When I was about 10 years old, I got a t-shirt from my uncle and aunt that said, "It's hard to soar with the eagles when you're hanging out with a bunch of turkeys." I really didn't know what it meant at the time, so I didn't think anything of it.

When I got into the Navy, I quickly realized that people made judgments about me based on the people I spent time with. I started my career at my first duty station in Pensacola, Florida spending most of my time with some hard working, motivated sailors, so I was seen as a hard working, motivated sailor by those around me.

After just a few weeks at school, I was asked to join the base's Navy choir, something normally reserved for people that would be spending a long time on the base, and I was due to stay only 9 weeks. This also meant I wouldn't have to spend a lot of time cleaning toilets, checking people into the base, and other trivial jobs. It also meant I'd get a nicer room with a telephone and a better mattress, with more privacy and carpeting. Paying attention to what happened, I quickly realized that, due in large part to the company I kept, I was able to get out of doing those things I didn't want to do, and that people gave me the benefit of the doubt when I made mistakes. I was 19 at the time, so I made my share of dumb mistakes.

I also saw some other sailors hanging out with guys who were smoking cigarettes, chasing skirts, and drinking beer when they were not on duty. Though these folks may not have smoked, drank, or gotten into any trouble themselves, they were branded as someone to keep your eyes on, and were not given the benefit of the doubt. Many of these guys ended up getting kicked out of the Navy, or getting sent to a less than desirable duty station.

At my first duty station, I was stationed with a good number of people who were getting discharged from the service for breaking one military rule or another. These were the only people my age, so I spent time hanging out with them. Several of my "friends" were eventually incarcerated for theft, drugs, or something else. I honestly knew nothing of any of their doings as I was working more often than not, yet I was grouped in with these undesirables and not trusted by many people for a long time. In fact, I was so untrusted, when I had my skivvies and mail stolen while I was temporarily stationed on a ship (no, I don't know why anyone would want Hanes underwear with Gerbyshak P R stenciled across the fly), the base security thought I had lost my mind and was just trying to get others into trouble...even though I saw a guy wearing my underwear while sitting in the lounge area!

Two different times in my life, handled in two very different ways, and it taught me a very valuable lesson: Hang out with undesirables, and you get treated as undesirable. Hang out with people who are high speed and you'll be high speed. I think that's what that t-shirt my uncle bought me meant. Funny how life comes full circle, isn't it? Who are you spending time with that's helping you increase your speed, and who's slowing you down?