Latest / Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk / Oscar Mike Radio – 506 – Micah Taylor – Hire Heroes USA

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Oscar Mike Radio – 506 – Micah Taylor – Hire Heroes USA · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

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Learn more at my camp.com. The brain to perfect for the
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body. Am I in your arrest?
3:06
He results an innocent man in front of his wife and baby
3:09
groom. Do you remember any of that?
3:12
Does the defendant have any priors?
3:14
Resisting arrest, DUI, assault? Hey, my client has been awarded
3:20
a Purple Heart and a bronze star medal for his combat service.
3:23
I'm ordering you to undergo a 60 day outpatient rehabilitation
3:26
program. Good luck.
3:31
No, I'm not doing that. You know what the VA S put me
3:33
through if you have a. Brain in your head.
3:35
You're going to listen to me right now because the next time
3:37
you try to provoke a lethal response from law enforcement,
3:39
you might not have an Angel sitting on your shoulder.
3:41
The courts think that you're going to fix me.
3:43
I hate to disappoint you, but I can't fix you.
3:46
That's your job, not mine. Did you know that your father
3:49
got out? He's a dangerous man.
3:51
Calvin, be careful. We came back and they spat on us
3:56
at the airport. No homecoming parade, no
3:59
celebrations. And you can't pretend like you
4:01
have any idea what it's like to be in combat.
4:04
No, But what I do know is this field of work that I've
4:08
dedicated my life to has helped. A lot of people.
4:11
When you got back, something was different.
4:14
It wasn't that you'd changed, you'd been replaced.
4:20
You lose your morality when you go to war, and the hard part is
4:24
coming back to a civilian society that doesn't have any
4:27
idea what's going on in your head.
4:30
It's hard to. Believe my enemy, he's the man I
4:34
used to be. I bet you wonder where's my
4:37
tribe? And I ain't talking about no
4:39
friendship neither. I'm talking about brotherhood.
4:45
What is it that you truly want, Calvin?
4:48
I just want to wake up in the morning and feel something.
4:53
My pain is relative, son. Sometimes we got to fall apart,
4:57
to find ourselves all over again.
5:01
Wait for me there. Wait for.
5:05
Me there you are willing to give your life for your country now
5:09
maybe you can try living for it. What are you feeding this guy?
5:17
Look like that What? Do you want I did 4 tours?
5:20
Of The Cheesecake Factory. Oh, OK, Little spicy, little
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spicy. None.
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What does the life after service look like?
6:41
Kicking back, taking it easy. We believe it looks a little
6:46
different. It looks like leading for all
6:49
veterans, helping shape policies to make certain they get the
6:53
benefits they've earned, and ensuring every veteran's voice
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is heard. It looks like advancing to meet
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today's veterans where they are lifting them up and
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And cleaning up our communities to make them better for
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The VFW still leading. Still advancing, Still
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servinggetinvolved@stillserving.org. OM Radio, my name is Travis,
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products today and we're rolling right along.
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I hope your summer went well and I have a a different kind of
8:14
nonprofit for you. Let me introduce my next guest,
8:18
Micah Taylor, who's involved with Hire Heroes USA to Oscar
8:21
Micradio. Micah, welcome.
8:23
How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful.
8:26
Thank you so much for having me. It's great.
8:28
I started learning about Hire Heroes USA and your mission and
8:31
what you do. And to me, it still goes back to
8:34
the basics. Betters need jobs, they need
8:38
housing and they need a way to feel connected to their
8:39
community and, and jobs are a big part of that.
8:42
So I'm, I'm interested in learning about all that you all
8:45
do and how you do it. But you know, there's a person
8:49
behind all this and you're involved very heavily.
8:52
So I want to get to know who Micah is.
8:55
Tell me, did you serve in the military?
8:57
Yeah, absolutely. So I served in the Air National
9:00
Guard. I actually went through three
9:02
different Guard units, following my husband around, who is active
9:06
duty. So that's unusual for Guard
9:08
members. And I retired back in 2021.
9:11
It was awesome. You.
9:13
You loved it. Yeah.
9:15
Oh yeah. I loved it.
9:16
I come from a military family, so my mom is a retired Comanche
9:20
from the Montana Air National Guard, My sister is a commander
9:24
over in the Air National Guard, and my father was active duty
9:27
captain and retired as well. So I'm the lowest ranking person
9:31
out of my family. I retired as an E7.
9:35
Still a wonderful journey. Now I got to ask because I
9:39
practiced shooting down aircraft in the Marine Corps.
9:41
What aircraft did you platform did you work on?
9:44
What did you do? So I was an aircraft
9:47
electrician, so aircraft electrical environmental systems
9:52
and I started out on the F Sixteens and then we actually
9:55
transferred over to F Fifteens at the moment.
9:58
So it was kind of crazy going from one smaller aircraft to,
10:02
you know, that dual engine and just learning systems all over
10:05
again. And then about the 10 year
10:07
point, I thought, you know, you know what, I want to try
10:08
something different and I've transferred into education and
10:12
training and became a unit education and training manager
10:15
within the maintenance group and it was wonderful.
10:17
I love my journey with that. I know the F30 fives and the A10
10:20
and the F eighteens that they all get their time the sun Top
10:25
Gun. But and I'm Marine saying this
10:29
but but but in in air to air combat where force is needed
10:34
like now there is no other platform on the planet like the
10:38
F15. Oh, 100 percent, 100%.
