Super Bowl article for the Navigator

Note: This article appeared in the base newspaper the Friday before the Super Bowl. I apologize in advance to certain friends in Okinawa for using their favorite quarterback as an example of what not to do. -Peter

As a six-foot, 145 pound teenager with no coordination, I was not cut out to be a football player. However, my lack of athletic ability didn’t prevent me from being a fan of football and over the years I’ve developed an appreciation for the “chess match” that takes place between an offense and the opposing defense. It doesn’t take a football scholar though to know that one of the fundamentals of football is “protecting the rock.” Simply put, if you fumble the ball or throw interceptions you’ll have a hard time winning a football game. So it is that in a few days the New Orleans Saints will be playing in the Super Bowl and not the Minnesota Vikings who turned the ball over five times during their NFC title match.

As Sailors and Marines, our goal is not to win the Super Bowl, but to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and to defend freedom and democracy around the world. Right now, many of our shipmates from NASWI and its tenant commands are doing just that, whether it Iraq or Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa or Haiti. We who remain behind do so in a constant state of readiness. Indeed, whether we are on sea or shore duty, we know that we might be called in to action at a moment’s notice, and we must be ready. Therefore, we daily practice the fundamentals in order to ensure that we can execute any mission assigned to us.

For some of us, that means regular visits to the range to remain qualified on our weapons. For others, it means attending specialized training and C schools to stay at the top of our game. Still others spend hours in simulators and on training flights. However, military training is not the only fundamental building block that ensures our success. If we are to be successful at our mission, we must also take care of our families—our spouses and our children—those people in our lives who love and support us when our nation calls us into action.

The good news is that many of our military families have developed an amazing resiliency and thrive in the midst of the chaos that is a military lifestyle. I wish that everyone could sit in my office and hear the amazing stories of families who’ve been through multiple PCS moves, been separated during long deployments; who have juggled careers and raising children and somehow made it all work. And yet, there are times when all of us struggle to balance our calling as Sailors and Marines with our calling as a son or daughter, or a husband or wife, or as a father or mother, or as a boyfriend or girlfriend.

When we struggle to keep life balanced, both our home life and work suffers. Yet too often we think that we can keep the two spheres of our lives separate from one another. Perhaps it is our own pride that keeps us from admitting that we don’t have it all together. Like a certain graying quarterback for the Vikings, we think that we have to do it all by ourselves; that it’s up to us to win the game. We forget that we have teammates who can help us across the goal line and so we throw the ill-advised pass and turn the ball over. In the end, such pride leads only to defeat. Marriages fail, families fall apart, domestic violence occurs and once-promising careers end. I am confident that none of us want such tragedy in our own lives, so I encourage all of us to have the courage to admit when we need help, and to reach out and use the many resources and individuals here on Whidbey Island who are here to see that you and your family succeed. Together, we are the winning team.