Hi
​

I use Superhuman to keep my inbox moving and protect my attention.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored/affiliate mention. I may receive compensation if you use this link.

​
The morning after the retirement ceremony, you open the closet and find the uniform still hanging there. You reach past it for khakis and a button-down. In the mirror, it looks like a costume.

For over twenty years, getting dressed was the easiest decision of your day. Your rank told the world who you were. It told you who you were. People stood when you walked into a room. Your signature moved millions of dollars and hundreds of lives.

Then, in one afternoon, it ended.

Two of the Greatest

If the question in the mirror hit harder than you expected, you're in good company.

Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart fought in three wars across nearly half a century. He survived a plane crash. He lost an eye and a hand and kept fighting. Then he retired to a quiet house in the countryside, and the silence nearly beat him. One of the toughest soldiers of his generation had to learn how to fish by a river.

Audie Murphy came home from World War Two as the most decorated American combat soldier of the war. Hollywood made him a star. None of it quieted him. He slept with a loaded pistol under his pillow. He had everything except the thing that had given his life structure. He missed his military family.

When you leave the service, you don't lose a job. You lose your tribe.

Last Name, Last Four

I talked with a retired Army colonel a few months after he took off the uniform. He said the strangest part was the VA clinic. The nurse called him "Mister." Decades of "Colonel," gone in a word. He told me he felt like he'd lost his aim point.

Civilians think you're changing careers. You're changing identities. For decades, your self-worth was stitched onto your collar. You were the one with the answers. Now you're learning the civilian health care system, writing a resume that doesn't read like an evaluation report, and making small talk that has nothing to do with duty stations.

Here's what I want you to hear.

The Army issued your rank. It never issued your character. The rank didn't make you. You made the rank.

There's an old line from 1 Samuel:

Pastoral Close

The world read your collar. It saw the rank, the ribbons, the position. And when you took the uniform off, some of the world stopped looking.

But the rank was never what God was reading.

He was reading the 0400 mornings when you showed up for your soldiers. The letters you wrote to families. The times you carried weight that was never yours to carry, because someone had to.

That record doesn't retire.

You are not your rank. You never were. You earned it, and you are still on the roster.

Marching with you,
Joshua
Exponential Advisors LLC | Weatherford, Texas
​

​
​Exponential Advisors LLC is an investment adviser registered with the Texas State Securities Board. Registration does not imply endorsement by the Board or any level of skill or training. This newsletter is for education, reflection, and general financial stewardship. It is not individualized investment, tax, legal, or financial planning advice. Advisory services are offered only where Exponential Advisors LLC and its representatives are properly registered or exempt from registration.

Joshua Brooks’ military service and chaplaincy are separate from Exponential Advisors LLC. The views expressed are his own and do not represent the U.S. Army, Department of Defense, or any government agency. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please review our disclosures and Form ADV before engaging advisory services.