The Person to See

A Real Hero

Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor

 

PO2 (EOD2) (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq, giving his life to save his fellow Seals.

 

(Note: Mike was not a Navy SEAL, he was EOD.  He gave his life to save a group of Navy SEALS.)

 

During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego, as his coffin was being carried from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, SEALs were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two's, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike's coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin.

 

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it.

 

This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero….

 

This should be front-page news instead of the crap we see every day.

Since the media won't make this news, I choose to make it news by forwarding it.

 

I am very proud of our military. If you are proud too, please pass this on.  If not then rest assured that these fine men and women of our military will continue to serve and protect.  

  

God Bless our Troops.

 

 

 

Kudos To Brad And Denzel

A breath of fresh air in Hollywood at last...

Denzel Washington donates $1M of his own money to Fisher House, a charity dedicated to helping rehabilitate soldiers injured in combat.  It's a great story.  Take time to read it.

Brad Pitt puts his money where his mouth is and donates $5m of his own money to housing efforts in New Orleans.

At last two Hollywood stars who realize it's not all about them!

Three Cheers For Emily Waite

I recently discovered that a woman, Brenda Smith, who is in the same office suite as The Personal Branding Group (she works for a different company than ours ) has a son serving in Iraq as a medic.  His name is Paul.

Through Brenda I struck up an email relationship with Paul.  I asked Paul if there was anything he and his fellow soldiers needed or would like more of.  Paul responded, "...magazines and DVD's..."  So, in an effort to do or part we rallied our clients asking them to send three to five DVDs to our office by October 31st.  We would then take care of the shipping arrangements.

I'm proud to say we had a great response, but one little girl in particular stole the show, Emily Waite, who is 13 years old and is in the 8th grade at Palos Verdes Intermediate School.

Emily is the daughter of one of my clients, David Waite.  David is a lawyer at Jeffer Mangels in Century City, CA.  David shared our email request with Emily and like a duck on a june bug Emily went to work.  She sent our email along with her own email rallying her classmates into action.  13 year old Emily collected more than 60 DVD's for the troops!

I guess what they say is true,  "If you need a job done get an 8th grader on it!"  On behalf of Pfc Paul Smith and his fellow soldiers, thank you Emily Waite for your thoughtfulness.  You are a true patriot.

Robert E. Lee's Personal Brand Saved The Union

You might be wondering how the General of the Confederacy, whose army killed so many Union soldiers could be responsible for saving the Union.  For the complete answer I strongly recommend you read Jay Winik's 1865: The Month That Saved America. A masterful analysis of the final month of the Civil War.

Winik set out to answer a very thought-provoking question: why didn't the American Civil War destroy America?  Winik's theory which is supported by substantial evidence is that when the end was apparent for the Confederecy, its military leader, General Robert E. Lee, rather than retreat into the countryside and fight a protracted guerrilla war that would wear down the Northern Army and most certainly destroy the Country, told his men "it was over and it was their duty to return home to their farms and be good citizens."

The greatness of Lee was his willingness to put what was right above his own ego.  Throughout the war Lee maintained perspective.  The war was about a cause, not he and his reputation.  That's why when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Lee's troops gave him a standing ovation as he returned to camp to officially announce the surrender.  More than money and fame, Lee had influence.

In sharp contrast, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy wanted to see Lee and his men "fight to the death."  Taking their cue from Lee, the other Confederate generals, Joe Johnston et. al. all surrendered one by one.

And thus, because of the credibility of one man's personal brand the the United States was saved from being savagely torn asunder despite suffering more than 650,000 deaths and more than 1,000,000 casualties.   

Jimmy Stewart's personal brand was all class

When I think of great personal brands in Hollywood Jimmy Stewart instantly pops into my mind.  He was the consummate gentleman from the way he dressed to the way he treated people to the way he remained faithful to his wife and family until the day he died.  Not exactly the image of today's Hollywood movie star or starlet.

If you want to treat yourself to some easy, entertaining and informative reading about one of the finest men Hollywood ever produced, pick up Starr Smith's Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot.

There was a time when Hollywood was admired for the truly great ladies and gentlemen who graced the silver screen.  I've got to imagine that Jimmy Stewart wasn't exactly smiling down on the anti-war protest this weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for freedom of speech.  I just think that when you have a platform like the personal brands of today's Hollywood you should make sure you say something thoughtful and insightful. For example, it just seems to me that just about every time I hear Susan Sarandan and her partner Tim Robbins speak on current events I think to myself, these folks obviously must never read books or daily newspapers.  I mean, there is no way they could possibly be informed on the issues and say the things they say.

I'm no fan of Bill O'Reilly but if you want to get a sense of how clueless these folks are check out his website and listen to the responses his reporters got from the Hollywood anti-war protesters to very legitimate questions.

What's driving Barakomania?

Let me tip you off right now.  This posting is going to be politically incorrect (at least according to the standards of the politically correct, "gotcha!" crowd).

In case you've had your head in the sand for the past week, the Democratic party is in a thither over the prospect that they have not only a viable candidate for 2008, but that candidate is African-American as well.  His name is Barak Obama. If you don't think Barakomania is driven largely by race then I have a bridge to sell you.

Can't you just see all the left wing white journalists and politicians congratulating themselves on discovering and anointing the next black political superstar?  If I were black I'd find this pandering sickening and insulting.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is also good-looking, was a skilled surgeon and volunteered thousands of hours of free medical services for Doctors Without Borders prior to entering the Senate and yet, I don't recall the same media outlets lavishing praise on Bill anything akin to what Barakomania has generated.  I wonder why.  Oh, that's right, Frist is a Republican. 

What has the guy done to warrant the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Chris Matthews fawning all over him as if he is some sort of political savior?  The answer is nothing.  Obama has been in the senate less than two years, sponsored no major legislation and wrote a book that, according to his worshipers, rivals Profiles in Courage.   

Come on!  Are the Democrats that transparent?  I guess so.

The greatest personal brands are those marked by sacrifice

The Velez family may not be a household name, but be assured they are among the greatest personal brands America has to offer.  Army Cpl. Jose A. Velez, 23 lost his life fighting for freedom in Fallujah in November 2004.  His brother, Army Spc., Andrew Velez was killed in Afghanistan this past week.

Next time we find ourselves complaining about having to work on weekends, frustrated because we have to sit on jury duty or apathetic about jury duty let's think of the Velez brothers and the ultimate sacrifice they paid so that we can live safely in America.

And for those like Richard Belzer who think the Army is populated by a bunch of losers please note that older brother Jose was an honor student in High School, played football and hoped to go to medical school.  Younger brother Andrew wrestled, played football and basketball and ran track.

If you are wondering how parents could be stupid enough to let their children join the Army perhaps the words of the boys Father, Roy can offer some insight, "We've done what the Lord's allowed us to do for our country."

On behalf of my family and myself, thank you Jose, Andrew and Roy Velez and God bless.  We will never forget your sacrifice.