In 2003, 21 year old Marine Corporal Noah Currier from Poplar Grove, IL, was deployed to Iraq with Charlie Co 1st LAR as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Three days after arriving home from combat Noah and a fellow Marine were in a vehicle headed back toward Camp Pendleton when the driver fell asleep at the wheel sending their vehicle rolling down an embankment. Noah suffered a severe paralyzing spinal cord injury from the accident.

Seeking a way to afford the necessary physical therapy for himself and a fellow injured Marine, Noah came up with the concept of using a t-shirt inspired by his brotherhood in the Marine Corps as a fundraiser. He designed a shirt that boldly stated He who sheds blood with me shall forever be my brother across the back. The shirts quickly caught on with supporters and the fundraiser turned out to be an overwhelming success. Enough units were sold to afford Noah and his friend another six months of additional life-changing physical therapy.

Connect with Noah & OscarMike.org

• OscarMike.org

As a Marine officer, Justin Constantine volunteered for deployment to Iraq in 2006, and served as a Civil Affairs Team Leader while attached to an infantry battalion. While on a routine combat patrol, Justin was shot in the head by a sniper. Although the original prognosis was that he had been killed in action, Justin survived. Through teamwork and a positive mental attitude, he has had quite a successful recovery. Justin now speaks to audiences large and small about personal leadership, the critical role of teamwork in facing life’s challenges, and the upside of change. He applies his incredible story of overcoming adversity to every level of an organization, and all audiences to move beyond the challenges they are facing in their own lives.

While on active duty, Justin had served as a Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps. Upon recovering from his injuries, Justin continued to serve in the Federal government in a number of attorney positions, including the Department of Justice, Capitol Hill and most recently with the FBI on a counter terrorism team. Despite being shot in the head, Justin was the Honor Graduate of his class at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He also recently completed the Master of Laws (LLM) program at Georgetown University focusing on National Security.

Justin retired from the Marine Corps Reserves at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and now serves on the Board of Directors of the Wounded Warrior Project, Give An Hour, and SemperMax. In addition, in 2011 the Secretary of Defense appointed him to serve on a 4-year Congressionally-mandated Task Force for Recovering Warriors. In 2012 the Virginia Legislature passed a commending resolution highlighting Justin’s continued support of veterans and other wounded warriors.

Most recently, Justin was awarded the prestigious inaugural 2014 Lincoln Award recognizing his outstanding achievement and excellence in providing opportunities and support to our nation’s veterans and military families. Justin has also been named a Champion of Change by the White House, and was presented with the All-American Hero Award at the 2013 All-American Inaugural Ball. Further, Justin was invited to introduce President George W. Bush at a veterans’ symposium at the Bush Institute in February 2014.

Justin is a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in connection with their Hiring Our Heroes campaign, and works with a number of corporations on their veteran hiring initiatives. Justin has also been featured in magazines and programs such as CNN, Fox News, Men’s Health, the Huffington Post, the Atlantic, Financial Times, and the Department of Labor’s America’s Heroes at Work Success Stories.

Through his journey of courage, injury, resilience and triumph, Justin demonstrates that we are all stronger than we think we are. His personal story of recovery and success is a testament to the power of the human spirit, and the message he shares applies to every member of the audience. All will leave inspired to attack any difficulties in their own lives, and will search out opportunities to excel at work and at home.

Connect with Justin:

• JustinConstantine.com
• Justin on LinkedIn
• Justin on Twitter

Anthony Garcia is the CEO & co-founder of GuideOn, Inc. GuideOn’s Mission – Pioneering technology solutions for the transitioning Veteran. Prior to founding GuideOn, Anthony worked in operations at SRI International where he later left to start his first business – GuideOn is his third.

He served in the U.S. Army for eight years as an officer and Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) helicopter pilot. He served two back to back, combat deployments to Iraq (May 03 to April 04/Dec 04 to Nov 05), where he managed 21 Blackhawk helicopters, led over 90 pilots - flight engineers - and medics, while directing over 4,000 flying missions.

As a Captain and pilot-in-command (PIC) for the 54th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), his unit evacuated and provided critical lifesaving care for over 6,500 patients, comprised of Coalition Forces, Iraqi civilians, and insurgent enemy forces. They were awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation. Some of Anthony’s awards consist of 2 Bronze Stars for leadership in combat, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Air Medal, and the Sikorsky Aircraft 1000- hour award.

