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I was never what you’d call a “morning person”, but a couple of decades in uniform will condition you. If I learned anything over the years, it was that there is no greater truism than the old adage: “We get more done before 9 a.m. than most people do all day!” We start early, and we set the pace for the rest of the day before most people have finished their first cup of Starbucks.

From my earliest days, work started sometime between 0500 and 0530. The First Sergeant would gather the platoon sergeants, the platoon leaders would compare notes, and the barracks would start to come alive with sounds of “Hoo-Ah!” and “Another day in paradise…” echoing up and down the stairwells. First formation was usually at 0615 —usually before the sun even crested the horizon — and accountability established, announcements made, and the company commander would receive the first report of the day. Come rain or shine, the morning ritual remained essentially unchanged.