News – The Fifth Field

Tell Me About Yourself

Tell Me About Yourself. It may be the most difficult request to answer in your entire life. And one of the most important. It is hard enough to do in writing. But when it knifes-in out of the blue in a conversion, it can cause folks to freeze-up or begin stammering. That’s bad news if you are in a job interview, or maybe trying to get into college and are talking with a representative of the school. Or maybe you have met someone that you think might turn into someone special. Or even turn into the someone special.

That exact moment you hear these words cannot be the first time you have thought about what your answer might be. You cannot lie; they will find out, because you won’t remember the made-up details. You don’t even want to embellish. You’ll want to tailor your response to the purpose of the interview, mentioning your experiences in school, business, hobbies, or whatever the case may be. And you need to be quick. Nobody likes a droner. Try two minutes, or less, to get it done.

However, there is one other question, that can be even more difficult to answer. Tell me something interesting about yourself. Now, you are not talking about the skillsets you bring to the table; you’re discussing why you are interesting; which really translates to why should that person want to continue to associate with you; have lunch; identify common interests. In short, why you are not boring. Another way of saying, why would this person want to have a beer with you? And if you are really interesting, they’ll buy the beer!

Maybe you want to perhaps mention unique places you have visited – but not discussing fancy, expensive hotels you’ve stayed in. That sounds too much like bragging. Money is not interesting. Life is. Maybe describing some really interesting persons you have met, but not in a way that suggests name-dropping. No one truly cares if you just saw Taylor Swift on your vacation last year. If you can describe some experience which is highly-unlikely that the person, to whom you are talking, has ever heard before, you’re rolling.

But you can’t be long-winded. Leave the person you are talking with wanting to know more.

If you asked me that question, here are a just a few answers I might throw out that describe people I’ve met and some odd places I’ve found myself. But again, it depends on the situation, and if the other person I am talking with would have any idea about the people or events, or even care about the experiences.

Knew an old German Army officer who briefed Adolf Hitler in 1942 on conditions at the Russian Front and then had lunch with him.

That’s it. Not going to add what they talked about in the briefing or the other people in the room, some who were infamous and others you’ve never heard of, but were really important. Not going to add who attended lunch, what they ate, if they had alcohol. That’s reserved for future chats. The guy I’m talking about is on the left below. The one in the center is described below. The one on the right was the son of a German army general, who was executed for his roll in the attempted assassination of Hitler; his character can be seen in the movie Valkyrie. Spent an evening with them and the stories they told!! This is what authors talk about when they mention the term “primary source.”

Knew another old German Army officer who was at Hitler’s Rastenburg “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters on July 20, 1944.

That’s it. Not going to add that he was there to personally receive a high military decoration from Hitler; not going to add that earlier in the day he had sat at a dining table outside with a colonel who was actually Claus von Stauffenberg, the officer who placed the bomb in the briefing room, where it detonated almost killing Hitler. Not going to add that the Gestapo interrogated the officer later that day and night to see if he had been part of the plot (He hadn’t.)

Interviewed Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who was later portrayed in a novel and movie titled The Boys from Brazil, in his office in Vienna, Austria for 45 minutes.

That’s it. If you want to know what we talked about, that’s in the future.

Flew in a rickety old Russian helicopter through the Khyber Pass in Pakistan.

What I was doing there, and that we stopped off around Landi Kotal at the Khyber Rifles Officers Club and had a beer will wait till later.

Went fly-fishing one October in the high hills of Montana with an old Army buddy, and Hank saw a pile of steaming bear crap, estimating that he was 400 pounds and had been there less than 30 minutes ago.

That’s it. Want to know what happened next?

Answering these requests does two things. It portrays you as interesting, because you are. Or, if the person to whom you are talking appears bored with your answer, they are probably too boring to know or have to spend a lot of time with.

Interesting lasts forever. Have your story ready to tell. Never tell the entire story all at once. NBB. Never be boring.

When Quotes Are More Important Than Numbers

A great many “war books” are fairly dry reading; lots of numbers and the “Big Picture.” Dying Hard is written from a much narrower point of view, where names are more important than numbers – one small unit – Company B, and their story is not dry! Nowhere is that more evident than in its many quotations — from people you have read about, such as General George Patton, to just soldiers in Company B. In no particular order, here are a few.

