Becoming a Band of Brothers

By Greg Fullerton

On June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, thus starting the Korean War.

In 1951, the United States issued a call for volunteers. My father lived in southern Utah at the time. He, along with about 600 men in the 213th Field Artillery Battalion, signed up.

They all knew each other in their communities. They were cousins, brothers, friends, high school buddies. They all had a common background, a common purpose, common beliefs.

They were sent to a base in Seattle to train, where they became the top-rated field artillery unit in the army. They were then sent to Korea.

Guard units at that time didn’t typically serve on the front lines. But in their case, they landed in Pusan and were immediately sent to the front lines, where they engaged in the famous Battle of Kapyong.

They gave artillery support to the Australian, Canadian, and South Korean forces.

At about 2 a.m. one morning the South Korean army came running through their camp — they were retreating from the North Korean forces. Unbeknownst to my dad’s battalion, the Chinese and the North Koreans had amassed about 5,000 soldiers and were going to try to break through the lines in the valley.

All hell broke loose. It was a raging battle. They lowered their Howitzer’s down and put 1-second fuses on them, and they shot artillery shells. They would go out, a second later — BOOM. The accounts say that it would blow a hole 50 feet wide in this wall of men coming.

By the time they got the shell out and put another one it, and pulled it, and they were coming again. There was hand-to-hand combat in the camp, firing in the camp. As you can imagine, it was pandemonium. I think the battle went on for 2 to 4 hellacious hours.

As it began to get light and the battle stopped, they started identifying their own dead out of this mass of people, of which some 2,000 were dead.

After the search they were astonished to discover that not a single soldier from the 213th field artillery battalion had been killed.

Interestingly, I didn’t hear that story until after my father had passed. I attended a 213th unit reunion with my mom, where that story was told.

I sat around at this banquet, and I looked at all the soldiers that were in the 213th. There were tables full of people that, if that one guy had been killed, none of those people would have been sitting around that table. It was staggering to really think about, on so many levels. But I was so proud of my dad, that he was part of the 213th and had fought with courage and valor.

Obviously, this was a miracle. But I’m convinced there were other elements involved, too.

These guys were prepared, they trusted each other, they protected each other, they cared about each other. They had a camaraderie and a unit there that, once it clicks, creates an almost supernatural ability.

Look at any championship team. They click as a unit. Clicking as a unit entails caring about the success of the other person, and helping them. It’s not just all about what can I get out of it; it’s helping the group.

That’s what I would like to create here at Max International. We have a chance to change the way the network marketing industry functions, and we should change it. I think it’s an honorable profession — and we ought to make it that.

We ought to care about each other. We ought to worry about each other. We ought to help each other. If we do that, more of us will succeed than if we just worry about what we need individually.

In all your recruiting and training efforts, strive to create strong teams. Don’t be a lone wolf out for vain glory. Recognize and appreciate the talents of all team members — even and especially those who don’t stand out.

Give everyone a turn at the “front of the boat.”

As we become a “band of brothers,” like the 213th field artillery battalion, we can leave legacies, both as individuals and as a company.