near the pool. The pool that was chopped up into lanes for this course. At the end of his talk he said “So, did all of you men get wet?” He got some half hearted answers, some answers that were more robust, and some quiet faced Candidates who were not quite sure where he was going with his question. He then asked again “Did you men get wet?” The answers were a little louder this time.

Suddenly, out of the blue and with no warning whatsoever the Captain yelled “FOLLOW ME!” and dove into the pool — in full uniform. Mr. Hooah! said this Captain’s voice was so commanding, and his actions so confident and sure that every single Candidate jumped into that pool — obstacles in their way and all, each with his whole heart and mind! It was an abandon — not reckless, but it was an abandon to all cares outside of that Captain’s command. Mr. H! excitedly exclaimed to me at this point “Claire, I would have followed that man into battle if all I had to arm myself with was a plastic spoon, he was that inspiring!” Ah, yes, that was a truly inspired “Hooah!” moment! That is inspired leadership!

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