You have a nearly a 0% chance of affecting change in others attitudes, behaviors, and skullduggery. However, you have a 100% chance of affecting your own attitude, behavior, resiliency, and reaction to all things within your direct ability to shape the outcome.

Envision life as you're juggling 6 balls. The balls are called faith, work, family, health, friends, and integrity. But one day, you realize that work is a rubber ball. If dropped, it will bounce back. The other 5 balls faith, family, health, friends, & integrity are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be surely scuffed, nicked, or even shattered. Grasp this concept and you will have the beginnings of balance in your life.

In all trust there is a possibility of betrayal, but without trust there is no friendship, closeness, or the emotional bonds that give us so much happiness when the time is right for it. Trust is a hardening agent to all relationships as Carbon is to Iron to create Steel combined in the desired amounts

We are one people until you decide we are one person in the churning sea of humanity.

You've evolved when you realize the effect that your positive contributions to others create ripples of humanity in the sea of life.

I've never been part of an formation where the leader succeeded on their own merits apart from their Soldier's.

You don’t know what your account balance of personal courage is until that situation presents itself where that check needs to be written and cashed

Winning doesn't necessarily mean you'll walk away with a trophy. Sometimes winning means you dared to show up at all to see the shocked look of your rivals.

Let's make a deal, if you don't blame me for your failures I won't take credit for your successes.

You can be inspired externally but when it comes down to achieving your lofty goals it's all personal determination which is internal derived from the eternal.

Where your soul meets your purpose is the azimuth known as your passion and from there you can plot points of inspiration and achievable goals.

Fear is a liar and a good one at that, Fear feeds on self doubt and insecurities both internal and external. Know this, optimism, faith, and resilience are like penicillin to fear if it has been allowed in. But the best course of action is to not feed it in the first place.

Wisdom from Top Butler: Guard yourself at all times but don't let anyone lead you to live a guarded life that is all.

As a leader you should look in the mirror and ask yourself would I follow you ensured of a victory.

Strength isn't measured by how many things or people you manage but more prevalent is how much you can self manage and guide yourself to your next check point.

Life Algebra 101 - I truly value my own ignorance of what is to come for me, It is those unknown variables the shape my future based on my knowns of today and yesterday.

My position is for one to be thought of as a CHARACTER is totally different from one having CHARACTER.

If you haven't learned to love yourself you are in reality living a lie proclaiming to be in love with someone else.

When you look down the length of your chain and see it is made mostly of weak links it is time to pull out the bolt cutters.

What do I and a diamond have in common? We are tough, brilliant, and carbon based entities which evolved into something better under immense pressure, tribulation, and trials.

I am thankful for all blessings and lessons learned that have given me peace and solace which I try to share with great humility and humbleness.

Your most valuable treasures are the ones which cannot be bought or stolen because they live within your spirit.

Place your faith not in the frailness of "Man" but in the power and glory of the creator and observe what happens next......

During my road trip of life I have encountered many potholes, areas under construction, delays caused by others on the same road, and 18 wheelers that seemed like they were only there to prevent me from arriving at my destination. Through it all my next stop is just down the road and I still have my 4 tires (faith, health, family, and friends) It's also so important to remember the Lord just lets you THINK you're in the drivers seat, its up to you to KNOW who is really in control.

It’s always amazing, when I think about this exact time every year. My goals seemed so lofty and far away. Today, I see that I am actually my own time machine with the ability to write my future through my positive thoughts and actions. However, negative thoughts and inaction can produce a disastrous cause and effect. I reassured myself all year and envisioned who and where I wanted to be at the end of this year and it came to pass. I had some set backs and some uncompleted projects but I never stayed down for long. My faith in the Lord keeps me optimistic and my desire to be the respected leader of my Family gives me all the fuel I need to hit the next check point. I ask the Lord to focus my attention on being more organized and balancing my love of food with my physical activity level. The time is now and the door of opportunities is always open to pass through.

Life is the ultimate gift of experience and if you are not impressed by the blessing the Lord has given you every awaking day to make a difference, I say your stuck in the mud and you need to call AAA which is code for "Say A Prayer" and get pulled out. Love life and create positive SYNERGY with others while you can before this chapter closes.

If you have the bad MOJO of a situation or a person riding you down you must first remove that saddle.

The future you build for yourself is only as limited as your imagination and a undisciplined goal orientated mind.

