Veterans Day during COVID-19: veterans are purpose-built to handle this!

Note: I published this article originally on my Medium page, found here: https://medium.com/@grantfox/veterans-day-during-covid-19-veterans-are-purpose-built-to-handle-this-ec3701dd0266

For the longest time, Veterans Day has dwelled in a peculiar place in my heart and mind. In one sense, it’s a day for my special friends and me, where our annual ‘thank you for your service’ quota gets doubled in one day. On the other hand, it’s a reminder of that period of my life in which I gave almost eight years to the service of my country. There’s a lot there, and knowing how the proverbial sausage gets made provides me a mixed bag of good times and bad.

Last week, I talked on the phone with a young friend of mine, a Marine Corps veteran who is now a high school teacher in a challenging district. His lament was that he loved teaching, yet he sees the writing on the wall — COVID has changed primary education, and he fears that soon enough he’ll be out of a job, or not be out of a job and have to pick up the work of those that his school let go. He joked that if he wanted to be in a situation where every option is crap, he would’ve stayed in the Marines! I laughed because I understood at a visceral level.

I don’t know what the future holds for my mean green friend, but I know that he’ll be just fine with full certainty. I can say this because of a few reasons. One, he’s incredibly smart and hungry to learn. Two, he’s a US military veteran. Three, he’s part of a close-knit veteran community. Let me explain.

Always growing.

A primary reason that this Marine and I are friends is that he reaches out regularly to tap into my wisdom for his improvement. I gladly welcome it. He has a yearning for political economics, a field I know enough about to be dangerous, schooled in, and dabbled in professionally. As a high school history teacher, he has no business or vocational need to go in this direction, at least at face value. I can (and do) make a strong argument thatthis is precisely what he should be doing, expanding his perspective. My Marine friend is intelligent and able to connect big-picture dots in a way I’ve only seen a few do. There is an unfair number of veterans in my periphery that are the same way.

Eye-Yay-Oh.

The lore of the Marine Corps is rife with fantastic legends and useful shorthand. One of my personal favorites, which I use regularly, is the abbreviation “IAO,” which stands for “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.” The Marines do not have a monopoly on this framework among the military branches, but they do it so damn well and so often, they can undoubtedly own it. We’re rarely in ideal situations in life. Nothing goes according to plan so often that we find ways to bake that uncertainty into the plan (contingencies, omissions, etc.), and those efforts tend to discount the unforeseen.

This is the type of scenario in which Marines live and thrive. So do soldiers, sailors, and airmen.

‘Airmen’ is the official term that’s bound to go gender-neutral soon, in no small part to the contributions from ‘airwomen’ like these USAF women. Click to learn about fighter pilot Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt. Source: USAF Recruiting.

When warfighters go into a situation intentionally expecting things to go awry, they are ready for it. They keep their heads on a swivel. They train for these moments. They survey the hand they’re dealt, make snap decisions about what to do, then do it. Soldiers and their ilk are, more often than not, making the right snap decisions because of relentless hours of training behind those actions. As a result, they win — and win often. Imagine what that must feel like, to be a soldier, and overcome the seemingly impossible time and time again. Now imagine what it must be like to have some of them on your team, bringing that to the dynamic.

We play together. We stay together.

Like it or not, once we don the uniform, we inevitably start on a path towards being a veteran. There are millions of us dotted across the United States and other corners of the world. Veterans come from all walks of life but share one undeniable trait: We served. Our military service is an augmenting characteristic if harnessed smartly. Many veterans are in positions to help our fellow comrades-in-arms, whether by hiring them, connecting them with someone who can provide opportunities, or offering a helping hand or supportive ear.

Team Rubicon — a great veteran-led organization that provides emergency disaster response. Source: Team Rubicon.

The paradox for many recently separated servicemembers, though, is that we get out of the military wanting to put that chapter behind us as rapidly as possible. This predominantly has less to do with a desire to leave the military and more to do with a yearning to get started on the next chapter. I was no different; I tried to keep no trace of my military experience for years, though it was hard to escape due to the military bearing beat into me that still lingers to this day, over two decades later. I avoided connecting with fellow veterans for years. Over time, I discovered how wrong that was. In fact, after some reflection, I realized that many of the opportunities in my post-military life came from veterans providing that extra effort in helping me. I try to do the same now and pay it forward. It’s in our blood. We can’t help but serve, especially for our veteran community. I encourage all veterans to remember that and tap into our powerful network.

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There are eighteen million US military veterans alive, roughly seven percent of the national population, per the US Census Bureau. Approximately a third are employable, though, in April, more than one million were unemployed, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus aside, in recent history, veteran unemployment has been higher than non-veteran employment. To me, this is not only abhorrent but nonsensical. If you are in a position to do so, hire a veteran, set them up for success, and reap the benefits of making that smart hire. Then do it again. And again. If you’re a veteran and would rather start your own business, then come check us out.

Veterans Day provides space for me to be grateful for what the US Navy provided me, which includes a desire to continue serving and the tools to do it well. Today is a reminder that there’s much to do to pay it forward. I call on all veterans to use this and every Veterans Day to reflect on your military experience yet also reach out to veterans you know, show up to veteran events to meet veterans you don’t know, and find ways to continue your service for your community and your country. I genuinely thank you for your service, and I am grateful that you made it back.