Savvy companies want disabled vets for their tech know-how & courage

"Our vets have faced more adversity than most people and made it through, so they come to the workplace with a great deal of perseverance."
– Margarita Cocker, VA

"We've hired many veterans with disabilities and some with Purple Hearts. That's in line with the leadership and courage we want." – Susan Schieren, General Electric

By Margo Mallar
Contributing Editor

'We consider hiring disabled veterans to be a triple win: for the vets themselves, for our pool of talent, and for our customers, who see the value of working with the military," says Larry Clifton, SVP of CACI's "deploying talent/creating careers" program.

CACI International is a professional services/IT company that supports a wide range of federal clients. The "deploying talent' initiative began with outreach to military hospitals like Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Washington, DC), the San Diego Naval Medical Center (San Diego, CA) and Wilford Hall Medical Center (San Antonio, TX), and has added more than 300 disabled vets to CACI's employee base of 13,000 since 2007. The company has also run practice job fairs for transitioning vets, and then invited companies it thought would be interested, including some of its direct competitors, to come to real-life job fairs, meet the vets and offer jobs.

Thanks to these early efforts and through the focus on disabled veterans in the media, Clifton sees that CACI's recruiting has matured to a healthy state. "We are starting to find disabled vets through traditional means now: job fairs, job boards and employee referrals."

Jeff Helfgott at USAA
"Semper Gumby! Always flexible!" "Relax, no one's getting shot at here." Military slogans like these were very familiar to Jeff Helfgott's team at USAA, the Fortune 500 company that offers integrated financial services and insurance to the active-duty and veteran military community.

Helfgott, who recently left USAA to pursue an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management, was a USAA IT and technical manager. He came to USAA in 2006 from the U.S. Army, where he had been a battalion communications officer. He began his military service as an active duty officer in an armored cavalry unit with the Fourth Infantry Division. But injuries caused by a vehicle rollover necessitated a shift to a new career field.

"It was not my favorite day!" says Helfgott of December 7, 2003, the day the Humvee he was using to patrol an Iraqi sector rolled over as it was avoiding a suspected IED, crushing his leg beneath it.

At USAA the day was celebrated as Helfgott's "Alive Day," the anniversary of his close escape from death. USAA shares such stories on its intranet under the heading, "We know what it means to serve."

"Not the graphic details, but a chance to say 'This is who I was,'" says Brian Neuman, USAA's Wounded Warrior recruiter and talent manager. "It does a lot for people who haven't served to see what their colleagues and many of our clients have been through," Neuman adds.

Decision-making at USAA
After his injury Helfgott was transferred to the Signal Corps. After branch qualification school he was assigned to manage communications for an air defense battalion.

While his technical background was strong, it was his leadership ability that most attracted USAA. "Corporate America likes people who can make decisions, and I have the confidence to do that," he says.

"Military leadership is very directive: go to this point and do this thing," Helfgott explains. "Civilian leadership is much more collaborative, but at USAA I needed to be somewhat in the middle. Sometimes I polled my team and sometimes because of time constraints or ambiguity I simply had to make the decision myself."

Supervising the team of forty, Helfgott treated his technical leads as platoon sergeants. They did the direct supervision of the "coding ninjas" who develop and maintain a broad range of business systems and apps to support the highly interactive nature of the company's day-to-day operations. "USAA does 14,000 brokerage trades a day. A lot of that is done through the mobile program. If a USAA member is in the motor pool and wants to short some stock, it's just a matter of 'pull out the iPhone and make that trade,'" he says.

Helfgott, who still goes to physical therapy, appreciated the support he got from USAA when he needed time off. He's even more impressed by the support he received for his decision to leave the company to pursue an MBA. "I have friends who found company doors were closed when they wanted to go to business school or law school. But USAA was very encouraging and even helped me with my applications. USAA is really a career facilitator, working to see that vets like me succeed not just in the company but beyond," Helfgott concludes.

