One Problem at a Time, Sarge

The guy who said this should have died in a fiery explosion.

In the book, Inside Delta Force, by Eric Haney, he describes a scene from the failed hostage rescue from Tehran in 1980.

After the mission had been scuttled, the operators were waiting to fly back to allied territory when one of the large cargo planes catches on fire.

That would be bad enough, but the operators are all sleeping on a giant bladder of jet fuel. Spoiler Alert: the plane is still on fire.

Everyone scrambles for the exits. One operator, who was sleeping, pops awake, runs to the jump door, and throws himself out of the airplane with no parachute. As soon as he hurls himself through the bay door, he immediately goes into freefall position; body flat, arms and legs extended outward.

The plane was still on the ground. So the guy falls 20 feet and lands face first in the desert sand. He hops up unscathed, dusts himself off and runs to safety.

The plane explodes in a massive fireball. Amazingly, no one is hurt.

Days later and back at base, this guy is asked by his sergeant what he was going to do if they were at 30,000 feet when he woke up and jumped from the plane with no parachute. Guy looks at his teammate and says:

“One problem at a time, Sarge.”

Holy shit. Maybe I can handle my own problems after all.

So, the baby is crying, deadlines are due, workouts are slipping, dinner’s not done, laundry isn’t dry and when is the last time I took a shower?

Just take the next positive step.

One problem at a time, Sarge.