Don't Celebrate, A Lesson Learned
A quick “celebration” story which taught me to NOT “celebrate.”
During Army Basic Training waaaaay back in 1988 our unit was being taught how to move from cover to cover in the woods and how to use that skill to take a bunker at the top of a hill. My partner in this go/no-go and I were tight friends from day one of Basic and were both pretty athletic and determined to do well.
And we did. “I’m up. I’m running. He’s aiming. I’m down.”
Of the 24 teams of 2 women each, we were the only ones to successfully reach the top of the hill and take the bunker. Once we dropped the final grenade in the bunker and “killed” the occupants we jumped up and started hooting and hollering and cheering. We had done what no other team had been able to accomplish. We were fighting soldiers and were ready for anything. We were high on life and nothing could bring us down. Hoo-ah!
That is until our personal sensor alarms started buzzing saying that we’d been hit and killed by a bomb. Our joy quickly turned to WTF?! and we turned to our Drill to find out what had happened.
Drill Sergeant Holt was standing 5 meters away, calm as can be, with one hand in his pocket and one hand holding a triggering mechanism. He had dropped a bomb on us. His only words of advice: “Don’t celebrate.”
Later he expounded on his “Don’t celebrate” philosophy and turned this experience into a Unit-wide lesson. He was a wordy fellow and once he had all 47 of us mustered he said, “You saw what happened?” A long, silent, pause settled upon us as we were unsure if we should respond or hold our tongues. He continued with, “Don’t celebrate. Ever. About anything.”
See, I told you he was a chatty guy. LOL
During Army Basic Training waaaaay back in 1988 our unit was being taught how to move from cover to cover in the woods and how to use that skill to take a bunker at the top of a hill. My partner in this go/no-go and I were tight friends from day one of Basic and were both pretty athletic and determined to do well.
And we did. “I’m up. I’m running. He’s aiming. I’m down.”
Of the 24 teams of 2 women each, we were the only ones to successfully reach the top of the hill and take the bunker. Once we dropped the final grenade in the bunker and “killed” the occupants we jumped up and started hooting and hollering and cheering. We had done what no other team had been able to accomplish. We were fighting soldiers and were ready for anything. We were high on life and nothing could bring us down. Hoo-ah!
That is until our personal sensor alarms started buzzing saying that we’d been hit and killed by a bomb. Our joy quickly turned to WTF?! and we turned to our Drill to find out what had happened.
Drill Sergeant Holt was standing 5 meters away, calm as can be, with one hand in his pocket and one hand holding a triggering mechanism. He had dropped a bomb on us. His only words of advice: “Don’t celebrate.”
Later he expounded on his “Don’t celebrate” philosophy and turned this experience into a Unit-wide lesson. He was a wordy fellow and once he had all 47 of us mustered he said, “You saw what happened?” A long, silent, pause settled upon us as we were unsure if we should respond or hold our tongues. He continued with, “Don’t celebrate. Ever. About anything.”
See, I told you he was a chatty guy. LOL