Nonprofit and social network work to erase the stigmas surrounding Mid-South veterans

The “broken hero,” the “wounded warrior,” the “action-junkie warfighter” – the list of phrases describing veterans from Vietnam to the post 9/11 wars sometimes reads like a depressing eulogy title.

With thousands of veterans leaving the service – due to the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan – and entering the workforce, many national nonprofits in Washington, such as Hiring Our Heroes and Got Your 6, have started working to eliminate the stigma attached to American military in order to reintegrate soldiers into society.

One local Navy veteran, armed with a computer instead of a battleship, decided it was time to also change the story in Memphis. He experienced firsthand the transition troubles facing veterans in search of civilian jobs.

Trevor Knight, an active surface warfare officer-turned-reservist, spent the last two years in over 75 job interviews trying to explain how his military skills translated into the civilian sector before he finally landed a job.

“I realized that the employer either saw me as damaged goods or too far removed from the skillset they wanted,” Knight said. “I decided to start a network where local veterans could unite with local businesses that wanted a veteran presence in their workforce.”

Thus, the Memphis Military Network (MMN) began on Facebook in September. Many of the business connections cultivated by Knight are owned by veterans with an understanding of the struggle that transitioning service members face.

Knight soon met an Air Force veteran, Jerome Hardaway, running a nonprofit with similar goals. In early 2014, Hardaway founded FRAGO (a military acronym for ‘fragmentary order,’ or a change in plan), a local initiative that trains veterans in tech-based skills such as coding, programming, and web design.

“Hollywood and the media created this image of a war-junkie ruined by the horrors of battle largely because of the veteran suicide reports and a few really troubled vets in the national news,” Hardaway explained.

“I simply wanted to prove them wrong.”

A recent study led by Service Nation, a nonprofit focused on shining a light on national military service, revealed that attitudes toward veterans are improving across the country, and 64 percent of businesses surveyed saw veterans as “leaders with a unique and valuable set of skills and attributes.”

PSAs and digital campaigns led by first lady Michelle Obama and actors like Bradley Cooper, who portrayed decorated Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in American Sniper, are changing the narrative as well by calling for a more accurate and responsible depiction of our veterans in film and television.

Despite the change in attitudes of potential employers and the growth of nonprofits focused on the issue, thousands of veterans struggle to cut through the clutter and actually access the resources available to them.

“For many of these veterans, their experience with the VA and other government offices has been so negative that they don’t trust these programs or feel like dealing with all of the red tape that comes with it,” said Hardaway. “They want more immediate access, and they want it from someone they can trust, and that’s where fellow veterans come into play.”

Working together, Knight and Hardaway hope to chip away at the negative perceptions of veterans in the Mid-South. Through speeches at local schools, businesses and social events, Hardaway highlights the diverse and disciplined attributes of the military, and demonstrates how the pressures of the battlefield translate into a natural leader in the office and boardroom.

Hardaway and Knight are still working to place their first veteran in a job, but they haven’t let slow progress stop them from fostering connections and mentoring anyone interested in transitioning out of the military. Hardaway constantly posts employment opportunities in big cities like Atlanta, New York, and Washington D.C. to the MMN group page.

FRAGO recently tested out its core web design curriculum of HTML, CSS and Java among a group of three veterans looking for computer technology jobs. Ryan Jackson, a veteran of four tours overseas with the U.S. Army, knew the struggle of finding a job before he read about the training program offered by Hardaway.

“I was honest with employers about my limited work experience,” said Jackson. “I joined (the military) out of high school, drove tanks in combat, and that’s all I knew for the last 11 years. You could just see on their faces that they had no clue what to do with me.”

Through social groups like the Memphis Military Network and nonprofits such as FRAGO, local veterans like Jackson are being given opportunities to work on their resumes, interview skills and professional networking experience. The initiatives are new and ambitious but highly focused and driven by their purpose: stimulating veteran-friendly business relationships across the Mid-South.

“My hope is that the Memphis Military Network becomes much more than a Facebook page,” Knight said, “something akin to a living breathing entity that is active in the community helping each other and new veterans transition well in the area.”