Gov Palin: Fit to Be Commander-in-Chief

While Governor Palin was nearing the home stretch of the Going Rogue Book Tour, she scheduled a stop at Walter Reed Hospital to visit wounded soldiers. Conservatives4Palin author Doug Brady documents Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata's account of that visit in, "General Anthony Tata: Governor Palin 'Pioneer Tough'"

By Doug Brady

Brigadier General (R) Anthony J. Tata wrote a great piece today for Big Government in which he, among other things, recalled Governor Palin's visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center last December:

As a retired flag officer, I often have the privilege of visiting with our wounded and their families and so I commit some time and money, donating so far 100% of the book royalties to the USO Metro DC Hospital Services Fund for our wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center.

The huge response my review of her book generated, and the variety of opinions expressed therein, motivated me to reach out to her publicist on behalf of the USO to see if the governor was interested in stopping by Walter Reed when she was visiting the metro area for a book signing and the Gridiron Dinner. Within 24 hours I had a phone call saying, “Yes, the governor would absolutely like to see the troops and would prefer no publicity before the event.”

[...]

We locked in Saturday for Governor Palin’s visit. She would land Saturday morning, go directly to the hospital and spend a couple of hours with the troops, then go to her book signing an hour away in Fairfax, then back to DC for the Gridiron Dinner. A record snowstorm in the DC metro area and mechanical issues on her plane at Fort Hood, Texas, delayed her arrival. The governor made the flight the next day barely in time for the Saturday afternoon book signing and when I spoke to her in Fairfax she told me with flint in her eyes that her priority, if we could reschedule, was visiting the troops the next morning.

Military men and women are nimble, used to changed plans, and the governor is a woman who knows what is important and accordingly makes on-the-fly course corrections as well. She upended her Sunday calendar, postponing a book event in Iowa, so that she could see our wounded at Walter Reed. She blew into the foyer at Walter Reed with her father, mother, aunt, husband and infant son, and she was quickly in Soldiers’ rooms, sitting with them, hugging the wounded, chatting with the families, holding the children, signing her books, giving away every ounce of energy she had in every room. I was impressed.

As the leader of thousands of troops in combat, I’ve been honored to visit hundreds of wounded and had the privilege of burying too many friends and fellow warriors. Accordingly, my “insincerity detector” is pretty good and I give Governor Palin high marks. She was in the moment with those Soldiers and families. All wrapped in one person, she was leader, mother, friend, grateful American, and grieving parent.

Indeed, she slipped emotionally between comments such as, “I can see my son in you,” and “I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve given to our great country.” Her son, Track, is an active duty Soldier in the combat infantry brigade in Alaska. Clearly, she could see her son in these Soldiers because he had been driving around Iraq leading the commander’s security team into the most dangerous areas, and she had been living every mother’s impossibly difficult job to pray for the best and know that the worst was possible. She has walked a mile in their shoes.

Hers were quiet words, spoken in the confines of a small hospital room with the wounded Soldier, his or her family present, and perhaps Todd Palin or Chuck Heath, the governor’s father, in the background.

At some point in time the President of the USO put her finger in my chest and said, “Tony go get your book, the troops are asking about it.” [US for Palin Note: book is Sudden Threat ] It had been some months since I had walked through the hospital and I didn’t want to latch onto the Palin event, but I tend to do what Elaine Rogers tells me to do, so I cycled back, dumped a bunch of books on the cart and went into rooms the governor had already visited.

This gave me the unique opportunity of getting feedback from the Soldiers and families as I sat with them apart from the governor’s entourage, this time signing my book and just chatting about combat, units, mutual acquaintances and so on. The feedback was universally positive about Governor Palin.

[...]

And so it was with Governor Palin. She radiated energy as she left, saying, “It reminds us all of what is so important, our freedom, our great Soldiers…” She’s right, of course. Every time I visit with our wounded, I come away inspired and that day in December was no different. I was inspired by our troops, as always, and by their powerfully strong families.

But I was also inspired by Governor Palin and the fact that here we have a national politician who still has a soul and a spirit, and still cares. In my review of Going Rogue, I used the term “pioneer tough” to describe Palin and after spending a morning with her in the hospital with our wounded heroes, I think that’s a fitting description. If you read Going Rogue you get a good feel for the woman. She is as advertised: straightforward, caring, smart, quick-witted, family oriented, and very intuitive.

Read the rest of General Tata's piece here.

(H/T Pat)

Not Seen in 150 Years...

When I was a child, the American pioneers who tamed the West were among my heroes. But, I "knew" that they were a breed that disappeared 150 years ago. I know now, that I was wrong. We have a living pioneer among us...and I would later learn that most Alaskans are in fact, living pioneers.



Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in a military hospital in Germany (2007)

More to the point, Governor Palin does not just speak about working with a servant's heart, she puts those words into action. Governor Palin had a book signing stop that next morning, which she postponed, leading to a cascading effect in the rest of her schedule. Further, she did arrive to that signing late and attributed her lateness to the weather. She could have taken a the convenient path, or beat her chest about what a great person she was for visiting Walter Reed, but that's not what a Commander-in-Chief in waiting does -- and that's not what she does. She genuinely cares for our troops. Her actions prove it. She has raised $120K for our troops in 2009 via charity auctions. Her book tour stopped at four military bases and royalties from the sales of books at these venues went straight to military charities. Track Palin chose military and on September 11, 2008, his mother -- Gov. Palin -- presided over the deployment ceremony of which he was a part, as he went to serve a tour of duty in Iraq.



Leading by example: Governor Palin in a cafeteria with troops in Germany (2007).

One of the core principles of Transformational Leadership is Leadership by Example, and this is how Governor Palin has always led -- by example. She walks the walks and holds herself accountable.

My entry Presidential Leadership discusses Governor Palin's superior Commander-in-Chief skills at length.

References:

Brady, D. (2010, February 11). "General Anthony Tata: Governor Palin "Pioneer Tough" Conservatives4Palin. Retrieved February 12, 2010 from: http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/02/general-anthony-tata-governor-palin.html