preview

Accountability and Being on Time

Decent Essays

The dictionary defines punctual as: Acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed; prompt. Under the rigid and disciplined structure of military life there is no margin for error. The slightest modicum of hesitation or procrastination can result in the tragic loss of innumerable lives. There are many circumstances where a failure to be prompt could have dire consequences. Under certain circumstances not arriving for guard duty at the designated time could allow a breach of security that could ultimately end in the brutal murder of your peacefully slumbering, unsuspecting battle buddies at the zealous hands of our insurgent foes. Choosing an example from a different segment of the spectrum of responsibility, we see how a noncommissioned …show more content…

The resulting explosion and impact result in all souls on board departing this mortal plane to meet their respective makers and the judgments they have earned. Meanwhile, our almost forgotten and mostly overlooked sole survivor is informed of his unit’s misfortune and their ultimate demise. Over the next days and weeks our protagonist begins displaying the signs and symptoms of what experts like to call “Survivor Syndrome”. He becomes wracked with guilt that he did not perish with his brothers in arms. Unable to rid himself of his personal demons he may attempt to join them in Valhalla the only way his feeble, angst ridden mind can conjure up. As his trembling hands arrange for his otherworldly reunion, his mind focuses on what could have been had he only double checked the backup battery in his alarm clock. According to chaos theory a change as trivial as one extra person on an airplane could change the entire course of events leading up to this macabre finale. Perhaps by being on time and being on that plane his additional body weight and that of his bags could have been sufficient to alter the physics of that fateful landing just enough that passengers instead merely experience a near miss with that American supplied relic of the Russian-Afghan war. Even if that CIA trained insurgents missile had not missed and his aim remained true in spite of the powerful influence of chaos, perhaps that same soldier could have at least died

Get Access