Faces of the Force: SGT. 1ST CLASS Donald Piper

ALWAYS HIT THE SAVE BUTTON

By Cheryl Marino

Article published on: January 1, 2025 in the Winter 2025 Edition of the Army AL&T Magazine

Read Time: < 7 mins

SGT. 1ST CLASS DONALD PIPER

COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: 1965th Contingency Contracting Team, deployed with 408th Contracting Support Brigade Theater Contracting Support – Southwest Asia

TITLE: Noncommissioned officer-in-charge, Regional Contracting Office – Jordan

YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 6

YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 14

DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Contracting Professional

EDUCATION: B.S. in business administration, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

AWARDS: Joint Service Commendation Medal; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Air and Space Achievement Medal; Humanitarian Service Medal

Sometimes the most valuable lessons learned are those taught through our own mistakes. For Sgt. 1st Class Donald Piper, this happened early in his career when a simple mistake cost him hours of additional work. As mistakes go, this one was somewhat small, but the lesson had great impact.

‌“Always hit the save button and double-check your work,” he said about the step he won’t forget to do again. Piper, who is a noncommissioned officer-in-charge (NCOIC) for the Regional Contracting Office – Jordan, had been working in Procurement Desktop-Defense, which is part of the Standard Procurement System for training, when the site crashed unexpectedly, just as he was finalizing his work. “After I was able to log back into the system, I realized none of my previous work had been saved. I was upset with the fact it seemed like I had just wasted an entire day of work, but in reality, it was more like a couple of hours. After this incident, I hit the save button all the time.”‌

On the computer and in real life, saving and retaining valuable information he learns along the way helps avoid future problem-inducing issues.

“Another important lesson is to always be open to learning. Always be able to learn from and grow from your own mistakes, be open to other people’s ideas and advice, and be willing to seek out the answers you are looking for,” he said.

Piper is currently deployed with the 408th Contracting Support Brigade as the office’s primary contracting officer and the administrative contracting officer for all Army Base Life Support contracts throughout Jordan. In this role, he provides theater contract support for things like nontactical vehicles, host nation coordination services, custom broker services and military exercises in Jordan. As administrative contracting officer, Piper also ensures that all aspects of the contracts are being adhered to, managing all contracting officer’s representatives (CORs), reviewing and approving monthly status reports and handling any issues that may arise.

Overall, Piper said, he assists the units he supports in procuring the supplies or services that allow them to complete their missions. “When my supported units are completing their missions, they are also assisting in completing their higher headquarters mission, which, in turn, helps with the Army’s overall mission success.”

And the people he works with are a big part of that success. “This goes from other Army Acquisition Workforce colleagues, requiring activities and CORs to contractors,” he said. “We all must form a partnership to be able to ensure our missions are completed successfully.”

The most interesting thing people find about his work is the wide range of things the Army purchases. “One day I can be purchasing simple supplies or catered meals, to the next day trying to figure out how to procure supplies for humanitarian assistance,” he said. “One of my friends thinks I have a bunch of the U.S.’s secrets. But I, in fact, don’t have any of the U.S.’s secrets.” Piper said his decision to become a member of the Army Acquisition Workforce is probably a bit different than most.

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).

“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 [military occupational specialty]. Without hesitation, I replied with, ‘I’m interested, but what is contracting?’ The 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. “The 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 professionals.

“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 business advice on ways to improve submitting requirement packages or providing ways to help streamline the procurement process.” 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.

“The advice I always give to junior acquisition personnel is never stop honing your craft. There 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.”

Another important tip for honing one’s craft is training. Piper’s latest career development 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 administering 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 activity and the contactor,” he said. “The 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