I never really gave much thought to resilience before it entered my orbit about three years ago. Even then, I was more enamored of the concept of using resilience to help others than I was with the idea that I might somehow apply resilience principles to help myself. However, the animated discussions from Friday’s class stimulated a considerable amount of introspection in me once I left the classroom. First, I acknowledge I am an exceptionally sensitive, emotional person; when I experience events, I feel them very deeply – I like to joke that I cry at Kleenex© commercials, but that is the truth…compassionate, empathetic, emotional, pick any or all of these adjectives, and that describes me. The lessons on self-awareness and resilience …show more content…
During deployments, soldiers may sometimes have to make split-second decisions that could have catastrophic consequences; moreover, the stress from being in the harshest environments for months on end can compel otherwise honorable service members to commit egregious acts. For instance, consider the untenable circumstances in which Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell found himself and his team in June 2005. This elite group of American fighters drew upon their internal sets of values when confronting the ethical dilemma of whether or not to execute a band of goat herders who had stumbled upon the Americans. The outcome of that dilemma relied heavily on each individual’s level of self-awareness, resilience, and concept of ethics when it came to interpreting the Rules of Engagement (ROE). The consensus was to allow the goat herders to live; very shortly thereafter, the group of Americans became engaged in a fierce gun battle from which only Luttrell survived. Luttrell has posited that the goat herders betrayed the Americans to the Taliban, thus resulting in the near-annihilation of his team. As bystanders, we can conveniently evaluate their decision harshly, but the reality is, we do not know how we would have reacted in the same situation. The best we can do is hope we have a solid ethical foundation, buttressed by resilience and enhanced by deep