I Love a Parade

I checked the Palm Beach Post yesterday, scoping out the parade options.  I have a choice of several but it appears that West Palm Beach offers the best of the lot.  The parade will be on Clematis Street, an oasis of upscale casual dining and night clubs.  It will be followed by entertainment.

Today, Veterans Day, will be marked by pronouncements made on high and somber flag raising ceremonies.  And, tomorrow…  Well, tomorrow we’ll go back to business as usual. 

Less than 1% of Americans have been on active duty in the military.  So, it’s difficult for us to relate to the challenges of the veterans whose service we celebrate today. 

I have served on the board of Operation Homefront's Florida chapter until its merger with the national organization recently.  OH helped over 156,000 veterans and their families last year alone.  Yet, as the wars wind down, the challenges of reintegrating veterans into civilian life absorb less of our attention. 

United Way of Broward County and their counterparts at the American Red Cross have come together to create a consortium of non-profits and government entities with the goal of helping veterans.  The effort has been branded as Mission United under the leadership of Commander Nancy Vaniman, USN (ret.).  Nancy is the type of person who, when told to take the hill, will be planting a flag there before long.

There are a variety of national efforts focused on defining the challenges of veteran reintegration.  Much of it focuses on the impact of PTSD on the individuals and their families.  My focus, as a member of the Mission United Advisory Committee is on employment. 

I asked Nancy if there were a set of best practices that have been documented so we don’t reinvent the wheel.  “We’re not reinventing the wheel,” she said.  “We’re INVENTING the wheel.” 

It’s a daunting challenge.  When I got out of the Navy, nearly every hiring manager had been in the service.  Now it’s rare that you find someone who has served.  Do those folks understand the value of hiring a vet?  Are they up to the challenge?

Put another way…  How many people who say they “support out troops” are really willing to help?

So, how do we develop and implement a plan to close the gap between our best intentions and actual results?

I tend to rely on my business training when developing a game plan to achieve an objective.  Before you make a “to-do” list, you need to define your strategies.  To address the challenge of improving the employment results, we have developed four.

First and foremost is Reintegration.  A lot of work has been done to create a framework for integrating veterans.  The military was the first and only job many of them have ever had.

Second is basic training.  No, not pushups and the rifle range, but rather learning how to write a resume and interview for a job. 

Next is our communication strategy.  We must let veterans know how to get help and get our message to prospective employers.

And, of course, we need to train those employers on the value of hiring veterans and the associated challenges.  This isn’t just about doing the right thing; it’s about the value a military veteran can add to a business.

It’s this last challenge that I think will be the toughest.  Employers no longer value general skills like discipline, creativity and goal orientation – which military veterans have in abundance.  They are looking for direct functional experience. 

I never hire that way.  I would rather hire someone who has the right attitude and personal orientation and teach them the fundamentals.  I like teams who are goal oriented, committed to a plan and who won’t give up until they achieve their objectives. Results are more important than expertise. But, as regular readers know by know by now, I am something of a dinosaur. 

Yes, I love a parade.  But, when Monday comes, veterans face a very difficult reality. 

And you?  Are you a hiring manager?  Are you willing to adapt your hiring practices to truly support our troops? 

Or to put it another way…  WHO WILL LEAD?

No Excuse, Sir!

I had many responses to my last posting (Memorial Day Memories). Most were expressions of gratitude for my service which were warmly received. Others complimented the health of my whiskers (also warmly received). But it was the one from a very close friend, Bob Cannan, which really stood out. Bob was a year behind me at the Naval Academy (USNA). It’s fair to say that my posting caused him to remember some of his own lessons from that time.


By way of background, I should recount for those of you who did not attend USNA that our plebe year (like all military training) was a process of breaking down our conditioned responses to stimuli and replacing them with something more suitable to the armed forces. There were only four acceptable responses to any statement or question from upperclassmen: “yes, sir”; “no, sir”; “I’ll find out, sir”; and, “no excuse, sir”. That’s it. Nothing else need be, should be or had better be said. Try on something else and there was a price to pay.

