U.S. Navy (Daniel J. McLain)
Both the author and his instructor survived a training accident in a T-2C Buckeye. As the aircraft spiraled out of control, their ejection parachuted them into unforeseen new experiences and tough lessons about leadership.
U.S. Navy (Daniel J. McLain)

Professional Notes

By Lieutenant Commander David K. Sidewand, U.S. Navy, Lieutenant Benjamin Armstrong, U.S. Navy, and Lieutenant (j.g.) Daniel Wiltshire, U.S. Coast Guard
September 2009
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Living to Learn From It

By Lieutenant Commander David K. Sidewand, U.S. Navy

Crucible events are life-changing, frequently traumatic, and almost always unexpected. Mine, ejection from an out-of-control jet trainer, set in motion a series of events that changed my outlook on

life, my career in the Navy, and my leadership philosophy. The need to take care of the people who work for me was strongly reinforced, as were the importance of making ethical decisions and remaining adaptable in the face of tumultuous change.

Just Another Exciting Day

The morning of 6 January 1999, I was well on my way to fulfilling my childhood dream of becoming a naval aviator. I was assigned to Training Squadron Nine (VT-9), stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, Mississippi. At the time, VT-9 flew the T-2C Buckeye, a twin-engine jet trainer that the Navy had used for about 40 years. I was working my way through the intermediate strike training syllabus and had about 25 hours of flight time in the T-2C, not counting time in the simulators.

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Lieutenant (j.g.) Daniel Wiltshire, U.S. Coast Guard

Lieutenant Commander Wiltshire serves as an attorney in the Office of Military Justice at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. He previously commanded the USCGC Adak (WPB-1333) in the Arabian Gulf. He also is a Navy surface warfare officer, having earned his SWO pin as navigator of the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG-59) as part of the Coast Guard-Navy Exchange Program. He holds degrees from Tulane University, the Naval War College, and American University Washington College of Law.

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U.S. Navy, Lieutenant Benjamin Armstrong

CDR Benjamin "BJ" Armstrong, USN, is a former search and rescue helicopter pilot and associate professor of war studies and naval history at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is the author or editor of four books and several dozen articles on naval history and strategy, and the recipient of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement and the Lyman Book Award from the North American Society of Oceanic History.

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Lieutenant Commander David K. Sidewand, U.S. Navy

Lieutenant Commander Sidewand has completed three tours as an intelligence officer, most recently as the N2 for the Kearsarge (LHD-3) Expeditionary Strike Group. He is a student at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

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