prison camp in a tiny prison cell in
North Vietnam that cell was eight feet
long and eight feet wide
I remember distinctly the dimensions of
that cell I could paste three steps in
then I had the opportunity of turning
around and pacing three steps the other
way inside my new little home I had
nothing to do I had no books to read no
window to look out no TV telephone
blackberry Bluetooth I didn’t have a
pencil or a piece of paper for 2,100 in
three days that equates to age 24 to age
30 in my life I spent six Christmases
six birthdays in a tiny prison cell a
long way from home and I think the most
value I can be in the few minutes we’re
together is to invite you into my little
prison cell you see there’s a great deal
to be learned here
so for the next few moments I like for
you to try your best to smell the stench
at that two gallon bucket in the corner
I call my toilet like you to try to feel
the baking heat of a tropical summer and
at 10:00 rough prison cell 10,000 miles
away from the good life my feet are
trying to taste the salt the annoying
taste of salt and the corners of your
mouth from the sweat and the tears and
the blood not that you’ll ever be
prisoners of war god forbid but hope
you’ll understand that the same kinds of
challenges in fact maybe the biggest
challenges you face in your life are the
same challenges that I faced in mine and
more importantly your response to the
if you’re going to succeed has to be the
same recipe of responses I used over
there just to survive and thrive and one
more thing if this is already too great
a stretch for you if you aren’t even
trouble bridging this gap and time and
geography between my life experience in
your own the best I can offer you is an
interesting war story but here’s the
connect here’s the touch point you see
there’s not a person here who is not in
the last few weeks or months felt lonely
and alone your support group is gone if
you’re having trouble communicating even
with those you love the most you feel
defeated and put upon the mountain is
just too high so step into my little
prison cell and I’ll try to explain to
you the ways that you surprised that you
survived those prisons because you see
as the minutes were in the hours and the
hours wore in the days and the day is
worn to weeks and months in that little
prison cell I found that you you learn
to acclimate you learn how to breathe
deeply and think about things far away
sunny beaches warm breezes thoughts of
home and you know what happens you get
so comfortable in your little prison
cell that the last place you want to go
is outside their cell because it’s dark
and lonely out here at least you know
the devil in the light what happens is
you get a restriction built up and it’s
not the eight feet between the walls
it’s the eight inches between your ears
you’re in a mental box ever been in one
of those mental boxes we all get there
I’m convinced that that you can be in a
mental box with something so
insignificant have had one of your
friends unfriend you or something as
major as a loss of a child how do you
survive those little 8-inch prisons in
your mind I was one of 571 men who came
out of the prison camps in Vietnam what
would you expect what what would you
think of guys who were held in prison
the longest in American history
five six seven eight and a half years of
my buddy ev Alvarez would you expect
this to be so now mentally deranged full
of hate and bitterness unable to go on
with a normal life well that’s what the
psychiatrist’s thought and the
psychologists they had our families
briefed to institutionalize us the rest
of our lives that’s what they thought
was coming home from the prison camps of
Vietnam I’m happy to tell you that we
are setting records we’re surprising a
lot of people in fact there was a study
done just a few years ago that’s that’s
represented in a book called lessons
from the Hanoi Hilton a Taylor keeneland
the book says that of all the prisoner
of all the combatants of Vietnam 30.6%
have post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD
of the prisoners of war four percent of
us have post-traumatic stress disorder
in fact they’ve come up with a new term
it’s called ptg post-traumatic growth
that we actually survived and thrived
because of the challenge we faced how do
you do that
what’s the secret what I think number
one you have to keep your parachute
packed number two you have to drop an
anchor and number three you have to tug
on a wire I explained that I sat down in
a restaurant several years after I came
home about two tables over I noticed the
guy looking at me I didn’t recognize him
he stood up walked over to my table
pointed at me he said your captain plum
I said yes sir
I’m captain plum you’re that guy you
flew jet fighters in Vietnam fighter
pilot part of the Top Gun school shot
down parachuted to in the enemy hands
you spent six years as a prisoner of war
somewhat dumbfounded I looked up with
this guy that said how in the world did
you know all that he finally broken his
smile and he said because I packed your
parachute
tell you this I was dumbfounded best I
could do was staggered to my feet
reached out a very grateful hand of
thanks he came up with just a proper
words the guy grabbed my
he pumped my arm and he said I guess it
worked well we spent a lot of time that
night talking this guy was very humble
he said I’m not the only one that packed
your parachute oh yes I did the physical
job what about your mental parachute how
about your psychological parachute how
about your spiritual parachute somebody
else packed those and it’s very true
early on my mother taught me a lot about
forgiveness my father taught me a lot
about discipline
he said discipline would bring me
freedom and I would use both of those
wonderful people in my life that packed
