Michael Durant (CONT’D FROM PAGE 1)
There are a few things people might not know about Durant. He loves to climb mountains despite his prior inju- ries. He’s also a private person who prefers to stay in the background. “I’ve always felt that this is a unique story that people are interested in hearing and need to hear,” he said. “In hindsight, it actually has helped me because the more we talk about the challenging things that we dealt with in life I think the better we’re able to deal with them emotionally and psychologically.” But as far as he has come, Durant says there’s always room to grow. That’s why he has approached his business life much the way he did flying. “Don’t ever think you know it all or that you’ve learned everything you can learn. There is an opportunity to get better every day and that’s certain- ly true in business,” he said. For the past 14 years, Durant has owned his own busi- ness, Huntsville, Alabama based Pinnacle Solutions, a de- fense and aerospace products and services company.
“I think most people will walk away with a better under- standing of what happened on the mission but also take away some things that they could possibly apply in their own lives whether it’s professional or personal,” he said. He will talk about how he recovered physically, psycho- logically, professionally and spiritually. As for the profes- sional part, Durant said he is a lot like his fellow soldiers. “Every wounded warrior I’ve ever met, me included, wants nothing more than to go back and be back in the unit that they were in when whatever happened hap- pened,” he said. “I’m sure there are exceptions, but ev- erybody I’ve met that’s one of the first things they say, ‘I wanna get back,’ and it’s a commitment thing. “You’re part of a team, you feel like you know you need to get back on the team, so getting back in the cockpit was very important to me and I was able to do that.”
“It’s very different today running a company of 500 people versus starting it with two peo- ple,” he said. “Certainly, for any of us in busi- ness having just gotten through COVID and all
the legislative changes and labor issues and supply chain. You’ve got to learn every day to figure out how you can overcome all those challenges that never go away.” Durant counts himself among the fortunate. He didn’t lose a limb. He didn’t lose mobility. Amazingly, he isn’t dealing with PTSD. “You see many, many people who never lose the will to keep moving forward, trying to In an iconic photo that was broadcast and pub- lished around the world, Michael Durant gives a ‘thumbs up’ upon his release as a prisoner of war.
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August 29, 2022
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