November 24, 2014
At the age of 18, while working in a small town diner, I decided to take a huge step by joining the U.S. Army. After 40 years of service, I’m a proud veteran, having retired in 2013. It was a privilege to serve my country, during times of peace and to protect our nations’ freedoms during times of war. Now it’s my privilege to serve other women veterans.
As Booz Allen marks Military Family Appreciation this month, I’m honored to be in a position where I can advocate for women veterans and proud of Booz Allen for considering the needs of all veterans to be a priority. In our client engagements, with our pro bono initiatives, and in our nonprofit partnerships, we place a priority on ensuring our support to veterans who are transitioning to civilian life. Consider this—approximately one third of Booz Allen’s 23,000 employees are veterans or claim some military service—now that’s walking the walk.
Today, there are nearly 1.6 million women veterans and women comprise approximately 15 percent of all active duty military personnel. I believe that Booz Allen has an important leadership role in ensuring our nation and our communities are ready to help these women reintegrate to civil life when their service is completed. Here are just a few of the ways we’re having impact:
- Programs that support women veterans’ transition to the workforce. These include our support to the Women Veterans’ of Colorado Conference, the Joining Forces Mentoring PlusTM Program,and the Women Veterans Career Development Forum held earlier this month. These programs, with Booz Allen volunteers leading the way, offer workplace assistance, interview and resume skills seminars, career advice, mentoring, and so much more.
I recently had the privilege of speaking at the conference in Colorado, the fourth year that Booz Allen had sponsored the event. What I realized is that we’re offering more than career assistance to our women veterans—we’re also offering hope, community engagement, camaraderie, and an assurance that their issues are heard and that their successes matter.
- Partnering with clients and nonprofits to ensure resources are in place to support all veterans. Through the firm’s work with the Veteran’s Administration, with adaptive sports nonprofits like the Salute Military Golf Association, or World TEAM Sports, or partnerships with the George C. Marshall Education Institute on a single source veterans resource website, we want to ensure that the men and women who have served faithfully have access to the education, resources, healthcare, psychological, and other services they need to transition to civilian life.
This month, let’s take a minute to remember the service of all our military personnel and their families. What they do is so much more than a job and requires so much more sacrifice than most can ever imagine. The greatest thanks we can all give is to be engaged and to stay engaged in our communities and with organizations that support veterans’ reintegration.