Why? Well I quote, in part, from Bob’s email:

“Here’s the one phrase that impressed itself on me most profoundly in those formative years: “No excuse, sir.”


“And, the few times I was stupid enough to say it, it was always followed in a nanosecond by, “YOU’RE GODDAM RIGHT THERE’S NO EXCUSE!”


“After a whole (plebe) year facing the holy truth of that response I realized, “Hey, there really isn’t any excuse.” It worked. That got through, and it’s been a big one for me.


“Since then, it always amazes me that the same people who step up and say they “take full responsibility” never really do.


“And further, the main point is that an admission of guilt is not what we want. We don’t want excuses, certainly. But we also don’t want admissions of guilt or failure. Who cares? They’re failing or quitting. That’s been done. They want our sympathy? Our admiration for their honesty?


“We want them to do what they were hired to do, and keep at it until they deliver. That’s when they’ll have my admiration. Honesty and candor aren’t as courageous as the media makes them out to be. In fact they’re so common they’re not even very dramatic anymore. Here’s an alternative: how about shutting your mouth and getting the job done? That’s what you promised. That’s all I want.”

Obviously, Bob is a passionate guy. That’s why I love him. Passion aside, let’s examine for a moment the value of the lesson. We have been served up a succession of failures by our so-called leaders who would have benefited from some USNA conditioning. Think of Richard Nixon, Bill CLinton, Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby.

The common element in each of these examples is that these folks were not guilty of the underlying crime of which they were accused. They were guilty of the cover-up, the lie – the excuse. Richard Nixon wasn’t involved in Watergate; he was guilty of the cover-up. Clinton’s failure was not the Whitewater caper but lying about his sex life. Stewart wasn’t found guilty of insider trading but of lying to the FBI about it. Ditto Scooter Libby.

I often tell people that the personal attribute I value most is “forthrightness”. Think about that for a moment. Forthrightness is more than just honesty. You can be silent and still be honest. Forthrightness is about putting your failures on the table and saying, “There’s no excuse for this but everyone needs to know”.

Can you admit your failures without being drawn out? To your colleagues? To your family? To your children? To your spouse?

In combat, when someone doesn’t admit to a problem, people die. Hopefully that doesn’t happen in our personal and business lives. But, the next time you screw up – and we all do – put it out there to those that matter and simply say, “I have no excuse for this. Let’s talk about it and discuss how we move forward”.

Over the last 20 years, there has been a call for our military heroes to run for President. Schwarzkopf, Powell, Petraeus. What is their appeal? The sentiment transcends party politics. People don’t care about that. Quite simply, they long for true leadership, forthrightness – a “No Excuse” approach to the job. Isn’t that what we grew up with? Eisenhower, JFK, John Glenn?

The Veterans Campaign, a non-profit dedicated to helping military veterans run for office, reports that, in 1969, 75% of members of Congress had served in the military. Today the figure is 22.5%.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have and will produce veterans who will step up and serve. It’s already happening. Indeed my own Congressman is a West Point grad. It will continue to happen because those who serve in the military will want to continue to serve. It will happen because people are tired of partisan politics.

To quote Seth Lynn, the Marine Corps veteran who heads the Veterans Campaign, “Military members have served overseas and seen that the enemy is the guy at the end of the battlefield, not the guy on the other end of the aisle".

Perhaps we will soon have the answer to my favorite question, WHO WILL LEAD?

Veterans. What Are They Entitled To?

Congress should stop treating veterans like they're asking for a hand out when it comes to the benefits they were promised, and they should realize that, were it not for these veterans, there would be nothing to hand out.

