Transitioning well…

During the battle of Midway in WWII, countless fighters and dive bombers were lost.  Here’s something, however,  you might not expect.  A bunch did not fall from artillery fire, machine guns, or any other form of enemy fire. Many simply couldn’t find their way home.

They got lost and oftentimes, ran out of fuel. AND, according to Ensign Micheel, a pilot who fought in Midway and a bunch more, some were lost because they couldn’t regulate their speed. They simply went too fast. Ensign recalls seeing a couple dive bombers “buzz” by him, after dropping their bombs, at 150 knots.  He had slowed considerably to conserve fuel. He watched them disappear from sight and had to fight the urge to close up and fly in formation. Ensign willed himself to resist impulse. He willed himself to remain calm.

And, as Ambrose writes in his book titled, The Pacific, “It was still a beautiful day in the Pacific.  He had the right heading.  More than an hour had passed.  Miles away on the horizon, the U.S. fleet came into view.  A wave of elation washed over him.  The two planes ahead of him, though, began to lose altitude.  He caught up to them without trying.  One slid into the sea, followed quickly by its partner.  He guessed they had run out of fuel, although no one said anything over the radio.”

Ensign may not have realized it at the time, but he was displaying emotional intelligence at work.  His ability to regulate his emotions and remain calm was a master skill that appears time and again in the text.  Too many pilots could not “slow down” once they had experienced the adrenaline rush of “diving” so steeply that your shoulder harness rips into your back even though your butt is completely off the seat. They did not transition from the adrenaline rush of diving to the slow steady cruise toward home. They did not transition well.

Today, in practice 75, we read a bunch of questions on page 207 and learned a bunch about ourselves and each other. We learned. The key question remains. Do you possess the will to ACT on what you know? Do you possess the will to regulate yourself? Are you transitioning well from “hair on fire,” to slow and steady? The answer is nearly always; only a few.

Be ONE…