A Modern-Day Veteran
Colby Park is not your traditional veteran. The 36-year-old former Army Airborne Ranger, with four young kids, isn’t what most people think of when they picture a veteran. Most conjure up images of their fathers or grandfathers wearing Vietnam and WWII commemorative hats often fully retired swapping war stories. That isn’t Colby. As time goes on, the “Norman Rockwell” image we have had of veterans is becoming less accurate and more antiquated. Colby represents a new wave of modern-day, “post 9/11” veterans with their own set of unique skills, circumstances, and challenges.
Colby was a senior in high school when 9/11 took place and if you ask him what his motivation was for joining the military, he’ll respond that “110%” of it was because of that day. “I just felt like we had gotten sucker-punched as a country and there was a lot of bad out there in the world and someone needed to make sure this didn’t happen again.” So Colby took the initiative and led from the front, characteristic traits that would continue to define him for years to come, and immediately began a military career that would deploy him to Afghanistan twice as an Army officer and ultimately last close to 17 years.
Colby’s desire to join the military based on the events of 9/11 is shared by many “modern veterans.” A staggering 181,510 Americans enlisted in the ranks of active duty service and 72,908 joined the enlisted Reserves in the year following September 11th of 2001 ushering in a new generation of service members that now - almost 20 years later - is becoming the new generation of veterans. The fact that so many servicemen and women voluntarily joined after 9/11 is an interesting contrast to past generations of veterans who largely joined the military through the draft. This contrast is just one of many distinctive differences between modern-day veterans and those of the past generations.
A Modern-Day Deployment
One of the reasons these modern-day veterans’ skills, challenges, and characteristics are so unique is that their deployment experiences are also incredibly unique. Contrary to what many people think, these tours of duty are not solely defined by winning battles or taking territories. While those aspects of their service are obviously still present, modern-day deployments are almost equally defined by their humanitarian and rebuilding efforts. The enormous impact that the humanitarian aspects of a mobilization have in defining a modern-day veteran is evident in Colby’s choice to highlight those experiences almost exclusively when recalling his deployments. A choice that is even more interesting when remembering how different it is from Colby’s initial reason to join the military. Nevertheless, he proudly describes the tremendous success they had with community leaders and the meaningful relationships they were able to build with local school headmasters because they “saw us for what we were trying to be.” He recounts how they were able to build bridges that gave local farmers better access to their crops. And you can hear the mixture of pride and excitement in his voice as he talks about the work they did for a local elementary school. “We built the school a retaining wall and helped them get school supplies and playground equipment. It helped the local children receive some sort of an education which they deserve because, after all, they are the innocent ones,” Colby adds. It is humanitarian experiences like these that Colby wants the public to better understand. “I wish more stories like these could be shared. I wish the public could see the progress being made and how much the locals truly appreciate that progress.”
The public’s lack of understanding of modern-day deployments is troubling. First, it prevents us from truly appreciating and expressing gratitude for what those veterans have given and what they’ve experienced. But it also leaves the general public not recognizing the transferable real-world skills these service members gain during deployment that could effectively be used to help them find post-service employment - which is a very pressing challenge for these veterans.
A Modern-Day Set of Challenges
When it comes to the biggest challenges facing his generation of veterans, Colby believes that underemployment is second only to mental health. “I have seen so many veterans settle for less because they don’t sell or quantify their value as best they could,” Colby laments. A recent Linkedin study supports Colby’s claim finding that veterans are 37% more likely to be underemployed than nonveterans. While underemployment, defined as the underuse of a worker because a job does not make full use of the worker's skills and abilities, is arguably less severe than unemployment, it is still a troubling trend considering the valuable skills veterans develop during their training and deployments that don’t get used when they return to public life. For example, Colby recounts that even as a young officer the military had already deeply ingrained core leadership traits into his mindset. “The military truly expects officers to lead in every way,” he says. “You are expected to always be the number one or number two guy in everything from fitness to grooming.”
It's not just the leadership skills Colby values, he is also grateful for how the military taught him to take initiative. “The military stresses being prepared for the next five steps,” he says. “You have to be prepared to take initiative on a battlefield. Being complacent is a dangerous attitude.” This learned mindset allows Colby to work very effectively amongst vast uncertainty. “Just give me the boundaries to operate in and I will figure out the rest,” he says. These adaptive leadership skills undoubtedly bolstered Colby’s ability to be successful as a soldier and continue to serve him well as he now enters his private-sector career.
So why do so many veterans who are trained to be leaders and to take initiative still struggle with underemployment? The answer is multi-layered. As Colby suggests, veterans are often hindered by the difficulty of converting the skills they gained during their service to private-sector jobs. And since many veterans lack traditional degrees or certificates, they are pushed towards low-skill jobs even though their military training and experience could often qualify them for higher positions. Additionally, veterans often lack a strong professional network due to the limited time they have spent in the corporate world. This puts them at an incredible disadvantage considering about 70 percent of job seekers find employment through a referral from someone in their network. To add to the challenge, many veterans including Colby believe that the transition services the military offers are “inadequate” because they are too dispersed to be effective.
Veteran underemployment is worrisome for reasons beyond the obvious failure of society’s moral and patriotic duty to ensure that our veterans are taken care of and rewarded for their sacrifices and service. It also represents what could become a national security risk. If veterans continue to struggle with underemployment, it may cause fewer men and women to look at the military as a viable career path and could decrease both enlistment and retention, especially amongst the National Guard and Reserves. Even Colby, who is deeply driven by patriotism and a sense of loyalty to his fellow soldiers, often found himself in situations where his military service put a strain on his corporate career. Eventually, while serving in the National Guard, the strain got to a breaking point and, with his family in mind, Colby felt he could not risk sacrificing his corporate career anymore and turned his focus solely towards corporate career efforts.
Colby’s story represents the uniqueness of the modern-day veteran experience. From the voluntary nature of Colby’s military origins to the humanitarian nature of his service, and finally the continued struggle of transitioning back into the corporate world, Colby’s journey sheds light on the many contemporary intricacies that make up the modern-day veteran’s experience.
A Modern-Day Thank You
So how can we as a society properly thank our modern-day veterans? Ironically, Colby believes we should look to the past for answers. “It was easier to rally around the cause in the past because there were more public events celebrating and saying thanks,” he says. “It starts with the government. There is a lot more that could be done on a federal and state level to provide publicity or messaging that soldiers are home and here is all the good that they did. If this public tribute started at the top, it would hopefully trickle down to local communities,” Colby adds.
On a smaller scale, Colby says that while he is often embarrassed when people thank him, he is most impressed by people who thank his family, especially his wife, for her service in the same spirit that they thank him. “For me, I had more of an idea of what was going on, but for my wife being back home, I am sure it was paralyzing,” he admits. “Every day, every phone call could be terrifying. I don’t know how she did it. The stress that it puts on the family is unimaginable to the average citizen.”
I want to add my own opinion to Colby’s thoughts. While most of us can never truly understand the stress, sacrifices, and challenges of our modern-day veterans and their families, we can still make a conscious effort to educate ourselves as much as possible in order to better understand their experiences and challenges so that, at the very least, our “thank you for your service” can be more genuine and our empathy towards their challenges can be deeper. I believe that true change begins with awareness and therefore it is my hope that this article will not only make more people aware of our modern-day veterans and their unique experiences but that it will also inspire gratitude through action so that we as a society can develop more effective methods of giving our modern-day veterans a modern-day thank you.