Deciding Between an R or E Approach to Your Personal Finances

It begins by raising your right hand and swearing to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. From the first day of military training, service members are taught that the mission comes first, obstacles are meant to be overcome, and success is always the objective.

Military service instills discipline, personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, and adaptability. It teaches that circumstances may change, but accountability never does.

Against that backdrop, it can seem contradictory when service members are told they "don't serve for the money" or when financial success is treated as though it is somehow inconsistent with military service.

That creates an unnecessary conflict. The military develops individuals who are expected to think critically, solve problems, and accomplish difficult missions under pressure. Yet those same qualities are sometimes discouraged when applied to building personal wealth or long-term financial security.

The nation asks service members to protect a capitalist society built on individual opportunity and private property. It should not be controversial for those who defend that system to participate fully in its opportunities. Financial literacy, disciplined investing, and responsible wealth building do not diminish military service—they strengthen military families, improve readiness, and reduce financial stress that can distract from the mission.

One lesson I learned during my military career illustrates this perfectly.

Every aircrew member is required to periodically demonstrate that they can safely perform their duties. During one of those evaluations, after we completed the required emergency procedures, the evaluator turned over the debrief checklist and drew a vertical line down the center of the blank page.

At the top of one column, he wrote an "R."

At the top of the other he wrote an "E."

He then walked me through the mission from beginning to end—mission planning, preflight duties, loading the airdrop platform, rigging, inspections, engine start, takeoff, enroute operations, the airdrop, landing, and post-flight responsibilities.

As I explained each decision I made throughout the mission, he placed a hash mark under either the R or the E.

When we finished, he explained.

The "R" stood for Reasons.

The "E" stood for Excuses.

A checklist is an indispensable tool. It keeps you organized, disciplined, and focused on accomplishing the mission. But real-world operations rarely unfold exactly as planned. Weather changes. Equipment fails. People make mistakes. Unexpected situations require adaptation.

What matters is not whether everything went according to plan.

What matters is how you responded when it didn't.

Excuses shift responsibility to circumstances or to someone else. They may provide temporary comfort, but they prevent growth because they remove accountability.

Reasons are different.

Reasons acknowledge reality without surrendering responsibility. They require clear thinking, sound judgment, and ownership of the decisions you make. People who operate from reasons instead of excuses earn trust because others know they will adapt, solve problems, and remain accountable regardless of changing conditions.

Every decision has consequences. Solving one problem may create another that must be addressed later. Even emergency procedures sometimes require adjustment as circumstances evolve. That is simply the reality of cause and effect.

The same principle applies to personal finance.

Unexpected expenses happen. Markets decline. Careers change. Emergencies occur. None of those events eliminate your responsibility to make the best possible financial decisions with the information available at the time.

You can choose excuses, or you can choose reasons.

Military missions are directed by higher headquarters.

Your personal finances are different.

You are higher headquarters.

You establish priorities. You determine your family's financial objectives. You prepare for uncertainty. You allocate resources. You adapt when conditions change. No one else is responsible for those decisions.

The military trained you to accept responsibility, solve problems, and accomplish difficult missions. Apply those same principles to your financial life.

Use your military training as the reason to prosper—not as an excuse to settle for less.

Those who volunteer to defend America's free-market system have every right to build financial security within it. Encouraging service members to become financially independent is not contrary to military service; it reinforces the very principles they volunteered to defend.

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