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Excerpt
Excerpt
(from chapter 1)
Dyfierd applies the concept of family to those directly involved with him in military action. (Dyfierd is a colonel is US Army and the seventh child)
“I have grown to realized that Mom taught us some critical in this lesson about family that has helped me immeasurably in my military career. She pushed us to stand proud and always to carry our heads high. Regardless of her illnesses and lonely times without her husband, Mom knew she was part of something bigger than herself.
Today, when I am faced with a difficult situation, I draw on that inner strength that I learned at home. I look at people or the challenge and say to my self, I am a Harris. I am Mrs. Harris’s son. It may sound odd, but it works for me, because Mom gave me something to believe in that was bigger than all of us.
I often use this same strategy to get soldiers to push through difficulty, because what we are charged to do is bigger than us all. Failure is not an option and we stand firm for our military family.
For example, I was in Bosnia commanding a battalion task force with eighteen AH64s (Apache attack helicopters) and fourteen OH-58Ds (reconnaissance/attack helicopters). One night in 1999, the Serbian military shot down an F-117 (a stealth jet bomber). The pilot ejected and was on the ground inside Serbia. The battle captain awakened me and briefed me on the situation. He told me he already sent in a team. If it failed, four of our AH-64s was escort two search-and-rescue helicopters into Serbia to attempt a rescue.
We had no additional information. We committed our AH-64s to the mission. “You are option two, he said. If option one fails you go in next.”
Although concerned with the lack of information, my thoughts focused on the pilot behind enemy lines. He’s part of our family, I thought. We have to get him out!
One of my aviators, who stood by and planned to go on the rescue mission, wondered aloud if we could be successful in rescuing the pilot without more information.
I looked him in the eyes and said calmly, we have an American pilot down in enemy territory. It would be great to have more details, but we don’t. Nonetheless, he is family. If the battle captain calls, we are going to try to get him. He stared at me, slightly shock, and then I added, if you were out there, I would do the same for you.
We didn’t have to go after the downed pilot, because the first team found him. Nonetheless, everyone in my unit understood that we were a military family. We would sacrifice for each other.”
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