Military Monday's: Perfection vs. Precision

Precision: the degree of refinement with which an operation is performed

Perfection: freedom from fault or defect

I am a perfectionist in many aspects of my life. Just look at my kitchen cabinets or my dresser drawers. I want to be the best in everything I do. For the most part, this can be a good thing. Striving for high achievement is an admirable goal, something that society places in high esteem. But it can also be a curse.

Today is Military Monday and I would like to reflect on the perfectionism that comes with the military community.

The Army has standards; PT tests, leadership dimensions, battle drill execution. You name it and there is more than likely a standard the Army uses to evaluate its soldiers. Combine a bunch of Type-A personalities that want to be the best and a culture based on standards, and perfectionism is a natural by product.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Standards a set to ensure that soldiers and units are proficient in certain skill sets. Success in the realm of warfighting requires this. If a unit doesn’t meet the standard for the execution of certain battle drills, someone will probably die in combat because they weren’t ready. Standards are good.

I do not have a problem with standards. I set certain standards for myself to strive for; I have others set for me. They are a part of life. Like I said, I am a perfectionist of sorts, so these standards help to motivate me. But I do have a problem with the way that we measure achievement of certain standards.

I was recently thinking about the PT standards that soldiers and cadets must adhere to. We are evaluated on pushups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run (branches differ slightly). In ROTC, we are given a PT test once a month during the school year. More frequent tests means that our level of physical fitness needs to stay higher than if we only took the test once or twice a year. But there is a recurring phenomenon whenever it comes time to take the test.

Cadets slack on their PT during most of the month, but then run two-a-day workouts during the few days prior to the test so they can make up for their laziness the rest of the month. Don’t get me wrong – I have done this myself. But that doesn’t make it right.

Here is the problem: there is no consistency. Perfection is the goal, but it is a one-time perfection rather than a habit of consistent success.

Go back to the definitions at the beginning of the post. Perfection is being without error – hitting the center of the target. Precision is the degree of refinement. In other words, it’s how tight the shot group was.

Here is my point: It’s easy to hit the center of the target once. I can run two-a-day workouts to up my PT score. I can cram for a test to hope for a better grade. It might work, once out of five times. That one instance of perfection should not be our goal – precision should be.

That means working out when it doesn’t seem to matter. It means studying weeks in advance for a test. It means putting in the effort day in and day out so that success manifests itself as a tight shot group in the center of the target, not a lucky break every now and then.

Useless Fact of the Day: It is illegal to eat oranges while bathing in California.

Tuesday's in Texas: Elections

I know what you are thinking… I had this ambitious plan to blog on a consistent basis and I am failing miserably, as I have not written since the first day.

You got me. I dropped the ball. Looking back, it probably was not that wise to begin my blogging efforts during a holiday week followed by a week of vacation with my family here in DC. I did not set myself up for success. But nevertheless, I am attempting to take up my blogging mantle again.

Since it is Tuesday, that means it’s time for a discussion about Texas politics!

When I created my plan to write about Texas politics once a week, I was concerned that I wouldn’t have that much to talk about. The legislature meets once every other year for one-hundred and forty days. Unless the Governor calls them back into special session, the legislature has the burden of getting two years of legislating done in five months. That means that there are not that many headlines during the interim, and I didn’t know what I would write about.

But fear not! Next year is an election year. Recent announcements have set the stage for a flurry of action over the next few months in preparation for the full election cycle that will start in the spring.

By announcing that he will not seek gubernatorial reelection, Gov. Rick Perry has opened the door for a game of musical chairs. Attorney General, Greg Abbott, has announced his campaign for governor and it is expected that the Democrats will announce their pick in the next few weeks (many are encouraging Sen. Wendy Davis, fresh off her famous filibuster, to run).

The office of Attorney General has been seen as political stepping stone, and with that assumption has seen the most activity in campaign announcements. Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman, Rep. Dan Branch, and Sen. Ken Paxton have all been mulling the decision and are expected to announce in the coming weeks.

In my opinion, the most interesting and important race will be the one for Lt. Gov. When all is said and done, the Lt. Gov. holds a massive amount of power when it comes to getting things done in the Senate. Current Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is running again, with challenges coming from Ag. Commissioner Todd Staples, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, and Sen. Dan Branch.

Needless to say, this is going to be an exciting season in Texas politics.

Useless Fact of the Day: “Go.” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.  

Military Mondays: The Unconventional Road

The first question people tend to ask when they find out I am in the military is whether I have a family connection that led me to join. I can understand why that is assumed – most folks that I have met do have some form of a family tie. However, that is not what led my to my interest in the military.

Grandfathers on both sides of my family served in the military in some capacity. My dad’s dad served as an engineer in the Army and my mom’s dad served as a cook on a Navy ship for a short time. But unlike most military families, it was never really talked about. Both of them did their time and then moved on to other things, much like many in their generation did. So military service was never really at the front of my mind.

Then 9/11 happened. I was in third grade. We never had the television on in the house before school, but for some reason we had “Good Morning America” on that morning. I can vividly remember sitting on my parent’s bed before going down to breakfast as the second plane flew into the World Trade Center. Being so young, I was not quite sure what was going on. When I got to school, the teachers weren’t allowed to talk about what had happened. Even when I got home, it was a bit surreal.

It took a long time for the events of that day to sink-in. Wrapping my mind around the fact that a group of people hated our country so much that they would fly planes into skyscrapers and kill thousands of people was a lot to take in.

I realized the thing that bothered me the most was that there were so many innocent people that died. They needed protecting, someone to stand in the gap for them. Granted, there was little anyone could have done to stop the attacks, but it still left me with a profound thought.

There are countless people worldwide that have no one to protect them. Men, women, and children the world over are oppressed. Even at a young age, I decided that I would do everything that I could do to change that. It sounds cliché, but I have always been passionate about protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Being the oldest of four, it has always been natural for me to be protective; but it wasn’t until 9/11 that I realized that spirit could be applied on a larger scale.

As I thought about what venue would be best to apply this passion, the military came into focus. Living in Colorado Springs, I grew up around a number of Air Force bases, as well as a large Army instillation. The men and women in uniform that I met and got to know personified the ideal of standing in the gap for those who can’t protect themselves.

As I started to dig through what my life would be like after high school, college was a given but the military was still a strong pull. I considered different military academies and ROTC programs. I ultimately decided that ROTC would be the route for me and put in an application to Army Cadet Command. One thing led to another and now I am an Army ROTC cadet at Baylor University.

My road to the Army has not been conventional by military standards. However, it has been one of the best decisions that I have made. The lessons I have learned from mentors and those I am walking this ROTC journey with have been incredible, even in the short time I have been here. I hope to share some of those as this column continues.

That about does it for this first edition of Military Mondays. Thanks for reading!

Useless Fact of the Day: Some moths never eat as adults, since they do not have mouths. They must live on the energy they stored as caterpillars.