10:41
And they're loud, too. Like they're intimidating,
10:43
right? We are coming for you one way or
10:46
the other. And and people don't understand
10:49
and I appreciate what that platform has been around forever
10:52
and how when I I got nerd out here for a second, I'm sorry,
10:56
ma'am. But when it it seemed like when
11:00
it went to the Air National Guard units, it actually got a
11:05
chance to season a little bit and find his way to what it is
11:09
now. And I don't think that would
11:10
happen if it had stayed in the Air Force is a frontline combat
11:15
plane. It's really interesting, all
11:17
we've done. Yeah, 100%.
11:19
Well, and also, you know, Air National Guard people stay,
11:23
right? They stay within their units,
11:24
they come there, right, and they enlist and then they retire.
11:28
So a lot of the the seasons, you get to know your planes, you
11:31
know that you've got the crew dogs who are working on things,
11:34
you got avionics, but we won't talk about them.
11:36
You got the electricians, right. So you're able to go ahead and
11:39
really know what aircraft does what.
11:42
And it's like, it's like raising a child and sending them on out,
11:45
you know? So yeah, it's, it's awesome.
11:47
The guard is amazing. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
11:49
Love, love it, love it, love it. And I just if I get to ask
11:52
nothing else, I wanted to get that out of the way.
11:56
And you, you did multiple things though in the guard kind of like
11:59
a lot of people, right? So did you, did you like going
12:02
from the F16 to F15 to your your last rotation?
12:07
I did so I grew up in a in really the mindset of just say
12:11
yes, right? So my parents were very strict
12:14
and they're my military upbringing, I guess is the way
12:17
to put it, 8:00 bedtime, right? Even in high school, but they
12:20
always said just say yes and go figure it out.
12:22
And so I was able to work many different smaller careers within
12:26
my guard unit through MPA tours, right when the active duty goes
12:31
off and they're like, all right, we need people to fill in.
12:33
I was able to do that. So I worked from, you know,
12:36
being on the flight line to being in the safety office, to
12:39
being over in security forces to go ahead and working logistics.
12:42
I got to know so many career fields.
12:45
I think that's helped me grow in my civilian career.
12:49
Just being able to speak to so many different service members
12:51
about what they did and knowing that I had, you know, hands on
12:55
experience in most of those careers, it was great.
12:58
So you retired, you, you, you get out and now you're doing
13:01
something else. And we're going to talk about
13:03
that now. Before we do, though, what was
13:05
that transition out from being, you know, National Guard to the
13:09
civilian life? I think I benefited because I
13:13
was able to step out a bit earlier.
13:15
I've been on so many different tours and orders about the two
13:18
year point, I decided to just stay back two years earlier from
13:22
my retirement and really start my civilian career.
13:25
I always say that the first year outside of the military when you
13:28
retire, it's very awkward. It's like, what do I do with my
13:31
hands? Like if you're in a picture, it
13:33
feels like that the first year, like what am I?
13:34
What am I doing with my life? But that second year gets really
13:37
good. I try to tell, you know,
13:39
transitioning veterans like you have something to look forward
13:42
to. I got to know myself very well
13:45
and I feel like I was my best self about two years outside.
13:49
I just all that training came in.
13:51
I was able to push it out in my teens, especially when I worked
13:54
over at the US. So in Okinawa when we were over
13:57
there and I just man, I just was solid in what I was doing.
14:00
So that second year is really wonderful.
14:02
But the first year is it's kind of weird and you're you're
14:05
figuring it out and you hope you don't make mistakes and you're
14:07
going to make a lot of them and that's OK.
14:09
So we're talking about Hire Heroes USA, this organization
14:13
that that helps veterans with jobs.
14:15
Kind of tell me how you got connected with them and then
14:18
we'll, we'll, we'll dive deeper. Yeah, absolutely.
14:21
So when I was transferring into the civilian space, I didn't
14:25
know what I wanted to do. I didn't know what I was good
14:27
at. I knew I had said yes to pretty
14:29
much anything anybody wanted and tried to figure it out.
14:32
But I didn't do the hard work of figuring out what I was good at,
14:36
what I had aptitude for, and what I had interest in.
14:39
And from there, I actually reached out to hire Heroes USA
14:42
based on a friend's recommendation, and they were
14:45
wonderful. I met my career advisor, Shelly.
14:48
She was absolutely great. And she said, you know what,
14:50
Micah, I think you would fit very well in our organization.
14:53
We have an opening coming up. Make sure you're on LinkedIn.
14:57
And I hated LinkedIn at the time.
14:58
I love it now. I was like, OK, I'll do the
15:02
work. And I just folded into a space
15:05
of curiosity, not really passion.
15:08
And that led me into my career with Hire Heroes.
15:12
I had to leave due to my husband's PCs, you know, us
15:15
leaving. And we went to Japan and I
15:17
worked for the USO at USO Kadena and ran that, loved that job.
15:21
That was amazing. And then we went over to Germany
15:24
and I started working for the Department of Labor and then
15:27
wound up running the TAP program with military and family
15:30
readiness at Rammstein. When the opportunity to came,
15:34
you know, to come back, they had reached out hire heroes.
15:36
They're like, hey, come back to our team.
