What are your two greatest fears in life or your career?

PFC, your fears are good ones to have, but I believe that you are looking at them the wrong way. I was a command fitness leader for the majority of my short five years in the Navy, and I'll tell you brother, it's all about how mentally prepared you are to kick the test's ass. Practice all year round, not just when PT season comes up, and get it in your head that you WILL succeed. Have faith in yourself and push it. It is hard to climb back up after being knocked down your whole life, poor self esteem is a learned trait, but it can be beaten, you just have to find your way to confidence. As far as not being able to protect the ones you love, that is simply your love for them coming out. The more you love, the more you have available to lose. Just do all that you can to protect the ones you love and don't think that the whole world is on your shoulders, allow other to bear the burden and do as you are doing now by asking the ones who matter to hear your concerns. Be open man, for real. Best of luck brother, PM me if ya ever need someone to talk to.

A few years ago I had a nightmare where I was on my deathbed, seconds from dying, and realizing I hadn't accomplished anything I truly valued and that it was too late to change anything. I will not face that feeling of failure and despair again. So my first fear is that I will fail to make a difference in my own life. And my second fear is that I will fail to make a difference in the lives of others.

I am, finally, fully retired, after two other attempts. It's too old to wish I'd done things differently in my two careers. I did my best. As for fears, since my earliest days in police work and being frequently exposed to death in its various forms and causes, I became afraid of dying alone. I saw it many times...old drunks in alleyways, stairwells of derelict buildings, on cots in dimly-lit closets called rooms in hundred-year-old gandy hotels. Decades later, I still shudder at the thought.