Tag: military transition

What do You want to be when you get out?

I don’t know why, but so few of you actually ask yourselves about what career you want to get into before you ETS.  It baffles me how many of you get out without a plan.  It’s like someone pissed you off so you said: Now what?

If you get out without a plan you’re going to end up going to school on your GI bill to get some criminal justice degree, or you’ll end up on some .gov jobs site trying to get employment doing your MOS as a civilian. If you don’t like our MOS, if it’s not your dream to be an S6 for the rest of your short time on this planet, then you don’t have to do that ok?  Seriously, you can do something else.

When I got out, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn’t want to work with the government.  I talk about this in detail in the book, but I got to interview with a ton of different companies that make products I use every day like Unilever, and Fidelity, and Diageo.  I finally decided to start my career with John Deere and it has been an awesome ride!

I had a chance to learn all about factory operations, work alongside the United Auto Workers union and learn how to weld. I got to run agriculture equipment all over the US and Canada.  I got to visit factories in Mexico and farmers in California, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and more.  I also got to lead the team to bring out the new 459E baler and create the intro videos for it.  Now i’m the lead guy for Tweels and i’ve gotten to work closely with Michelin. That’s a far cry from being a platoon leader and an intel analyst!

I’m not the only one, there are many other veterans with successful careers in companies and organizations all around the world.  Other guys have started their own companies like RangerUp, Warrior Soul, Crossfit Sua Sponte, and Southern Pines Brewery.  Some guys have started charitable organizations like Warrior 360 and 22kill.

Look, the point is that if you get out without a plan like the dude above, you’re going to end up having to go back to what you were doing before.  If you make a plan and think about shit for five fucking seconds, you can do a lot of really awesome stuff.

This is not to disparage the guys who actually WANT to do their MOS as a civilian, i’m talking about the guys who run out of options because they weren’t prepared.

If you are getting ready to ETS and don’t know what you’re doing and don’t know what to expect, get a copy of the book.  There are a ton of details on how to get interviews and other challenges you’ll face when you ETS.  If you’re too cheap, I want to help you anyway, so check out the 4 big questions and read through that at least.

If you’ve already gotten out and realized this was you, please share this post so your buddies maybe won’t make the same career mistake.  Seriously, it takes two seconds and will make a big difference to the guy who needs it.

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It’s Time for a Buddy System

I read a story this morning about a veteran who killed himself after his call to the VA for help went to voicemail. Besides the obvious reason for getting pissed off, I’ve been asking myself a lot lately, “what are you going to do about it?”  I’m done bitching and whining, it’s time for action.

The DOD has no idea why soldiers are killing themselves more now than ever before.  I know most of us think it’s because of the wars, but nope, there is no correlation between combat and suicide.  They are also not spending any money figuring out the cause by the way.

The point is this:  We need to band together as a veteran community and start taking care of ourselves; it’s obvious no one else is going to.  There are a lot of great organizations out there like Warrior360 and 22kill that are veteran run and really doing a lot of good, but I want to take it a step further:

I want YOU to get involved.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Identify a buddy, tag them in this post, or if you don’t have facebook, comment below.  This is a public declaration that they are your buddy.
  2. If you don’t have a buddy in mind, then please comment that you need a buddy and state your location and date of service.  We will find you one.
  3. You will talk to your buddy at a minimum once a week.  You will ask difficult questions about their finances, relationships, and mental state
  4. You and your buddy will answer honestly
  5. If your buddy goes into a dark place, you are the first line of defense to get him help
  6. You will take this role seriously

None of this is new to any of you, we’ve all done it before.  We are making a formal buddy assignment.

It’s time for us to band together, set up our security perimeter and watch out for each other…no one else is going to do it for us.

 

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You are not prepared for your Interview

You’re excited, you’ve got an interview!  So you go to the internet and google the 50 most common interview questions because you’re high speed and shit so you’re going to be ready.  Particularly you’re thinking about how you’re going to answer that “What are your weaknesses question”

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Well guess what Airborne, every other swinging dick out there is doing that, and companies are getting wise to it.  The point of the job interview is to see what you’re going to be like as an employee, not to stump you, and recently companies have started to move to behavioral interviewing.

