Military Service & Leadership
Leadership is Earned. Not Given.
I enlisted at 17. I was in combat before most of my classmates started college. What the Army gave me, beyond the training, the missions, and the memories, was a framework for how to lead people. Everything I've done since has been built on that foundation.
The Youngest in the Fight
I enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17 years old. Because I had skipped sixth grade and graduated high school a year early, I found myself in combat while many my age were still in school. The Governor's office confirmed I was the youngest person from Utah to serve in Desert Storm. Whether I was the youngest in the entire conflict, no one can say for certain, and I've never been comfortable claiming what can't be verified.
When I came home on leave after jump school, everyone understood where I was headed. Governor Norman Bangerter, himself a Korean War veteran, made time to meet with me before I deployed. That January, as the war began, my mother sat as his invited guest at the 1991 State of the State Address, alongside the mother of the oldest Utahn serving in the Gulf.
Being so young, I had a lot to prove. I took my responsibilities seriously, and I learned fast, because in the military, you have to. There's no room for hesitation.
From Keyboards to Combat
I joined the Army as a 31C (Single Channel Radio Operator), working in a RATT rig (Radio Teletype), which meant I was at a keyboard even in combat. After Desert Storm, I retrained as a 31R (Multi-Channel Transmissions Systems Operator/Maintainer), specializing in secure military communications, and eventually became team leader for an LOS(V)3, the radio terminal that carried the backbone links between node centers in the Army's Mobile Subscriber Equipment network. If the V3 went down, the network went with it.
Serving nearly seven years, I completed Airborne and Air Assault training, became a Combat Lifesaver, and was promoted to Sergeant in just three years, earning multiple awards along the way, including two Army Commendation Medals. Over the course of my service, I was responsible for as many as 30 soldiers and over $4 million in equipment.
Living a Life Without Excuses
The Airborne lifestyle is demanding, and it changes you forever. These days, I tell people that being a Paratrooper means living a life without excuses. I never say "No, because..." I always say "Yes, if..."
One of the single most valuable lessons I learned in the military is one I still use today: "If you can't get out of it, get into it." A Lieutenant taught me that during a brutal 30+ day field exercise in the woods. Complaining wouldn't make it easier. Resisting wouldn't make it shorter. But choosing to embrace it made all the difference. That mindset has served me well, then and now.
If you can't get out of it, get into it.
Lessons in Leadership
One of the most important things I learned in the Army wasn't in any training manual. I watched leaders every day: how they treated their soldiers, how they handled pressure, what they did when no one was watching.
I had a closer view than most. After Desert Storm, I spent a year as the driver for our battalion commander, LTC Rock Schmidt. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it turned out to be one of the best leadership educations the Army ever gave me. I saw how commanders carried pressure between meetings and how they treated soldiers when there was nothing to gain from it. One of the officers in that headquarters, then-Major Dennis Via, went on to become the first Signal Corps officer in Army history to earn a fourth star. What stayed with me wasn't the rank he eventually reached. It was how humble and compassionate he was decades before anyone pinned it on.
And I noticed that soldiers followed leaders for one of two reasons: because they had to, or because they wanted to.
Leaders who ruled by rank got compliance. Their soldiers did the minimum, watched the clock, and took every opportunity to make their lives difficult. Leaders who earned trust got something different: people who showed up early, worked late, and had their leader's back the same way their leader had theirs.
I decided early on which kind of leader I wanted to be. That decision has shaped every team I've built and every organization I've led since.
Soldiers followed leaders for one of two reasons: because they had to, or because they wanted to.
The First Time I Saw Death
I was young. Too young, maybe. And like many soldiers, I remember the first time I saw death up close.
The first dead body I ever saw was a fallen Iraqi soldier on the battlefield. In that moment, I didn't see an enemy. I saw a human being. His mission ended when his life did. And I treated him with utmost respect, the way I would want to be treated if the tables were turned.
That moment shaped me. It reinforced my belief that respect transcends sides. That leadership is about humanity. And that every person, friend or foe, deserves dignity.
From the Battlefield to the Boardroom
The skills that made me effective in the Army are the same skills that make me effective as an engineering leader. Not the tactical ones. The human ones. Knowing when to push and when to listen. Building trust before you need it. Making decisions with incomplete information and owning the outcome either way. Taking care of your people so thoroughly that they take care of each other.
I don't run my engineering teams like military units. But I do run them with the same fundamental belief: that the people doing the work deserve a leader who is genuinely invested in their success. That's not a management philosophy I read in a book. It's something I learned watching soldiers in the desert decide whether a leader was worth following.
Final Thought
A leader's job is to lift others up, not stand above them.
The military gave me a lot of things. Discipline. Perspective. A permanent intolerance for excuses, including my own. But the most important thing it gave me was a clear answer to the question every leader eventually has to face: are your people better off because you led them?
That's the standard I hold myself to. It always has been.
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