From Convoy Missions to Campus Missions
It’s been a long time since that photo was taken. That’s me in the center with the gun truck crew I lead during a convoy support mission in Iraq in 2008. I was assigned to the 126th Cavalry Squadron, Michigan Army National Guard. My primary role was as the Squadron Electronic Warfare Officer, responsible for supporting the squadron’s convoy mission by helping to prepare for and defeat the threat of radio controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs) in the battle space. But man did I like going on mission. It gave me a more selfish sense of being in the fight, and a justifiable understanding of how the IED threat was playing out for our troopers. Four years after this picture was taken in Iraq I found myself in Afghanistan in Kandahar province attached to a cavalry troop of the 126th providing intel support in their mission to stop the flow of improvised explosive material (homemade bomb explosives) from Pakistan to the city of Kandahar and beyond.
Before and after both these deployments I had served in education. I was a teacher and administrator in several parochial schools in the Kalamazoo area until 2020 when I took a job as Veteran Services Coordinator at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Today I am still at Valley serving as the Director of Recruitment and Outreach. Throughout my years as a teacher, advisor, coordinator, and administrator, I’ve leaned on lessons learned as a U.S. Army staff officer. For example, I’ve encouraged:
- Methodical decision-making over impulsive reactions.
- Clear courses of action based on available knowledge and data.
- Timelines that prevent endless talk about a problem without ever finding a plan to address it.
It’s my hope to codify these lessons—what Army procedures transfer most effectively into education—and share ideas for making community college structures work more efficiently.
Mission and Intent
In true Army fashion, I’ve given myself both a mission and a statement of intent:
- Mission: Provide practical, military-inspired strategies that help colleges remove barriers, strengthen student pathways, and drive better outcomes during and after college.
- Intent: Using data and personal experience, this blog will offer a roadmap to improve student development, engagement, and post-college success by giving college faculty, staff, and administrators a new way of looking at challenges—through the lens of military combat planning and operations.
Why Community Colleges
While these methodologies have value across education, corporations, and other organizations, my decision is to focus on the community college landscape. Community colleges are where I work, where I serve, and what I deeply believe in. They are also where structure, clarity, and intentional planning can have the biggest impact on students’ lives.
Setting the Stage
This is just the beginning. In future posts, I’ll break down specific Army frameworks—mission analysis, courses of action, operations orders—and show how they apply directly to student development and institutional effectiveness.
If you work in higher education, I’d love to hear from you:
- Where do you see decision-making get stuck on your campus?
- Where could a new framework help move things forward?
Thank you for being here—and welcome to the start of this campaign.