When John Steele IV ’21, G’26 was deployed to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army in 2012, a broken refrigeration unit threatened his unit’s food supply. He knew exactly who to call.

The unit was made by Carrier and his father, John Steele III, worked at Carrier’s Syracuse facility. The diagnosis wasn’t good. It was likely a compressor failure, nothing a soldier could fix in the field. But the way his father walked him through how the unit worked, calm and knowledgeable across thousands of miles, planted a seed.

When his deployment ended, Steele took advantage of his GI Bill benefits, starting at Tacoma Community College in Washington before setting his sights on a bachelor’s degree. There was only one school he considered.

“I grew up always wanting to go to SU,” he said. “It was the only school I applied to.”

His father had earned a mechanical engineering degree from Syracuse, and in 2018, Steele enrolled as an aerospace engineering major – sitting in some of the same classrooms, under some of the same professors. A little older than most of his classmates, he brought a veteran’s focus to his studies, logging hours in professors’ office hours and graduating with a 3.87 GPA.

“In the military, you learn to deal with adversity. You get used to a changing environment,” he said. “I wanted to soak up every bit of knowledge I could.”

He also followed his father into the workforce at Carrier, interning with the air management team alongside colleagues who had gone to school with his dad. When he graduated in 2021, pandemic restrictions meant a small guest list. His father and wife were at the top of it.

“Having him there meant a lot,” Steele said. “I wouldn’t have been there without him.”

After graduation, Steele joined Carrier’s compression team. Early on, colleagues who received emails from him did a double take.

“They’d say, ‘Didn’t you retire?’ – until they realized I was his son.”

In 2022, Steele decided to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, committing to one class per semester while working full time and raising twin daughters with his wife. Syracuse University’s support for veterans made it possible, he says.

“There is no better place to go as a veteran than Syracuse.”

When his father passed away in 2023, finishing the degree became more than an academic goal.

“It wasn’t easy, but I knew I could do it. It was a commitment.”

At his 2026 commencement, the small pandemic gathering of years past gave way to a full family celebration. They returned to a now renovated Link Hall – where his father had stood with him in 2021 – and recreated the photo in his memory.

Today, the work Steele does in Carrier’s compressors division feels like two of the most important threads of his life woven together: his father’s legacy and his loyalty to the men and women still serving. He hasn’t forgotten that broken refrigeration unit in Afghanistan. “I can help by making it easier to keep food cold and supplies fresh,” says Steele. “I want to give back to my military brothers and sisters.”