Who has been the biggest influence during your career?
My former Battalion Commander, COL Hudgins.
As a general rule, throughout my career, I've never really had anyone checking on me, mentoring me, counseling me. I was always the one doing it for others. My professional reputation has always been pretty damn good, to the point where I could say something in complete violation of regulation, and I would be believed over the regulation, simply because I had been accepted as the SME for so long... It made me really complacent.
He was the guy who questioned me, pushed me, guided me, steered me, the one person who kept busting my butt, digging deeper and deeper, forcing me to do my homework to justify my every position. I feel like he was the only person who wanted to push me to greater things, that realized I wasn't at max potential yet...He made me a MUCH stronger NCO... I'll always be grateful to him.