My Respects to Luis Urzua - One Platoon Sergeant to Another
Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010
by Donovan Baldwin
No Diet 4 Me
If you don't recognize the name, Luis Urzua, don't feel bad. After all, there were an awful lot of people trapped in that mine in Chile, and many people were more interested in the guy with the wife and mistress.
However, those miners survived because of the efforts of a lot of people, and because of their own willingness to work for their own salvation as well. People from NASA gave them valuable help as did survival specialists, psychologists, doctors, and many others.
And the world watched, and worried, and applauded the rescue.
Good for you, world.
A lot of people played valuable parts in the survival of the Chilean miners and their eventual rescue.
One of these was in the mine.
He was Luis Urzua, and he was the last miner up. His words to Chilean President Sebastian Pinera were simple, "We have done what the entire world was waiting for. The 70 days that we fought so hard were not in vain."
The president replied, "You have been relieved, coming out last like a good capitan. You have no idea how all Chileans shared with you your anguish, your hope, and your joy. You are not the same, and the country is not the same after this, You were an inspiration. Go hug your wife and your daughter."
I heard in one news report that, while in the confinement of the mine, Luis Urzua was referred to as "The General".
As a retired noncommissioned officer of the U.S. Army, I like to picture him as a fellow platoon sergeant, with his troops, keeping them busy, inspired, and prepared while the "officers" figure out what to do.
It is customary for a platoon sergeant to make sure his or her people are cared for first before seeing to their own needs. In my mind, it is fitting that Luis Urzua be last from the mine.
People unfamiliar with professions like mining tend to think of the people in the mines as being somewhere down the food chain. They tend to imagine "strong backs and weak minds" and not much else.
However, one of Luis Urzua's fellow miners said of him, that he is very protective of his people and obviously loves them, and would not have left until all his men were safely aboveground. He has shown a strength which goes far beyond the physical and a love that goes far beyond the level normally expected of anyone at any level of management.
I hope that all our leaders take at least a small lesson from the behavior of this man in the bowels of the earth who could easily turned over responsibility for the safety of those around him to someone else in the group. After all, he was hired to lead them in their normal activities. Who would have expected him to emerge as their leader in their extremity...or required it of him?
However, he did his job as he saw it and part of the survival of the Chilean miners goes to his credit.
I believe Luis Urzua would have made one hell of a platoon sergeant and salute him for his performance of duty and his recognition and acceptance of his responsibility for his "platoon" of miners.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Donovan Baldwin is a 65-year-old accountant, amateur bodybuilder, freelance writer, certified optician, and Internet marketer currently living in the Atlanta, Gerogia area. A University Of West Florida alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a member of Mensa and has been a Program Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer for a major international corporation, and has managed various small businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has posted a series of articles on The Law of Attraction , and other self-improvement issues at xtramoney4me.net/internetmarketing/reviews/law_of_attraction_articles/index.html .
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I was moved by him as well. It's been wonderful to see the world focused on something so good.
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