The VA supports transitioning vets
USAA's company culture is very much in line with the goals of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA, Washington, DC). "Our program is not just looking to get people a job, it's about careers," says Margarita Cocker, deputy director of the VA's vocational rehabilitation and employment service (VR&E). VR&E supports service-disabled veterans transitioning to civilian employment, working with both vets and employers to ensure that the process goes smoothly. The disabled vets are assigned rehabilitation counselors who help design and implement individually tailored employment plans, and the VA pays for tuition and books and provides a living allowance during the training period, which can last four years or more.

Technical training ranges from simple certification programs to MBAs. Of the 11,066 people the agency placed in 2008, some 6400 went into professional, technical and managerial positions.

The most common injuries VR&E encounters are orthopedic: knees, back, arms and shoulders; but they work with traumatic brain injuries and mental health issues such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well. "We do a lot of work on the front end to make sure each veteran is on the right path. We help them research various careers and do job shadowing," says Cocker.

Veterans are eligible for support for twelve years from their date of discharge or first disability rating. Support often continues after employment, particularly for those with serious disabilities. VA also offers special employer incentives, which reimburse employers for a portion of the vets' earnings.

VA case managers encourage employers to make accommodations for disabilities. But accommodations are not always needed, Cocker says, because the vets are trained for jobs that match their abilities. "We market our veterans' work ethic and their abilities to make decisions on the fly. We point out that they've faced more adversity than most people and made it through, so they come to the workplace with a great deal of perseverance," Cocker notes.

Joe Brown at the Home Depot
Home Depot (Atlanta, GA) knew that Joe Brown was a veteran whose abilities far outweighed his disabilities. Brown was a lead developer in IT for the chain when he was wounded during a 2005 deployment of his Georgia National Guard unit. While on patrol in the Sunni Triangle south of Baghdad, Brown's Humvee drove over a roadside bomb which detonated with the force of a 250-pound air-dropped bomb. Brown was thrown out and landed beneath the damaged vehicle as it fell back to earth; his shoulder, hip and ankle were fractured and his jaw broken in two places.

Nevertheless, he considers himself fortunate. His gunner lost an arm, while Brown's fractures healed within weeks.

But Brown still suffers from severe tinnitus in one ear and daily headaches. Neurologists have offered various remedies but Brown prefers the pain to the fog of medication. "Soldiers are very prideful," he says. "It took some therapy to recognize that there are times when I do need help and must humble myself to say so. My managers are really good about giving me a couple of hours if I need to take a break.

"With the tinnitus my voice sometimes gets loud and booming. It's not intentional but it can be misunderstood sometimes. It's given me a tremendous appreciation that people may all have stuff that they need to deal with, whether you can see it or not!"

Brown began his career at Home Depot in 1995, working part time in the receiving department. He used an idle computer to set up a tracking system that got him noticed by the IT department, and he's now lead developer on two major projects that streamline imports and third-party logistics for the entire chain.

Brown is proactive in bridging the differences between military and civilian communication styles. "Soldiers don't take offense at direct communication but civilians may, so I always have to run my thoughts through a mental military/civilian translator. I also needed to let management know that if I'm not reactive or operating at the same level of chaos as my co-workers when there's a problem, that doesn't mean that I don't take it seriously. I'm not going to panic, but the lack of frantic reaction is not a lack of concern!"

PERCEVD helps prepare for reintegration
Edward Crenshaw, president and CEO of Destin Enterprises (Columbia, MD), offers a diversity sensitivity program he calls "preparing employers to reintegrate combat-exposed veterans with disabilities" (PERCEVD). Crenshaw works with former Walter Reed Army Medical Center staff psychiatrist Dr Cynthia Washington, herself an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, to educate organizations that employ or want to employ veterans.

