Susan's Blog » Currahee: The Big Picture

My friend, Joey, aka Major Joseph Halloran, an artillery officer, is deployed with his troops somewhere in the cold rugged mountains of Afghanistan. I’ve known Joey and his family since he was a somewhat rebellious middle school kid in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. We reconnected last year at the funeral of his father, Joseph E. Halloran, III, a retired Army Lt. Colonel, now buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Joe has a loving, supportive wife and two bouncy young children who are anxiously awaiting his return.

I’m thinking a lot about Joey these days as I speak to colleges and universities, law firms, and corporations feeling the pinch of budgetary stress and falling stock prices. Joe doesn’t have much time to focus on our collective economic calamity at home; he’s trying to do his job for our country, keep his troops alive, and stay warm. Joey doesn’t know it, but he has helped me keep perspective and focus on the bigger picture of life.

Joey’s brigade motto is “Currahee,” a term coined by the movie, Band of Brothers. It means, “stand alone.” I asked him last month, via email, if I could collect some Valentine’s Day packages for his troops, but he declined, stating that just knowing that we keep our country’s troops in our thoughts and prayers was enough. So, I made a small donation to the USO and sent an anonymous Valentine’s Day card to a soldier serving abroad. The USO.org site makes it easy. Hopefully, one more soldier will feel less like he or she stands alone.