The Entrepreneurial Reward | Spacecoast Business Magazine

The Heroes Who Serve the Heroes

Many of us assume that the reward of entrepreneurialism is the freedom to pursue your business dream and then spend the fruits of your labors on your family or on the house, car or vacation of your fantasies.? But after you have done those things, I have observed there is a reward that few begin the entrepreneurial journey realizing ? it is having the ability to make other people?s dreams a reality.? In some cases that may be providing jobs, but for others it is something far more significant.

A few months ago I received an email from a celebrated entrepreneur in our community, Walter Gatti.? He asked me to join him on a flight for the Veterans Airlift Command to San Antonio.? Honestly, I was more excited about flying in Walter?s jet than I was interviewing the young soldier we were transporting, but that only lasted until we met him.

Two Humble Heroes

Touching down in Ft. Lauderdale, we were greeted like rock stars by the executive airport personnel.? There we met Sgt. Juan Arimis and part of his family.? Juan had come to this county from Columbia and to expedite his citizenship he joined the Army.? On his second tour in Iraq, an IED (Improvised Exploding Device) blew up close to him.? Most of the skin tissue on his right side was burned and he lost both his forearms.

Shaking hands with someone?s prosthesis is awkward, but Juan was very comfortable in himself and as we settled into our flight. ?I asked him about how he dealt with his experience ? not just the physical but the psychological.? ?When I regained consciousness after the attack (two months later) and realized what my condition was, I prayed that God would take my life.? Gradually,? he said, ?I learned to except what happened and even to be thankful, as there were a lot of guys worse off than me.?? He then shared a visit from his lovely wife, whom I later met.? She told him, ?I know this is hard, Juan, it is hard on all of us, but we are going to make it together.?

I had to hold back my tears when I looked down at one of his arms and saw, etched into the plastic, a message which I first mistook for instructions.? In a sense I suppose they were instructions, it read, ?I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I respond.? So it is with you; you are in charge of your attitude.?

On the return flight Walter confided in me, ?It is gratifying to be able to serve these heroes in this way but honestly every time I transport one of them I realize how petty the things that get me down really are.?

From a grateful nation, thanks Juan and thanks Walter.

About Veterans Airlift Command

The Veterans Airlift Command (VAC) provides free air transportation to wounded veterans and their families for medical and other compassionate purposes, through a national network of volunteer aircraft owners and pilots.? Their priority is on the veterans of Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan).? VAC was founded by a highly decorated Army helicopter pilot Walt Fricke, who himself spent six months in the hospital after being medivaced out of Vietnam in 1968.

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