Crenshaw, a Navy vet, points out that as well-intentioned and altruistic as companies may be in hiring veterans, "It's really an injustice if you fire them based on misunderstandings." Issues of culture play a part, along with visible and hidden disabilities, like PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI), or the side effects of certain medications.

With one in five vets returning from combat with some sort of PTSD, employers need to understand the medical and legal issues surrounding military culture and specific disabilities. Proper etiquette, workplace accommodations, proactive intervention strategies and workplace environments free of potential PTSD triggers can help organizations avoid situations that can lead to disruption, litigation and high attrition rates. Crenshaw works with both management and staff, helping them understand and accommodate PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other adjustment disorders.

He begins with etiquette for the inexperienced: if a person is missing the right hand it's appropriate to reach out to shake the left. Avoid highly political conversations, particularly those pertaining to war. Don't put anything on someone's wheelchair or move their crutches. And for pity's sake, don't ask veterans if they've killed anyone! "You'd be surprised how often people get asked that," Crenshaw comments.

Crenshaw points out that that PTSD is not unique to veterans. Rape, robbery and near drowning are among other traumas that trigger it, and traumatic brain injuries can be caused by auto accidents and sports-related injuries in the general public. "Environments that are disability- and veteran-friendly are more productive, more appealing to diverse customers, and more in step with the global marketplace," Crenshaw comments.

Brandon Deal applies his radar and CS interest at Northrop Grumman
Growing up, Brandon Deal thought he'd like to be a computer programmer, but felt the field was too crowded. When he joined the Army in 2005 he became a field artillery fire-finder radar operator, eventually deploying to Iraq. Hostile fire there left him with a spinal column laced with screws, rods and titanium cages and a severe case of PTSD. It was a sad end to his vigorous career in combat arms, and when he was offered a desk job by the Army he chose not to reenlist.

Some months later he talked with Debbie Ortega, manager of Operation Impact, the initiative of global security company Northrop Grumman (Herndon, VA) to recruit disabled veterans. Deal's field experience with Northrop Grumman radar products made him an excellent candidate for the company's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) program for the U.S. Navy.

Deal started at the company this January. He has been handling administrative tasks like scheduling meetings and clearing classified documents as well as working with the hardware itself, while he completes his BSCS at the University of Maryland.

His academic concentration is information security, and he's getting daily experience applying what he's learned on the job. "It's an amazing opportunity," says Deal. "I love what I do!"

On graduation he'll join a team responsible for ensuring projects meet Federal encryption and security regulations.

Navy vet Walker Sharp is now an FBI computer forensics examiner
Walker Sharp's disability is not combat-related but it's certainly related to his military service. Sharp spent twenty-two years in the Navy as an aviation antisubmarine warfare operator, routinely encountering sound levels of 100 dB and higher, resulting in a ten percent hearing-disability rating.

Today Sharp is an FBI computer forensics examiner. Much of his work involves recovering and analyzing digital evidence, but he also assists field agents with interviews and regularly testifies in court. When he interviews or testifies he optimizes acoustics with proper positioning, uses an earpiece and is not shy about asking for repetition when he needs to.

The same material collection methodology he used in the Navy helps him prepare digital material for trial. He deepened his understanding of IT at the San Diego, CA campus of Webster University (St. Louis, MO), completing an MA in IS and computer resources management in 1998, but those skills were also well-honed at the Bureau, he says.

"The FBI has some of the best training I've ever had. They'll send you anywhere they think you should go because the money invested comes back tenfold," Sharp declares.

As squadron ops chief in the Navy he supervised 370 people; now he works independently as a member of the computer analysis response team. "We're fact-finders," he says. "We take as much pride in showing that someone didn't do something as proving that they did. There's nothing more satisfying. Even if I won the lottery I'd do this job!"

Kevin Kimbrough is a civilian techie with the Coast Guard
Kevin Kimbrough also contends with hearing problems. He has tinnitus, a result of twenty years in aviation, eight on aircraft carrier flight desks. He also has a skin condition that developed when he was posted in the Philippines. "I was lucky to walk away from the military with a full head of hair and my sanity," he says with a laugh.