my parachute in surviving and thriving
in that prison camp and if then in
school a coach I’ll never forget name
Smith after a very losing season I’m
wandering off of the locker room and
then I felt this arm over my sweaty
shoulder and I said I’m sorry coach I
guess this team’s just a bunch of losers
and he squeezed my shoulder and he sunk
his fingernails into the flesh and he
said son what do you think you’re a
loser or whether you think you’re a
winner you’re right and he was right
life is a choice regardless of where you
go and the challenges you face
you can choose happiness or sadness you
can choose profit or loss you can choose
health or sickness you can choose life
or death and you can choose to give away
all those other choices at the Naval
Academy I learned a lot there I got a
degree in engineering from the Naval
Academy learn how to drive ships around
the Chesapeake Bay and those instructors
taught me the value of an anchor an
anchor stabilizes a ship in stormy
weather and the chaplains there taught
me the value of an anchor in life and
those challenging times when you need
when you need stabilization you need the
focus you and he’s a reason to be you
need a purpose in life that anchor holds
you steady and even in the prison camp
the parachute Packer just came out of
the shadows of my life on that prison
camp I was pacing along there a couple
hundred miles in there my experience I
heard
the far corner of the chirping noise of
a cricket I walked over to check it out
no cricket at all but a piece of wire
about that long poked through a hole to
the base of the cell wall and scratching
on my concrete floor making this
chirping noise like a cricket
I knew the enemy was not sophisticated
enough to try to trick me that meant on
the other end of that wire had to be
another fighter pilot like me boy what
I’d like to talk to another fighter
pilot could we tell some stories but
I’ll bet that guy’s tougher than I am
he’s probably older more mature a better
pilot he probably didn’t cry when they
tortured him like I did I’m losing
interest now ever get that way you know
when that when that mental box starts to
come in on you the last thing you want
to do is take a risk the last thing you
want to do is tug on a wire and I
thought to myself I’ll just crawl over
here in the corner of this prison cell
and wait surely in a few years they’ll
break down the gates and I’ll be set
free and I’ll never have to take another
risk the rest of my life and the wire
kept scratching and I kept sweating and
I finally had to reach down and grab
that wire and tug the wire tug back I
tugged again and it disappeared right
back through that rat hole but it came
back about an hour later this time a
note wrapped around the end of the wire
the note had a code written on it where
we could tug on the wire representing
various letters of the alphabet or
abbreviations and we could communicate
which was a godsend
just to have the validation of another
human being
knowing that I was alive and caring
about me Bob shoemaker was on years
within that wire fighter pilot
extraordinaire astronaut candidate but
better than that here’s a parachute
Packer he dove into that prison camp for
two years when I showed up a total of
over eight years for Bob shoemaker
I said how in the world do you survive
this
he said well you will find that you’ve
just joined the finest team you’ll ever
play on you will
the best example of leadership in the
world right here in this prison camp our
leaders can’t talk to us they can’t fire
us they can’t hire us they can’t give us
a bonus and yet they’ve redefined our
mission here
they’ve given us an anchor we are still
combatants here we are not on the
defensive we are warriors and we will
fight this war to turn our last dying
breath I said okay but what does it take
he said well you have to be a believer
he said I’m not a preacher I’m not gonna
try to convert you to our religion but
you have to have faith you have to have
faith in and your team the other
prisoners of war in this camp you have
to have faith in your flag in your
country you have to have that that
reason that purpose in life and our
purpose here is to fight this war till
our death the last dying breath well
he’s sure packed my parachute that day I
don’t think I’d be alive today if it
hadn’t been for Bob shoemaker the war
ended we came home after many metres net
prison camp they thought we’d be in
baskets
well we’re setting records from 591 men
we have produced 17 generals and seven
admirals most of us retired as senior
great military officers we went back to
flying airplanes and commanding fleets
around the world we have doctors and
lawyers and preachers and teachers
congressmen two United States senators
two ambassadors from our number a vice
presidential candidate a presidential
candidate and they’re telling us today
we’re healthier mentally and physically
than if we hadn’t been through that
experience what does that mean to you
you’ll never be prisoners of war I hope
and pray none of you ever face that
8-foot box but you will face the eight
inches we all get there good bad ugly
we’re all there how do you escape how do
you survive and even thrive through that
experience well I’m convinced you have
to keep your parachute packed you have
to have that baseline foundation from
your family from your coaches from your
team from your community from your
nation and you have to drop that anchor
be sure that you have a purpose in life
be sure that there’s there’s a focus to
your very being erased on d’etre as the
French say and you have to tug on wires
even in the midst of that challenge you
have to you you have to step into the
the fray you have to embrace that
challenge and if you can do those things
you can escape every 8-inch prison in your life thank you very much thank you