No Discharge In This War

Episode 47:  Mail Call

Hawkeye:  Was it something I said?

Trapper:  I’m gonna grab a jeep, drive to Seoul and catch the first 

          plane home.

Hawkeye:  Right after they shoot you for desertion and book you for 

          drunk driving.

Trapper:  I gotta see my daughters... 

Hawkeye:  Trap, leaving a war in the middle is very upsetting to 

          those who invited us.

Trapper:  Hey, listen.  I don’t like a movie, I get up and leave. 

          I don’t like the war.  I’m going.

Hawkeye:  Oh, come on Trap, you gotta stick around to see how it 

          ends.

Trapper:  Oh, but it doesn’t end. It’s continuous. When it finishes 

          here, they take it on the road. I can catch it anytime anyplace.

A mail call from home causes Henry to be up to his neck balancing his wife’s check book, Klinger to invent another family heartache story in want of a discharge, Frank to be obsessed about his stock portfolio and Trapper to get drunk and attempt desertion because he can’t see his daughters.

Leading from deep within the trenches of business, politics, community services or church based mission can leave one feeling overwhelmed by the pressures and demands of leadership on the frontline.  When engulfed by what seems to be a raging battle at times, the ‘fight or flight’ responses of human beings are manifested.  Some leaders have the resilience to stand firm and the resources to fight through the conflict, while others choose to resign and retreat from the battle.  While these are quite normal and maybe even appropriate responses to our environment, the mark of an effective leader is to confront the challenges of frontline leadership with a resolve to stay the course and complete the mission!  In his one volume history of The Salvation Army, No Discharge In This War, General Frederick Coutts writes, “The only truthful conclusion is that there is no conclusion. There is no discharge in this war. One generation of the Salvationists may succeed another, but the work of the Army does not cease because human need does not cease.”  Whatever your frontline, there is no discharge in this war until the mission is complete.

Don't Panic

Episode 45:  Crisis

Hawkeye:    What’s the idea of the gun, Frank?

Frank:      It’s classic.  The enemy cuts off your supply lines, you get cold and hungry, then they go right for your soft underbelly.  That’s why the rifle fella.

Trapper:    Just like you to panic, Frank.

Frank:      Who’s panicking?

Hawkeye:   Well, do you see anybody else pressing the soft-underbelly button?

When the supply lines are cut to the 4077, the officers rally to respond to the crisis by taking on rationing responsibilities, putting the camp under extra stress while they try to function on limited supplies.  The crisis brings out the best and worst in the personnel under the difficult conditions.

Having worked in Christchurch as part of the earthquake recovery team I witnessed some amazing displays of resilience by people who lost most of their possessions during this disaster.  The crisis brought out a variety of responses from people who were under stress and were experiencing significant personal loss.  There were those who rose up and overcame adversity and others who were overcome by their circumstances.  Leadership expert John Maxwell explains how “one of the major keys to success is to keep moving forward on the journey, making the best of the detours and interruptions, turning adversity into advantage.”  Adversity is unavoidable and crisis is inevitable in the unpredictability of life.  Panic usually results from being crippled by crisis, when you are unable to see a way through, whereas, resilience comes as a result of persevering through crisis because you hold fast to the belief that there is a way through.