For Veterans Day, Some Former Military Officers Reflect on Lessons From Their Parents

The values that shaped them include leadership, optimism and charting your own course.

Debra Weiner is interviewing 100 newsmakers, thought leaders and other people who’ve made an outsize difference about the most valuable thing their parents taught them. Following are excerpts from a few of those stories, edited and condensed.

Leadership: JIM DUBIK, retired U.S. Army lieutenant general

Commanding general for training the Iraqi forces during the surge of 2007-08; Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of War; author, “Just War Reconsidered: Strategy, Ethics and Theory.”

My dad was an Army corporal in World War II and a sergeant in the Korean War, and worked at a plastics factory in the shipping and receiving department, so from a world standpoint, a regular guy. But he knew so much about how to lead, how to get the best out of somebody and, as a boys’ baseball coach, he taught me things about leadership that have been fundamental for the rest of my life.

I was probably 12, and it was the bottom of the last inning. There were two outs. The bases were loaded, and this kid was up but refused to bat because he was so anxious. He implored my dad to put somebody else in, but my dad said, “No, this is your turn. I have confidence in you.”

Well, the kid swung, missed and got even more nervous. He swung again, fouled, and this time walked out of the batter’s box. My dad was coaching third base and came down, talked to him, hugged him and put him back in the box. Then he turned around and told the parents in the stands to cheer. And whack, he got a hit.

In high school, I started coaching with my dad. I’d say, “You know, if we play this other guy longer, we’ll have a better chance of winning.” And he’d say, “Yeah. But I’m not here to win. I’m here to have every kid be proud of himself and how he was part of the team.”