Silver is currently serving in the Montana Army National Guard. She shares her story of joining the National Guard as a medic and then learning about ROTC and serving both in the Guard and working toward becoming an officer through ROTC. It was a challenging road to service but she grew from the experiences she had and today is working to help teach and inspire the next generation to serve as an ROTC Instructor at the University of Montana.

Jamie Peer shares her story of how moral injury led to burn out in her own life and ultimately led her to leave the military after 23 years of service. Today she is the Senior Executive Officer for the Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen (MISNS). A nonprofit focused on supporting women who have experienced moral injury. In this week's interview we cover some of the highlights of her time in the military, the challenges she faced and of course dive into moral injury and why the work...

Erin is a self-made millionaire who achieved financial freedom through real estate investing in less than four years. To date, she has helped over 600 other investors to build cash flowing real estate portfolios. A U.S. Army Veteran, Erin understands what it’s like to work for “the man” and be limited by a schedule and fixed income. Erin created a system to allow her to live a life by design and now has the time and resources to give back and focus on her family. She is a Realtor ® at eXp...

Laura went from military child to military member. She joined the Navy through the Naval Academy and served 31 years retiring at the rank of Captain. Highlights of her career include serving as the first Ship’s Intelligence Officer and receiving personal recognition from President Bush (41) for her efforts as the Commissioning Coordinator for the USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77) in 2009. She also served as Commanding Officer, Navy Expeditionary Intelligence Command in Dam neck, VA in 2011. In...

Janet Hudson joined the U.S. Air Force in 1986 and deployed as a nurse during Desert Storm. She shared about her experience of joining the Air Force, deploying for Desert Storm and then becoming a nurse anesthetist for her last few years in the Air Force. After around 12 years of service she left the miltiary so she could continue her career as a nurse and provide stability for her family. She retired from nursing in January after a 42 year career. Today, she is helping others through...

When you think about the military you often think about the how the culture affects the military. You can see how the culture had an impact on Rachel and her experience in the military. Boot camp felt watered down because of the culture around military sexual assault. She wanted to be pushed hard and felt that the leaders held back. Then when she was in the military and used the chain of command for issues they were swept under the rug. That led her to decide to leave the military. Today she...

This episode was created in partnership with Veterans for Financial Freedom Veterans For Financial Freedom (VFF) Events is all about community. They are also the number one place to be for our nation’s heroes seeking Financial Freedom. VFF is focused on helping veterans, first responders, fire fighters, law enforcement and their families through their full day conferences. Each conference offers a full day of speakers and activities focused on increasing your financial literacy, creating...

This week on the podcast I'm excited to be talking to Monica Mohindra the Director of the Veterans History Project (VHP) of the American Folklife CenterLibrary of Congress. In this episode we highlight the importance of collecting veterans stories, how the information collected by the VHP is used and how you can get involved. Because it is Women's History Month we also highlighted the stories of the 6668th Central Post Directory Battalion and a few other amazing women from history. If you...

Angela and her family needed something new. The military opened the door to her families future. She and her husband were trying to figure out what was next and the military became an option. Initially, he was going to join but she was able to convince him that she should be the one to join. She served in the Air Force as an operations resource manager. Serving on active duty for seven years and deploying multiple times to support different operations happening both before and after September...

Kimberly is finding healing and hope through her Warrior's Path to Healing journal series. She has channeled her experiences in the military to develop a self-help tool for other survivors. We met at the Women Veteran Alliance Unconference in October where she was a finalist for the Melissa A. Washington Small Business Award. Kimberly started a social change consulting agency, The GOLD Beacon, PLLC. "GOLD" stands for Grant Management, Organization, Learning, and Development - key elements in...

Retired Maj Gen Gregg Martin is a mental health advocate. He was able to utilize the positive aspects of bipolar disorder to be a strong leader in the U.S. Army. But as the years went by the disease took over and it prohibited his ability to lead and was forced to resign. He was able to get correctly diagnosed and then find healing and help on his path to recovery through the Department of Veteran Affairs. Today, he is a mental health advocate, world wide speaker, and recently published his...

1st Lt Nadia Kerman is currently serving in Alaska. While infantry has long been male-dominated, she was determined to change that. She grew up in an orphanage in Russia before coming to America, joining ROTC and eventually the Army, inspired by her grandfather’s service. She’s now stationed in Alaska as part of the 11th Airborne Division where her love of the outdoors brings passion to her training for airborne missions in harsh environments. Kerman hopes that her journey shows that she and...