Now he's a civilian technical information specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard. His office is responsible for the upkeep of 12,000 online technical publications, including drawings that allow technicians to troubleshoot specific components.

The biggest accommodation he's had to make has been from field work to an office. While he doesn't miss the days of installing equipment in cramped spaces or being suspended 150 feet in the air while it's snowing sideways, cubicle life can occasionally feel confining. But overall, he enjoys being a technical editor, and loves the time and energy for his family that his four-day week permits.

Robert Thompson works in electronic warfare at the Naval Research Lab
After eleven years as a naval electronic warfare technician, Robert Thompson's asthma had progressed to the point where he was only able to function with forty percent lung capacity. One day his lungs closed up entirely during physical training and he collapsed. The Medical Review Board told him that he could stay in the Navy but not on shipboard. "I was looking at nine years of shore duty. It was an awful prospect!" he says with a smile.

He attended a transition assistance program job fair where his extensive experience with radar landed him an immediate job offer from the tactical electronic warfare division at the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, DC).

Thompson delights in the expanded opportunities his current position offers. "We design and build equipment for the Navy and then field test it. Sometimes we reverse-engineer things, taking them apart. When I was a kid I would get in trouble for taking things apart but now I get paid for it!" He manages his asthma with the help of medicine and an exercise regimen from the VA.

Susan Schieren manages GE's military and sales leadership program
When Dylan Reeves, an EnvE graduate of West Point, joined the junior officer leadership program (JOLP) at General Electric in Schenectady, NY in 2008, he didn't need to wonder if his recruiter would understand the challenges a disabled vet faces. Susan Schieren, manager of the military and sales leadership program at GE, is a Vietnam-era veteran who significantly injured her back on active duty in Okinawa before she joined GE's naval nuclear procurement program in 1979.

"I was brought in under no special veterans program," says Schieren, "but to this day I can't believe how easy the transition was. GE treats all its employees the same way. As long as you get your job done and put through the expected deliverables then you're fine. The company is even better from a flexibility standpoint today because of technology. With cell phones and laptops, people can work anywhere.

"We've hired many military veterans with disabilities and several with Purple Hearts," Schieren notes. "That's in line with the leadership and courage we're looking for and admire. We like people with combat experience. The cultures of GE and the military are very similar: they're both very structured. We have an eighty percent retention rate at the five-year mark. People don't leave GE because of the culture!"

Dylan Reeves is a wind commercial leader at GE
Dylan Reeves was scout platoon leader in an armored cavalry unit in Iraq when an IED blew him out of the turret of his Bradley fighting vehicle, breaking his back in fifteen places and causing a traumatic brain injury. Reeves recuperated to the point of being fit for service, but not in the combat arms branch. He transferred to Army Materiel Command and was chief of plans at Ft. Carson, CO, but decided that a desk job in the military wasn't for him.

He applied to GE and was accepted into JOLP, where he explored strategic marketing and the generator product line before settling in as a wind commercial leader. He finds that the bluntness and candor of military communication serves him well at GE, too.

"Most military folks don't candy-coat things. It's better to tell bad news immediately than to wash over it. Here at GE we talk about integrity. If there's an item in a contract that is going to be very contentious, we bring it up rather than have it go unseen by the other party. We know it would come up in the execution phase of the project and then we would have unhappy customers to deal with."

From time to time Reeves has back spasms or seizures which immobilize him for a day or two, but the biggest thing he has to contend with is diminished short-term memory. He can't process the volume of information he once did, but he copes by keeping copious notes.

"I've managed big groups of people and lots of money here at GE," he notes. "I've been in a lot of high-stress situations. I have the ability to manage multiple projects with multiple timelines. The military really taught me about the prioritization of work!"

D/C

Margo Mallar is a freelance writer in Portland, ME.

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