Eating the Elephant

A big milestone for me the other day. I completed the first year of my Army War College Distance Education.  I am doing a two year, distance education degree that will give me a Master’s Degree from the Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, PA.

It started off with a lot of anxiety and trepidation.  The urban legend, perpetuated by rumor and the “Colonel Mafia”, is that the program is a time-suck of reading, papers, more reading, assignments that are returned for corrections, and late nights.  I did not know if I was up for the self-driven challenge.

What is the “Colonel Mafia”?  Simple, every level of rank has its own little group who know how things happen, how to make things happen (or not happen), and exert influence over their sphere of influence. “Mafia” is just a culture term we use. The Captains have a mafia.  The Specialists have a mafia. The First Sergeants have a mafia. 

When I started the course work I received the first year’s syllabus; five separate courses running from June to May, with hard dates for papers, forums, and other deliverables. It made my head spin.  A box of books - one of several arrived at the front door. With the love and support of Lisa, I dove in.

Eating an elephant is easy if you only take it one bite at a time.  I tricked myself with little milestones.  When I finished the first course I told myself that I was 20% done [with the first year].  After the second course; 40%, and so on. The other day I celebrated being 100% complete - with the first year of distance learning, or half way done with the program!  Looking back on all of my notes, readings, and papers is like standing on the top of a hill looking back down and realizing how far up you have climbed. 

I suppose the other trick to eating the elephant is pacing yourself.  Time management is key.  Being deployed helped.  It is a hard truth that not having a full-time job and family duties and Reserves makes for a lot of free time to devote to reading and note taking.  I spent many nights in the library here, or sitting on my bed, reading, taking notes, and writing. It was a conscious effort. 

In a couple of weeks I will go to Carlisle Barracks to attend Year One Resident phase; a two week classroom portion of the course that rounds out the entire year.  According to the Colonel Mafia one of the first things they tell you is that if you made it this far, you will make it the rest of the way.

I still need to celebrate...what kind of ice cream goes with pachyderm?