15:38
And it was the ultimate like boomerang story.
15:40
I'm like, all right, I'm back. And it was so wonderful.
15:42
I was able to just jump back into things because I knew the
15:45
mission and the people and still had a great community to go back
15:49
to. So let's talk about the mission
15:51
of Hire Heroes USA, because there's a lot of job based
15:55
nonprofits and even paid organizations out there for
15:58
veterans. Tell me what makes Hire Heroes
16:01
USA so unique in this space? I think what makes us unique is
16:05
1 is free, which is amazing. Two, you're able to get resume
16:09
services, so we will help you build that resume, which is kind
16:13
of a big barrier when you think of everything that you've done
16:15
in the service and how do you translate those?
16:18
You know the skills. And the other part is we're
16:21
personalized. We're not walking ahead of you
16:23
on your journey. We're not going to walk behind
16:25
you. We're really going to walk with
16:26
you on this journey. And when we see you walk off
16:29
path to the goals that you've set, we're going to bring you
16:31
back in, right. We're going to have some tough
16:33
conversations. We're going to say, what do you
16:35
want to do with your career? Where do you see yourself?
16:38
We're going to ask you the questions that sometimes can be
16:40
hard to answer for yourself. We're going to make sure that
16:43
you're building a meaningful career, not just the space where
16:46
you you feel like, well, I guess it's another job.
16:49
It's, it's a career that you are invested in, you know, and
16:52
that's hard to figure out in the beginning.
16:53
Well. For sure, for sure you get
16:56
connected and you boomerang back, which I think is really
17:00
speaks to, you know, the relationship that you developed.
17:04
What is it that the veterans should do when they get out?
17:08
Because, you know, the resume is the barrier lot.
17:12
Like I, I, I was a hawk missile systems operator.
17:14
I mean, that was kind of hard to translate into, you know?
17:17
Civilians. Right.
17:19
But you know, the other thing that I kind of wanted to get
17:21
into is I've had many veterans might go tell me, hey, I drove a
17:26
truck, I did electronic work, I did construction.
17:29
I did, you know, project management and all that stuff.
17:33
And I get to the civilian world and it's like none of that
17:36
matters. We don't care what you did.
17:40
You don't have the, you know, CDL, Sir, you don't have the
17:43
green card, you don't have the PMP.
17:46
You don't. You don't, you don't, but I'm
17:49
like, how can you say that when they have, you know, 3520 years
17:54
of experience and at that point the veteran gets very frustrated
18:00
and very jaded about the whole experience.
18:04
So I, I guess, you know, one, do you see that a lot and what you
18:07
do? And then 2 is hire Heroes USA
18:11
aware of that and how are you all dealing with that?
18:14
So we'll start with the first one is when do you see that?
18:17
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's, it's important to
18:19
acknowledge that when we see people, we see them kind of at
18:22
their worst, right? We're not seeing the best of the
18:25
best of their best moment. And they're, they're on this
18:28
high and everything is working. We're seeing them in a point
18:31
where, man, I, I need a job, I need a career, I need purpose
18:35
and I need to give back. I also need income because money
18:38
is very important, right? It builds your life.
18:41
So when we're seeing these people, it's important to look
18:44
at that and recognize that. And our job is to build that
18:47
foundation with them and work on, OK, I know what you don't
18:51
want to do. Let's figure out what you do
18:53
want to do or ask them questions that involve a lot of coaching
18:56
to help them think of ideas and move forward.
18:59
And also to recognize that, hey, if you want to go to from point
19:03
A to point B, what do we need to do to get you there, right?
19:06
What do you need to accomplish? What schools do you need to go
19:09
to? What training program do you
19:11
need? Do you need certifications?
19:13
What pathways are there? And also recognizing that you
19:16
are a veteran, you have experience, really good things
19:19
that you can bring into a workplace.
19:21
So let's work with you to bring those out.
19:23
Most of the time when I, when I speak to veterans, I'm like,
19:26
what did you do in the military? And they're like, well, I, I
19:28
just did my job. You know, it's very common to
19:30
hear that and that's great. But let's talk about you in the
19:34
I fashion, not the we fashion. Well, we did this.
19:37
I want to know what you did because I'm hiring you.
19:40
So let's bring that in and make sure we're elevating
19:43
conversations like that take time.
19:45
It's not done in A1 and done. What's nice is that we work with
19:48
veterans, transitioning service members, spouses, all of that
19:51
over time. And so over time, we're able to
19:54
build those skills because skills, you know, they have to
19:57
be used over and over again, just like interviewing.
19:59
You got to, you got to do it over and over again to get
20:01
really, really good. And we want to make sure that
20:03
they're they are their best selves when they are speaking
20:07
about themselves. You speak about yourself, which
20:10
is hard to do. Like I don't like speaking about
20:15
myself. It's really kind of ironic in a
20:17
way. You have to breakthrough that
20:21
hesitancy and do it. How do you all coach the veteran
20:24
to start articulating their experiences in a way that helps
20:29
them advocate for themselves? Absolutely.
20:31
So it starts with what do you love to do, you know, and, and
20:36
helping those open-ended questions, getting those
20:38
answered. Well, I love that I had a
20:41
mission. I love that I was able to
20:43
connect with my peers. You know, I love sitting in an
20:46
office or I can't sit in an office.
