Orbis Torva Messor - Volume 1: Corona Grim Reaper

By Mitchell R. Waite Ph.D.

The year 2020 began innocently enough as many had before it. Little did anyone realize just how quickly the world would change and how many lives would be adversely affected. This pandemic would forever change the world as it would paralyze every country, claim millions of lives, and affect almost everyone on the planet as the world as we knew it suddenly came to a screeching halt!

This book is being written to help capture a unique period in world history and refine the mountain of knowledge we have already collected on the topic of leadership. Times of crisis will often reveal the true character of people occupying leadership positions. It also often reveals leaders that step into the breach that are not in an official leadership position.

This pandemic also became yet another leadership laboratory in which many lessons could be captured and learned. This time of crisis would also reveal who the true leaders were that were occupying leadership positions and identify those who were severely miscast in their roles! It is through this leadership lens that I begin my unique story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667874692

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Orbis Torva Messor - Volume 1 - Corona Grim Reaper

Copyright © 2022 Mitchell R. Waite, Ph.D.

ISBN: 978-1-66787-468-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-66787-469-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Printed by BookBaby, Pennsauken NJ, U.S.A.

Printed on acid-free paper.

First Edition

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Waite, Ph.D., Mitchell R.

DISCLAIMER

This book details the author’s personal experiences and opinions concerning the topics of leadership, politics, and the historic covid-19 pandemic.

The author and publisher are providing this book and its contents on an as is basis and make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this book or its contents.

Except as specifically stated in this book, neither the author nor publisher, will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this book. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including (without limitation) compensatory; direct, indirect, or consequential damages; loss of data, income or profit; loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties.

The author’s comments about specific events, concepts, and organizations are strictly his own opinion, perspective, and experience. While notes were kept during the author’s deployment as a reservist, this book was written well after the author’s demobilization while no longer acting in an official capacity.

The comments provided in this book are not intended to be malicious or controversial regarding any individual or organization. This book is intended to provide raw, unedited comments and random thoughts that express the author’s point of view each day of a deployment during a historic period in world history.

The purpose of this book is primarily for historical and educational purposes.

This book provides content related to personal experience and leadership observations. As such, use of this book implies your acceptance of this disclaimer.

Table of Contents

Research

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Introduction

And So, It Begins

Images Used In The Book

Commonly Used Acronyms In This Book

Notes

Author Biography

RESEARCH

While there are many different types of research, the research used for this book was qualitative in nature. The author used descriptive research through personal observations and discussions with multiple personnel assigned to support COVID operations. The author also used inductive reasoning through observation, years of leadership experience, and extensive education relating to the topic of leadership.

This book is not peer-reviewed and was never intended to be a scholarly research project to be published in a professional journal. It is however intended to enhance leadership knowledge, assist current and aspiring leaders to better understand the topic of leadership during times of crisis, and serve as a historical document to capture an unprecedented period in world history.

This book is intended to capture lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 that affected the entire planet. The author of this book has viewed this pandemic and the decisions made to combat the crisis through a leadership lens based upon his extensive education, research, and experience with this subject matter. While this book provides a historical reference for eternity, it is also intended to highlight leadership decisions made during a period of crisis when true leaders stepped up, while others miscast in leadership positions died on the vine! The author views each deployment as a leadership laboratory to not only validate leadership theory and concepts but also to create new knowledge to assist in enlightening current and future leaders, as well as to promote better promotional processes in order to get the people with the right skill sets into leadership positions. In this text, there will be multiple observations of flawed promotional processes within certain organizations and the second and third order effects this failing has upon decision-making, outcomes, and most importantly, people.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all past, current, and future leaders, and emergency service and emergency management personnel.

This book is dedicated to all those emergency management specialists in FEMA that answer the call to duty when a disaster strikes.

This book is also dedicated to all those hospital staff and first responders who took care of COVID patients during a historic period in world history, some of whom did not survive this pandemic and many others who left the profession due to unwarranted criticism by the ignorant minority who clearly did not understand the scope of their sacrifice.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward the Double Diamond Leadership Fund managed by the Incourage Community Foundation of Wisconsin Rapids (https://incouragecf.org).

The Double Diamond Leadership Fund provides an annual scholarship to eligible students for post-high school education for spouses and children of firefighters, police officers, EMS responders, or military members in the Wisconsin Rapids (WI) school area with preference given to family members who have lost a hero in the line-of-duty.

Image 1 – COVID-19

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my parents, Don and Jane Waite, for their inspiration and guidance throughout my life and their extraordinary influence which has made me the person I am today.

