Looking back on 2019
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Okay, I’m not Charles Dickens, not by a long shot, but 2019 was for me fulfilling and bittersweet.
It was a year I closed the Center for Transitional Leadership after 6 years of helping my fellow retiring military personnel and veterans find meaningful employment in the private sector or at least explore what some believed a strange new world. Along with my colleagues Rolly Dessert, Bill Rue, and Scott Weaver we worked with 272 individuals from Captain to Major General, Staff Sergeant to Command Sergeant Major, a few military spouses, and veterans who had been displaced in the job market for various reasons. They all had one thing in common—finding meaningful work where they could take care of their family while adding value to society. What could be better than that?
The job market during that 6 years (2013 to 2019) went from high to low unemployment and from a downsizing Army to an expanding Army. The reason we shut down CTL was because the demand for our services had declined making it unnecessary to continue operations.
One door closes while another opens.
As we were shutting down CTL, I was approached by the CGSC Foundation, to help them expand revenue generating activities. Since I established the Foundation and run it for over seven years, I welcomed the opportunity to get back in the game for an organization that I founded and was proud to have been associated with. I’m happy to say that over the past 6 months we have re-motivated past donors, created new donors and monetized many programs and activities. We believe 2020 will be a banner year.
Okay, so that was the best of times. Now for the worst.
In 2019, the Foundation lost two dear friends. Our benefactor Ross Perot Sr. passed at the age of 89 in July. Ross helped put the CGSC Foundation on the map with his extremely generous gift of $6.1 million that endowed the General Hugh Shelton Chair of Ethics and the Col. Arthur D. Simons Center for the Study of Interagency Cooperation. Thus, funding two major areas of emphasis desired by the leadership of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC). This was Ross’s largest donation in support of military education. The second blow came in November when our former President, Hyrum W. Smith, passed at 76 after succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Hyrum was best known for his development of the Franklin Planner in his basement and subsequent founding of the Franklin Quest Company in 1983 that eventually went public in 1992 with a $50 million public offering. Ever the gentleman, Hyrum would rally our trustees at Board meetings with humor, and at times a velvet hammer, to drive home the importance of the board’s responsibility to provide the resources to fulfill our mission. Hyrum was also a dear friend. We were both officer candidate school (OSC) graduates, my class was 1966, his 1967. We both commanded the same artillery battery in Germany at different times in a Pershing Ballistic Missile Brigade during the Cold War. We had never met each other while on active duty but came together in 1996 through the help of a mutual friend, George Bannon. After I introduced Hyrum to then Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commandant of CGSC, Hyrum joined us as a trustee and within a year he was elected our president. At a dinner hosted by Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who followed Lt. Gen. Petraeus, Hyrum and I were each presented with the Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal at a dinner in General Caldwell’s quarters on Fort Leavenworth for our support of the College. I tell this story to illustrate how important Hyrum had become to me, the Foundation, and the College.
Shortly after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Hyrum wrote a moving letter to his fellow OCS classmates, whom he referred to as his Band of Brothers. In the opening he wrote, “it’s a beautiful day at the ranch and I am feeling the need to write all you guys and tell you how much I love and respect each of you.” He talked about making the decision to forego chemotherapy because he had led a good and meaningful life and wanted to “fully enjoy what time I have left and call it good.” In closing he wrote, “I love you guys, never forget it. I believe that I am who I am because of my bond with you.” Hyrum was a class act.
Ross Perot and Hyrum Smith were giants among men. They both lived meaningful lives in service to their fellow man. Each has left a living legacy. We shall miss them.