No two snowflakes are alike and neither are the Soldier's in your charge. Don't make the mistake of treating your Soldier's like tangible things instead of the valued human assets they are.

Learning to accept help from others is not a sign of weakness it's a badge of courage reflecting mutual trust between the giver and the receiver.

In leadership that 20/20 vision sometimes becomes 20/40 or 30/50 depending on how close you are to the situation. To my AG Warrior I may never meet thank you for your efforts in writing the prescription to reestablish the 20/20 for the good of the group.

Educated idiots are the most fearsome creatures in a leadership structure because even though trained they still refuse to think.

Our journeys are different but we can share the same well traveled path during parts of our excursion. Small victories win wars not single battles.

Being a leader doesn't mean you always have to be in charge. Sometimes leaders make certain others have the right information at the right time to lead the charge or pull back to fight another day.

The saddle is off and the rest of this ride will be bareback. Code for it's gonna be a tough ride to the finish.

If a leader works hard to break the spirit of their Soldier they'll soon meet the most focused Soldier of a career.

A leader is skating up hill on a slippery slope when Servant Leadership is not part of a leaders philosophy.

You can't fake a great steak nor can you convince a raging bull to give you a easy eight second ride.

There are circumstances which can only be created and remedied in a crucible of fury, fire, and destruction like the serotinous cones of the Jack Pine and Lodgepole Pine trees. Only after exposed to extreme heat and enormous pressures will the cone open to begin anew and flourish amongst the cleansed but desolate landscape. Also, like the unpredictable restrained power of a dormant volcano storing it's potential energy over long periods of time gives way to this planets most enchanting display of scenic beauty to stark nightmarish backdrops. Egos are like wildfires to me because they start small but uncontrolled they will get out-of-hand and devour without prejudice. However, egotistical people are part of life and the best defense is a good offense with fire breaks dug in advance anticipation and left in place for when the right conditions present themselves where you must decide to fight that fire or be consumed by it.

Its been my experience during my military career that a leader displaying a THIRST for power will ultimately have a APPETITE for destruction to go along with it.

Leading your Soldiers with the safety on as a condition of your own personal complacency is no different than running into battle with your firearm on safe yelling BANG BANG BANG!!! An Army leaders unlimited source of ammo are the Army Values and the Warrior Ethos.

Self Care is the secret ingredient to Soldier care in a recipe that yields many servings of effective leadership.

Excuses are most valuable to the person making them but to everyone else its foreign currency with little value or not accepted at all. You are not good with me until your integrity check clears.

Foolish is the leader whom in the midst of organizational chaos believes since no one is approaching them with issues or concerns then everything must be doing fine. When your Soldiers cease communicating with you are 3ft into a 6ft hole.

As long as you're actively trying to achieve your goals your successes are rewards and your short comings are lessons learned

Leading by example through "Servant Leadership" used to be a badge of honor that distinguished you from the Corps of the Blue Falcon. Present day I see the ranks of the Blue Falcon surging in a flagless flotilla of blurred morals, a low tide of integrity, and selfish ethics adrift with no anchorage. The pulse of the led is directly influenced by the organizational heart rate of the leader.

Some might argue that a diamond is the earths hardest carbon based substance. However, I'd challenge that with the resolve, resilience, and tenacity of a committed carbon based Noncommissioned Officer.

Truth is after you've put out all the INFO to your Soldiers in formation they'll soon forget what you said but will never forget what you did behind those words.

Even the most absent minded Soldier will develope a memory like a elephant when mistreated.

The fragile ego of a poor leader can not resist the urge to tug at the delicate fabric of good order and disipline thus unraveling their own true nature.

Be so busy loving your life and your loved ones so that you have no time for the naysayers, doubters, haters, or regrets. You will be joined on this mission by other AAOC's some known to you and some yet to reveal themselves to you as you progress on this journey known as life. The reward will be a legacy of meaningful lessons learned and experiences shared with family and friends which will make it clear that you have truly lived not simply existed. Like most challenges that seem incredibly hard, this is no different. However, what awaits you at the finish line is what you have made of it. Agent 025 The Oracle

The greatest risk most of us will take in our lifetime is that of repression or denial of basic rights of another person. The great risk is that you have no idea what will happen if that person you think so small or insignificant of stands up and totally eclipses the Sun in the universe of those lacking in empathy, humility, and humbleness.