What One Soldier’s Experience After Service Can Teach You About Adapting to Challenges

The following is adapted from You End up Where You’re Heading.

On his second deployment to Iraq, Jason Van Camp was a detachment commander for an elite Special Forces unit, having trained for three years to earn his Green Beret. Combat was brutal and unpredictable, but it was where Jason felt in control. 

At one point, he had 4,000 Kurds under his command on a mission to remove al-Qaeda from a local village. He recalls standing on his Humvee and looking out into the field, thinking, “This is like being Julius Caesar; this is unbelievable.” 

After three tours in Iraq in as many years, it was time for Jason to come home, but adjusting to civilian life was more challenging than he expected. He’d learned so much from his combat experience and gained prestige as a leader. Suddenly, those qualities that had become a part of Jason’s identity didn’t factor into his day to day at all, and that was hard to reconcile.  

As Jason’s story of adapting to civilian life will prove, even the strongest individuals struggle in life. But with perseverance and drive, you can overcome nearly any challenge and find a new definition of success. 

Difficulty Adjusting to a New Normal

The return to civilian life wasn’t what Jason had envisioned. The autonomy and command he had in Iraq didn’t carry over back home. Even routine trips to the grocery store would fill Jason with rage. “Why do I have to sit at this red light? Don’t they know who I am?” 

While Jason admits there is a certain beauty about war, it still “hardens you as a person.” The man who left was not the same man who came back. Pre-war Jason was “happy-go-lucky, very bold,” an open book with pages to be filled. Post-war Jason had chapters of his life he was desperately trying to forget. 

“You aren’t as tolerant, you aren’t as merciful, and you see how evil and dark and miserable the world is at times,” he told me. It was a daily struggle to integrate what had happened to him in combat and make himself available to new opportunities. 

Launching a Purpose-Driven Business

The onset of a seizure disorder pushed Jason out of the military for good with an honorable discharge. So he entered into an MBA program at Brigham Young University. The further he progressed in his program, the same question kept coming up: “If I were to start a business, what would I do?” 

Instead of following the trend of internet-based startups, Jason marched to the beat of his own drum. Using his unique blend of military knowledge, his network of respected leaders, and his passion for sports, Jason drafted a business plan for a leadership consulting company. He wanted to bring his Special Forces brand of leadership to professional sports teams.

Jason’s naivete worked in his favor as he built his business. “Being young and dumb and bold and overconfident, I started cold-calling NFL teams,” he said. Finally, after getting halfway through the alphabet, the New York Jets decided to take a chance on Jason. His company, Mission 6 Zero, named to honor Jason’s past and to look toward the future, had its first recruit. 

Look for Your Opportunities

What can you learn from Jason’s experience?

You don’t have to be a Green Beret or veteran to take inspiration from Jason’s journey and apply the same level of determination to your own struggles. He was able to take his combat experience and create a business that bridged the gap between his military and civilian life. He didn’t lose those parts of himself gained through combat and leadership; he integrated them into his new life and used them to open the door to future opportunities. Furthermore, he used what he’d learned to improve the lives of the athletes he trained. 

Sometimes your hardship, whether it’s losing a job, getting injured, or transitioning to another stage in life, can be a gateway to a new opportunity. To make the most of the opportunity, you must be willing to keep an open mind and put your values in life first. Don’t sacrifice one part of your identity to shore up another. 

Jason’s business succeeded because he was on a mission to do something meaningful with his life to honor the soldiers who had died under his command. He took the skills and knowledge he gained before and applied them to the new challenge he now faced. And although a commander on the battlefield, Jason had to head back to the basic training of business school to build on the leadership and operational skills he already possessed. 

According to Jason, overcoming challenges “comes down to being humble and listening and connecting with the people around you.”

Persevere, put yourself out there, and be honest about your values, and other people will want to help you succeed.   

For more advice on living a fulfilling life, you can find You End up Where You’re Heading on Amazon.

Jimmy Rex is best known for his fifteen-year career in real estate. With more than 2,200 homes sold, he closed Utah’s most expensive home sale in history at $32.5 million. He’s coached more than 1,500 agents, authored the best-selling book, Next Wave of Influence in Real Estate, and is the creator and host of the popular podcast, The Jimmy Rex Show.

Cameron Carling earned his BA in communication studies from UCLA, and is currently an operations manager for Google’s IT department. Here he’s spent more than a decade leading technical support and user experience teams and co-developing an industry-leading IT training program.