My highest compliment

Warning: The following contains anecdotal material of a military nature which might offend some persons who are used to quibbling, equivocating, shirking, malingering, blaming, moralizing, gaslighting, and bragging about themselves.

It’s a common thing among those who serve in the profession of arms to be constantly aware of and on the lookout for the self-server and the poser. This is especially true when we talk about those in leadership positions. One simply cannot go to war alongside someone who is more concerned about themselves, their recognition and their accomplishments rather than the mission and the welfare of those around them. This a long time tradition, in the American Army anyway, that comes out of Biblical principles and is a particularly Christian ethic generally, which is that we ought always to think of others as more important than ourselves.

Apropos this, perhaps one of the greatest compliment one officer or NCO can give another is to say, after serving together, that ‘I would go to war with you anytime, anywhere.’

I remember the first time someone paid that compliment to me as a young Lieutenant and it has stuck with me ever since. That man was a Lieutenant Colonel with extensive service in the Army Special Forces (The Quiet Professionals) and Ranger units in the 70s and 80s. We trained together, deployed together, jumped out of planes together, and I came to see that this man did a lot more than he said. He was coarse (well, he was an infantryman after all) without being crass, stern without being cruel and never asked more of others than he did of himself. When our time was over, he was a consummate gentleman, and I’ll always treasure the unit coin and headgear he gave to me on the day we parted. The note attached read (among other things):

“Anytime, anywhere I would serve with you.”

Ever since I have been mindful of that very high criterion of respect and responsibility, not only in my 33 year military service, but other contexts as well.

Special Forces soldiers are not impressed with self-talk, and do not abide it in others. With them, To say it is to do it or die first.

Our mottos contain words like, Be right and Act, Deeds over Words, Rangers Lead the Way, Faithful, Always Faithful, Free the Oppressed, Always Ready, Mission First – People Always, For God and Country, and Follow Me.

Far too rarely have I found men who conduct themselves with this level of personal selflessness and inherent responsibility among the ‘leaders’ in the church, where it really ought to be exemplified. Instead, I have encountered, with far too much frequency, a wholly different animal, the Blue Falcon. (google “blue falcon military slang”). The Blue Falcon is an animal who is only concerned for his own safety, his own reputation, his own comfort and his own dominance of others. Rarely does the Blue Falcon actually do anything, but he certainly talks a lot about it.

Service in Christ’s Church is of a character and import which is truly a life and death matter; there is no room for Blue Falcons, though sadly, the visible church seems to be filled with them. Sure, this sounds pious and smarmy, but I simply won’t be dissuaded from my own observations. Such men are toxic, lethal even.

The ‘anytime, anywhere got to war with you’ award is not one that is just handed to people, for it is one of the highest honors a living comrade can receive from me, or I from them.

If we’re honest , we all hear the rooster’s third crowing. No one is perfect – but I am often misunderstood by Blue Falcons, who sometimes wonder if I am full of unforgiveness because I will not associate with them. But consider this:

Jesus loved everyone but did not trust everyone, because He knew that not everyone could be trusted. Distancing from Blue Falcons is not about forgiveness and it’s not about love.

It is about trust: the anywhere, anytime trust.