I've spent a lot of time thinking about managers/operators. @WilsonCompanies does a great job breaking down the 'who' in his Hungry-Humble-Smart trifecta (check it out). However I'm very interested in the 'where'. This is my case for employing vets (a thread)

First off acronyms.

JMO = Junior military officer, carrying rank of Captain and below (Lieutenant for the Navy cats)
3-8 years of service.

NCO = Non-comissioned officer,
For this case I'm targeting Squad Leaders and Platoon Sergeants.
5-12 year of service.

These two groups harbor the brunt of the operational man power in the military. Anyone above a company level will be more involved with longer term planning/ strategy, great for executive leadership (tweet to follow on that).

While branch of service and actually duties should not define the skill sets of these junior leaders I have anecdotally found that the best operators stem from a combat arms background. Closer to the bullets the better. DM me for details if you care to know.

Now for the good stuff. JMOs and NCOs are forced to learn a well established system, then forced to solve complicated problems within that system. "Figure it out" is a way of life for many of these people. They are forced to develop critical thinking skills.

This skills are allowed to grow because they aren't being hamstrung by a lack of guidance. As long as a task fits within that system they'll find a solution.

Now where should I put these people?

JMOs can handle most planning and execution tasks.

This includes: direct reports, multi-team management, building processes, forecasting

NCOs can handle system optimization and direct execution of tasks.

This includes: small team management, process improvement, QA/QC, data collection.

Those are just the highlights.

As of now there are a large group of these veterans who get hired in corporate jobs through orgs like Cameron-Brooks. I believe their talent can be better employed in SMB.

This is my recommendation as a SMB reach out to your local veterans groups.

Large or small. This is not a comprehensive list but it's a start:

VFW
American Leigon
Combined Arms
BunkerLabs
Shift

All but Shift have local chapters you can reach out to. Give these men and women a chance. If it weren't for SMB I would still be jobless. Thanks for the read.