Date: 2014-07-23
To: ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂI feel good.... I knew that I would nowÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ 
Miles today: 0.0

244 days to go. See, I can count backwards! I had quite a full day today. I was at our local Rec. Center during a Red Cross blood drive. I hope not to use any of their products during my AT Thru-hike. Anyway, I was promoting my AT Thru-hike for Parkinson¢s Research at the Rec¢¦When a gentleman came up to my display and started asking me questions about the AT. Of course I was more than happy to tell him all about the trials and tribulations of the AT and what a Thru-hike brings. There was just one problem¢¦ It is all through the eyes and words of others whose books and journal entries I have read.   I felt kind of guilty rendering an opinion and presenting information I really had no firsthand knowledge about. Anyhow, as I was doing so and while at the same time showing him my journal page and just how to open it; he made a comment that he had been following some of the journal posts. He then proceeded to name a few hikers¢¦ Then it dawned on him, he was looking at my page ¢ Chief! He suddenly realized who I was and he exclaimed: ¢OH!¢ ¢SO YOU ARE ¢THE CHIEF!¢¢ ¢I have been following you!¢ I of course immediately and humbly thanked him. It made me feel sort of important, like a celebrity. This interaction and associated feelings reminds me of a an incident and how good and grateful I once felt¢¦I had receive an Army Award and I was asked to say some brief words. So, I of course thanked everyone in attendance and went on to say that: ¢In the world of intelligence we have our successes, which we can¢t talk about for security reasons.¢ ¢And we have our failures, which everyone in the World knows about.¢ So, I told a story of one of my successes. Then came the story of one of my failures: Initially it was my responsibility to provide a half hour morning briefing to Lieutenant General McKiernan ¢ the ground commander for the invasion of Iraq. Once things got rolling I was relegated to providing information to others who would then brief the General. Well the topic came up about chemical suits and should the soldiers crossing the Kuwait-Iraqi border be in full Mission Oriented Protective Posture or MOPP level 4 (all buttoned ¢up in a charcoal suite with a Gas Mask (protective mask) and gloves on) or should some other MOPP level be considered. The General was inclined to lean towards not having the soldiers don any CBR (Chemical, Biological or Radiation) equipment or MOPP level 0. After all it was mid to late March and the climate was rapidly turning from the cooler, rainy season to the dry, hot season and the General did not want the forces to suffer from heat casualties. I, on the other hand, advocated for MOPP level 1 (Suit worn. Mask, gloves and boots carried). ¢NO!¢ was the answer. I felt very strongly about my position which was based on my analysis of the intelligence. I communicated to the General a very brief (about 20 words) argument of why my recommendation should be considered and the action taken. He was professionally upset with me and had a few choice words for me¢¦ Something about my linage, if I recall¢¦He did concede that I had presented a convincing argument for my stance and that he would order MOPP level 1. As it turned out I was wrong in my assessment! Chemical weapons were not used by the Iraqis against our soldiers during the invasion phase of the war. After my brief oration to this assembly of soldiers on my behalf a Colonel came to me and said:   ¢CHIEF! So, you¢re the guy who put me and my soldiers in MOPP suits!¢ ¢Thanks for caring about me and my soldiers to argue on the side of caution.¢ That was enough. I was wrong. It was an intelligence failure. BUT I felt so good inside for a Colonel recognized me as the one who pushed the most senior leaders of our military to change their course of action and it wasn¢t about right or wrong. It was about caring enough to stick your neck out for a fellow solder only in this case it was an Army. If you meet up with me along the trail ask me what my 20 choice words were and I will tell you.