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Behavioral interviews are the best way to figure out what a person is going to be like when they’re on the job because past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.  Questions sound like this:

Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult and unpopular decision

Tell me about a time when you had to negatively counsel someone

Tell me about a time when you had to identify a customer need and deliver to that need

Yeah, not so easy now huh hotshot?

I wasn’t ready for this, and really, haven’t started getting good at it until the last year or so.  Luckily I have a gift.  Some people are gifted athletes, or amazing singers, or incredible artists, I have none of those skills.  God’s gift to me was the ability to think on my feet and bullshit like a real-life Axel Foley. So when I encountered these questions for the first time, I was able to maneuver my way around them.

Let’s be honest though, i’ve seen plenty of you fuckers at promotion boards, even when you know what the question is going to be, you still screw it up, so here are some tips for you.

All your answers need to be in the STAR format

Situation- what was going on

Task- what was your role

Action- what did you do

Result- the result of course

One of the mistakes I made was trying to explain too much of the Situation when I was giving a civilian a story about the military.  It went something like this:

Our unit was finishing our deployment and the incoming unit was going to relieve us.  This is called a RIP/TOA or Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority.  Our AO or Area of Operations encompassed about 128km of main highway from a bit South of Baghdad almost all the way to Kuwait.  We did right-seat/left-seat rides which basically means you’re driving for a while, then they are….

AAAAAGGHHHHHH!!  Stop!  I’ve talked for several minutes boring the shit out of the interviewer and I haven’t even started talking about what I did!  Here’s this same example today:

The situation was that our unit was leaving Iraq and we were getting replaced, which generally is the most dangerous time of the deployment.  My task was to create the plan….

That’s it.  One sentence.  You don’t need to educate these people on military operations dude.  Just give them exactly what they MUST know to understand your story and nothing else.

I know some websites are going to tell you not to do this, but memorize what you’re going to talk about.  You need to have 5-8 solid examples of what a badass civilian you’re going to be.  Go back to your OER or NCOER and find some of your favorite bullets of things that don’t involve direct enemy action (if you can’t think of them off the top of your head).  Write them down on a separate sheet of paper in the STAR format.

Most of your time needs to be in the “Action” section talking about what you did.  You want to highlight your initiative, and remember this interview is about what YOU did.  So if there was a group of you on something, then highlight what your role was and what your contributions were.

For double extra super points, read the job description and know what qualities they are looking for in a candidate and prepare to highlight that in your responses.

Finally, now that you have your answers/stories memorized, be prepared to adapt them to the question asked.  The same example can be used to highlight different traits.

If you want more specific advice, please ask!

Good luck!




“…the best that is in me.”

Guys don’t become soldiers for the paycheck, they do it because they believe in something.  As a soldier it is easy to find meaning and purpose in what you do. There is plenty of symbolism and history for us to hang our hats on.

I still get goosebumps when I stare at a flag during the national anthem.I remember reading about the 504th Parachute Infantry 82nd Airborne and how our unit was named The Devils in Baggy Pants by a German soldier in WWII.  Jumping in Arnhem with men that were there that day, and fighting alongside my brothers are all things that give me pride in what I accomplished in my time in uniform.

That part is easy.

What about when you get out though?  Not only does that camaraderie not exist, but few companies have a rich an awesome history for you to be a part of.  Some guys like my buddies John Dill and Micah Neibauer decided to venture into the great unknown, take huge risks, and start their own businesses.  Crossfit Sua Sponte and Southern Pines Brewery are both successful businesses and each of them can be proud of that accomplishment. By the way, if you’re in the Raleigh or Ft. Bragg area, I recommend both!

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that I chose John Deere.  Deere is a company rich in history and symbolism as well.  It’s a logo that is recognizable and stands for quality products.  It’s a market leader and a company that I can say I’m proud to work for.  It’s been around 175 years surviving a number of recessions and depressions, and has always been at the forefront of innovation.

Every day, as I walk in to start, I’m greeted by this picture below:

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“I will never put my name on a product that doesn’t have in it the best that is in me.” -John Deere

Every time I see it, I want to go back through time and high-five him.  It’s the civilian equivalent of this:

 

Airborne!  Nothing Runs Like a Deere!