 Once I finally did commit to finding a career that didn't involve a gun, I mean it was shell shock. Marines go through rigorous boot camp training mentally and physically to prepare for active duty. In 2016, 20.9 million American men and women were veterans. Now I'm at Camp Pendleton in San Diego here to see these Marines transition to civilian life. I joined the Marines in 1998. My platoon was actually the first Marine unit to cross the line into Iraq. I got out in late 2003. I could jump out of airplanes, I could dive, I could do commando raids. That doesn't really have any relevance for meaningful employment stateside, so I kind of got stove-piped by my resume. The biggest transitioning difficulty I experienced was facing the uncertainty of my future. Not entirely confident to be successful in a new career field. Treat this like another mission in your life. We've been trained to prepare for the most challenging environments, the most challenging situations that the world can throw at us. Now it's our mission to prepare ourselves. I saw the value in professional certification because it aligns to military learning methodologies. You've got defined content, compressed timelines to deliver it, and expected competency at the end of it, and a certification to go along with it. It's exactly how Marines learn, and it's a great way for a Marine to leverage his or her hands-on experience with a resume item that civilians understand. What I have had to learn, and that has made me successful in the military, and what will also allow me to be successful in the civilian world, is my ability to communicate across different cultures of people, and my ability to prepare for situations that are unknown. Humble leadership is what they bring, and they are trained on leadership from the very first day, so it becomes second nature. They don't realize they have it. I came from a communications background. After learning how to interpret my skills and those abilities more correctly, ultimately, I have been given five offers from Amazon, and I utilize those skills every day there. So I feel strongly about assisting fellow Marines, transitioning to civilian life, because I feel the time and energy our country has invested in them is recovered when we positively integrate them into the fabric of our society.