Friday was a big day at the Pentagon’s JCS J-2 Spaces, and I thought I would pass this along. I want to ensure that you know that one of our best is facing the fight of his life, and as he always does, he is taking it with upbeat optimism. It was the occasion of RADM Paul Becker’s last day on the job (for a while) as the Intelligence Officer for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Paul will be starting bone marrow transplant therapy at Walter Reed Hospital at Bethesda next week to vanquish a particularly virulent form of cancer.
Following is a summary of his short farewell comments in front of his Joint Staff Teammates. Paul is one of the class acts in our business, and it is worth passing them along as his friends keep him in their hearts and prayers.
“In order to have a successful tour, you’ve gotta be part of a successful team … and the JCS J2 organization isn’t just a successful team, it’s the ‘Gold Standard’ of intelligence organization…exemplars of ‘Teamwork, Tone and Tenacity’
It’s been 75 years since one of my all-time favorite speeches was delivered by the immortal Lou Gehrig. He was a ballplayer so indomitable that he was called “A Gibraltar in cleats.” It’s worth using his brief but humble remarks in the context of why I consider myself one of the luckiest guys alive: “…Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest thing I know. I may have had a tough break … but today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”
“Thank you, with Pentagon Aloha, Paul.”
It is hard not to include some of the rest of Lou Gehrig’s remarks to amplify the way we feel about Paul. “When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.
“So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”
We will be pulling for Paul in this tough fight. We have had another comrade- one of my heroes- confront this same grim specter last summer, and he won. So the cancer better take note: Paul is going to kick its butt.
-Vic Socotra