EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE FORCE
And when mentoring individuals, he tells them he’s not there to teach them as a contract specialist, he’s teaching them to become a contracting officer.
“Te advice I always give to junior acqui- sition personnel is never stop honing your craft. Tere is always something new to learn,” he said. “Once you think you have it all figured out, either something new arises, or the policy changes.”
DADDY AND DAUGHTERS Piper with daughters Kaydence, left, and Loralie, in February 2023, before a Daddy and Daughter Dance in Edwardsville, Illinois. (Photo courtesy of Donald Piper)
Piper said his decision to become a member of the Army Acquisition Work- force is probably a bit different than most.
“In December of 2016 I received an email asking me if I was interested in a tour of duty in contracting. At that time, I didn’t even know what ‘contracting’ was, let alone the Army had this as a MOS [mili- tary occupational specialty]. Without hesitation, I replied with, ‘I’m interested, but what is contracting?’ Te response I received was just a copy and paste of the job description from the posting.”
At the time he received the offer, Piper said he wasn’t satisfied with where his current career path was heading. “I knew if I decided to accept the tour of duty, I would receive active-duty orders for a significant amount of time, thus allowing me the time to try and figure out how to change my civilian career path, while also changing my military one. So, I took the chance and accepted the tour of duty.”
Once he received his orders, Piper’s first position in the workforce was at
the
United States Property and Fiscal Office – Illinois Purchasing and Contracting Division. “Te appeal was being able to learn about something completely new,” he said. “A few months into this position I learned I would be heading on my first deployment, and six months later, I was deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. During this deployment I learned I could do this as a DOD civilian, so I applied for an open position as a 1102 [National Guardsman] and was offered the job as a contract specialist.”
He said the most important points of his career are being able to meet the needs of the units he supports, giving sound advice to supported units and being able to help shape the next batch of contracting profes- sionals.
“In this field it’s not only important to be able to assist the units we support by just contracting for the things they need, but also important to be able to provide busi- ness advice on ways to improve submitting requirement packages or providing ways to help streamline the procurement process.”
https://asc.ar my.mil 37
Another important tip for honing one’s craft is training. Piper’s latest career devel- opment course was the Construction Contracting Course. “I took this course back in December 2021 and learned there was a lot that went into awarding a construction contract as well as adminis- tering the contracts.”
Outside of work, Piper is known for being a loyal friend. “If any one of my friends or family ask me for help, and if I can help them, I will stop what I’m doing to go help, and I do the same thing in my work. If a junior team member needs assistance, I make sure I am available to assist them. I do the same thing with the requiring activ- ity and the contactor,” he said. “Te way I see it, the more efficient they are at their jobs, the more it allows me to be efficient at my job.”
“I wish I had been made aware about acquisitions sooner, not only in my military career but also my civilian career,” he said. “It has truly been a great decision to join the Army Acquisition Workforce.”
—CHERYL MARINO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