After his military service, Anthony obtained an MBA from Cornell University. He received a BA in Business Administration from St. Mary’s University of San Antonio and is a graduate of Robert G. Cole High School, Fort Sam Houston.

Anthony was born in Frankfurt West Germany at the 92nd General Hospital and is the son of a retired Lieutenant Colonel.

Connect with Anthony & Guide-On

• Guide-On.com

Ryan Michler served in the National Guard and founder of Order of Man. He's dedicated to taking back what it means to be a man. His podcast focuses on learning from the best men our world has to offer, and return to roots of masculinity. 

Ryan says: "I am not an expert. I am learning! And, the only thing that qualifies me to do this work is that I have a passion for self-improvement. My goal is to take my shortcomings in life and make them my strengths"

Listen to this episode of the Military Entrepreneur show

Mike Zacchea was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1990. He served at Camp Lejeune as a forward observer and platoon commander, deploying to Somalia for OPERATION RESTORE HOPE and to Haiti for OPERATION SUPPORT DEMOCRACY. He served as operations officer and executive officer of a Marine recruiting station. He was selected for advanced artillery school, and went on to command two artillery batteries and serve as a battalion assistant operations officer. He served another tour on recruiting duty in the northeastern US. In March 2004, as a major, he deployed to Iraq for OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM II. His team’s mission was to build, train, and lead in combat the first Iraqi army battalion trained by the US military.

After an initial 4-month training period, his adviser team led the Iraqi battalion in combat operations for 7 months. During this time, the battalion participated in OPERATION PHANTOM FURY, the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. The battalion spent 6 weeks in urban combat, the longest of any deployed Iraqi unit, and accomplished a number of historical firsts for the Iraqi army. During the battle, Mike was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Mike’s military awards include the Bronze Star Medal (with Valor device) (with gold star in lieu of 2nd award), the Purple Heart Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, and numerous unit and campaign awards. Mike was also the first and at the time only American recognized by the Iraqi government by the Order of the Lion of Babylon. As a result of his wounds, Mike has been medically retired.

Mike helped form a non-profit organization of military advisers in 2006 to help Iraqi interpreters immigrate to the United States, which eventually became known nationally as Netroots: the List Project. In 2009, he founded the the UConn Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, through which he has helped veterans start more than 90 businesses. He served on a multi-agency cross-disciplinary working group chaired by the CT Dept of Veterans Affairs focusing on veteran reintegration, education, training, and workforce re-entry issues, and presently serves on the Benefit corporations state task force.

Mike founded the CT Veterans Chamber of Commerce 501(c)6 organization in 2013, the only veterans organization registered to lobby in the CT General Assembly. He has been recognized as the 2012 Veterans Business Champion by the Small Business Administration, and been inducted into the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame. Mike serves on several veterans advisory boards for elected officials. Mike is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs for the Small Business Administration, advising the Administrator on policies and issues affecting more than 3.6 million veteran-owned businesses producing more than $1.7 trillion in national gross product and employing more than 8 million employees.

Mike is a frequent guest speaker in the media, and has been featured in several books and documentaries addressing the Iraq War, veterans issues, and Iraqi refugee issues. Mike presented “Managing Trauma in the War Theater” to the International Congress of Stress and Trauma Management in 2013. Mike is the author of “Veteran’s Advocacy: the Fight for Social Justice and Healing Through Activism” in Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge: 2012) and of “Social Entrepreneurship Solution for Veterans’ Reintegration through Entrepreneur Training for Disabled Veterans” in Social Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Social Change (Infoage: 2013).

Mike’s education includes a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MA from Hawaii Pacific University. He earned an MBA from the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. Mike is married and has a young son. He lives in northwest rural CT.

Connect with Mike 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Raphael Hernandez served as the Chief Marketing Officer for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command, United States Marine Corps and in coordination with J. Walter Thompson Atlanta, the Marine Corps’ advertising agency, led a strategically aligned, multi-million dollar, national level, research driven integrated marketing program designed to support 3,700 plus U.S. Marine Corps enlisted and officer recruiters, located across the United States.

