Where ya headed?

During our college days, my friend, Ken, and I decided to drive to Chicago, wanting to see the big city while in that part of the country for a wedding. After the wedding rehearsal on Friday night, Ken and I struck out for the Windy City. As we traveled up I-65, we could see the lights ahead. Soon we were on the edge of the metro area. As we got closer, we saw what appeared to be a sea of taillights – and the accompanying headlights – flowing along the Eisenhower Expressway. Drawing nearer, we suddenly found ourselves sucked into the eastbound traffic, but we soon were back to flowing along at 70 plus miles per hour. After a few minutes I looked at Ken, who was driving, and asked, “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“No.”

“Do you have any idea where we’re headed?”

“No.”

“You mean we’re lost?”

“Yes, but we’re making great time.”

Now I’ve embellished the story a little to make a point, which is – if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. Sadly, many people wander through life with no real direction, just drifting along aimlessly, or spinning like a migratory hamster on a wheel.

During my brief and mindlessly saturated stint as a platoon leader in the jungles of Vietnam, part of my job was to get the platoon from point A to point B in a timely fashion. This made me the most dangerous person in an infantry platoon: a lieutenant with a map. Let me share with you some lessons I’ve learned while trying to find my way through the jungle.

Obviously, the first step in getting where you want to go is knowing where you want to go. Otherwise you’ll wind up somewhere you never intended to be. In today’s world you can just tell Siri where you’re headed, and she’ll figure it out in your stead. But Siri also needs to know your destination. She can’t read your mind, and as much as she would like to tell you where to go, she waits for you to tell her.

The second step is knowing your current location. Again, your smart phone knows where you are. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide unless you turn off your location services. But back in the day, in the jungles of Vietnam, it could be somewhat difficult to figure out where you are with just a map and compass.

I’m reminded of an anecdote from my days in Germany. We were conducting a command post exercise in the field, and I overheard this conversation between the battalion commander, whom I will not name to protect the innocent and not so innocent alike, and the command post located in the woods. The old man was on his way to the command post, and needed some guidance.

“Six Zulu, this is six Alpha. Location check, over.”

“This is six Zulu. Our location is grid 12345678. Over.”

There was a pause, then the radio lit up again and I heard, “This is six Alpha. I don’t need your location. I need to know my location.” True story.

Once you have your destination in mind, and know your starting point, then the next step is to determine the route. In the military, using a map and a compass, we called that “shooting an azimuth.” And, in the event we got off track, (it was never the lieutenant’s fault.), we would have to stop and shoot a new azimuth to get back on course. Nowadays, your Garmin will condescendingly recalculate, and Siri will reroute you – both with little ceremony.

The last step is to start your journey. It’s a tired but true cliche – a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. What exactly are you waiting for?