Talk:Lea Masters/@comment-98.159.69.146-20130529060922

Lea was probably the best example of a military or vet contestant ever on Survivor. Quite often, unfortunately, many military types don't do well on Survivor type shows.

Some of them are a bit too arrogant and/or bossy ... Lea somewhat fit this, but the team respected him because he could lead them well. The military is almost a completely different universe from the civilian side & a large percentage of those who have never been exposed to it simply can't understand this difference. Neither side is right or wrong about this situation, only different.

Some of them come into Survivor as very high ranking soldiers, either active or retired. Alot of these tend to be much weaker in challenges than would be expected. Several reasons here. If the person served 12+ years in an elite fighting position, such as Rangers or Marine Recon, their bodies are often nearly used up from injuries & extended intense training. The REAL high ranks, especially Navy boat Master Chiefs & Majors and above have often gotten pretty lazy in physical training.

And sometimes the other contestants simply don't want them around long, for various reasons including the above or that they think they may become too much of a power-player.

Sad but true. And I say this as a 13+ year medically retired SFC who lead platoons in 2 combat tours. We just don't USUALLY make it very far in these type competitions, unless the oppurtunity presents itself that we can snag every single immunity to stay in. That's one reason why, if i ever played Survivor, my military history would be a complete secret from the tribes. I'd use a cover of author, musician, construction worker, something like that.

But I was VERY impressed with the way Lea played this game. He led strong & sometimes harsh, but showed that he was only doing that for benefit of his team winning. In the end, his physical abilities were alot of what made him to dangerous to keep around much longer. But I feel he represented us military & former-military as well as any of our fraternity ever has on Survivor.