Veteran Voices of Anduril: Kim Bender

• Name: Kimberly Bender
• Title: Senior Executive Assistant
• Hometown: Artesia, New Mexico
• Military Branch: United States Coast Guard
• Service Dates: 2003-2009 Active / 2009-2012 Reserve
• Anduril Join Date: November 2022

“I had a super weird Coast Guard career,” Kimberly Bender says, before explaining how it all began: Driving hundreds of miles to meet with a recruiter for America’s unique maritime law enforcement/military branch. Her military career started as an enlisted deckhand for the United States Coast Guard on a high endurance cutter, and much later, led her to work at the Pentagon and even The White House before joining Anduril Industries in 2022.

“You can’t draw a direct line from my time in the Coast Guard to what I’m doing now,” she adds with a laugh. Nevertheless, Bender has no regrets about making that long drive to meet a recruiter in 2003. At the time, she was working for a small town bank in Artesia, New Mexico, and becoming increasingly curious about public service after regularly interacting with trainees from the nearby Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). They were cops, veterans, special operators — all with fascinating backgrounds and stories of service in the wake of 9/11. And the Coast Guard, she learned, was one way to break into federal law enforcement.

So, she thought, “maybe that’s what I could do.” She was in Cape May, New Jersey for boot camp about a month later.

By 2004, Bender was on patrol with the USCGC Midgett in the South Pacific, a boatswain’s mate scraping debris from non-skid surfaces, learning how to drive the boat, and plotting courses. Then one day, she noticed the engines starting to rev up — a telltale sign that something was about to go down. Indeed, Midgett began a pursuit that would end with a massive drug bust: 15 tons of cocaine seized from three separate fishing vessels.

“That patrol is by far one of my best memories overall,” said Kim, remembering the scene vividly: There she was, standing with fellow coasties in a daisy chain, unloading 50-pound bales of pure, uncut cocaine, straight from the manufacturer. It was a hard to believe, certainly not something a small town girl from New Mexico ever expected to be doing. And during that same patrol, the Midgett rescued 176 migrants from a ship disabled off the coast of Ecuador.

“That is why you join the Coast Guard,” she said. “To do stuff like this.”

Following Midgett, Bender served a stint in New Haven, Connecticut handling navigation aids in the Long Island Sound sector before training to become a “yeoman” who manages Coast Guard human resources and administrative matters. That led to her overseeing pay and entitlements for the Coast Guard Sector in New York City and later being called to the service’s headquarters in Washington. She transitioned to the reserve in 2009 and in 2012 moved into non-uniformed national security roles.

Today, Bender works alongside hundreds of military veterans on the team at Anduril, where the brightest engineers in Silicon Valley work together with veterans and national security professionals who have lived the operational problems they aim to solve. We're proud to highlight Kim's story in honor of National Veterans and Military Families Month, celebrated throughout the month of November.

What was your post-military transition like?

It wasn’t a difficult transition for me, but it was a different transition. It’s hard when the structure and support system you have built abruptly ends. But I was working on the weekends at times, and trying to raise two kids. So I decided to hang up my uniform, though I still had to fill my need to serve. I found an opening for an executive assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force, and I worked there for a year and a half until my boss was nominated for Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness.

That led to so many amazing opportunities in the Office of Secretary of Defense, including working with Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

What do you do at Anduril?

I manage the day-to-day life of our Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Strategy on the Growth Team. Ensuring their time is spent as effectively and efficiently as possible to grow this business.

How has your experience been?

It’s been amazing! Our executive assistant team in general is fantastic. We have a real sense of team and morale with each other. We also work really hard to create schedule magic.

What drew you to Anduril?

After my time on active duty, I spent the next 10 years working in the Pentagon and at The White House on the National Security Council. It was right around the time I was coming to the end of my NSC tour that would bring me back to the Pentagon when I heard from [Senior Vice President of Strategy] Zach Mears.

He said, “Kim, we’re doing cool stuff here. We need somebody who understands the Pentagon.” It was all so exciting, and I thought, well: “I want to be doing cool stuff with cool people,” and Anduril had plenty of both.

Anduril felt like it could bring a new challenge where I could utilize and bring to the table the skills I had learned over a decade. And it was different enough from my old life, in that I could wear jeans at work. I work from home. Yet I still have my security clearance and get to stay in the community that I’ve spent my entire adult life in. All with the benefit of having just a little more flexibility. I’ve got a 16 and 17-year-old now and I owe it to them. I like that I can be there for my kids.

What advice would you give fellow veterans in their transition?

To take a deep breath, and listen. Utilize the programs and offers afforded and available to you for serving this country. And always remember that you are not alone — even when it feels like you are. You should also consider how you might continue to “serve” your family, your community, and your fellow Americans. What I really enjoy about this company is that it still makes me feel that I am of service to this nation. When you’re transitioning, when you’ve given so much and so much time to service. It’s hard not to feel that anymore.

ANDURIL INDUSTRIES is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. As the world enters a new era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

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