Learn with otherpeople mistakes; you may not survive your own mistakes.

Once, during one of my overseas missions, an old soldier, veteran of many wars, enlightened me by sharing his stories. Knowledge made of experience gathered in many theaters of operations. Expressing my gratitude for that information sharing, I said:

– “Thank you for sharing your experience, maybe one day one of your your stories will save my skin.”

To which he replied:

– “If my stories save you … go out and save someone else … tell them your own stories, that’s how it’s supposed to work!”

Therefore, I became a veterans’ story teller. The future doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but it does come with a list of past mishaps. The veterans call it experience; planers call it Lessons Learn; I simply call it the fulfilling of a promise I made to an old soldier; something I can only pay in small installments. I hope each of my stories can help the new generation, and I ask them to carry on the chain … because “that’s how it’s supposed to work”.

I remember, many years ago, in an African airfield, a group of demobilized soldiers tried to board one UN aircraft. Irritated and in despair for not being able to board the aircraft, some fired their weapons and started a battle. There were bullets flying around the airfield.

I was surrounded by people screaming and crying in several languages. I continued to work, and moving from one side to another, because shots were a commonplace in that region of the world; hence I was not too worried about it.

Then, unexpectedly, I felt something hitting the floor very hard next to me, and only after did I hear the sound of a shot. That shot had been made in my direction, because bullets fly faster than sound. Soon after, I felt a breath of air on the right side of my face followed by a hiss. Again, only after I heard the sound of the shot. Those shots were definitely not stray bullets.

I blushed when I realized the extent of my stupidity, because I knew that “the point of maximum danger coincides with the point of minimum fear”. That day I learned a valuable lesson – Overconfidence can kill you in the battle field.