?What are some of your special talents?
In school I always found it easy to learn math and physics, it made sense to me while it did not to others, specially while looking at diagrams in problems of physics. I found it tedious and unproductive to memorize chemistry reactions, poems, history, something that later on in life completely changed, as I developed a passion for history and appreciation of poetry.
I was never great at sports, never had as much stamina as most of my schoolmates. During one summer I trained for the Penthalon that would be held in Switzerland, I was already an equestrian, but also trained in track, swimming, fencing and pistol range. I did it because my sister?s boyfriend Manolito Almeida, who was part of the Military Equestrian Team and at whose suggestion I had gone into the civilian equestrian team of the Military Circle Club, trained for it, as well as Wilfredo González Curbelo, another member of his team; both of them were classmates of my cousin Rodolfo Villamil at the Cuban Military School of Managua, 1954 graduates.
I never had a chance, there is no way to learn fencing in a short time, a sport on which military cadets were trained, nor was I especially good at track or swimming, although I found that I was a fair shot with a pistol.
Curbelo was the only one of us who made the team and went to Switzerland to compete. When he came back, he told us that he had done very poorly, no contest in track, swimming or fencing, at the pistol range, while the Cuban team used the standard military Colt 1911, other teams had pistols with long barrels, much better suited for accuracy, and at the equestrian event, a cross-country Steeple Chase, used to our horses he did not gallop at full speed from the beginning, while others with better horses did, he finished well behind.
In the military I discovered a certain talent to lead men and to get along with others, be part of a team, not only in my own unit, but with sergeants of other units, as we collaborated with each other, in everyday activities, but most importantly during Command Maintenance Inspections.
The position of Batallion Supply Sergeant, under a friendly Batallion Supply Officer and a tolerant Batallion Commander, enabled me to make friends of all ranks in the post, by sharing with them 45 caliber pistol ammo, batteries, smoke grenades that paratroopers used while free-falling during recreational jumps and other materials that I could requisition as training material and store in the warehouse, expendable items that could be distributed to other soldiers, it was tolerated as long as it was not sold to soldiers, much less outside the post.
After returning to civilian life, I always enjoyed working with numbers, albeit selling insurance was a highly improbable occupation for me, not an extrovert. Managing employees was easier, also what enabled me to keep going while losing my eyesight. Attention to detail was very important in insurance and I did that rather well. Still, it was a very rough road, only dogged persistency enabled me to succeed at the end.
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