I would like to thank my grandmother, Grace Lagerquist, for her wisdom and the lessons she taught me which helped shape me as a person.

I would like to thank the many leaders I have crossed paths with throughout my fire service, military, and emergency management careers. These leaders have molded my leadership ability and enabled me to gain invaluable leadership experience that I am always happy to share with anyone who will listen.

Image 2 – To the many brave men and women who did their best to assist others

Prologue

This book is being written to help capture a unique period in world history and refine the mountain of knowledge we have already collected on the topic of leadership. Times of crisis will often reveal the true character of people occupying leadership positions. It also often reveals leaders that step into the breach that are not in an official leadership position.

In early 2020, the world was hit with a pandemic such as my generation had never before experienced. While the world has certainly had pandemics in the past and several close calls from other deadly viruses, the COVID-19 virus presented a real challenge. While its origins will be debated for some time to come and perhaps never fully resolved, let it suffice to state that most of the planet’s seven billion inhabitants were affected in some way, shape, or form by this monumental event. While this story does not end in 2020, or even in this volume for that matter, my story dealing with this deadly virus focuses upon the events I experienced during these unprecedented times as viewed through a leadership lens.

This book is not intended to be a political statement of any type, although politics will be mentioned. It is not intended to berate any organization which I served in, although I will point out systemic challenges and some possible recommendations for change, most of which can apply to any type of organization.

Even though this book is written for historical and educational purposes, it will focus upon the leaders involved in this historic time and decisions that were made in a time of international crisis.

Though the majority of experiences I will share will come from an emergency management perspective, the lessons learned can be translated to any occupation on the planet.

Only people I had positive interactions with will be mentioned by name. Those that did not respond well to crisis leadership will not be mentioned by name, but the circumstances which occurred will be highlighted for educational purposes.

While I worked for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) during the period identified in this historical account, it must be noted up front that FEMA is a stellar organization with a difficult mission. As is the case with even the best of organizations, there is always room for improvement and pathways to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. This book will provide some recommendations and thoughts concerning these concepts. Much as was the case with my previous documentary on my experience in Iraq as a Citizen/Soldier, even though I loved my service to my country as a member of the military over a 42-year period, inherently there are inequities that should be noted and brought to the attention of those that can affect change. To not do so is not leadership by any stretch of the imagination, and as I do consider myself a leader with a successful history in multiple careers to warrant such commentary, my observations in this text are no different than they were back in 2008-2009 when supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The primary intent of this book is to highlight and document a very historic period not only in my life but also in world history. The commentary provided about events and processes is only intended to validate my observations and hopefully improve such inequitable situations for current and future emergency management specialists.

The comments provided in this book were noted on the date indicated. Notes were taken during the deployment, but this book was not written until after the author had returned home and was no longer in a deployed status as a government employee.

There is no classified or sensitive information in this book.

The comments contained within this book are raw and unedited to capture the emotion of that moment in time. Any comments, questions, or concerns provided in this book regarding a specific circumstance, organization, or individual may be directed toward the author who would be more than happy to expand upon the thoughts provided in order to improve leadership capability and organizational efficiency.

I hope you enjoy the first volume of this historic period in world history and by its conclusion attain some meaningful information to assist you in your quest to become a more effective leader no matter your profession.

Image 3 – Another polarizing topic in the United States

INTRODUCTION

The year 2020 began innocently enough as many had before it. Little did anyone realize just how quickly the world would change and how many lives would be adversely affected. My year started out very busily as I was deployed to Sacramento, California for about three weeks in January to fill in for someone who needed to travel home for a short period. While this was my first deployment as a Safety Advisor for FEMA, I was no stranger to the field of safety after extensive fire service and military safety training and experience. This particular deployment allowed me to better understand the FEMA paperwork and philosophy on safety, which is quite different than what I was used to in the fire service and the military.

At this point in time, halfway around the globe, a deadly virus was beginning to rear its ugly head and drastically change the world. After my California deployment, I then headed to Anniston, Alabama in February where FEMA has a training facility, and I attended a two-day emergency management course. This was a required course and no better time to get it out of the way than before disaster season began and while it was winter in Wisconsin.

Upon completion of the Anniston course, I was also scheduled for more training in early March at a location I was extremely familiar with – Emmitsburg, Maryland. I was attending another required course for FEMA, but this one was for a week at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI). EMI is co-located with the National Fire Academy (NFA), a location I had attended six times during my 26-year fire service career, including the four-year Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP) (1996-1999). It was halfway through this training when COVID hit the United States and would alter the current course of the entire world. While we did finish the course, the ‘die had been cast’ as Caesar once stated, for this historic and deadly pandemic to grip the planet.

