During my Air Force career, I had the great fortune to work with some real Air Force heroes. These are the Combat Control Teams (CCT). These are the folks who go behind enemy lines, sometimes by an offset High Altitude, Low Opening(HALO) tactic at night. Their job is usually to set up drop or extraction zones for future missions.
Thank God for their heroism, but leading them is like herding cats; a real, but fun, challenge. Couple of real life examples, not job related.
The CCT member I worked with at Pope AFB was on a hike with his young son in hilly terrain. I am told his son had an accident which seriously affected his breathing. In a nutshell, he wasn’t breathing. His dad, my Combat controller, performed a tracheotomy on his own son and saved his life. I will admit, this is hearsay. I didn’t witness the incident. But, I believe it totally. Who of us could do that?

One afternoon, I heard a commotion outside my office and went to see what was up. My combat controller was betting the rest of my team $10 each that he could do a parachute landing fall (PLF) from our second story window and not get injured. I interceded and told him not to do it. Then I went back to my office and prayed. Fortunately, a highly respected fellow Combat Controller came to the office. My guy showed him what he planned to do. The highly respected colleague said, “. You do that and you’ll bust your ass.” That was enough to prevent a possible serious incident. Whew. I discovered why real heroes don’t always advance in rank. Enuf for now.