 A steady paycheck, money for housing, full health care coverage. Now imagine it's gone. Like many soldiers transitioning out of the army, Sergeant Richard Pert had a decision to make. What was I going to do? You know what I mean? That was my biggest question. What am I going to do after this? For him, surviving a war zone was no problem. Living civilian life, now that's another story. Thousand soldiers leave the army every year and many of them will struggle to find a job. Soon to be medically retired Army Sergeant Richard Pert refuses to be out of work. That was my biggest question. What am I going to do after this? So I was going to start a business. I was like, you know what? I want to be my own boss. I want to create my own thing. And then I want to share it with people. I met Sergeant Pert in Georgetown where I got to know a little bit more about him as a soldier while he was transitioning from army life to civilian life. Well one, for everything that happened down in New York, the towers and stuff, I was in school when that all happened. Is that why you joined? Yeah, pretty much. I wanted to go to Afghanistan. I wanted to go overseas. Sergeant Pert spent nine years as a heavy equipment operator in the army. And on his first deployment, he had a very close call with a rocket attack that completely changed his way of thinking. I felt outside the wire was even better because I can control the situation. You can't control a rocket. I remember laying in my bunk eyes wide open and I go, I can't do this. I'm not going to lay here like this. I was like, I'm letting them control me. So I just threw my vest on the ground and I was kind of accepted death, if that makes sense. You had to come close to death to realize, okay this could happen, this is real, but I'm still here, so make the most of it. And I did. You know what I mean? I had a blast every day. He survived numerous encounters with the enemy, but it was actually an accident that was unrelated to combat that led to his separation from the army. He was facing the reality that his military career might be over, but he found help at the Warrior Transition Unit at Walter Reed. The sergeants at Walter Reed, they care tremendously, people don't think so, they think they're just there, but every sergeant that I've had there, they want to help you, they want to be there for you. If you need something, you can call them at any time. Are they just doing their jobs? No. It's more than that. They're going above their jobs. But there was still one big question. They go, what are you going to do? And I go, I'm open to my own business, but I already have two business partners. I go, why do I need to go to a program? I'm lucky. So Mr. Hood at Walter Reed, he goes, there's one program, and it's a really good program, Dog Tag Bakery. My job is I'm actually a transition coordinator here for battle company here at Walter Reed, helping them transition out of their military phase or back into the army. Sergeant Perth, when I ran into him, he was like, he was going to go back to Connecticut, go to work in a car wash, or was going to do a dog walking business. And when we were chatting, he talked about dog walking, and I was like, I got a place for you to check into. I said, you would do your own business, and we could do something that's good to be an entrepreneurship. And I was like, so what is it? You know what I mean? I'm in there, and I'm kind of mad already. I'm like, what is it? And he goes, it's a program where you can get an education from Georgetown in business. He goes, and they teach you how to run a business. And I go, well, that sounds really good. I was like, where's the catch? But that's the great thing about these programs, there's never any catch. They're there for soldiers to use. I talked to Megan, the CEO of Dog Tag Incorporated. She explained how the fellowship program helps Richard and others like him achieve success. So you earn a certificate in business administration through the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University. So what we've done is that we've created a five-month program, and we have seven different courses that each fellow has to complete. And there's tests, there's papers, there's projects, but they don't complete it, they don't pass. If they don't pass one course, they don't get a certificate. So it's a rigorous program for sure. The Dog Tag Work Study program is really new, and it's cool because it combines education with the work experience necessary, all in one place, for veterans to succeed as civilians. But I sat there, and then finally I was like, maybe I should do this program, and then the light bulb went off on my bald head. I think the most important part to me is helping the soldiers find their niche. And if it works for them, great, if it's successful, it's a great thing for them. That's my goal is to help them find the center, the next chapter, to move forward from here. I didn't know what I wanted to do, and now this program opened my eyes up to the transition itself for veterans, and how important it is to some people, you know what I mean? Like, I don't think a lot of veterans take advantage of it, and now I am. I'm jumping on it, you know what I mean? I'm on the train, they showed me the way, and now I'm moving forward. And hopefully it works out, and it's all because of this program.