Maggie has found mental health healing through writing. She came home from Iraq in 2004 and went to talk to someone about what she experienced. She couldn't get the words out. But he told her to use her words through writing. And that advice has helped her not only to find the words, but also to find community. She shared about her experience in the Army, highlighting her deployment to Kuwait and then into Iraq. She also shared her journey of being a military spouse far longer than she...

Sometimes soldiers are forced to leave the military because of family care plan issues. This wouldn't be a problem if this standard was enacted across the board the same for everyone. But instead sometimes special circumstances are allowed for some people but not for others. This is what Melissa experienced. On her fourth deployment in just over 10 years, she had to come home because her mom was unable to take care of her children. When she couldn't go back to Afghanistan she found herself...

Why do we need to focus on military culture? Corie Weathers recently released her new book Military Culture Shift that was born out of the conversations she was having within the military community. She saw trends and shifts within the military community and wanted to get all that information out of her head and down on paper. And she did a remarkable job over covering not only the history of military culture, but also how each generation views different issues and how culture is shifting not...

Darlene had to focus know her goals in the Navy to continue moving forward and have a successful career. She joined the Navy to fly jets. But by the time she graduated she shifted her focus and began a career in Personnel. She fell in love with leadership and it helped drive her career and the unique roles and opportunities she filled through out her career. We also touched on being both a mom and a service member and how she was able to find balance. Along with the challenge she faced as a...

Rachelle is sharing MST stories on her new podcast Silenced Voices. She joined the Air Force because of her mom. It was her service in the military that inspired Rachelle to join and serve. She served as a Public Affairs Officer in the Air Force. One of the things we discussed how the military worked to integrate social media into their strategy. She left the military through a medical board but stayed in Florida because she loved the community. We also discussed why she started Slicened...

This week on the podcast we are talking about financial wellness for military families with GoVA. GoVA is working to help military families have strong financial tools and resources to help them with the unique challenges military families and veterans face. Check out their platform The Edge, which is free for veterans, military members and their spouses. There you can set up a profile and use the AI tools to help you in your financial journey. You can sign up for your free account here:...

At the end of the season the last few years I have done round ups of people answering the question, what advice would you give to young women considering military service. I love getting to hear the advice and it also has helped young women answer the question is the military right for me. I hope this can be an inspiration to you and help you in your journey.

Often when you get career advice in the military it isn't to follow your passion. But Nancy's career in the military is marked by her following what she found interesting and then if it didn't fit trying something new. These choices led her to be a Flight Test Engineer and changed the course of her career that began in a Program Office at Hanscom Air Force Base. After twenty years of service she left the military and has started a new career while also still working through the process of...

Do you know the story of the first six female pilots in the Navy? This year, the Navy is celebrating 50 years of women being in aviation. And it is exciting to get a chance to read the stories of the women who took a chance to serve as the first women pilots. Beverly Weintraub wrote Wings of Gold, which shares the stories of the first women and follows their journey of not only serving but advocating for women to make changes for women pilots for future generations. If you enjoy learning the...

Vanessa initially joined the Air Force but when that didn't work out she joined the Army a few years later. She wanted to work in the nursing field but it wasn't open so her recruiter recommended that she work in preventative medicine. It wasn't anything like she expected and didn't set up her future career like she had hoped. Today, she is a social worker and just released her newest book, Veterans Affairs Whistleblower Retaliation. Vanessa is dedicated to supporting and assisting...

Aleha is working to create a safe culture at work through her company Work Culture Works. She grew up an Army brat and swore she would never join the military. Then after high school graduation her mom said it was time to move out. And the military was the best option and led her to the Air Force. She worked in both Ammunitions and Finance. She shared about her experience in the Air Force and how being sexual assaulted on a deployment and not having support after the assault led to mental...

Allison spent most of the pandemic deployed on a ship. She discussed the challenges of serving overseas during COVID on her two deployments while serving as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. Allison decided to join the military after doing an 8th grade research project about women during World War II. The report inspired by her grandmother an Army nurse during World War II led her to join the Navy and attend Annapolis. Today, she is working to get her MBA and has dreams on making an...