Known fact: Veterans are hard workers. Veterans are accustomed to working long hours until the mission is complete. Pay is appreciated and earned but that's not the main focus. The main focus is getting the job done. They're Worker Bees.
The first company The Husband went to work for exploited that fact. They presented as "Veteran Friendly Employer". They recruited him through a Military Centric Headhunting Firm. They knowingly recruited him for the skills he learned from his time in the military. They praised his quick thinking, fast decision making, and solid leadership during his interview. And they enthusiastically hired him.
And then they tried to "fix" him.
They shunned all talk of military. On numerous occasions they spoke of the military as broken. They felt it was their responsibility to "fix" all of the things the military had taught The Husband. They told him that many of their military veterans have trouble adjusting to working on a team because "the military teaches you to take care of just yourself". They encouraged him not to make it known that he was a junior military officer hire. Without words, they let it be known that they hire Veterans for their worker bee mentality. While trying to teach him how "the world really works", they were also piling more and more work upon him. They were taking the credit for his accomplishments, because "that's how team work is done in the corporate world". They were hearing his ideas, explaining why they couldn't do them, and then taking his files to other facilities and implementing his ideas. They liked to explain to him how they knew how the military trained their leaders and how it operated, while none of them had ever served in the military. None.
The Husband spent 18 months trying to hide a huge chunk of who he was, trying to become this guy who "just knows" everything.
And then one day, he was just done.
So he applied for a job in Texas, where my parents live, at the encouraging of my mom. My mom thought he'd enjoy the job, knew they needed workers, missed her grandbabies and also knew that her company was on a Hire a Veteran binge. The binge piece almost made him not apply--as if he'd become embarrassed that he'd served.
They flew him out for an interview and asked in depth questions about his time in the military. One of the people that he interviewed served in the military. They spoke the language. During the interview, The Husband was asked to identify a situation in which he made the wrong decision, the ramifications of that wrong decision and what he did to address/correct the situation. He immediately defaulted to a situation with his at the time employer. But the interviewer interrupted and asked for the situation to be military, and then specifically his time as a Platoon Leader during combat. The Husband tried to avoid the situation, but was pressed on, so he explained what happens when you make a wrong decision as an Infantry Platoon Leader during a combat operation, he carefully explained the ramifications of that wrong decision and he thoughtfully explained the ways he changed operations to never have that situation arise again. All three interviewers sat still for a moment, until the former military member continued on with the questioning. After the interview, the interviewer that pressed the question on The Husband, came over to him, shook his hand, thanked him for his service and apologized for badgering him with that one question and said "it never occurred to me that would be where the answer would have gone--it never even occurred to me. I make a bad decision here and it costs money and time. You guys make a bad decision there and it's life altering."
He took the job in Texas.
Now he works in an environment which doesn't flaunt it's Veteran Hiring program, but it doesn't demean Veterans either. They let him be who he is. He doesn't have to hide his time in the service. He doesn't have to talk about it either. He can just be a worker bee. He has ideas and they love them. He sees a problem, fixes it and they appreciate it. He goes home in the evening and he's just home. Some of them know a bit about his health issues (my mom is a bit of an oversharer), but it's not something they feel compelled to discuss with him, nor do they keep their distance from him. It's also not something he has to hide--when his hands hurt, he can rub them without worrying they'll sense weakness and devour him. He can just be himself.
And he's pretty happy about that. And they are too. And we are too.
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