Raphael recently retired from the United States Marine Corps after 22 years of service and has extensive experience in marketing, customer relationship management, logistics, strategic and operational planning and execution, talent acquisition, operations and organizational leadership. Prior to serving in the Marine Corps, Raphael worked for the El Paso Housing Authority, El Paso, Texas and worked his way through school as a retail customer service representative and as an Administrative Assistant in a law office. He earned a business degree from the University of Texas At El Paso and a Masters in Organizational Leadership from National University, San Diego, California.

Raphael served in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002, 2003 and 2004; and in 2011 was part of a 6 person planning team that assisted the Department of State, U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, to rapidly develop contingency plans as a result of the 9.0 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. In addition, he served as the Director of Operations and Logistics, for the Third Marine Expeditionary Brigade, during Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief Missions in the Sri Lanka in 2009 and the Philippines in 2009 and 2010.

Raphael volunteers in the community as the Chief Marketing Officer a non-profit – Military Mentors, Inc.

Connect with Raphael

• Raphael Hernandez on LinkedIn
• Raphael Hernandez on Twitter

AJ Richards was born in southern Utah and spent his childhood with his cousins playing at the family cattle ranch. He dropped out of high school his senior year because it was boring and decided to join the military. From the age of 16 until he deployed, AJ went through a new job every three months. He deployed with his field artillery unit to Ramadi, Iraq where they were tasked with three objectives. Field artillery, entry control point security, and patrolling route mobile and route Michigan preventing IED placements.

After returning from Iraq AJ found himself miserable selling pest control door to door and depressed. Misdiagnosed by doctors with PTSD chose to not take the prescribed antidepressants and discovered CrossFit as a way to enhance his mental and physical well being.

AJ opened a CrossFit gym in 2011 and then in 2013 had an idea to do with CrossFit athletes and competition what Dana White did with the UFC which was to make it entertaining and add weight divisions. Now only 3 years in AJ has the pleasure of figuring out how to grow Rush Club and take it across country as well as international productions. 

Mika J. Cross is a seasoned Workplace Transformation Strategist specializing in innovative global workplace initiatives, culture change, strategic communications, knowledge management, next generation/future workplace predictions, mobility and flexible work policy, diversity, inclusion and employee engagement.  Her 18-year career in public service includes assignments throughout the United States Intelligence Community and across the Federal government.  She is a veteran of the Unites States Army, having served as both an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer. 

Mika is highly regarded as a thought leader for flexible and transformational workplace practices and is regularly featured as a professional speaker at industry conferences and events. On behalf of the White House and the National Security Council (NSC), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) invited Mika to contribute to the “Workforce of 2020” strategy session as a component of the joint-led task force to develop a new business model for vetting current and future Federal employees into positions of national security. Mika was invited to speak at the House Smart Contracting Caucus roundtable on Telework and Mobility, by Co-Chairmen Gerry Connolly and Rob Wittman.  She has also worked in partnership with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on behalf of the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Federal Women’s Program, to design innovative learning strategies to help align Work/Life, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Resources professionals from across the government to share strategic vision and value for integrating a flexible and supportive workplace. 

In 2014, Mika was selected as a President’s Management Council (PMC) Interagency Fellow at OPM and worked on government-wide projects affecting culture and process change. As a component of the President’s Second Term Management Agenda sub-goal on People and Culture, she helped create an online Employee Engagement Community of Practice (eCOP) within OPM’s interactive dashboard (the Unlocking Federal Talent data tool at unlocktalent.gov).  The eCOP is targeted for Senior Executive Management to help Federal agencies collect and use data to create a more engaged workplace. She also has led several workforce transformation initiatives resulting in winning the organizations she has worked for numerous industry awards- the most recent being USDA named on the Forbes 500 Best American Workplace rankings in March 2015.

Mika has led the strategic communications and initiatives capability for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and currently does so for the Department of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (DOL VETS.)  Mika was awarded the Fed50 “Most Inspiring Up-and-Comer” award, the Federal News Radio “Causey Award” as well as a Next Gen Gov public service award. In 2013 she was named a ‘Work-Life Rising Star’ by WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work-Life Progress.    She currently serves as Government Chair of the Human Capital Shared Interest Group (HC-SIG) for the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Panel (ACT-IAC) and as a Board member for WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work/life Progress (AWLP.)