THE COMMAND VOICE

You know it forever if you’ve heard the Command Voice.

The voice of leadership is the Command Voice. You follow instructions better when it comes from that place.

If you joined the Gerald Ford Army of 1974 and did basic at Fort Ord, you heard the command voice, you heard General Patton outline what to expect from your Army experience.

General Patton? 1974? I sense the doubt, and you’re right.

Drill Sergeants marched their troops to a base movie theater to sit in the dark and wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally the screen lit up and there’s General Patton channeled through the actor George C. Scott.

It was a show we’d already seen and wondered why the base commander gave way to Hollywood.

This is a better version:

Sometimes the command voice doesn’t come from where you’d expect, or sound the way you thought it would sound.

Sometimes it’s a voice only you hear.

Yes, the steps are steep and tall, but you can walk up and down them. You will walk them.

The forest is dark and beautiful and you will be at home there.

Walk lightly on the trails and when you leave, go quietly.

Share the forest with others you find there.

Stop and feel the beauty around you and let it settle into your memories.

Approach open spaces with a slow walk.

Listen to the bugler play taps.

Brace for Amazing Grace from the piper.

Tradition and history fill the place note by note.

While the crowd moves away, some stay.

The flowers stay longer, but not longer than those who they are for.

Duty never ends, neither does compassion and understanding.

The command voice knows this and adjusts accordingly.

Old soldiers, young soldiers, and all who answered the call to arms heed the message.

What you do in uniform is who you are in life. It stays with you so you can share.

Take a knee for the last year of American death in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Wall in Portland’s Washington Park shows war dead on walls defined by years.

The early years showed few names, same as the last.

In between the walls are packed with fallen soldiers ready for roll call.

The next time you visit a war memorial, take a moment to say the names.

Use the command voice only you can hear. Let that sink into your memory.

Then take another look at the two men in the first image.