About Us

I’m a GWOT Infantry & SOF Veteran.  After a decade in uniform, I decided to change gears into a civilian career.  After leaving active duty, I went to grad school, then started working in the tech industry.  

As I worked to find the next steps in my career (and life), I benefited from a ton of help- from friends, fellow veterans, and complete strangers who were willing to give time & advice.  I still benefit from this help learning & growing today.  At the end of a phone call, I asked a veteran 20+ years older than me how I could thank him for the time & advice he’d shared with me.  His answer was short: “Pay it forward & help other vets.”  

It’s that simple- in the veteran community, we try to help each other & look out for one another.  I couldn’t have gotten where I am today without plenty of assistance and good fortune.  So, I started volunteering with groups and helping other vets figure out how to make their next steps.  Whether resume reviews or practice interviews, or phone calls discussing my career path and what I’ve learned after the military, I’ve benefited from hearing other vets’ stories.  

In tech, I saw firsthand the value of code and software being infinitely replicable, and I wanted to see if there was a way to mimic this scaled impact with my own experience & that of fellow veterans.  Instead of swapping emails 1-on-1 or doing weekly phone calls, I thought it was worth trying to record & share these conversations & insights in a way that makes them accessible & useful to a wider audience.  

We’ll see how it goes!

See this post explaining the inception of “Rucksack Rambler”