Accomplishing the Mission Reflection

Last June, the Titan submersive caught the attention of the world. When he described the Naval Submarine Priorities in all situations, Rear Admiral John Mauger caught my attention when he said: "Number 1 is Safety, Number 2 is maybe something along the lines of avoiding counter detection, Number 3 is Mission Accomplished."

The mission is third, while the number 1 priority is safety.

It made me reflect on our Advanced Wilderness Life Support course, where Scene Safety is Number 1 (the avalanche scenario, for example, in the above photo). Our idealistic minds and altruistic motives can have us pushing the envelope, ignoring warning signs, and being reckless in helping others - putting the entire long-term mission in danger by sacrificing ourselves and others in the effort.

With that in mind, in July, when I led our current interns in an exercise of planning what a successful year looks like, I made sure to discuss the need for rest and recovery, but also recognition of their early warning signs.

What about you, what are your early warning signs that you need R&R? What is your intervention plan should that arise? What resources are available to you?

Let's be proactive in this operation. Avoid optimism bias and avoid throwing yourself into the scene without first assessing safety. Yes, we all want Mission Accomplished, but prioritizing it above our physical and mental safety could be injurious to the long-term mission.