Faith and Hope

Chrissy, I dedicate this post to you.  First, please don't lose faith in our military or nursing.  For the few bad ones out there, there are more awesome ones and I saw that today.  Col McNeill, our flight commander, took patients today because we were short.  She hasn't done bedside nursing in a while but she took those patients so she didn't have to call in the on-call nurse...to give him a day off.  This is a woman who hasn't taken a day off since she's been here.  That is awesome leadership and I would walk through hot coals for her if she asked (I only hope she would let me wear shoes too).  This woman jumps in every time we need a hand; she loaded bags onto the pallets when we were in Manas, she spent two hours with all the rest of us cleaning the dorm and thanked Tovar and I for coming in on our day off, when she simply could have just called us in. 

There is another amazing woman who is our Chief Nurse, Col Hughes.  She has the same personable attitude as Col McNeill and today she jumped in and helped when we were taking too many patients.  She knows everyone, makes them feel genuinely appreciated and doesn't mind getting dirty when she has to.  These two women are who I want to emulate in my leadership practice. 

It's amazing people like these who help the rest of us have that faith and hope.  When we see the others not demonstrating the core values we were all taught; integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do, people like these two women help those of us who are struggling to stay on the right path.  Never lose faith or hope but make sure those around you are held to the higher standard and hold them accountable.