Were you able to learn from all ranks; or from just those who outranked you?

It doesn't matter the rank. You can learn from anyone. Do we not learn from our children and from our parents? Samething.

SPC Margaret Higgins
Shortly after the Navy switched to their newest uniform, the Navy Working Uniform or the blue camouflages, none of us knew how to properly roll the sleeves. The reason was because we don't roll them like Marines do, but how the Air Force does and how the Army used to in your old BDU's.

Luckily I had a new girl in my section whose Dad is an Army General and she had been in Army JROTC in high school and Army ROTC in college (she didn't graduate college hence the reason she wasn't an Army Officer) but knew how to roll sleeves. So I had her conduct training with the entire section on how to roll sleeves. We ended up with the best sleeves in our division, all because of the training and assistance provided by a boot E-3!

I like to keep in mind that everyone is an expert in something. It can be a fresh out of AIT Pvt or a Senior NCO. They are bound to know something I don't.

SPC Margaret Higgins - Spec; Yes.

Sometimes I learned because they knew more about something than I did and sometimes I learned because they knew less about something than I did.

[You can learn a whole lot about inspecting fuel tanks by watching someone use a lighter to look inside one.]

Heck yes. When I went from E-4 to O-1 and was assigned to Operation Deep Freeze, one of my collaterals was Blasting Officer which had me sent off to blasting school. There's book learning and field certifications and then there was EO-1 Ed "Boom Boom" Bujanowsky. He was missing a couple of fingers losing an argument with Det Cord, but he taught me more tricks than I can remember. Most of them were quick easy ways to tie, string, load holes, etc. We blew using chemical caps as much as we could. The biggest pucker factor work was working with electrical caps as with the high amount of static down there, you could put a cap out on the ice and it would self detonate sometime in say 20 minutes. You just didn't know when. So when I had jobs that needed it, we'd bridge the cap wire with aluminum foil with a ring around the foil and line. So we'd stand back, pull the ring through the foil and then hit the plunger. Ed said I was "alright" as an engineer. Just one example of the many enlisted who schooled me up over the years.

Every man is my superior in some way. In that way, I learn from him.

I listened to anyone that could teach me what I wanted to know.

I found that I could learn from privates on up; and from Generals on down.

I have learned from all ranks... I enjoy learning from lower ranks because it gives me perspective on their wants and needs. It keeps me modest and reminds me of when I was in their shoes. And if you work with the lower ranks, it helps build rapport and trust... which goes a long way when you want to build a strong team...

During my re-introduction to the Army, via the USAR, I learned my First/Best lessons from senior NCO's who were Vietnam Green Beret Vets. Those lessons encompassed taking care of your soldiers and selfless service; the work wasn't done until it was ALL done and your subordinates safety & best interests came first.