06/10/2018
Community. Leaving the Army, Special Forces, and the Special Operations Community left me without a Ranger Buddy. No one does a parachute jump without being checked by a jumpmaster. No sniper ever takes a shot without a spotter. How was I going to move forward in my new life on this side of the transition bridge without my tribe?
I have joined Team Red, White & Blue as my mechanism to make these necessary connections. On Sunday night, at our Team RWB Seattle’s Memorial Day tribute, I met up with a strong community at Acuo CrossFit in Seattle. This tribe committed over 150 hours writing the names of every serviceman and woman who has died since 9/11 on luminary bags – all 6,941 who have fallen since September 11, 2001. I appreciate that commitment. There were a handful of Eagles in this group, but what I found more significant, though, was much of the time commitment came from young men and women who did not serve in the Armed Forces. I was moved by that. I found that powerful. To Dan Lao, Brent Hunting, Jeff Roberts, Ashley Elisabeth Browne, Chad Browne… thank you for your leadership. To the tribe at Acuo CrossFit, for your commitment to creating the Tribute and completing the Murph Workout, I salute you... and, I thank you for showing me a clear vision of my new Community.
