Getting Started

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”  – Sun Tzu

First ever blog post!

I’m writing as an experiment… an experiment in organizing my thoughts, chronicling my experience, and hopefully sharing some lessons learned with others who may find themselves in my shoes in the future. I expect to share some recommendations for books that I’ve found useful, as well as links to the organizations and educational programs that helped me the most.

First, obligatory post explaining who I am. I’m an active-duty Army Captain, preparing to transition out of the Army and (hopefully!) into corporate America. I began my military career by commissioning through an ROTC program in Wisconsin, then heading to Fort Benning, GA for infantry school (IBOLC). I thought IBOLC field time was unpleasant, but was introduced to a whole new level of misery at Ranger School. After a few months of sweat and pain developing my fledgling leadership skills and learning some valuable lessons, I reported to the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, NC to begin my career in earnest, as a Rifle Platoon Leader.

While my 2010-2013 experience presented plenty of stress and challenges (JRTC rotations, deployment to Iraq), I consider it some of the best years of my life; I married my highschool sweetheart and love of my life, made some great friends, found some tremendous mentors, and worked with some of the most diverse, intelligent, and motivated professionals imaginable. However, I realized while working as a Company Executive Officer that I was not interested in the traditional Infantry career path, and after some deliberation I made one of better decisions in my life: I applied to attend Psychological Operations Assessment and Selection. Selection went well, and I embarked on an 18 month pipeline at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School. The PSYOP course covered a wide range of subjects, including marketing basics, research and analysis techniques, cultural awareness, and face to face engagement skills. I particularly enjoyed language school, where I had the opportunity to learn Arabic (to a conversational level). My wife and I were blessed with our first child on graduation day in spring 2015, and life was good.

The rumors I’d heard about the fast-pace of PSYOP units were true; 3 months after graduation I was heading to the middle east to support a special operations task force in the fight against Daesh (ISIS). This was a tremendously frustrating experience due to political and leadership challenges, and to be candid it was an experience for which I was not fully prepared, but I did learn a great deal. After my return, I decided I wanted to accomplish two things: 1 – fill my knowledge gaps so that no matter the challenge, I could deliver results on future missions, and 2 – ensure that no one in my sphere of influence would head out on a mission as unprepared as I was for my first PSYOP mission.

My second deployment in PSYOP wound up being one of the best experiences of my Army career. The Task Force I supported in Afghanistan had an important mission, and my team and I put our skills to use in a productive manner. I came back from deployment reinvigorated and strongly considering a full career in the Army. Alas, after much deliberation, my wife and I decided that we decided we didn’t want to spend the rest of our lives in the military. When I really thought about it, I was more excited to be a part of the economy than a part of the government.

That decision was made nearly a year ago and I’ve been “drinking from the firehose” as I learn as much as possible to ensure a successful transition. Wish us luck!

Boarding the plane for one of my last jumps as an active-duty soldier.