An Australian Army General Recalls The Smackdown That Saved His Career

Thanks for sharing a great story CW5 Jack Cardwell by Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, from Task and Purpose.
"The last time I saw Major General Day, I was an 18-year-old first-year cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. He was the Commandant. It was November 1987. And I was standing in front of his desk. Being kicked out of the Academy. And I owe him big time because it was a turning point in my life.
I arrived at the Academy in January 1987, thinking I was pretty hot stuff. I had been top of almost all my classes at high school, and received one of a limited number of scholarships for entry into the Academy.
I studied civil engineering. But I was a disaster. I was a young, immature kid from a country town who was totally overwhelmed by everything happening to me, and around me, at the Academy. So, at the end of the year, I had managed to fail every subject. It is probably still a record thirty years later.
But Major General Day saw something in me, some spark of potential that even now I don’t fully understand. His words after telling me I would be leaving the Academy were “…but I think you still might make a good Army officer, so I am sending you over the hill to the Royal Military College”—that is, the officer training school.
He gave me a second chance. And I like to think, after thirty years of serving my country at home and around the world, that I have made the most of that second chance."

When I was at USMAPS in 1976 a tactical NCO told me I had no hope of becoming an army officer - using much saltier language. I had been a challenge in terms of pushing the envelope and getting in trouble. That would continue until 1982 by which time I was an infantry 1LT.

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC Orlando Illi Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish Capt Tom Brown MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSG David Andrews Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. CPL Dave Hoover SGT Mark Halmrast SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright

Great story - thanks for posting CW5 Jack Cardwell

Great share, normally it takes a slight kick in the rear to set someone straight.