The ordeal was finally over. How wonderful it was to return home to the love of family and friends! Having lost my liberty for five and a half years, I now cherished it to the fullest.
The practical challenges of adjusting to freedom were mainly keeping up with my “stuff” and having to make so many decisions each day. In the camps we could carry all our possessions in our hands, which we did whenever we moved. Back home and surrounded by so many possessions, I had difficulty just keeping up with my car keys. And, with so many choices each day, even a trip to the grocery store could be exhausting.
But overall, adjusting was not a problem. It was natural and energizing to return to freedom and resume my life and career.
There’s a popular notion, perhaps promoted by the media, that most Vietnam veterans are societal failures. But studies reveal just the opposite. In fact, veterans have outperformed their peers in virtually every measure of success.1 The discipline, maturity, and sense of responsibility gained from the military experience equipped them for significant accomplishments.
From our POW group came sixteen generals, six admirals, two U.S. ambassadors, two college presidents, two U.S. senators, one U.S. representative, and several state legislators. At least three men returned to medical school and became doctors; quite a few became attorneys; several became CEOs of corporations; and seven became attachés in U.S. Embassies abroad.
You’ve already read about the post-war successes of several individuals. I’ll take a moment here to tell you about the achievements of a few more.
In retirement, VADM Jim Stockdale became president of The Citadel and the vice-presidential candidate on the ticket with Ross Perot. As a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, he was a close colleague of Jim Collins, the best-selling leadership author who popularized the Stockdale Paradox mentioned earlier.
Brig Gen Robbie Risner commanded an air division when he returned. After retiring from the service, he headed the Texas War on Drugs for a number of years.
After repatriation, RADM Jeremiah Denton became superintendent of the Armed Forces Staff College. After retirement, he was elected a U.S. Senator from Alabama. Today he heads the Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation, which promotes fundamental American values and provides global humanitarian aid.
Col Ken Fisher had a distinguished flying career after Vietnam and served on the faculty at the Air War College. When he retired from the service, he became a successful financial planner.
In civilian life, Gen Chuck Boyd has served as strategy consultant to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, executive director of the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, and senior vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2002 until 2009, he was president and CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS).
Brig Gen Jon Reynolds earned a PhD in history, taught at the Air Force Academy, and served on the Pentagon staff. Jon was selected as the first Air Attaché (later Defense Attaché) to Communist China. He was probably the only one from our language klatch in Unity room 3 to learn Mandarin Chinese.
Jim Warner separated from the Marine Corps upon his return and enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he earned his BA and JD degrees. He served as a corporate attorney, and later became a domestic policy advisor in the Reagan Administration. For the last twenty years of his career he served as an attorney advising not-for-profits in Washington, DC.
CAPT Denver Key, USN, our talented math and calculus instructor in room 3, taught at the Naval Academy for several years. In retirement, he continues to teach at a local community college.
Bill Butler, our lead French professor and the creative genius who taught us music, became a successful veterinarian.
The proficiency that Col Jay Jayroe gained in our Spanish language classes in room 3 helped him to become an Air Attaché to Venezuela. In retirement, he promoted the merits of the F-16 aircraft as a member of the international sales team of General Dynamics Corporation.
After retiring from the Marine Corps, LtCol Orson Swindle served as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Development. From 1997-2005, he was a commissioner on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Lt Col Gene Smith became the airport manager for a large municipal airport and served as president and chairman of the board of the Air Force Association.
CAPT Everett Alvarez, USN, the POW who was captured first and held longest (eight and a half years), earned a master’s degree and a JD degree. For several years he served as deputy director of the Peace Corps and deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. He is founder and CEO of Alvarez and Associates, a thriving information technology company.
These are just a few from our group who came back home to lead with honor. In the POW camps they chose courage over compromise, commitment over comfort, and pain over shame. Their character, refined in the fires of captivity, propelled them to success in a wide range of endeavors.
In this book we’ve talked about communication, teamwork, innovation, and other key leadership skills. Like blocking and tackling in football, mastery of these fundamentals is a prerequisite to leadership excellence. But these techniques, although essential, are not sufficient. They all must be undergirded by character.
Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”2 Your personal life matters. Harboring secrets and cutting corners compromises your moral authority and undermines your performance.
Authentic leaders consistently live in harmony with their values, even when no one is looking. Their walk matches their talk. They resist the temptation to achieve ends by less than honorable means. They are true to others, because they know they must be in order to be true to themselves.
Our nation desperately needs men and women who will lead with honor. They’re needed in our businesses, our non-profit organizations, our governmental institutions, our families, our houses of worship, and in every other aspect of our society. Without such leaders, our society will decay and we will lose our freedom.
We also need men and women who will follow with honor by holding their leaders accountable to high standards. Our nation has made great strides toward tolerance in this country, but in the process I fear we have become far too tolerant of duplicitous leaders. Duplicity is almost an accepted practice in government, in the media, and in other areas of life. We have come to expect our leaders to “spin” their speech to suit the audience.
Recently a representative for a reputable polling organization said on a national TV news program that a candidate needed to change his views on a key position if he wanted to get elected. What? Is it now routinely assumed that leaders should jettison their established beliefs and commitments to gain position or wealth? Surely, this type of moral fluidity is not the path to individual and societal prosperity.
In the Introduction I said that if you want to lead with honor, you must become a warrior. You must be willing to engage in battles against your fears, your ingrained habits, and your natural instinct to put yourself first and take the easy way out. You must be willing to endure suffering and sacrifice for the sake of higher values.
Twenty-four hundred years ago the Greek historian Thucydides said, “The secret of happiness is freedom. And the secret of freedom is courage.” The passage of time has not diminished the validity of his observation.
In this book I have introduced you to many courageous leaders who demonstrated unimaginable strength of character in situations of extreme vulnerability. I hope their stories have given you a new vision for the type of leader you want to be. And I hope the courage and perseverance they exhibited will inspire you to lean into your fears and break free from all hindrances that hold you back, so that you truly can lead with honor.