Watching the growth and eventually the success of veteran businesses can be considered somewhat of a chess game for me, or also a Judo match, which is considered a physical chess match. In my past five years as an infantry Marine I have met countless young men from all over the United States and world, and one of the rigors of a combat deployment is the boredom. Alot of this time is passed with conversation of future plans and jobs after military service, also the ideas that these young warriors dream up on their spare time, or on the countless hours of standing post. There is no telling how many will follow through with thier plans and reach for the sky, but I have honestly not met one Marine who simply said " I don't want to do anything when I get out." My promise to any entrepreneur is should they run out of ideas just stand in front of a group of about twenty or so US Marines and you will leave the room with ideas and a number of veterans to follow through to build a successful business venture.
To watch (G.I.V.E) Global Initiative for Veteran Entreprenuership, start as an idea and build into a veteran support organization that I saw in my head when all I said to CEO Francesco Rulli of Filmannex was "I want to help veterans" is a longterm goal of mine that I no longer have a choice in making happen. I treat it as one of my combat patrols in Marjah, where there was no choice in returning my four Marines, or however many were part of my team, back to our patrol base alive and unharmed, it will happen. The excitement of seeing just the thought of providing a peaceful future to combat veterans transform into a physical project furthur motivates me to push for the ultimate success of providing these veteran business opportunies.
An inspirational example of combat entreprenuers for example are Michael Pett, Blake Schroedter and Tony Genovese who recently just launched their company in March of 2012. All three are educated combat veterans who served together in Iraq with two of them also serving another tour in Afghanistan. There are many veterans in their own laboratorie's as we speak, brewing up all kinds of ideas and theories and not just only for financial benefits or fame. To put money to the side for a moment many combat veterans inspirations for their ideas come from the necessities they are lacking while in a combat zone as Michael Pett stated in his interview with filmannex. Their products are meant to make things easier for everyday life as well as when in a combat zone, with an ROI in the end, I'm sure this is the added bonus that makes everyone smile!
With veteran businesses like this already in the works and making money, now teaming up with the efforts of (G.I.V.E.) to help expand veteran businesses another piece of the puzzle has been added in creating veteran business opportunies as well as jobs after military service for the veterans who feel more comfortable working under other veterans. Along with mentorship, expansion of businesses, a career path, the brotherhood of warriors is still there with (G.I.V.E.) that many combat veterans miss the most and usually after the military only remains as a strong memory as these bonds are hard to build in the civilian world. As this puzzle keeps being pieced together, new ideas and inspirations keep growing stronger and seeing what comes next keeps getting better and better. Semper Fi.
