“Set Security”

**DEUCE will be closed Monday July 3rd and Tuesday July 4th in observance of Independence Day**

 

Helicopters are freaking incredible things. You can take off and just go straight up. You can go backwards and forwards and sideways. You can land them damn near anywhere. That is about the extent of my knowledge of these glorious lead sleds of the air. I heard a man tell a much different story a few weeks ago. This man spoke of a crash. Specifically, he spoke of a helicopter crash that he was involved in. He is in the military and spoke of something called a “brown out”. This is an intense and blinding cloud of dust formed when a helicopter is landing in a desert-like terrain. During this brown out, the pilot decided to land the bird as the mission said, and in the process made a crash landing.

At the time of the crash, all of the soldiers were standing at the rear of the helo ready to jump out. They all came crashing down on top of each other. Injuries we numerous. One of which was the man speaking, who had some damage to four vertebra. He recalled moments after the crash hearing groaning and his fellow soldiers in pretty bad shape. Then, he heard a voice with crystal clear tone, “Set security.” Before he knew it, he and his team were spreading out around the helicopter setting a perimeter. From here, he recalled going about the mission, breaking in doors, shooting enemy soldiers, and picking up momentum as a team. He said they were almost having fun. They finished the mission and returned to another chopper and eventually to base and safety.

“Set security” is one of those phrases, for these men, that incites immediate execution of task. In training, I am sure they practiced and heard these words thousands of times. In the face of what some might see as dire consequences band a damn good reason to mail it in and just go home, these men were just getting started. This was just the cards they were dealt. He said that they never even thought about quitting. No word or thought about it was uttered. He never spoke more of the injuries or the struggle, just the unwavering spirit to carry on. He also added that he fully supported the pilots decision to land. This is another testament to the sense of team these gentlemen possess.

I have never been involved in the military, but I have many family members and friends that have been involved in various branches. I will tell you, hearing this story from this man did a couple things for me. I and we need to show gratitude for the freedoms we have in our lives. The men and women that make this possible are truly special humans doing superhuman things on the daily. Their lives are constantly in danger, not just for themselves and their families, but for you and I.

This talk also made me take a look at how I carry myself through my days, and how I am with execution of tasks. For me, day to day, my training is not a life and death event. Moment to moment, I have the relative security to train another day. I have this “relative security” because others provide it. These men and women don’t have that luxury. Training each day for them is a way to insure their survival, moment to moment, mission to mission, and day to day.

After thinking a lot about this, I feel that we are all in the same boat. We train for our lives. Our lives depend on our training. It’s all just a matter of degree. To take your training, work, and life lightly and lackadaisically is a quite an insult. We have one opportunity to live our lives and there are a lot of people that fight breath to breath, moment to moment, wounded and bleeding, and still charging forward. For us to have a latte?! This seems a bit lopsided. I am not telling you to jump off the deep end, but these are things to consider. Did you take out the trash today? That’s part of the deal.

 

Danny Lesslie

@dannylesslie