Judas Goats and the Price of Broken Leadership

Throughout my Army career I met people who did what they had to do, what they got paid to do. I was blessed in getting to do what I loved. This book is, first, an autobiography and, then, a leadership assessment of the Army and its civilian leadership. It is based on my observations, experiences, and knowledge. I love America and am grateful for what shes meant to me and to my family. I also love the Army and the years I spent in an organization whose values were so head and shoulders above the rest of society. If I have been critical of leadership, it is because of the price soldiers pay for weak, broken, or absent Leadership.

It is because I still love soldiers and soldiering that I decided not to put off writing this book. It chronicles painful events in my childhood that shaped my character, followed by wartime service. In my life there have been victories and losses; I have learned to live with both. There are facts in this book about my life that may surprise some, but this river of memories will enable others to better understand me. This book is about enduring pain and hardship, hard work, perseverance, and how life affected me. This is my story.

I was born Victor Aurelio Gomez y Espinosa in Camaguey, Cuba, in October 1949, the son of Luis Adolfo Gomez Alvarez, a member of the Cuban Army, and Blanca Espinosa y Cerda. I fled communist Cuba with my parents and two brothers, arriving in the United States to begin a new life on October 18, 1962, at the outset of the Cuban Missile Crisis.