20:48
I love being outdoors. And from there, you build on
20:52
questions. Well, what did you love about
20:53
this? OK, tell me about the resources
20:56
that you used. What was your greatest
20:57
accomplishment? And you get veterans really
21:00
thinking about who they were in the military, what they
21:04
accomplished and what they didn't like as well.
21:06
I think that's just as important.
21:08
Confidence comes from knowing yourself.
21:10
And when you're in a transition state, it's kind of like your
21:14
your whole mindset is in flux and you hope that you know who
21:17
you are as a civilian, but you definitely know who you were in
21:20
the military. And that in between space can be
21:22
very fuzzy. And our job is to provide that,
21:25
you know, contrast and clarity to help build them up.
21:28
So it's a lot of open-ended questions and coaching.
21:32
You go from working on aircraft to this part of your life.
21:40
What was it the the the time of the National Air National Guard
21:44
that helped you out? Or was it working in Okinawa, in
21:48
Rammstein? That really allows you to
21:50
understand the veteran mind and help them out.
21:55
Man, that's a great question. I think it's twofold. 1 I did
22:00
have a couple supervisors in the military that just I did not
22:04
vibe with, right. And sometimes your, your worst
22:06
supervision is like your best lesson, right?
22:09
You just know what you don't want.
22:11
And I felt very small and I'm a giant person.
22:13
I'm almost like I'm 511. But I felt very small in a space
22:17
that I should have felt good to grow.
22:19
So I take it personal when you know, transitioning service
22:22
members also feel very small in a space that they should feel
22:26
good in. So I try to step back with
22:28
empathy and kindness and directness.
22:31
I'm very direct, but it works. It works in this space to help
22:36
people grow. What I noticed is that people
22:38
don't advocate for themselves as they should.
22:41
You know, they really don't speak about what they have done.
22:44
And people are exciting. Veterans are talented people.
22:48
You know, they're talented and they're fun and they're great to
22:50
hang out with. And I want to bring that out.
22:52
But it was really starting early in the military and then seeing
22:57
what people needed and just recognizing myself within that
23:00
other person and knowing that I never want them to feel small in
23:04
a space that they should feel good and confident.
23:08
It almost reminds me of what another Navy veteran who retired
23:11
said, that they your, your, your people, whether you're in the
23:16
military, the people that you're with have to know you care about
23:20
them. Yeah, OK.
23:22
It matters, it really does, because if you're creating a
23:26
safe space, then then they can do the most humbling thing on
23:30
the planet, which is ask questions, right?
23:33
So there's, there's psychological safety and my
23:35
master's was on like my thesis was on team size and mental
23:39
safety, right? And so the smaller the group,
23:42
the better the questions because you feel safe.
23:44
You ever go to commander's call and you're like, wow, anybody
23:47
have a question? Nobody asks anything because
23:48
it's not safe to do it. But as counselors or not
23:51
counselors, but career advisors, if we're there and we're
23:53
creating a safe space, good questions come out of it because
23:56
they want to know the answer. So I think that's important to
23:59
have that, you know, when we're speaking with them.
24:02
So let's play a little game here.
24:04
Yeah. Let's pretend like, you know,
24:06
I'm Lance Corporal Schmuckatelli and I'm getting out of the
24:09
Marine Corps as a terminal Lance, no fault of my own.
24:12
And I I I crewed this radar system and I need a job.
24:17
And I've come to Hire Heroes USA because I was told, hey, you
24:20
know, go to Hire Heroes USA. What happens when I go to the
24:26
website and start the intake process?
24:29
What's happening? Can you, can you walk me through
24:31
that? Yeah, absolutely.
24:33
So the first part is, is you'll see this as I say, Register here
24:37
and it's through a system called My Track.
24:40
And through that, they're going to ask you about 26 different
24:43
questions, right? What did you do?
24:45
Where do you want to go? Where do you want to live?
24:47
And you don't have to answer all of the questions, but the goal
24:50
is to get your mind thinking right.
24:52
Plus you do have to verify that you are transitioning service
24:56
member, veteran or military spouse.
24:59
And so from there you're going to enter into a system and about
25:01
a week later, hopefully a week, it's been very busy.
25:04
We're going to go ahead and assign you a career advisor and
25:08
you'll get an e-mail that comes in and says, hey, I would love
25:10
to schedule a time to talk with you.
25:12
If nothing is scheduled, then they're going to call you
25:15
because you reached out and you need help.
25:16
And that movement, right, creates that motivation.
25:19
So we want to continue with that movement.
25:21
So we go ahead, we call you and then I'm going to say, hey, how
25:24
are you today? You know, how's your transition
25:27
going? And I'm going to prep you on
25:28
this call, say I'm going to ask you a lot of different
25:30
questions. I want to really find out about
25:32
you, about the barriers that you have, what you want to do in
25:36
your life, you know, what you want to be when you grow up.
25:39
And then I want to move from there and see how I can help and
25:41
provide the right resources. A lot of questions that I asked
25:44
her what, what salary do you need?
25:47
Not the salary that you want, not the salary that's going to
25:49
make the world great for you. What's the salary that you need
25:52
to live? And then let's build from there.
25:55
What area are you going to? Because if you're going to go to
25:58
New York City, that's going to be very different than going to
26:00
Great Falls, Mt, which is where I'm from, you know, So the
26:04
salary makes a difference. What are your goals?
