4-22-25

I may have told this story before…..if so, please forgive me……but it bears telling

nonetheless……at the beginning of the war in Afghanistan my team and two

others were set to enter the northern part of Afghanistan……as such we fell under

JSOTF-N (the Joint Special Operations Task Force – North) and were staging out of

a small mostly special operations base in Uzbekistan called Karchi-Khanabad…..we

just called it K2……I will never forget one particular day we were in a big tent with

another team being introduced to the communications specialists that were going

down range with us……We were discussing equipment, and equipment

shortfalls….or shortages……the war was new…..Operation Anaconda was ongoing

in the Tora Bora mountains in the hunt for Bin Laden….the siege of Kunduz had

just occurred and the Taliban were being mopped up around the country……so

we’re standing there in this tent when this young Captain……a stout looking dude

but one who we learned later was not as robust as he appeared…..he was looking

especially tense and then suddenly the moment got the best of him and he

blurted out in front of all of hiS men…..and mine…..”they’re not giving us what we

need! We could all die if they don’t get their _____ together!” …….I was the

ranking man in the tent as a Major and told him to “at ease those comments”…..a

few minutes later I approached him and quietly said “Captain, come outside with

me…..”……we had a discussion……a real discussion……but the end result of it was

me telling him that his role as an Assistant Team Leader was to ensure that his

men had everything they could possible have for the job….and then to exhort,

encourage, enlighten and empower his men to accomplish their mission……and

that blurting out fear and death was absolutely the last thing any of them

needed…….absolutely the last…..I also made clear that he would not repeat those

words to my team again under any circumstances…..he got it……sort of…..I’m told

that it wasn’t his last moment of fatalism……If I’m not mistaken he was sent back

to the rear soon after arriving in country.

Here’s my point…..fear can be a motivator…..there’s nothing wrong with a healthy

dose of fear……but note the key word “healthy”…..like not wanting to miss a

deadline…..or being afraid that you’ll miss your flight so you arrive early…..or

wanting to get the bills paid so you work extra shifts…….or getting your date

home on time because you don’t want her Dad mad at you……those are healthy

fears……and generally speaking those are so-called healthy fears because they

also represent wanting to do something because its right, or out of respect or

admiration for someone to whom you’re accountable……at the very least those

kind of healthy fears represent self-discipline…..

But the other side of that coin is the unhealthy fear that was being vomited upon

everyone in the tent by that young Captain…….that type of fear mongering is

counterproductive…..it is stifling……it destroys morale…..it defeats

purpose……that type of fear mongering is what cowards do to attempt to get

people to follow them when they have no clue what to do otherwise…..

That type of fear mongering is exactly what the left constantly pulls on the

American people…..we are always in an existential crisis with the left…..the polar

ice caps are melting!.....Trump is going to deport American citizens!

.....transgenders are being discriminated against! …….Remember when the Biden

Adminstration issued a statement telling all unvaccinated people that they, their

families and friends were all sure to experience a “winter of death” and that they

in their shame and intransigence would surely overwhelm all hospitals……it was

awful…it was no better than that young Captain who did not know what to do

with his own fear…..basically, the Biden admin during Covid didn’t know what to

do with their own fear, and had no clue how to lead anyway…..so they railed, and

blamed, and accused, and threatened…..and predicted death…..because that is

how cowards lead…….

You may have gained by now that I try to be a student of leadership…..one of my

favorite authors on the topic is John Maxwell who has written some amazing

books on the topic……in a recent interview Maxwell discussed the fact that in

crisis a leader cannot provide everything but they can assess the situation and set

their folks up for success……Said Maxwell:

The thing is, true leaders don’t provide all the answers in a time of crisis.

They provide awareness and help prepare, which allows people to do well in the

moment. They take it day by day, thinking about what they do now that can bring

great value, and asking themselves three essential questions:

1. What are my responsibilities? What or who do I have to take care of today?

2. What are my priorities? What can I do right now to get the highest return?

3. What are my possibilities? Many of us have something that we needed or

wanted to do but didn’t have the time. Well, now we have the time! So, lay

out your plans, write that book, start learning that language—there is no

time like the present.

Maxwell went on to say that fear can be a powerful motivator…..but that people

want to get back to feeling balanced……and in my opinion there is no way for

there to be balance in our lives, balance in our society, if fear is the overarching

motivator……fear creates imbalance…..fear creates uncertainty…..fear is what

generates that deer in the headlights moment in which people freeze and don’t

know what to do……

Recently the liberal left has been freaking out about Trumps efforts to depot

illegal alien criminals…..no less than five elected members of the House and

Senate from the Democrat party have made a pilgrimage to El Salvador to ensure

that the world can see how fearfully awful the Trump plan is to deport

illegals….they’ve chosen an MS13 gangbanger as their poster child…..it’s really not

working for them like they thought it would, but liberals have never been one to

effectively read the room…..so they fear monger….and they heap fear on top of

fear…..Governor Tim Walz, the absolute worst Vice Presidential candidate in

decades has been on a tear lately, but his daughter has decided that she is an

internet influencer……in her words “Trump would have deported Jesus and

claimed that he was part of MS13”…..because that just makes sense….but I don’t

know if young Ms. Walz is a true leader, so let me turn instead to the

media……what about MSNBC anchor Symone Sanders, never one to shy away

from putting her foot squarely in her mouth she first lauded an editorial that

claimed that Trumps deportation of illegal alien criminals was arguably heralding

the downfall of democracy in the United States…..because illegals are voters too?

I guess?.....but then she went on and dug that hole even deeper….spewing the

most vile and fearful rhetoric one can imagine……saying, “If they can do it to

them, if they can snatch students off the street without any pushback or recourse,

they will do it to any of us,” she declared. “To be very clear, it’s going to be the

people of color, and vulnerable communities that are next in line.”

But the real problem was not the liberal screecher on her liberal screecher show

on a liberal screecher network….the real problem was that a Democrat member

of Congress, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD), was sitting there on the set with her and

actually agreed with Sanders’ assessment, saying that was why the black

community appeared largely supportive of bringing Abrego-Garcia back to the

United States……a member of Congress just stated that the Trump was destroying

democracy and that black Americans were likely to be next in line for being

“snatched off the street without any recourse or pushback”……it is exactly this

kind of rhetoric that Americans are sick of ……we are tired of being told to be

tired…..and it is also this kind of sick, reckless, fearmongering that led to two

actual attempts on President Trumps life, and to a crazed Democrat shooting up a

Congressional baseball practice where Republican Congressman Steve Scalise

nearly died……

Leadership ……real leadership…..the kind that you want to follow just because you

want to…..because you respect it…..leadership that also indicates that it respects

you…..that kind of leadership does not promote fear……that kind of leadership

tells you how we’re going to beat this thing……how we will overcome…..real

leadership inspires, motivates, gives hope, and shows the way forward…….

We need more of that……..which is part of why Trump won the election hands

down. Hang in there folks……fear won’t be here forever…..but hope lasts forever.

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way!