NOTE FROM CLEMENT:
This message is reposted with the permission of Chaplain Don Staton. Thanks a whole lot for letting me share your very nice and spirited message with the members of www.cccure.org. The posting below is an extract from Don's newsletter. As you know I am also retired from the military and a long time instructor in the military as well as outside of the military. Having down multiple peace missions and having trained many, I found his message to be very touching and full of truth.

HERE IS THE POSTING:(Dedicated to all of my teachers… To all who instructed me in my career... and to all who have instructed Peace Keepers... and to those who currently instruct Peace Keepers.)

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with the educational process. He argued, "What's a student going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become an Instructor?" He
reminded the other dinner guests what they say about Teachers/Instructors: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're an Instructor. Be honest. What do you make?" (Of course he meant in dollars…)

The Instructor who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (Paused for a second… then began...) "Well, I make recruits work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a passing grade feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make recruits sit through 50 minutes of class time when others cannot make them sit for 5 minutes without being entertained... You want to know what I make? (Pausing again, and looking at each and every person at the table.)
I make them wonder.
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them experience what they need to know.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.
I teach them to communicate and then I make them communicate.
I make them listen, see and learn.
I make them show all their efforts in problem solving.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English.
I make my training space a place where all my recruits and students learn safety and survival as well as job application to achieve the goal set for them.
I make my students stand at attention to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, Because we are a vital part of… and represent… the United States of America.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given… the knowledge and the experience they receive... apply them well in hard work… and follow their hearts... they can succeed in life and profession.
(Pausing one last time… and then continuing.)
"Then, when people try to judge me by the dollars I make and the position that I hold in life, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE... What do you make?"

INSTRUCTORS MAKE EVERY OTHER PROFESSION!!!

All along the Journey of my life there has been those very special people who had something to give and gave it so very, very well. Most of them were in the profession of teaching. I can recall something about most of my teachers... but there are those few who stand out so vividly that they are often part of my current thoughts... they not only taught... They left indelible knowledge... and wisdom was learned from my application of that knowledge. All of these memorable people had the ability to cause you to want to learn and to excel... even when you did not want to excel. These people passed to me the light for my
Journey.... They were teachers.

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Then, among these teachers, I occasionally came into contact with Instructors. I came into contact with people who had a powerful, driving force. These people not only knew how to teach but they had a driving, powerful force within them that had shaped them... and that
must be used by them to shape their students. I met only one of these through elementary and high schools... but he will be forever present in my memory, in my thoughts and in the use of my hands and mind... He was an Instructor. He possessed the power to make you learn.

Then... when I reported to Basic School in July of 1962 I met more Instructors! Men who possessed the power to make you learn... and to make you do things that you were not aware that you could ever do. I decided the very first week of being under their influence that I
wanted to one day be an Instructor... because I learned that the Instructors were and are the life blood of all of our endeavors in this country. Without the Instructors with their powerful drive and highest of expectations most of us would not have become the achievers that we
became.

These Instructors were and are the epitome of Peace Keepers. They had learned the basics... took those basics out to the field and applied them... refined the basics as they applied them... and answered the call to be the movers and shapers of the ones who must come after them and take their places in the line of peace keeping... And some of them
we will never forget because their voices ring in our ears every time we are in a place to use the speciality that they instilled into us... They had been where we were... They had achieved the goals set before them. They were inspired to come back to the training facilities and make the recruits into Peace Keepers...

THEY WERE INSTRUCTORS.... AND THEY WERE THE BEST!

"Those who can... do. Those who can't... teach." In my experience over all of my life I have not had any of this kind of person as a teacher. The ones that I can remember were all
knowledgeable, dedicated people. Some were new and learning how to teach, but they learned and became very good at the profession if they stayed in it. I can say unequivocally that the statement never applied to any Instructor that I ever was trained through... Never did
it apply to any of them!

I became an Instructor because of my Instructors!!! I keep my certification current because of my Instructors!!! They were the kind of Peace Keeper that I wanted to become. They were the pattern that I wanted to emulate and excel beyond. They not only trained me... They
inspired me! Now I can look back to that week in July, forty four and a half years ago, and admire and compliment every Instructor that ever taught me in peace keeping. I tried my very best to take what they gave and put it to use to achieve the very best that my career could achieve. I became a doer... Then I became an Instructor as well as a doer.

From the deepest part of me I can say that they... All of my Instructors in peace keeping... That one Instructor in high school (who was previously a Peace Keeper)... And one spiritual Instructor (who was also previously a Peace Keeper)... have been used by the Creator to
mold, shape, refine, polish and guide me to this very moment and this message.

To every Instructor I send my deepest of Appreciation for all of your efforts on my behalf and on the behalf of every recruit that has passed under and through your influence. Without you the United States would not exist... and our Peace Keepers in the field would not have excelled and won the victories at home and abroad that have preserved and held us together as a nation. My Commander-in-Chief and I are ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for all of your efforts and for all of your service to the causes of life, liberty and peace.

Some who became Instructors liked it so well that they served out their careers there... retired from their positions and became Contract Instructors. Many went on to higher ranks and other jobs. Higher rank and other assignments are not more important than training and instructing... Nothing is more important than training and instructing! The ones who moved on just took on more responsibility and many of them came to the place where they were responsible for all of the Trainers and Instructors in their units... They became the Ramrods for the responsibility of training and guiding the Instructors who trained, instructed and guided the recruits until the recruits became useful Peace Keepers.

To all of my readers who are not Instructors, please put powerful thought into your past training and the experiences that you had with your teachers and Instructors... go back over and evaluate... renew the things that you learned that keep you successful and keep you alive... and consciously thank those who brought you to where you are and contributed to making it all possible. You would not be who you are... You would not be where you are... You not have achieved all of the success that you have enjoyed... If it had not been for all of the teachers and Instructors whose lives you have passed through and who so powerfully influenced you. Thank a Teacher that you can read... Thank Teachers and Instructors that you have been successful.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Be alert... watchful... suspicious... and wary. Take the very best of care of you while you work for the well being of others. Do not avoid the spiritual facet of your life. It needs to be strong for you to have the best of success.

Call or write if I may be of any service. Thank you to all who have responded to previous messages.

As it has always been... So it still is... "VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST... AND THEN GO TO WAR, WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST... AND THEN SEEK TO WIN." Sun tzu

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!! THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT... BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)... BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace... it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452

To subscribe to this free e-mail message for Peace Keepers, write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at 3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

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