26:07
Do you want to run programs? Do you want to go ahead and run
26:10
projects which are different? What excites you and what are
26:13
you curious about? And then I'm going to ask about
26:15
your family life. Do you have kids?
26:17
Right? Because if you have a family to
26:18
support, that's going to change your salary expectations, you
26:22
know. But if your spouse goes ahead
26:24
and they are making $120,000 a year, that might also change the
26:28
trajectory of what you can lean into and take risks.
26:32
So there's a lot of conversations that happen.
26:34
And then I'm going to say, OK, let's talk about the first
26:36
thing. Let's work on that resume and
26:39
then I'm going to go ahead and look for different jobs.
26:41
I'm going to see what I can do to support you.
26:43
I'm going to find out what you need, whether it's you need to
26:45
work on LinkedIn, which is really hard for veterans, right?
26:48
Especially if you have a certain security clearance.
26:51
They're like, don't get on social media, don't do anything.
26:53
But now all of the jobs and all of the connections and
26:56
everything you need is on LinkedIn.
26:58
Well, how do you do that? So let's see if we can help or
27:01
find you a mentor. So there's many, many different
27:04
paths that we have. And then I'm going to check up
27:06
on you and I'm going to hold you accountable, which is a lot of
27:09
it. It's not a one and done.
27:11
It's continuous care. And I'm going to call you
27:13
probably every every month. Sometimes I call people every
27:17
week, depends on their financial situations.
27:21
So in addition to this, while while I'm going through this
27:25
process of, of finding a new career, are there any other, you
27:30
know, resources or services that run in parallel to the main
27:33
offering? Yeah, absolutely.
27:36
So a lot of it can be tailored to what your specific need is.
27:40
So we have pathways that are just for women veterans, you
27:43
know, especially as a woman veteran myself, you know, either
27:47
going through like perimenopausal or maybe I want
27:49
to stay home with my kids after I get out and then I want to go
27:52
back to work. A lot of it depends on that
27:54
pathway, right, That I, I want to develop for the future
27:57
version of me. Additionally, if you are a
28:00
junior enlisted, that's going to look different than if you're
28:02
retiring because retirement comes with a certain kind of
28:05
soft fall back on that income. But a junior enlisted may not
28:09
have that. So what other income do you need
28:12
to include? Also, hey, military spouses,
28:15
that's a whole separate game that we have because the
28:17
unemployment rate is so high because we're like remote work
28:21
matters so much, especially if you're going overseas.
28:24
So we want to make sure that we're specifying areas that you
28:27
need to go to to make sure you're the best version of
28:30
yourself with that tailored experience.
28:32
I did want to ask about serving military spouses because some
28:38
places say they do it, but Hire Heroes USA makes it very clear
28:42
in the website and their social media that hey, we have a whole
28:46
track just for military spouses. You kind of already answered
28:50
those questions. OI won't get into all that but I
28:52
was curious where did that direction come from?
28:55
Because looking at how you structured your programs does
28:59
seem to be a very intentful path you all took.
29:02
Oh, absolutely. So there is a our great like
29:06
director of that Kelly Kelly, whose first name is Kelly and
29:09
last name is Kelly. And I love it.
29:11
She is probably the best military spouse advocate that is
29:15
out there, right Out of every people everywhere, she is the
29:18
best one. And she really saw how hard it
29:20
was in order to go ahead and for military spouses to get a job
29:25
because there's so much stigma. Well, I don't want to hire you
29:27
because you're going to leave. Oh, I don't want to hire you
29:30
because your experience on your resume, you know, jumps around
29:33
and sometimes you have to take the job that's available.
29:36
You know, this is not an economy where one income is going to do
29:40
it. Both people probably need to
29:41
work, especially if you are, you know, a junior enlisted
29:44
personnel. So you're trying to go ahead and
29:47
make all of that make sense. And so having a specific
29:50
program, specific advocacy and really just kind of BFFSI guess
29:55
is a good way to put it. Kelly Kelly is a friend to all
29:59
military spouses. I guess it's a good way and she
30:02
will sit with you on that path. She's not going to go behind
30:05
you, in front of you. She's with you on that journey.
30:07
And her and her team really do create this safe space of man.
30:11
I'm really struggling. I don't know what to do.
30:13
That's OK. Hey, I'm highly educated.
30:15
I still can't get a job. That's OK.
30:17
Let's see what we can do. Also, military spouse.
30:20
I think they came out with a new study.
30:22
The suicide rate is extremely high.
30:23
I think it's one in eight, you know, and so employment purpose
30:28
that has a lot to do with it on who you are and how you can
30:31
support your service members because of if home is good, then
30:35
guess what, service members going to go out and do their
30:36
job. But if home is bad, that is such
30:39
a weird and horrible mental space to be in.
30:41
So we want to take care of that. For sure, for sure, in in more
30:46
ways than one. The other thing that comes
30:49
across very clearly and it's you kind of audience that is serving
30:53
female veterans. And again, I have to think
30:56
that's intentful because it's just now I think, you know, you
30:59
know, I've known that for quite some time, but a lot of people
31:01
don't know that female veterans, women veterans are the fastest
31:05
growing segment of the veteran population.
31:07
But the services haven't quite caught up.
31:10
But again, it seems like our Heroes, USA said.