 Congressman Nick Lampson (R-TX)


This is what arrived in my Inbox a few days ago:

Case # 7658: SM (that’s Service Member, in case you didn’t know) filed a VA claim for service connected PTSD ( that’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) on November 17, 2010 just beyond the 24 months per SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) policy for consideration…. SM became homeless (emphasis added) in October 2010 and was forced to live out of her car while her 12 year old daughter resided with friends that lived close to her school…. once all the required documentation is submitted to HUD, it may take up to two (2) months to process the case completely…. landlord requires SM pay, security deposit, first and last month’s rent immediately.

SM requested just over $5900 for first and last month rent, food and other expenses. What would you do?

On July 28, 1932, U.S. Army troops commanded by General Douglas MacArthur attacked WW I veterans marching on the U.S. Capitol demanding payment of veterans benefits promised to them by the World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924. Believing they were communists and criminals, the General ordered infantry and the Third Cavalry Regiment (led by Major George S. Patton) to attack the marchers. Fifty-five veterans were injured and 135 arrested.

Well, I guess things aren’t that bad for veterans. Are they? Here’s another one:

Case # 9051: SM participated in the OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) campaign from May 1, 2003 to April 23, 2004. SM was discharged as an Army National Guard reservist on August 26, 2010 and was subsequently admitted to a Rehabilitation Program at the Miami VA Hospital [for PTSD]….. SM states he did not want to admit that he had this and this is why he waited 3+ years to seek treatment.

I am not making this up. These are real cases of SM’s who have submitted claims to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to wounded warriors, combat veterans and their families. In a strange twist on Joseph Heller’s novel of WW II, Catch-22, one can get help from the VA for PTSD but is discouraged by a culture of denial to apply.

SM has applied to VA to increase his PTSD rating. He requests assistance to avoid eviction….

The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, or GI Bill, was passed in 1944 to provide veterans with educational opportunities after the war. Most soldiers and sailors who served went straight from high school to boot camp and received little or no vocational training. As such they were trained to be soldiers but had few skills required in a manufacturing or service-oriented workforce.

President Barack Obama appointed retired General Eric Shinseki to head the Veterans’ Administration at the beginning of his term. In August of 2009, he liberalized rules used by the VA to diagnose and treat PTSD saying, “The hidden wounds of war are being addressed vigorously and comprehensively by this administration as we move VA forward in its transformation to the 21st century”.

SM returned from deployment with a mild case of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) has been unemployed for eight months……

Unlike previous wars, including the war in Vietnam, our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are exposed to danger constantly with little opportunity for rest. Operation Homefront provided assistance to over 160,000 veterans and their families in each of the last two years. The cases ranged from dysfunction related to PTSD to debilitating wounds that prevented veterans from finding work to veterans and their families becoming homeless.

SM is E4 Army veteran, infantry who served 7 years with Army with 2 tours with OIF. SM was honorably discharged April 6, 2007 ….. SM displayed PTSD symptoms after return from second tour in Iraq, and these symptoms increased after his discharge.…. SM was incarcerated in November 2008 when he fired “warning shots” at an aggressive driver from his gun in his car.

I am delighted that Secretary Shinseki has embarked on a program to increase the numbers of service members who would be eligible for treatment for PTSD. However, in my role on Op Homefront’s Florida board, I am exposed to the extent to which the VA and the services themselves are guilty of not helping discharged veterans to successfully transition back to civilian life.

This is not an attack on the Armed Services or the Veterans’ Administration. There are laws governing what they can and can’t do. The laws are converted to regulations and the people who deal with these cases are legally bound to follow the rules. Any set of rules will create exceptional cases and many of them will be egregious.

I think the larger question is: are we, as a society, ready to deal with the aftermath of our dual combat missions? The amputees? The psychologically impaired? The family problems?

There are ancillary questions as well. How do we evaluate these cases to ensure people are getting the help they need? What is the responsibility of government to help them? How will we expand the existing entitlement programs to encompass this new population?

Or to say it differently, WHO WILL LEAD?