30 YEARS LATER: How My Military Service Shaped the Leader I Became
HAPPY VETERANS DAY!
Every Veterans Day, I typically reflect on the state of our nation, the responsibilities of Congress and our elected leadership, and the extraordinary privilege we have as Americans to choose those who govern us.
I speak about the freedoms and rights guaranteed by our Constitution, the sacrifices generations of veterans have made to defend them, and the responsibility we share to ensure those sacrifices are never taken for granted.
But this Veterans Day feels different.
2026 marks 30 years since I enlisted in the United States Army. And rather than focus on politics or the challenges facing our country, I want to reflect on something more personal: how my military service shaped not only the man I became, but the leader, entrepreneur, and executive I would grow to be.
When I enlisted in 1996, my motivation was relatively simple: I wanted money for college.
What I received was an education far greater than anything I could have imagined.
I gained discipline, confidence, purpose, accountability, and a profound sense of pride in serving my country.
I still remember standing on the parade grounds at basic training graduation. It was there, wearing that uniform and standing alongside fellow soldiers from every imaginable background, that I truly began to understand the meaning of PATRIOTISM.
Not as a political position. Not as a slogan. But as a commitment to something greater than myself.
And I had no idea how profoundly that commitment would shape the next three decades of my professional life.
THE ARMY GAVE ME MY FIRST REAL FOUNDATION IN LEADERSHIP.
As a U.S. Army combat medical Specialist (medic/DOC), I received extensive medical training and gained experience in clinical operations, field medical unit management/ mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) leadership, departmental administration, and patient care.
While assigned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, I founded and directed the Patient Education Center, an initiative that earned me the Army Achievement Medal.
Those experiences equipped me with the operational, administrative, and clinical leadership skills that would eventually lead to civilian management positions within Inova Health System and Universal Health Services, Inc., overseeing internal medicine and primary care operations—all before my 25th birthday.
But the Army's greatest influence on my leadership philosophy came when I was stationed with the 2nd Infantry Division at Camp Casey, South Korea.
Just two years into my military career, my leadership training, continuing education, discipline, and initiative helped me earn promotion to Non-Commissioned Officer.
I was entrusted with responsibility for emergency medical evacuation operations on the installation and the day-to-day medical care of Bravo Company personnel.
I was young, but the responsibility was very real.
The Army taught me that leadership wasn't about rank, position, or authority. It was about being accountable for the people entrusted to your care, making sound decisions under pressure, maintaining uncompromising standards, and ensuring the mission was accomplished.
Most importantly, it taught me that you cannot effectively lead people you are unwilling to serve.
FROM MILITARY SERVICE TO CIVILIAN LEADERSHIP
Those early experiences became the foundation of a leadership philosophy I have carried into every chapter of my civilian career.
From healthcare administration and federal government service to hospitality operations, organizational transformation, entrepreneurship, and executive leadership, the principles have remained remarkably consistent.
Lead from the front. Leadership requires presence, not simply direction from behind a desk.
Serve the people you lead. Listen respectfully, invest in their development, remove obstacles, and give them the tools to succeed.
Establish clear expectations and exacting standards. Accountability and compassion are not opposing principles. Effective leadership requires both.
Take initiative and own the outcome. Problems rarely resolve themselves, and leadership means accepting responsibility for solutions.
Develop future leaders. Your greatest contribution is not simply what you accomplish personally, but the people you prepare to succeed after you.
Translate strategy into execution. A mission, no matter how important, means little without the people, systems, resources, and discipline to accomplish it.
Over the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of evaluation & oversite of HUD's 1.1-billion-dollar staffing budget, leading multimillion-dollar operations, developing and managing teams of more than 180 people, building businesses, helping organizations navigate transformation, and working across industries that, on the surface, have very little in common.
Yet the leadership principles that have guided me through each experience were forged long before I held an executive title, managed a P&L, or founded a company.
They were forged in uniform.
Today, one of my guiding philosophies is to lead from the floor and manage from the P&L.
That philosophy is rooted in the same lessons I learned as a young soldier: understand the mission, know your people, remain present, uphold standards, manage your resources responsibly, and never ask someone to do something you would not be willing to do yourself.
THIRTY YEARS LATER, THE MISSION CONTINUES.
I entered the Army looking for an opportunity to finance my education.
I left with something far more valuable: a foundation for a lifetime of leadership and service.
And while my uniform eventually came off, the lessons, values, and sense of responsibility never did.
As I reflect on 30 years since that decision to enlist, I am reminded that military service doesn't simply prepare someone for a career. It can shape how they approach responsibility, adversity, opportunity, and the people whose lives are affected by their decisions.
To my fellow veterans, particularly those who have carried the lessons of military service into their communities, businesses, organizations, and families: your service did not end when you took off the uniform.
It continues in how you lead, how you serve, and the difference you make.
And to those still serving, thank you for carrying forward the responsibility that so many of us once proudly held.
Service before self. Leadership through action. Excellence through accountability.
Thirty years later, those principles still guide me.
Happy Veterans Day. Hooah!
Howard Nelson Cromwell
Combat Medical Specialist
U.S. Army Veteran
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