В данном случае нужно было рассказать о своем лучшем достижении и самом большом разочаровании.

Anonymous Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University

As a member of the Navy SEAL teams, I have learned many valuable lessons through my experiences. These lessons led directly to who I am today. I have accomplished many things in my life. I have had heavy demands on my time, and I am very proud of earning my degree while working over 50 hours a week. However, I consider the personal challenge of facing and overcoming two of my strongest fears my most important accomplishment. One lesson imprinted on my mind forever is that fear is a crippling emotion. In order to succeed in life's endeavors and especially in the SEAL teams, fear is a hurdle that until conquered is immobilizing.

Raised in North Houston, access to swimming pools or large bodies of water was infrequent. As an adolescent, I will never forget the neighborhood rope swing strategically placed beside a creek that ran through the back of my neighborhood. At that time, the extent of my swimming ability comprised only of the dog paddle and my aquatic experience consisted of swimming back to the side of that creek so I could get on the swing again. I never realized my fear of water until I joined the Navy. When I arrived at SEAL boot camp, I quickly recognized my inability to pass the swimming objectives of the SEAL training course.

One morning at SEAL boot camp the instructors singled me out of the group of students. The trainers thought I was faking my inability to swim in order to escape a 4:30 a.m.,60-degree pool training session. The instructors had a devious plan. They tied my hands behind my back and bound my feet together. As the instructors threw me in the pool, I overheard a trainer say in amusement, “Now let's see if he is bluffing." With extreme fear of my tight situation, I panicked and blacked out underwater only to awaken on the pool's deck. A doctor made sure I was physically well. Retied, the instructors threw me back into the pool. I blacked out again. The fear of the water overwhelmed me. The mental pressure was too much for me to control and my lack of maturity appeared. I'll never know if I blacked out because of panic or the lack of oxygen. At the end of that day, I vowed never to experience that helpless feeling again while in the water.

The next weekend I found a swimming pool in an apartment complex. I trained myself to avoid panic in the water and soon swimming long distances with my hands and feet tied became second nature. However, my achievement to overcome my fear of water is not the end of the story. In order to graduate SEAL trainings student must swim non-stop in the ocean a distance of seven miles. I progressed very fast during the six months of my training. Before graduation, I placed third out of 40 students in the long distance swim. You may wonder why a person who feared water would become a Navy SEAL, but the challenge captivated me and my mind was set, failure was never an option. My tenacity prevailed and most importantly, I would not quit.

SEAL stands for sea, air and land. After overcoming my fear of the sea, there was one challenge to conquer, the air. My fear of heights strengthened as an operational SEAL in South America. My SEAL team was assigned to parachute and land in a small clearing near the Amazon River in Peru. I found myself in the pure darkness of night at 17,000 feet, looking through the back of a large cargo plane. I can remember thinking to myself several times. Will I land in the clearing? Will my parachute work? Why am I doing this? Then I jumped. All would go well until reaching 5,000 feet. Upon activating my parachute, many of its lines ripped when opening. My parachute failed. I fell 3,000 feet more until my second parachute activated. Despite my troubles, I landed in the clearing. That parachute incident occurred 10 years ago. I overcame my fear of the air. Presently, I have completed over 300 military parachute jumps with success and with a smile on my face, I would like to add no broken bones.

The close knit culture of the SEAL teams adds agony to my greatest disappointment. I was very disappointed because I failed in the eyes of my peers. In the Special Forces a mission is often put up for bid to the most qualified group of individuals. We found our SEAL team in competition with an Army Special Forces team. The mission objectives were given and the two groups planned the mission from start to finish. We had five days to plan and then each group gave their mission plan to the decision makers in the form of a presentation. After the presentation the mission was given to the most qualified and best prepared group.

During my first year in the SEAL teams I was in Panama as a communications expert. For this particular mission I was required to create the mission specific communication plans. This involved the coordination of many entities including our use of helicopters, planes and naval ships. The complexity of the planning required me to publicly present this small part of our seven-day mission. At this time in my life, I was overconfident and rarely gave presentations. I thought I had prepared but nothing prepared me to speak in front of numerous Navy admirals, Army generals and representatives from the CIA. I was introduced as the expert, and I stood in front of the crowd only to freeze. I eventually gave the mission specifics but the damage was done. The powers to be felt that the Army team was better prepared and our SEAL team lost our bid to go to war.

I was told that we did not lose because of my inability to speak in front of a crowd, but I felt embarrassed and most importantly I felt as though I failed in the eyes of my peers. I vowed I would never make the mistake of being overconfident and under prepared again. I practiced my presentation skills and eventually sought a follow-on assignment to the SEAL instructor school that would offer me three years of public speaking.

My personal record of accomplishment has demonstrated an ability to set and accomplish goals. I acknowledged my fears and overcame them. My disappointments have taught me humility. I understand now more than ever that confidence is a must, but overconfidence often results in failure. My history demonstrates a pattern of success and I believe behavioral patterns of the past are the predictors of behavior in the future. I have had a successful career and many of those accomplishments proudly, I list in my resume. However, my most valuable accomplishment is not really listed anywhere. The acquisition of the intangible attributes necessary to succeed in varied and challenging leadership roles has continuously earned me the respect of my peers. Peer respect is a great achievement in the SEAL teams and my former teammates would gladly operate in the jungles of South America with me again. I consider this intangible accomplishment a great accomplishment and my true measure of success.

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