“It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate.”

Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you.

But, in fact, discipline is the pathway to freedom.

For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting.

And the more you build your will by doing hard things, the stronger your will becomes.

The goal of leadership seems simple: to get people to do what they need to do to support the mission and the team.

Remember: the enemy gets a vote.

Trust is not blindly given. It must be built over time.

The leader must own everything in his or her world.

Good leaders are rare; bad leaders are common.

A leader must care about the troops, but at the same time the leader must complete the mission, and in doing so there will be risk and sometimes unavoidable consequences to the troops.

Waiting for the 100 percent right and certain solution leads to delay, indecision, and an inability to execute.

Decisively engaged?

Even the most competent of leaders can be overwhelmed if they try to tackle multiple problems or a number of tasks simultaneously.

Relax. Look around. Make a call.

Don’t fight stress. Embrace it. Turn it on itself. Use it to make yourself sharper and more alert. Use it to make you think and learn and get better and smarter and more effective. Use the stress to make you a better you.

For leaders, the humility to admit and own mistakes and develop a plan to overcome them is essential to success. The best leaders are not driven by ego or personal agendas. They are simply focused on the mission and how best to accomplish it.