Upon returning to California, I was designated as a radio operator at an operations center—a role typically reserved for a lieutenant. However, due to a shortage of qualified officers, I took on the responsibility. I spent long shifts relaying messages between troops and their respective commanders. While this task alone taught me valuable lessons in the flow of information and the diffusion of authority, I also began to understand the hidden lives of our top brass.

Before this experience, I had naively visualized a US military brigade as a solid, unified entity comprising a thousand men and women. But my perspective transformed: I now perceive it as a conglomeration of tribes, each with its nuances, rallying under one flag.  A commander's primary focus is in uniting these diverse groups into a cohesive force. Nothing else is worth their time.

Being the greenest in the room had its perks. Few soldiers have the privilege of soaking in wisdom distilled from decades-long military careers. One mentor of mine likened the learning process to discerning the difference between brush strokes. Over time I began to comprehend how these individual strokes fit onto the vast canvas of our endeavor. By learning from my senior officers, the abstract becomes tangible, and the overwhelming scale of our mission is broken down into comprehensible segments.

Surprisingly, they seemed to find this mentorship as rewarding as I did.