“I don’t make the infantryman look noble because he couldn’t look noble even if he tried.” (Bill Mauldin)

“We kept asking ourselves, Why me? Why do we have to keep on until we all get killed? (Al “Hawk” DiRisio, Company B)

“The Army is good for one ridiculous laugh per minute.” (Ernie Pyle)

“They wish the hell they were someplace else, and they wish to hell they would get relief. They wish to hell the mud was dry and they wish to hell their coffee was hot. They want to go home. But they stay in their wet holes and fight and then they climb out and crawl through minefields and fight some more.” (Bill Mauldin)

“Because legends don’t die with a bang; they die with a whimper.” (Author)

“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” (Bruce Lee)

“There are no atheists in foxholes.” (Dwight Eisenhower)

“We’re going to have to dig down deep to find our hard core of scrappers.” (George Patton)

“You don’t want the Vienna Boys Choir in an infantry platoon.” (Author)

“To me, there is no higher accolade that one can bestow than to refer to an individual as a dogface soldier.” (Lindsey Nelson)

“There is an agony in your heart and you almost feel ashamed to look at them.” (Ernie Pyle)

“Hell’s bells, Brad [General Omar Bradley]. I’m wastin’ my talents with all those featherbed colonels in the rear.” (Colonel Harry “Paddy” Flint)

“Any bastard can be born and then just die, that just happens to you, but it takes a man to achieve immortality through battle.” (George Patton)

“Nobody beat me. We were playing pinochle. It’s a rough game.” (J.J. Sefton)

“Ah, the Air Force gets the glory. And the Navy gets the cheers. But all the dogface ever gets is mud behind the ears.” (Mel Blanc, Private Snafu)

“Neither an officer’s job nor a sergeant’s job in infantry-combat is more important than the other; they just do different things that complement one another.” (Author)

“Isn’t it wonderful what you can do with Spam?” (Bob Hope)

“It was cold and raining and blowing vigorously, and before us stretched the dark tree wall of the Snow Eifel where the dragon lived.” (Ernest Hemingway)

“The reason the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices it on a daily basis.” (Some German general)

“Now every second man in it was dead and the others nearly all were wounded. In the belly, the head, the feet or the hands, the neck, the back, the lucky buttocks, the unfortunate chest, and the other places. Tree burst wounds hit men where they would never be wounded in open country. And all of the wounded were wounded for life.” (Ernest Hemingway)

“It’s like what Bing Crosby said, ‘The further up front you get the snappier the salute.’ Well that shows he didn’t get very far up because we don’t even salute up here.” (Jack Jewell, Company B)

“We don’t have corporals in this outfit. So within a week you’ll be a sergeant or be dead.” (Jack Dunlap, Company B)

“Hear the One-Five-Fives a barking; Hear the angry shrapnel whine; The airplanes they will help us; To saturate the swine; We’ll have our Christmas dinner; In a big Berlin hotel; While Hitler and his buddies; All sweat it out in Hell.” (lyrics to song composed by soldiers of Company B, sung to the tune Wabash Cannonball)

“Stop worrying. Everything is going to be all right now. They’ve sent in the first team.” (LTC Wallace Wade, former head football coach Alabama Crimson Tide)

“Coffee with Hawk; it ain’t “Puttin’ On the Ritz.” But when you’re standing in the wet snow in your foxhole, your hands are freezing, your nose is running, and your eyes are tearing-up – because your heart is aching for home – that cup of hot coffee just might be worth a million bucks to you about now.” (Author)

“Charge!” (Lieutenant Louis Benoist, Company B)

“The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it.” (Paul “Bear” Bryant, head football coach Alabama Crimson Tide)

“Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone.” (Jiddu Krishnamurti)

“Listen you son of a bitch; you better not die on me!” (Jay Lavinsky, Company B)

“The rifleman fights without promise of either reward or relief. Behind every river there’s another hill – and behind that hill, another river. After weeks or months in the line only a wound can offer him the comfort of safety, shelter, and a bed. Those who are left to fight, fight on, evading death but knowing that with each day of evasion they have exhausted one more chance for survival. Sooner or later, unless victory comes this chase must end on the litter or in the grave.” (Omar Bradley)

“There is simply not enough marble and granite on God’s green earth upon which to truly record the sacrifice that American soldiers made for their comrades, their families, their fellow citizens, and for millions of people they never knew around the world.” (Author)

“A soldier can be a hero and a hero can be a legend and a legend can make a superman out of a soldier.” (Memorial for Colonel Harry “Paddy” Flint)

What isn’t shown here is the context in which the quotation is found. When you read Dying Hard, you’ll know why they’re all important. Dry? By the time you finish, you may even be wiping a tear from your eye — some from laughing and some not.