05/20/2026
Friend and business owner is a great guy. We can all learn something from his example. Thank you for your service.
Be prepared.
One of the greatest leadership lessons I ever learned came from a young Ranger named David Floyd.
Back then, Floyd was the new guy.
Goofy.
Rough around the edges.
Still figuring things out.
And honestly… I thought maybe we ought to move him somewhere else.
So Sergeant Watson pulled me into his office one day.
I’ll never forget it.
He said,
“Sergeant Thomas, that young man is my most important asset.”
I remember thinking… Floyd?
Watson kept going:
“If he’s not the best machine gunner he can be, your squad is weak. If your squad is weak, my platoon is crippled. We are only as good as our weakest link.”
Then he hit me with the hard truth:
“Right now, YOU are my weak link.”
That one stung.
But good leaders don’t run from hard truths.
They own them.
So I started pouring time into Floyd.
Training him.
Coaching him.
Building confidence in him.
Then Mogadishu happened.
At one point during the fight, Floyd spotted a Somali fighter in a tree and opened up with his SAW machine gun.
He fired so much lead into that tree that the entire thing collapsed.
He looked over at me and asked,
“Did I get him?”
I said,
“Floyd… I don’t know if you got him, but you got the whole tree.”
We laugh about it now.
But here’s the truth:
When the worst day came…
the guy everyone underestimated showed up.
That’s leadership.
Leadership is investing in people before the moment requires it.
Because one day… the person you almost gave up on may be the one helping bring everybody home alive.
Rangers Lead the Way.