Upon returning home to Wisconsin, I knew it was only a matter of time before all-hands were needed on deck and a deployment was lurking somewhere in the imminent future. I quickly squared things away at home and prepared for departure to parts unknown. As someone employed in the fire service for 26 years, we were always ready to go on a moment’s notice when on-duty and also to be called back in quickly when off-duty. In addition, my 42-year military career conditioned me to always be ready to deploy quickly, and so even after retirement from both honorable professions, I still keep a ‘go bag’ ready just in case. My wait for the deployment request was not long and by the end of March 2020, I was being deployed to the epicenter of this pandemic in the New York/New Jersey area!

As I soon came to find out, this pandemic would forever change the world as it would paralyze every country, claim millions of lives, and affect almost everyone on the planet as the world as we knew it suddenly came to a screeching halt!

This pandemic also became yet another leadership laboratory in which many lessons could be captured and learned. This time of crisis would also reveal who the true leaders were that were occupying leadership positions and identify those who were severely miscast in their roles! It is through this leadership lens that I begin my unique story.

Image 4 – The pandemic of our lifetime

And so, it begins

165 DAYS

March 25 – September 7, 2020

Mobilization (-2 days) 3/25/2020 (W): Shortly after joining the safety cadre for FEMA, the year 2020 was already off to a busy start. I had already been deployed to northern California for 17 days to fill in for the safety officer out there who needed to head home to take care of some personal business after being there for an extended period. According to FEMA’s own guidelines, for every 30 days you are deployed as a reservist you can take a two-week unpaid rotation home. While most deployments start off as 30 days, much like the one I was about to enter into, they often get extended well beyond 30 days. I had also been to one of FEMA’s training sites in Anniston, AL for a two-day course with one day of travel in front and one day of travel on the back side. I also went to a Team Rubicon train-the-trainer course in Dallas in order to become an instructor. Even though I had been teaching students for over three decades, each organization believes it is the right thing to do to put everyone through their own instructor course. While I highly disagree with this practice, this particular course was more to train us on the new curriculum that would be rolled out and not how to be an instructor, even though that type of course took place prior to this one! I had also gone to Emmitsburg, Maryland to the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) for a one-week mandatory course. EMI is on the same campus as the National Fire Academy (NFA) which I had attended six times previously when a member of the Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department. It was during this training event that COVID really hit the United States. All future courses on campus had been cancelled and we began social distancing in earnest while there. I anticipated that it would only be a matter of time before a deployment request would be sent my way. I did not have to wait long after returning home to Wisconsin as I received a deployment request for New York/New Jersey on this day. Once I received the request, I first verified its validity through the FEMA Safety Cadre in Washington, D.C. Once the request was verified, I hit the accept button and began preparations for departure which would be in a few short days, as is typically the case. I arranged for a taxi ride to the Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA). I also notified my family first and then my friends, and finally those who I volunteered time with such as the Saratoga First Responders, VFW Post 2534, the Wood County Veteran’s Service Commission, and the Wood County Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team. At this point in history, I also had four courses I was instructing, two through Lakeland University and two more through Mid State Technical College (MSTC). The good news was that the Lakeland courses could be taught from any location with an internet connection. I could broadcast the Lakeland lectures LIVE and the MSTC courses were both purely on-line, which could be monitored from anywhere on the planet with an internet connection. I also had two University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UWO) courses coming up with one in April and the other in June, but both of those courses were also purely on-line. After spending 42 years in the military and being ready to leave at a moment’s notice and working 26 years in the fire service where you were expected to leave immediately after an alarm came in, I was very well-conditioned on always having a bag packed and being ready to leave on short notice. All that remained once my travel plans were arranged was to tie up a few loose ends on the home front.

Mobilization (-1 day) 3/26/2020 (R): Due to COVID, many flights were being cancelled. I already had two flights scheduled and subsequently cancelled. Cleaning and packing were the order of this day as everything needed to be set for an early departure tomorrow. I did talk with my sister (Sis) and my daughter (Lex) about the impending departure. Both were a bit concerned because at this moment in history both New York and New Jersey were at the epicenter of this pandemic. Into the belly of the beast I would ride, but as a paramedic for over 20 years and still a nationally registered Emergency Medical Responder, I knew what I needed to do to protect myself as much as possible. I also had to broadcast my Lakeland Human Resource Development class from my studio this evening and I informed this class about my pending deployment and how the rest of the course would be conducted in order to set their minds at ease.

Day 1 – 3/27/2020 (F): Randy, the owner of Gotta-a-Go Taxi