Lessons of Leadership - Veteran’s Day Reflections - Nov. 11, 2025
By Raymond J. Piper
Veterans Day often gives me the chance to reflect on my service and some of the lessons I learned in the Army. This year I was thinking about leadership and how the military shaped the way I think today. This wasn’t stuff we learned in classrooms or on paper, but things you can only learn from other people. When I was 19, I learned a lesson on how we approach people and their lived experiences. It’s easy to discount someone else’s experience if we have not lived it. I still struggle with this at times, but this event serves as a reminder to me.
Maybe a year or two after joining the Army in my first job, which was to shoot rockets from an awesome tracked vehicle (Multiple Launch Rocket System for the people who are curious or familiar). Part of this job was spent on preventative maintenance, which is a fancy term for making sure the vehicle was working, and if something wasn’t, get the mechanics to fix it. We would also spend time running through drills and training on the equipment.
For this story to make sense, each crew is made up of three people, a driver who is the lowest ranking person, a gunner who is a sergeant and section chief who is a staff sergeant. The gunner was the mid-level manager, and the section chief was overall in charge of the vehicle and the crew. One day we were in the motor pool, and I was talking with another crew. They had just gotten a new driver from training, and he was 29 years old! Ancient to my 19-year-old mind. The gunner was 25 and had been in the Army for four or five years. His rank of sergeant to young me, and still is, was a phenomenal accomplishment. I don’t remember how we got on the subject, but the sergeant explained that even though he was more senior than the new guy, he wouldn’t discount his opinions.
He said that his driver had his own life experiences and they could be extremely valuable. He may think of something that the sergeant wouldn’t. He could have easily looked at him and judged him only on his rank or position. Instead, he was wise enough to know that he had shortcomings and things he could learn even from someone who was more junior.
That really became a guiding factor to me as I continued in my military career. Giving time to listen to and hear your teammates pays dividends that make you and your team more successful. No one person has all the answers. I would challenge all of us to connect in our community, hear the people around us and work together to find solutions.