31:12
You know what, we're going to make sure that we address that
31:16
right now from the get go. Absolutely, they definitely are
31:20
on the front line of that. You know, when I joined the
31:23
electric shop, I was the first female ever.
31:26
And it was, I remember very clearly walking in and there's a
31:30
whole bunch of guard guys who had been there for, you know, 2
31:32
decades and they looked at me and they didn't know what to do
31:35
with me. And I'm like, I'm just here to
31:36
do my job. Please teach me.
31:38
So now, like through this progression and, and my mother
31:41
being, you know, the first female command chief that they
31:43
have like, like just learning all these lessons and then
31:45
taking it back and saying, guess what?
31:47
We see you, right, hire heroes sees you as not just a veteran,
31:51
but a female veteran, right, a woman's veteran.
31:54
And let's see what pathways matter for you and the journey
31:57
that you're going to go on and what we can find you within that
32:00
network. So you have camaraderie.
32:02
This is one side of the coin, but also there you have to work
32:06
with employers. And how does that work?
32:09
Because every employer of course, is different.
32:12
Some employers like, you know what I'm all about this.
32:14
Some employers, like some of course, just want to get the
32:17
federal guideline, you know, check box checked and don't
32:21
care. Well, you I'm am I wrong?
32:24
No, you're so right. I'm laughing because it's very
32:26
true. So you have a lot to navigate
32:30
there. How?
32:31
How do you as a program director manager do that?
32:36
So a lot of what I do is education.
32:39
You know, if employers don't reach out and say, what does it
32:42
mean to hire transitioning service members, veterans and
32:46
spouses, then they don't really they, you know, they're missing
32:49
out. My goal is to educate them and
32:51
say, don't look at social media, don't think that every veteran
32:54
has PTSD, don't think that every military spouse is going to
32:57
move. You know, let's figure out what
32:59
works for you and what it means to hire veterans.
33:02
And also what's your onboarding program look like?
33:05
Because it should be different for military veterans as they
33:08
come in, right? It should be a very structured
33:10
training program. I think most people, veteran or
33:15
civilian, know that when you join an organization, you know,
33:18
within that first week, whether you're going to stay or not
33:20
based on onboarding, you know, if you're going to quit, you're
33:22
going to find something else. You're like, man, I, I really
33:24
love it here. And I love working with
33:26
employers and saying, you know what, what can we do to get them
33:29
to stay? How can we get them involved in
33:32
your mission and your vision at your organization to really
33:35
develop? Because I know how wonderful
33:37
it's going to be to have them there.
33:39
They're going to advocate, they're going to show up early,
33:42
you know, that that's kind of a big thing.
33:45
They're going to make sure that they stay loyal, especially
33:47
military spouses, because they want to make sure that when they
33:50
move, maybe they can stay with your organization, you know, So
33:53
being flexible and being willing to, you know, take in that
33:58
knowledge, being educated as far as what it means to hire is a
34:01
really big deal. We also have a whole team over
34:04
here at Hire Heroes USA who can talk with employers and help
34:08
them develop those plans. So we're going to walk with
34:10
employers as well. Well, it just makes me curious
34:14
because you have the US Army Soldier for Life program.
34:18
The Marine Corps was recently on the news about the fact that
34:20
they're, they're going to try to make their transition process
34:23
aligned with, you know, civilian employers, which was earth
34:27
shattering because as you know, when I got out, it was like
34:31
here, here, here's your out, you're gone, don't come back.
34:35
Bye. So the, I think is the military
34:40
themselves recognizing that, you know, what if we make this
34:43
better for the solar sailor Marine, we're going to, you
34:46
know, get that back when recruiting time comes over
34:49
again. Because I think that's what was
34:51
missed so often is you're just done with me.
34:54
And well, thanks, but I still want to serve.
34:56
And I'm curious, you know, you've done this a long time and
35:00
you've had your new 7, right? So you've had those
35:03
conversations with, you know, your junior enlisted or even
35:07
your junior officers about getting out.
35:09
And I'm sure that colors everything you do.
35:11
It does. And I also think, you know,
35:13
being over at Rammstein Air Force Base and being the
35:16
transition, you know, assistance program manager, I saw a lot of
35:19
people came in. I will say if, if I were to do
35:22
anything like as a service member, I would say start early.
35:26
So start early, halfway through your enlistment, if you could do
35:30
anything and think about who you are when you get out, think
35:34
about the future version of you. Because if you do that, every
35:38
step that you take, whether conscious or unconscious, we'll
35:42
go ahead and lead you to there, right?
35:44
If you really not just visualize, but you sit back and
35:47
you go, you know what, I want to be an engineer, what kind where
35:50
at and you really think ahead, your transition is going to be a
35:53
lot better. You may have to pivot and people
35:56
are made in the pivots, right? But you're going to go ahead and
35:58
reach that goal that you need to.
36:00
When I dealt with transitioning service members, a lot of them
36:05
started too late and then the panic sets in, right.
