Time:  1991
As a career Reservist, I spent the first nine years in the US Navy.  Attained the grade of Chief Petty Officer (E7) Lithographer in less than 9 years.  LI's were in the "Miscellaneous" category along with "Musicians".  There were less than 500 of us in the whole Navy.  I enjoyed the Navy.  When President Carter took office, he cut the Navy and my job.  Still having a commitment to this AWESOME County to serve, I transferred to the Army.  Along with a lot of wonderful opportunities to serve in leadership at  from company level, brigade level and then ARCOM staff level, I learned to enjoy the Army way of life as well.  Through a home move from Minneapolis to Henderson, NV, I joined a remote Hospital Section (3) that was at the Las Vegas Army Reserve Center on Sahara Avenue.  Being in the Personnel Management area and an E-7 (Sergeant First Class), I built a Personnel Section of 14 people that did a REMARKABLE job keeping up with the constant movement of Citizen Soldiers.

With 1991 came Desert Storm.  Our Doctors, Nurses, and most Medical Techs. were activated. Most were back filling as the active folks deployed.  I wasn't one of the Section that was activated...at that time.  After sending my people off, motivated, well equipped with paperwork complete, proper uniforms, pay and insurance paperwork complete AND accurate, off they went for a six month "away from home and loved ones" journey and spread out over the West Coast from Washington State to Southern California and beyond.   To get them there, as the Section Field First Sergeant, I was responsible for "making it happen".  I had my Senior Non Commissioned Officers (NCO's) and several Lieutenants to get things in order to have our soldiers ready for their call up.  Our Section Commander (Major) gave me the opportunity to complete this project. The first morning (Monday) the staff gathered and someone suggested we have a morning devotional at the beginning our our day.  We decided that we would rotate our resources i.e. Upper Room, GuidePost, etc. and take turns before we start the daily rush to get our projects ready for the troops coming in on Thursday and deploying Sunday morning.  I arranged with a Pastor friend of mine who was an Air Force Chaplain to come and be with us on Thursday and be with us until the bus left on Sunday.  It was definitely an obligation he honored as he was also a Pastor of a local United Methodist Church (Sunday Worship).  God was with us.

Thursday came, and everything was set up to process the soldiers through the different areas that needed to be taken care of so they could activate without problems.  About nine o'clock, things were not functioning right.  I could feel stress . . . discord . . . something not right.  Then I realized we had skipped over the Senior Staff Meeting with our devotional time.  I asked the Chaplain to meet with us, and then I went to round up our staff...replacing them with one of their soldiers to continue in-processing.  When the morning time with GOD was over, the tissue box had been passed around (several times) and our morning had been grounded in God and we could finally feel His Presence in what we were doing.  It was THAT that was missing!  The lesson learned was:  Give time to meditate, communicate and LOVE GOD . . .  First Thing, before anything else happens, and your day will most likely go much smoother. The rest of the day went without a hitch.  The following Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning was without a hitch as Section 3 successfully departed for Southern California because we took time to include God in our efforts.  It was reported back to us at the home center that Sec. 3 was the BEST prepared, the BEST motivated, and the BEST in spirit of the whole Hospital!  Thank God and His wisdom and Grace.

My suggestion as learned then, is the same as now:  Take the time to talk to God and listen for His whisper.  Give Him your undivided attention and the benefit you receive will leave you breathless.  Have faith in the fact that God never closes a door unless there is another one opening up for you. That may take patience on your part.

Side note:  We did not have ONE casualty from our Section even though we DID have some that deployed in country to Desert Storm.   Praise GOD!