OLD NOTES: MUG OUT

A moment caught on paper.

Mug outs are a Canadian Army tradition during which all the officers of a unit gather to send off their colleagues who are deploying, posted out, or releasing. Alcohol is on hand, gifts are exchanged, stories (rarely positive) are retold, and the departing officer is given the final word. What follows are the remarks I prepared ahead of my first mug out from a Regular Force unit which I found while thumbing through an old notebook.

I want to thank the senior officers of [unit]. Through your words and your actions, you gave me an education that I wouldn’t have otherwise.¹ To my peers, thanks for standing shoulder-to-shoulder and showing me that there are many ways to skin a cat.

To the new subbies, I’ll sum up the most important lessons I’ve learned here. Take less than your share of the credit, because it belongs to your soldiers. Take more than your share of the blame, because that belongs to you alone. Finally, read everything you can get your hands on. If you think that six months at a school taught you everything you need to do this job, it’s because you haven’t read about your predecessors who died thinking the same thing.

1. This was meant to be ambiguous. Interpret that how you will.