Why Troop Salute Hits Home for Me

You may have heard me recently on 102.9 The HOG as part of Bob&Brian's segment on "Troop Salute" (see full interview here). For ValorTech, it is a privilege to sponsor and participate in something that recognizes the men and women who have served this country. For me personally, it hit a little deeper than a standard community sponsorship.

I am a veteran. ValorTech is veteran-owned. That is not a tagline we throw around because it looks good on a website or checks a box in a radio ad. It is part of who I am, how I was raised, how I lead, and how this company was built. I grew up in a house where you worked hard, figured things out, and did not waste much time complaining. My dad had a saying that stuck with me: if something sucks, the longer you complain about it, the longer it is going to take to get done.

That one has followed me for most of my life.

I was the oldest of five. My dad was highly technical, the kind of guy who could read a manual, understand it, and then actually build or fix the thing. He worked around tool and die equipment, mechanical systems, electrical systems, and manufacturing lines. When I was a kid, I was exposed to all of it.

I would go with him to work and end up around old electronics on the manufacturing floor. He would let me take things apart, figure out how they worked, and try to put them back together. Sometimes I actually got them back together. Sometimes I probably created more problems than I solved.

But that is how you learn.

At home, it was the same thing. We were farming. Pigs, ducks, chickens, geese. We were building cars. Fixing things. Taking on the next project. There was never really a question of whether I was going to be next to him working. That was just how it was.

That environment shaped me into a natural troubleshooter. If I do not know the answer, I am probably going to figure it out. That has been true in the military, in business, and in just about every hard season of my life.

I was infantry and artillery. I learned discipline. I learned how to stay on task. I learned how to plan, attack the problem in front of me, adapt when the plan goes sideways, and keep moving. I also learned that you do not win by pretending things are fine when they are not. You win by being honest about what is working, what is broken, and what needs to change.

That mindset is still very much alive inside ValorTech.

When I started the business, the mentality was simple: do it now. Get it done. The sooner you take the hats off that you should not be wearing anymore, the sooner you suck less at the thing you are trying to build. I did not fully realize how much it would take. I do not think anyone does when they start a company. The challenges do not go away as you grow. They just change. The problems get bigger. The decisions get heavier. The stakes get higher.

But the same rule still applies.

Stop complaining. Get it done. Improve the process. Take care of your people. Take care of your clients. Be better tomorrow than you were today.

That is part of why Troop Salute matters to me.

Veterans understand that service does not really leave you. It changes form. You may take off the uniform, but the responsibility, the discipline, the loyalty, and the commitment to the people around you do not just disappear.

Yes, we provide IT support and cybersecurity. Yes, we are a security-first managed services provider. Yes, we take compliance, risk, response time, and operational resilience seriously. That is the work.

But behind the work is a company built around people.

We believe in showing up when people need us. We believe in doing the hard thing before it becomes the emergency thing. We believe in protecting businesses so their teams can keep moving, growing, and serving their own customers. We believe in being the kind of partner that answers the phone, knows who you are, and takes ownership instead of passing the buck.

That is the military-grade part of ValorTech. Not the buzzword version. The real version.

It means discipline. It means accountability. It means readiness. It means bringing overwhelming force to the problems that threaten our clients’ businesses. It means we are not here to check a box and disappear. We are here to help our clients win.

Sponsoring Troop Salute gave me a chance to pause and think about all of that.

It reminded me where this company came from. It reminded me of the people who shaped me. My dad. My family. The people I served with. The clients who trusted ValorTech when we were still fighting to survive. The team that shows up every day and helps carry the mission forward.

It also reminded me that people want to know the story behind the company.

They want to know who they are doing business with. They want to know what you stand for when things get difficult. They want to know if the person on the other side of the table is going to tell them the truth, even when the truth is not polished or convenient.

I am proud to be a veteran. I am proud that ValorTech is veteran-owned. I  am proud to support Troop Salute. And I am proud that the same lessons that shaped me years ago still shape how we serve our clients today.

Do the work.

Tell the truth.

Take care of your people.

Keep moving.

That is how I was raised. That is how I served. And that is how we are building ValorTech.