Reports From In the Arena

Citizenship in a Republic is the title of a speech given by the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I’m Bill Chamberlain and I’m an Infantry Colonel. I spent four years at the Military Academy and thirty years in the Infantry. I commanded from the rifle platoon through the brigade level of command. I am a Desert Storm veteran and commanded 1st Battalion 18th Infantry Regiment during that conflict.  My purpose with this blog is to share lessons learned over those thirty-four years “in the arena” on the subjects of Command, Leadership. Tactics and the Army in general. I will do so with a series of stories, all true, that I experienced as I went along in the Army. Each will have a learning or teaching points at the end and I invite comment.

My email address is billcham118@aol.com or billc11872@gmail.com. I will answer all comments on the website as appropriate. If you wish to contact me privately with a comment or view, use the email above but make sure In the Arena is somewhere in your Subject so I know it’s not spam.