Illinois National Guard veteran uses military skills to manage farm operations

Evan Leeper, a sixth-generation farmer in Macon County, Illinois, applied his military experience to manage his family's row-crop farm after serving eight years in the Illinois National Guard.

Leeper enlisted as an infantryman in 2013 at the age of 19. His service included training at Fort Benning, Georgia, completing Air Assault School, and spending five weeks cross-training with the Singapore army.

He eventually reached the rank of E-5 sergeant and deployed to Bahrain in the Middle East for ten months in 2020. Leeper says his time in the military provided him with stress inoculation and sharpened his decision-making skills. He credits these abilities for helping him remain calm during a combine fire while harvesting soybeans this fall. Instead of panicking, he used a fire extinguisher and contacted emergency services to handle parts of the fire he could not reach.

The veteran also uses a leadership style learned in the military to manage his brother-in-law, Nathan Doty, who has no prior farming background. Leeper trains his team members on equipment and then trusts them to complete tasks independently rather than micromanaging them. He says his service helped him mature and return to the family farm as a more well-rounded person.