Lessons Learned for Vets

Send us Fan Mail Jennifer Jones is wrapping up her 20-year career in the US Air Force as a paralegal manager who trains and develops 350 other legal professionals. Jennifer is in the process of transitioning and is contemplating roles in the human resources, data analytics or financial fields. On this episode, Jennifer asks questions to help clarify the actions she needs to take for a successful t...

Send us Fan Mail Leon Thomas wrapped up his Air Force career as the Airman Leadership School Commandant. Retiring in 2022, Leon is now in a learning and development role with Allstate, a Fortune 100 company. Though he landed a great role that provides well for his family, he has experienced some challenges along the way.  As a veteran with an impressive career in the military, Leon believed he wou...

Send us Fan Mail William Wunschel is currently in the process of retiring from the United States Air Force as a senior maintenance officer. Over the course of his 20 years in the military, Bill has held leadership positions at the tactical, strategic and headquarters levels. He began his terminal leave in early February, with an official retirement date of June 2023. Over the past several weeks, B...

Send us Fan Mail Retiring from the Army in 2021, Shirley Baez went directly from the military to her first job. Like many veterans, Shirley left her first role for a better fit within a year after retiring.  Learning from her own transition, Shirley encourages servicemembers to take time for introspection and learn how to shift from a military mindset to one that focuses on the future. She is pass...

Send us Fan Mail When Keith Cassant retired from the U.S. Army in 2019, his intention was to transition straight into a role in law enforcement. After learning he was physically ineligible, Keith had to find a new focus. Since retiring, Keith has held four different roles. His current position with Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a great fit, and Keith shares the lessons he...

Send us Fan Mail After serving as a military cargo pilot, Josh Mason transitioned his career focus in the US Air Force to cybersecurity. Leaving the military in 2019, Josh has had an exciting and diverse employment history. He has taught at the US Air Force Special Operations School, the DoD Cyber Crime Center’s Cyber Training Academy and the veteran training organization, WithYouWithMe. Today, Jo...

Send us Fan Mail US Army veteran Jonathan Fisher spent his military career in aviation maintenance. When he decided to retire, he also made the decision to start his next career in the IT industry. Using SkillBridge as a launching pad to land his first role with start-up company, ByteChek, Jonathan worked as an Auditor and GRC Engineer. With financial trouble looming due to economic uncertainty, J...

Send us Fan Mail We welcome back to the microphone, Bob Newlin, who joins us on this episode to reflect on his transition after hanging up the uniform 18 months ago. Bob’s diverse career in the United States Air Force included time in the USAF band and as a defense attaché, most recently to Ukraine. His transition wasn’t smooth, especially with the added challenge of transitioning from overseas. H...

Send us Fan Mail We are excited to introduce Jordana Megonigal on this episode of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast. Although Jordana is neither a veteran nor a military spouse, she is a military daughter and has centered her life around serving those who have served through her organization, The RECON Network. This organization provides purpose-based career planning and resources for veterans,...

Send us Fan Mail After serving a successful career in the medical field for the US Navy, Dr. Vaughn Eason recently started a new chapter as the Director of Imaging and Cardiopulmonary Services at Madison Hospital in Alabama. From the outside, Dr. Eason’s transition looks seamless and effortless, after all, he started his new position before he officially retired. However, some struggles are less o...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast, we continue our 2-part series unpacking content from Adam Braatz’s newly released book, LinkedIn Mastery for Veterans and Transitioning Service Members . We highly encourage our listeners to listen and digest Part 1 before continuing with this episode.  Now that we’ve walked through the different sections of a LinkedIn profi...

Send us Fan Mail Adam Braatz served in the USAF for 8 years before separating in 2015. In addition to holding several communications and marketing roles, Adam has become an influential voice in the veteran advocacy ecosystem. Adam’s book, LinkedIn Mastery for Veterans and Transitioning Service Members, was recently released and contains actionable strategies to improve your LinkedIn profile. Altho...

