LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Eric Greitens knows what it’s like to be on the frontlines. A Navy SEAL lieutenant commander injured in Iraq, Greitens described how to navigate through adversity during the PestWorld 2014 opening general session on Oct. 21. The frontline is a place of hardship, pain and suffering, he said, but it’s also where victory is won.
After returning from the war zone, Greitens and two fellow veterans launched The Mission Continues, an organization that provides injured veterans returning from duty fellowship to help them change course and walk a new path in life with the courage of perseverance.
Veteran Navy SEAL lieutenant commander, Eric Greitens, explains how PMPs can apply his strategies for navigating frontlines to their lives and businesses.
“As a leader on the frontlines, the mission you have been given is make sure every person on your team makes it back to their family and friends,” Greitens said. “When veterans come home, they also face a frontline.”
Returning veterans struggle to figure out their purpose in life and how to continue to serve when they’re no longer on active duty, Greitens said.
Greitens learned one effective way to deal with a frontline while in the Navy.
“On a compass, a change of only one or two degrees will result in you ending up in a completely different place,” he says.
Greitens and the leadership team at The Mission Continues ask the veterans they help to make a frontline decision to change course by one or two degrees.
“Think about your journey and life as business professionals and community leaders,” he said. “Recognize how hard it might be for someone to make that one- or two-degree change.”
To give them the strength to continue, Greitens asks veterans to reflect on the time when they first joined the military, reminding them the pain and suffering they endured the first few weeks of training made them capable of facing their fears and building courage.
“I tell them, together as a team, we’ll provide the support you need to be everything you need to be,” Greitens said. “In your life, every time you make a decision, you’ll live through pain and your character will evolve.”
During his rigorous Navy SEAL training, Greitens learned people quit when they thought about how difficult something would be, not when they were doing something difficult.
“The strongest people in training were the people who, when things got hard, remembered the other people counting on them to be strong,” he said.
When Greitens hears from wounded soldiers recovering in hospitals, they often want nothing more than to return to their unit.
“The wounded want to know they’re needed and that they’d be able to continue serving,” he said. “The veterans involved in the Mission Continues program know they’re setting an example.”
The Mission Continues empowers veterans facing the challenge of adjusting to life at home to find new missions. Visit the website: www.missioncontinues.org.
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