Out of Uniform, Not Out of Oath

Mark Twain once said “the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why”.

I am extremely fortunate and blessed as one of the few lucky ones; I’ve found out why.

Every day I get to use all of my experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities to help my Brothers and Sisters transition from Military Service to project management. Over the last several weeks, through their comments, I have realized that I am still taking care of the one on my right and the one on my left. Even though I am out of uniform, I am not out of Oath. Look.

Many of my Veteran Brothers and Sisters have written to me of or discussed with me dejection, rejection, low self-esteem, confusion, frustration, and despair before we help them transition. (Jake Wood can help you understand in this video).

After our program? After full professional development and self-actualization, after shiny new powerful resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and after increased phone calls, interviews, and career offers. They write to me about renewed hope, vigor, enthusiasm, clarity, and sense of purpose. They write to me excited because they can now provide for their families, with dignity; they now have a sense of mission and belonging; they have hope; they are 'back in the fight'.

They thank me. They say thank God for me. What do I say to them (or type here) after that? What can I say after a profound compliment like that?

To say the very least, it is all extremely humbling. And sometimes overwhelming. But it brings to me a deep sense of purpose, an urgency, and a laser-like focus on my obligation, my duty, my mission, my commitment. It also brings a comforting familiarity, because once again I know the bonds with the one on my right, and with the one on my left. Once again, we are a team, aggressively struggling together to pull each other from the morass of our transition fight.

In Military Service, we take solemn oaths. These oaths bind us, create obligations to our Brothers and Sisters in arms, to our country, to our flag. However, proximity plays a profound role. When deployed, serving the country is macro; the reality is the here, the now, the close in proximity of those we are serving beside.

The person on your right and the one on your left matter so much because you both have written a blank check up to and including your lives. You’ll cash yours for them because you know they’ll cash theirs for you. The United States Marines capture it best; “If the cost is the loss of a life, then let it be my loss and not that of my brother".

I relish the daily opportunity I have been given to continue meeting my obligation. Even though I may be out of uniform now, I am not out of Oath. And I am not the only one. So take a knee transitioning Brothers and Sisters, there are a great many of us now on this side, the transitioned, that have your back. We'll help you; take our hands.