Send us Fan Mail On this week’s episode of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast, we are excited to bring you our first Q&A session of Season 3. After serving 6 years on active duty, Cody Bowman transitioned to the South Dakota Air National Guard. He encountered many challenges during the transition and is determined to better prepare for his future retirement transition. Although still 9 years...

Send us Fan Mail To launch the 3rd season of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast, we welcome Dr. Bernard Toney. Dr. Toney’s impressive US Army career includes serving 3+ years as a White House Medical Officer, where he provided medical care to the Vice President and First Lady. A month after his retirement, he began a role as an Advanced Practice Provider / Associate Investigator for the National...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes life hands you the unexpected. For the last episode of Season 2, I had a plan but then had to pivot. My life was hacked last week, and if you’ve ever experienced someone gaining access to your bank account, then you know that the nightmare keeps going, compounding itself with each new day. My planned guest also had life hand him the unexpected, so I decided to record a s...

Send us Fan Mail After serving 21 years in the US Army, Deon Myers retired and landed a supervisory role shortly thereafter at Raytheon. Within a year at his new company, he learned the facility was closing, and he would be transferred to a new location. Not willing to add a significant amount of time to his commute, Deon leaned back into LinkedIn and accepted a new position that better fit the ne...

Send us Fan Mail On this week’s podcast, we celebrate our 100th episode by recapping some of the most common and important military transition lessons that our guest speakers have shared over the past 99 episodes. We welcome 7 previous guests on this episode to speak on a key issue they either talked about in their episode or have since focused on as their career has progressed. ✩ Gregory Austin:...

Send us Fan Mail After serving a career in security forces, Brian Arrington retired from the United States Air Force ready for a new challenge. Landing a role with Wells Fargo as a business consultant right after retirement, Brian’s successful transition is a testament to his hard work and determination. In 2019, Brian launched Vets2Industry, a non-profit dedicated to serving service members and t...

Send us Fan Mail After serving 4 years in the US Army as an officer in the medical service corps, Dr. Destinee Prete transitioned to earn a doctorate in industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology, a field dedicated to finding data-backed solutions to human problems in work and other organizational settings. She has held various positions that have helped transitioning service members and veter...

Send us Fan Mail After a career in the US Coast Guard, Jason Heering retired from an overseas location which added an extra layer of complexity to his transition. Throughout his military career, he served in several positions related to facility and construction project management. As he weighed his options closer to retirement, Jason made the decision to accept a role with the federal government....

Send us Fan Mail With a US Navy career spanning 21 years, including 9 years serving active duty and 12 years in the US Navy Reserve, Saquonna Duncan shares her transition story and lessons learned along the way. Saquonna served in different roles during her military career, and it was her position as a career counselor that inspired her to start Advancing by Bounds, an organization dedicated to su...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, James Felts shares his struggles and victories finding purpose, meaning and fulfilling work post-military. His career in the US Army encompassed time served as a national guardsman, reservist and active-duty officer. Having gone through 4 transitions, James shares his wisdom and lessons learned through the valleys and peaks of his post-military career path.  James...

Send us Fan Mail When Adam Getz first joined the military, his plan was to finish his initial enlistment as an Army musician and separate. As his roles changed within the military, Adam decided to serve for 20 years with the goal of having a second career in the private sector.  Adam earned an MBA, PMP and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certifications to prepare him for his next career in project manag...

Send us Fan Mail After spending 20 years as a US Navy Flight Officer, David Nava was ready for a new challenge. He started preparing for his transition four years in advance with a goal of landing a role in project management. After earning his MBA, PMP, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Scrum Master certification, David realized he did not want to be a project manager. A mentor introduced Salesforce...

Send us Fan Mail This week, I will be leading you through a solo episode focused on career fair and networking event success strategies. Preparation before the event will give you confidence during the event and increase your chances of success after the event. Whether events are in person or virtual, my tips and tricks will set you up for success. Before the Event   Ø Prepare a results-focused re...