36:09
And so as tap program managers, we could only do so much until
36:13
the day that you left. So the earlier you did, the
36:16
better. But if, if someone, and
36:18
normally, I hate to say it, but started with supervision,
36:21
someone said, oh, you don't need to do TAP, even though
36:23
congressionally you do. And then a few, you know, you
36:26
get out in a couple weeks, you're like, Oh my gosh, I need
36:28
my congressional requirement. And then you're rushing through
36:31
CBTS when you really have the opportunity to take classes,
36:35
when you really have the opportunity to reach out to
36:38
organizations like Hire Heroes USA early to make sure your
36:41
transition was good. The more you are prepped, the
36:44
better it's going to be. And I'm not saying it doesn't
36:46
have obstacles, right? I'm not saying it's not oh it's
36:50
it's overwhelming, but it's less overwhelming the more you're
36:53
prep prepped for it just. A different scenario here.
36:59
OK, I'm getting out. I'm getting, I'm getting out.
37:01
And then the, the Sergeant major calls you in with career jammer
37:04
and says, hey, you know, if you stay in, we can give you a, a 20
37:08
to $40,000 bonus. What do you think about that?
37:12
Tap is designed, Yeah. Oh, it's it's designed to be a
37:15
retention tool. That is the point of yes, it was
37:19
done, designed for that kind of, I hate to say it, but kind of to
37:22
scare you and to get you to stay in.
37:24
And I have to say, sometimes it was a good decision.
37:27
People stayed in, they didn't have the education that they
37:29
needed for the goal of who they wanted to be.
37:32
They didn't have the home to go to, right?
37:34
Homelessness is very real. They didn't have a job or an
37:37
income. There was no place to go.
37:40
And so staying in was the smartest decision they had
37:43
because they had a safe space, because they had income, you
37:47
know, because they had a team and camaraderie and, and really
37:49
other people to help kind of raise you right as you're
37:52
growing. The whole point is to think
37:55
early, right? And then to stay, ma'am, do I
37:58
want to stay? Is it worth it?
37:59
Or does this align with who I want to be in 10 years?
38:03
And if it doesn't align, then you need to make a different
38:05
decision and sometimes a hard decision, but that's why we're
38:07
here is to help you progress through that.
38:12
Higher Heroes USA has been around for a little while and
38:15
you serve, you know, veterans all across the nation.
38:18
I guess to someone looking at you knew not seeing you all for
38:23
the first time is is how could how do you say that you measure
38:26
your impact? How do you how do you sit there
38:29
and quantify the effectiveness of what Hire Heroes USA is
38:33
doing? Yeah, absolutely.
38:35
So let's think big picture, right?
38:38
200,000 veterans leave the service every year.
38:41
That's 200,000 people who are like, you know what?
38:44
I need a job, I need a company, I need a home, I need to care
38:47
for my family. We as Hire Heroes over our
38:50
tenure has actually created and helped 120,000 confirmed hires.
38:55
So 120,000 people are back in the economy.
38:59
They're supporting their families, they're going to
39:01
college, they're making money. And then the businesses that are
39:04
affected by that are also making money.
39:07
So it trickles down to where if you have a veteran who's working
39:10
well, who has a job, right, and who's contributing, then guess
39:15
what? They're going to help other
39:16
veterans because veterans help veterans, right?
39:19
It's a built in camaraderie. We may throw shade to each
39:22
other, right? And that's OK.
39:23
I believe in that good humor. Not a work though, because it's
39:26
got me in trouble. But other than that, it's it's
39:30
good because confirmed hires helping people makes them the
39:34
best version of themselves. And that's our goal is to get a
39:36
meaningful. Career What's next for Hire
39:39
Heroes USA? Oh, that's a good question.
39:42
The reason I ask is in the civilian life, what I'm finding
39:46
out from, from peers and colleagues is AI is disrupting
39:51
everything. You know, there's a story about
39:54
the guy using AI to write his resume and then the, the, the,
39:59
the place agency had AI to detect his AI.
40:02
And a lot of the interpersonal stuff is, is gone away with now.
40:08
How do you all manage that? With moving forward of what
40:13
you're trying to do. Yeah, good question, right?
40:17
I think a lot of it depends. Humans need humans.
40:20
I guess it's a good way to put it.
40:22
You know, you can ask AI for advice, but having a human
40:26
right, another veteran, another spouse, another person walking
40:30
with you allows a connectedness that AI is never going to have
40:34
because you feel like you have advocacy when it comes to hiring
40:38
on the back end, AI plays a part of it.
40:41
Absolutely. That is the world that we're in.
40:43
But our job is also to say, well, let's work on networking,
40:46
right? Let's go, Let's go to a job
40:49
fair. Let's meet people here, here is
40:52
my resume here. Let's go ahead and apply, but
40:54
connect on LinkedIn and send out those emails and say, hey, I
40:57
just applied for your job or let's work on mentorship and
41:00
advocacy. We have an amazing mentorship
41:02
program. Humans need human and humans to
41:05
go ahead and and survive and progress.
41:08
AI is great if you can't think of anything, if you need help,
41:11
but you have to know your resume, you have to know what
41:13
you did and you have to speak intelligently about what you've
41:17
done, what resources you use and what the outcome is.
41:20
And our goal is to kind of guide you on that.
41:22
If you can't speak well about what you've done, that is OK.
41:25
We are going to coach you through that.
41:27
But at the end of it, when you go for that interview, we want
41:29
to make sure it counts. The goal is to get the interview
41:32
and then let's prep and from the interview, let's get you the
41:34
job. But you need help with
41:36
negotiation. Let's help you that as well.
