Bill Buckner
accumulated over 2,700 hits in his twenty-year career, won a batting title in 1980,
and represented the Cubs at the All-Star Game the following season. His career batting average was .289, got
2,715 hits – 174 were home runs and had 1,208 RBI’s one hell of a career. However, fans will always remember the error
Bill Buckner of the Boston Red Sox made in the sixth game of the 1986 World
Series against New York Mets. In the
military I have often heard this summed up as ‘one thousand atta-boys don’t
make up for one “oh shit” moment.’ Sad
but true in so many ways.
Who out there has
never made a mistake? While not burdened
with historical research, I am going to go out on a limb and say NO ONE. Militarily let’s take a quick look:
--Chester Nimitz ran the USS Decatur aground in 1907 and was
convicted at court-martial of hazarding his vessel. He was later promoted to LT, and eventually
to Fleet Admiral.
--John LeJeune was disciplined while at the Naval Academy for throwing dice (gambling.) He graduated, commissioned as a Marine Officer and eventually was the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
--Mike Mullen didn’t do too well at the Naval Academy,
became a Surface Warfare Officer and struck a buoy. He went on to be an Admiral, the Chief of
Naval Operations and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I was the
recipient of Non-Judicial Punishment not once but twice. Reduced in rank each time. Both times I completely deserved it; no
arguments against it. I was and continue
to be lucky that the leaders I had at after that third brush with Fraternal
Order of the Lance Corporal did not give up on me especially since for a short
period I gave up on myself. I moped
around for a few weeks knowing that at the end of my current enlistment there
was no way the Marine Corps would let me stay.
My First Sergeant pulled me into his office and told me basically to “suck
it up.” The Marine Corps may not let me
stay, but there was no way they would if I just coasted through the next couple
of years. I remember him saying “if you
want to stay, stop licking your wounds and show someone WHY you should
stay. Now get out of here.” It wasn’t easy actually, at first my
reenlistment request was denied; my platoon sergeant and OIC made many phone
calls and I was allowed to reenlist “For Further Observation” for 24 months –
any disciplinary problems in that time and I would be shown the door. I meritoriously promoted back to Cpl, and
Sgt, SSgt then GySgt. I was accepted for
a commission in the Navy and while my promotion to LTjg and LT were pretty much
automatic, I was promoted to LCDR early.
So things have kind of worked out.
I tell people that story a lot, repeatedly … a lot. I tell junior people so they see that the
system is not blindly going to force people out who have erred. I tell senior people to try to reinforce that
no one is perfect; many are surprised to hear I was commissioned at all. Why?
Should our system have a zero-defect mentality? I am no Nimitz or LeJeune but how would our history be different if Admiral Nimitz was
drummed out as a LTjg, or if General LeJeune not allowed to graduate from the
Naval Academy?
The news today, social media and internet forums are full of
‘mistakes.’ We focus on the negative and
not the whole person. We focus on
identifying and griping about the problem but offer little in the way of
solutions. Yes, shortcomings need to be
addressed and get the majority of our effort after all, that is where our
processes or procedures are broken. Do
those who have nothing but bad to say truly have nothing else or do they just
not want to? If you met Bill Buckner in
a bar, would you ask him about the end of the ’86 Series or something else;
where is your focus? It may be cliché …
but if you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the problem.
