Are you one bad decision away from ruining the rest of your life? Published Aug. 20, 2007 By Senior Airman John Gordinier 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Some of us are blessed with great decision-making techniques and some of us aren't. Many decisions are given to us throughout our military career. Some decisions are small and some are large. "I finished my ancillary training earlier than expected, should I just go home early without telling my supervisor or should I report back to work? I really want to buy this new stereo, but I don't have the money. Should I just purchase it with my government travel card and then pay it off once I get paid in a couple of days?" Instead of acting on these decisions prematurely, think about them for a minute and try to foresee the outcome. "If I go home early and get caught, what will happen to me? Will my supervisor think less of me? Will I receive 'paperwork?' If I get caught using my government travel card for personal reasons, what kind of punishment will I receive? Is it worth taking that risk? In any case, you must make a decision and that decision can make a dramatic impact on your life. For example, my friend, Ben, made a decision that took him from the top to rock bottom. While growing up together in a small town in Wyoming, Ben and I made a pact in our early teens. This pact, which we held for years to follow, was joining the military together. When the time came for us to make our move, we came across a problem. Ben wanted to join the Navy and I wanted to join the Air Force. For a while, we tried to convince each other into our military branch like dedicated recruiters, but it did no good and we eventually went our separate ways. During our military careers we never lost touch, even though we were stationed on complete opposite sides of the world. We talked on the phone at least once a month. Ben became a marine electrician and served on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea. He quickly rose in rank and enjoyed his military career. He constantly bragged about all the places he was seeing throughout Europe while I, at the time, was surrounded by corn at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. After four years, Ben was stationed in San Diego. By this time, Ben was an E-6. He just bought his dream car, lived in a relatively nice apartment and was about to enroll in school to begin his bachelor's degree. Ben was happy with his career, his life and his environment. He was on top of the world. While in San Diego, he stopped hanging around with his military friends and started befriending certain individuals that our mothers warned us about. For six months, I received no phone calls from Ben. I called him several times only to get his voice mail. One day, he called at 3 a.m. Ben was pressured and persuaded into trying a highly addictive illegal substance by his so called buddies. From that point on, Ben was on a downward spiral. He became addicted. Eventually, Ben overdosed and begged his so called friends to take him to the hospital even though he knew he was going to be in serious trouble with the military. Once cleared to leave the hospital, Ben checked into a rehabilitation clinic. After 60 days of rehabilitation, Ben left the clinic and was discharged from the Navy. Ben moved back to Wyoming to start his life over. Although he has been drug free since, life has been rough for Ben. "I haven't been able to find work," Ben said during a recent call. "Every employer that knows I was given an Other Than Honorable Discharge will not hire me. My bills are piling up, collection agencies are calling me all the time and I am almost $25,000 in debt. I have known Ben for many years and he is not a bad or a stupid person. However, he is easily influenced whether it is positive or negative. When Ben first joined the military, he made many military friends who influenced him to work hard and gave him motivation. Once he started hanging out with the bad crowd, he started making bad decisions, which ultimately took him from being successful to starting over. That one decision started a trend of bad decisions until addiction took over. Sometimes when people make a wrong decision, they end up doing it over and over because they think, "well I didn't get caught the first time or the second time, so maybe I can get away with it again." Eventually, there comes a time when you will get caught and when that happens you will have to face the consequences, just like Ben. The next time you are faced with a decision, take a moment and really think about it. Plan ahead and try to focus on that decision's outcome because sometimes all it takes is one bad decision to ruin the rest of your life.