41:38
You have to adapt to the world that you're in, but humans will
41:41
always need humans. May I ask you wind this down a
41:47
more of a personal question, Micah, you come from a military
41:52
family with two parents who served your country for a long
41:56
time. You have military brothers and
41:59
sisters. Do you have any children?
42:02
Yeah, 14 year old. Two-part question, what do you
42:10
think your family sees when they see you working this way?
42:15
And then for your your child who's coming up in the world and
42:18
you know who, I don't know about your 14 year old, but all free
42:21
of mine knew everything. I was just the old fuddy Duddy
42:25
dad, right? You're just not smart enough.
42:29
But one thing I found, maybe you Griffin, maybe you don't, is
42:32
they might say that, but but Micah, they watch everything we
42:36
do. Yeah.
42:38
What do you think? So in the in the macro answer if
42:41
you will, I'm looking for an answer that says what do you
42:44
think your family feels or or sees when they see you working
42:48
in the space? I think they are proud, you
42:53
know, and I think my son sees, you know, what a servant heart
42:58
that our family has. He can recite what Hire Heroes
43:02
does as well. He knows it.
43:04
But right, he's very, he's very, he's a very literal child, but
43:10
he's a, it's a 14 year old boy, very tall.
43:12
He's like 6/2 at 14. But we raise him to look and
43:17
have a servant heart within his community.
43:20
And we raise him to say you're, you are one part of a big
43:23
circle. And if you don't work, that
43:25
circle breaks, right? We also raise him to have, we
43:29
have him in a thing called gentleman training, right?
43:31
So he opens the doors, you know, and he's offering to carry bags.
43:35
He stands when a lady walks in the room.
43:37
We're raising him with really good manners because I never
43:40
want to have an excuse like I didn't raise you right now, when
43:43
he has 18, right, or he goes to college, whatever he does with
43:47
that information is his responsibility.
43:49
You know, we're going to do the best we can.
43:51
And then whatever you do with it, that's great.
43:53
But I want him to know that we worked hard.
43:56
You know, he's a hard worker. I want him to know that if you
43:59
want anything, you have to earn it, right?
44:02
A good example is he he wanted the new Nintendo Switch.
44:07
I was like, I'm not going to buy you that.
44:08
Your one works great. If you want it, you go earn it.
44:11
And he did. He sold all of his Pokémon cards
44:13
within like a week. He mowed lawns.
44:17
But he owns that. And I want to respect that.
44:19
He isn't. He's an only child.
44:21
And I need to know that he is dependent upon himself and he is
44:25
dependent upon his actions. And so he can set that path
44:29
forward. Yeah.
44:30
So we, I'm, I'm a tough mom. I am.
44:33
But I want to make sure that he knows that he's responsible for
44:37
who he is in this world and he is part of this community.
44:41
Well, I mean, you could take your son, apply that to most of
44:45
us veterans. We got to take ownership of our
44:48
future and our career. And yes, you're there to, to
44:51
help your son, You're there to help the veteran.
44:55
But still it's up to us to take the, the council and the wisdom
44:59
and the advice and the resources apply them.
45:02
So, you know, it's, it's not too much different, is it, Micah?
45:06
No, it's not. No, it's you.
45:09
How do I put this? People are made in the pivot and
45:13
you have to be able to pivot because no one is living a
45:16
straight line in life, right? You have to adjust and from the
45:19
adjustments, you have to move forward.
45:22
You know, sometimes I'll, I'll speak to veterans and they speak
45:25
about their four years in the military and it had been 30
45:28
years. And that was the best years of
45:30
their life. And part of me steps back and
45:32
go. But man, you, you have so much
45:34
life in between. You know what, what can we do to
45:37
get you living again where these are your best years?
45:39
You know, what can we do to pivot?
45:43
For sure, for sure. How can people connect with, you
45:47
know, hire Heroes USA to either, you know, look at this as a
45:51
service provider or, you know, assist or help out where needed?
45:56
Yeah, so the best way is to actually go to our website,
45:59
whichishireheroesusa.org and you're going to see a spot there
46:03
and it says just go ahead and find out more or apply and you
46:07
come on in, fill out the information and then go from
46:10
there and we'll get a hold of you.
46:12
And our our calls are not spam calls.
46:14
We promise we're calling a. Real person, not an AI.
46:18
Absolutely. I'm like, it's us, I promise.
46:19
Sometimes I'll text and I'm like, it's me, I promise.
46:24
Well, Micah, I, I just want to thank you for coming on and
46:26
sharing so candidly with me. I, I've learned a whole lot.
46:30
I still say that out of all the things out there, it really does
46:33
start with Maslow. If you got a place to stay in a
46:36
job, you're, you're, you're really on your way.
46:38
So I think it's interesting too how you served and now you're
46:45
continuing to serve in a different way.
46:47
Yeah, it's, it's there. I don't think it'll ever go
46:49
away. Yeah, I like it.
46:51
I will have the link to hire Heroes USA and also Mike radio
46:54
show post. I want to thank Mike again for
46:57
coming on talking with me. Micah, all the best to your
46:59
future endeavors and you know you have a welcome invitation to
47:02
come back on and talk to me in the future.
47:04
Awesome. Thank you so much.
47:06
Strauss OM Radio We're on the mission, we're on the move, and
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we'll see you next time. Every generation, every
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sacrifice our nation's service members have.
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Now it's our turn to stand up for them this year.
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