Yes! Lightning Can Strike...

...twice in the same place.

He had just graduated from college after a fast paced program that took less than three years including CLEP testing, extension courses and a 10-month Bootstrap. With the encouragement and patience of his wife, he had accomplished it while at the same time performing full time duty as an environmental health specialist for two of the three years, doing a one year military tour in Thailand and living in four locations.

Most of it was in night school using accelerated, eight week terms. He often referred to it as "Sears and Roebuck University" in terms of its quality but it got the job done. In fact, he had good professors, all working evenings to get some education into the 'young'uns.

He and his blushing bride were in the process of exploring options for their next steps and were primarily focused on leaving the military after their commitment to do some graduate work in law or some other field. At the same time, he applied for commissioning in the Air Force Medical Service. He had been a medic for over half of his previous 11 years and enjoyed the environment so the thought of continuing as an officer was appealing. Much to his surprise, he did well in the written Officer Qualifying Test and in interviews with Medical Service Corps Officers.  

He had come from a poor family. None of his relatives had college degrees that he knew of. Most were factory workers who lived in various Michigan automotive areas such as Lansing and Pontiac. His immediate family had moved around considerably and were poor even by auto worker standards. He had once slept on a cot in his uncle's basement for months while his family searched for jobs and the wherewithal to get their own home.  He had also lived for a while with his grandmother in the housing projects of a major Northwestern city.  

In all, he was pretty happy with how his life had gone. He found financial security of sorts when he enlisted shortly after finishing high school at the age of 17. He hadn't skipped a grade or anything. They just started young in the Dakotas where they lived earlier. Like many folks, he liked to read but was pretty apathetic about current news and world affairs.

He was unaware that it was not at all uncommon for someone with modest beginnings to pull themselves up by the bootstraps through education, work and good luck. He also had found a wife of extraordinary beauty, spirit and faith. He and his wife knew there was something more in challenges and rewards. They just had to keep chasing it and something would turn up.  

Less than a year later, they were visiting his family in the Northwest.  They had a home in the Phoenix area (stationed at Luke Air Force Base) and had arranged for a friend to watch their house while they were gone. One day the friend called to report things were going fine and mentioned that there was a letter from the Medical Service Corps... "Do you want me to open it and read it to you?"  "Sure."  "It says you have been accepted for commissioning in the Air Force Medical Service Corps." He was in the same room as his mother, father, wife and brother at the time so he covered the mouthpiece and shouted the news to his family.  

He quickly got the rest of the details from his friend and hung up the phone. The family was all excited and then his father asked him to come over to the dining table where he was sitting.  As soon as he did, his father rose, kicked him square in the butt and said, "All the time I was an enlisted man in the Navy, I wanted to kick a lieutenant in the ass!"  Being there with most of his family while receiving the news made it the moment of a lifetime for him.  The likelihood of it happening in those circumstances seemed almost like the odds of being struck by lightning.

Eight years later he found himself at an assignment near his mother and father's home.  This was after his wife had blessed him with a fine son, the Air Force had blessed him with several great bosses, several great jobs and a two-year hiatus to attend and complete graduate school at one of the best programs in the country.  He had recently been fortunate to get a humanitarian assignment to provide assistance after his father had gone through surgery that left him relatively immobile and in significant rehabilitation.  He had also been selected earlier to be Administrator of a Hospital while very junior in rank for the position and had just completed that assignment.

One day he, his wife and son were visiting his parents when he received a call from his old boss at the hospital where he had been the Administrator.  "Are you sitting?"  "Sure."...and he took a seat in the same area of his parents house...with the same family members present as there had been years earlier for the commissioning call.  "You have just been promoted to major three years below the primary zone." It was stunning news that had not even been considered. Once again, he covered the mouthpiece and shouted the news to his family.  This time, there was no congratulatory kick in the butt...even his father was too stunned to wisecrack. They all looked at each other and knew it was another of those amazing moments.

As he later investigated the circumstances around the promotion, he discovered that it occurred to roughly 1% of Air Force officers and it was due to an extremely rare combination of factors, great bosses who could write great performance reports, great jobs that became available at just the right time and a promotion board that may have literally flipped a coin to decide among 10 or 12 officers with matching records and matching runs of luck. Certainly there was good work involved but the fact was, it never would have happened without uncommonly good fortune.

Lightening... had struck twice in the same place.

In subsequent years, he was privileged to work in career development with yet another great boss, supporting his fellow Medical Service Corps officers with their assignments and job progression.  While there, he built a briefing describing what it took to become one of the final 10 or 12 officers who typically became candidates for the coin flip and possible promotion below the primary zone.  

There was great interest in the details of his briefing as many wanted to know how to function as a lightning rod.