Giving credit where it’s due after a big military promotion

As the Commanding General of the 71^st Troop of the Texas Army National Guard, Robert Crockem has learned that you don't get to where you are on your own. So on June 1^st, 2024 when he was accepting his promotion to Brigadier General, he had some of the people that helped him get there alongside him. His sons Myles and Christian pinned the rank on his shoulder. His daughters Ayssia and Jade presented him with his general officer flag. His sister Rai presented him with his general officer belt and pistol. And his wife India, with whom he credits with keeping the family together while he prioritized building two careers, pinned the rank on his hat. 

As a National Guardsman, Rob straddles both civilian and military life. A typical National Guardsman reports to duty one weekend a month and two weeks every summer, with the rest of the time working a civilian job. Rob has spent the last 17-and-a-half years at Ameritrade and now Schwab, where he’s a leader within fixed income. But as anyone who tries to balance multiple things may already know, the tidy compartmentalization of civilian and military life isn’t exactly a reality. Rob often spends his evenings answering emails or on conference calls for the National Guard. He also spends time away, like earlier this year when he went to Washington, D.C. to represent Texas for an event at the Czech Embassy. And earlier in his career he put his civilian career on hold when he had two year-long deployments—one to Iraq and another to Kuwait supporting missions across the Middle East—once again causing an imbalance between his two worlds.

Rob again acknowledges that he wouldn’t have been able to make it all work on his own. He credits the support from leaders he’s worked with at the combined firms of Ameritrade and Schwab, the care packages that colleagues sent while he was deployed, and the ongoing backup his current team continues to provide when he has a military commitment to take care of.

Rob decided to enroll in officer candidate school because he’d seen what great leaders could do. So he became an Engineer Officer, starting as a Lieutenant, working his way up over a 34-year career to his recent promotion to Brigadier General, leading a team of 3,500.

Similarly, in his civilian career, Rob also worked his way into leadership. Always staying in the fixed income field at Schwab, he currently leads a team of 11 individuals. 

“In the military, you progress more than you do in a civilian career because it’s part of mandatory continuous training. Every three years or so you move into a new position,” says Rob, comparing his two careers.

And while the progression may be different, he’s found that the foundations of leadership are the same no matter where you are.

It’s perspectives like this that are one of the things Rob’s colleagues value in him.

Gregg Niesyty, Rob’s current manager says, “He has leadership experience outside of Schwab that’s distinct. And he does an incredible job of taking in unique perspectives. I’ve learned to be a better listener and to listen to other perspectives because of him.”

In his role as Brigadier General, Rob now oversees the engineer, intelligence, information, operations, and special forces brigades as well as medical and public affairs attachments. His job is to train the Brigade Commanders for each specialty to ensure they meet the objectives of the organization. It’s a big responsibility, but he has his military training and his family to back him up.

And as he embarks on this new challenge, Rob will continue his leadership role at Schwab where he’ll be supported by the company, which has been recognized as one of the “Best of the Best” by “U.S Veteran’s Magazine” since 2012—a designation that recognizes veteran and military-friendly employers.

“I have a lot of people on my team that have made me successful,” explains Rob. “And that’s the same whether I’m talking about the civilian side or the military side.”