My Personal “model the Way” Story
Autor: Adnan • October 30, 2018 • 1,035 Words (5 Pages) • 728 Views
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Lead from “the front” (Set the example)
Once you and your subordinates have a set of shared values you must and I repeat must act on your conveyed values. If you preach values and vision and your people climb onboard your leadership “train”, you as the conductor have to put the train in motion.
One of the “real world” examples I had alluded to in the introduction, and one of my more memorial and traumatic examples of me doing my best to lead from the front, was a tragic day in Guam in1997.
I was a Second Class Petty Officer and the lead Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for the medical clinic in Guam. I had trained all the new EMTs and one in particular was Hospitalman (HN) Sanchez (name changed to protect the innocent). She was a very sharp and articulate young Sailor and caught on quickly to the didactic elements of being an EMT. I had being her instructor and “shadow” during her ride alongs during her initial training regimen. After about three months we had trained together and I have to admit I was very hard and demanding of her, similar to the BGEN Frank Savage in Twelve O’clock High. She would never admit that she hated me but I am sure I wasn’t her favorite person.
On my last duty day and 27th birthday, I was standing duty with HN Sanchez and we received a phone call at three o’clock in the morning. At first I didn’t comprehend the gravity of the call but after a few reaffirmations of person on the other line I was wide awake. A 747 airliner has crashed on Nimitz Hill in Guam and we were to be the first responders. I got HN Sanchez up and told her the situation. She immediately looked to me for what to do next. I calmed her down and instructed her to let her training take over.
We responded to the crash and it was like a movie. The plane was active engulfed in flames and the 38 survivors were running erratically looking for help. We both stood there in disbelief but I soon sprang into action and starting triaging the patients. HN Sanchez did not. She couldn’t move. I calmly got in her face and instructed her to follow me and to “let’s do this”. She performed flawlessly. To make a long story short we triaged, together, all 38 patients and got them to the hospital over the next five hours. Because of ours and the responding fire department and other medical units, 12 of the 38 patients survived. She thanked me for the training and “being hard” on her to succeed.
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