Phillips John - Boots to loafers : finding your new true north

FINDING YOUR NEW TRUE NORTH

John W. Phillips

U.S. Army, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired)

with Paul Falcone

Boots to Loafers, Finding Your New True North

Copyright 2013: John W. Phillips

Published: December 25, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-62890-695-0

eBook Publisher: Canopy Web Design, LLC.

www.canopywebdesign.com

719-505-4568

The right of John W. Phillips to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.

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Find out more about the author online at www.bootstoloafers.com or @jpredleg

For Melissa, the love of my life;

for her parents, Catherine and Gordon Smith;

and for my parents, Colonel Steve F. Phillips Jr. and Eileen Phillips.

What Constitutes Success?

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earths beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.

Bessie A. Stanley,

Emporia Gazette, 1905

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.

W. Edwards Deming

I have had Boots to Loafers, Finding Your New True North in my mind for over a decade. As I have observed and experienced the world of business and industry, it has become evident to me that I must share my knowledge and the lessons I have learned to ensure that the next generation is better prepared for life after boots or outside the gate. It has been a hard fight and I am constantly reminded that the military trained me very well for what I have faced outside the gate. For those who walk in my boot prints, I dedicate this book to you as my effort to help you when the time comes to take that next step and transition out of the military. In my opinion, you are the next Greatest Generationa generation of young men and women engaged in todays fight for freedom and our American way of life; a generation that has displayed the same determination and drive as all those warriors who have come before them. Many of this generation will return home, hang their uniforms in a closet and put on new uniformssuits or sport coats and loafers. This book is for them. I will detail how our veterans who have fought the good fight can now find a new true north to help guide them through the journey toward their second life, or new normal, outside the gate.

Over the course of the last few years, I have been working during the day and writing at night and on weekends. It has been a true labor of love. As I started to gather my thoughts, I immediately turned to my dear friend Dawn Halfaker. Dawn epitomizes what Boots is all about. Her personal sacrifice, dedication to duty, and love of country, along with the hard work she had to go through to get where she is today, make her a truly amazing woman. Also along this journey, I have reconnected with a long lost cousin of mine, Reid Baker, who encouraged me from the beginning of this project.

Although pulling together this manuscript has been one of the toughest things I have done, I could not have completed it without the help of my good friend Paul Falcone. Paul is the consummate human resources professional and is the subject-matter expert on those topics. Without Paul and his keen attention to detail, Im not sure this book would have been published. Thank you, Paul.

Special thanks to my editor, Karen Pickell. Her professionalism, enthusiasm, and dedication to this book were second to none. She pulled things out of me that I never knew were there and made this book tell a story while educating the reader along the way. She is a woman with a keen eye and a true gift for words and the knowledge of how to write.

To Peter Overton, thanks for your advice and counsel and strong words on faith. To Jason Falla, thank you for the philosophy of Redback One and explaining the crossroads a transitioning soldier will confront in his or her journey outside the gate.

A special thank you to the folks at ImageMark and specifically Walter Payne who made Boots sparkle and really look great.

To my best friends Steve F. Phillips III, Jim G. Lilly, Jerry W. Boyette, and Brent Owens: your enthusiasm, constant encouragement, and always being relentlessjust like our many camping trips over the last almost four decadeswas appreciated.

To all the soldiers in my life, thank you for molding me into the leader I have become and, more importantly, allowing me to lead you.

To my loving wife, Melissa, thank you for your love, faith, patience, and understanding of this old soldier through the journey of pulling together Boots.

To my dad, the Colonel, for teaching me values and always choosing the harder right. And to my mom, for her personal encouragement and love. I miss you both so dearly.

Many have asked me about the source of my drive. Why am I so persistent in a cause or for a particular initiative? The only possible explanation is where I come from. I descend from a long line of soldiers and sailors who served this country dating back to its beginnings. I suspect my military ancestry reaches back to Ireland or Scotland, though I have no proof of that (yet). My heritage comes from William A. Harper, a Scotch Irishman, who traveled from Belfast, Ireland, to Charleston, South Carolina, on the ship Earl of Donegal in the mid-1700s. He and his family settled on land in Lancaster County, South Carolina, given to them by the King of England. To this day, there are still descendants of William living on the same plots of land in and around Lancaster. Since that time, many of his descendants have fought in battles including the Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and, in the present day, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two such descendants of note were Richard Hilton, who fought in the Indian Wars, and General James Blair, a general in the South Carolina militia who was later elected to the United States Congress. My most recent relatives who served our country include David Phillips, my uncle, who served in the US Navy during World War II; Marion Phillips Scherer, my aunt, who served as a US Navy nurse and was stationed at Walter Reed Hospital and Panama during World War II; Charles Phillips, another uncle, who served in the US Air Force; and Steve F. Phillips Jr., my father, who served as an officer in the US Army Infantry for thirty years and who fought in World War II and the Vietnam War. The tradition lives on with the newest addition, my nephew Steve F. Phillips IV, who currently serves in the US Naval Reserve. My family has established a proud history of service and love of liberty, which is now simply a part of our DNA. I am deeply grateful for my familys love of our country and continue to be inspired to pay it forward to all those who love this country as we do!