I love to read and/or listen to the stories of people who have achieved great success in areas I have a personal interest in.

Because of this innate curiosity, it only seemed natural to provide these same resources to other Veterans on Veterans In Demand.

After a recent Podcast interview with Alejandro Godinez, a fellow U.S. Army Veteran who is currently on the path to growing his career in the film and entertainment industry, I thought it would be fun to provide facts about a Veteran who has already mastered their craft in the same field.

I was surprised to learn there are quite a few celebrities who have served the country; some of which I would have never guessed in 100 years would raise their right hand to take The Oath to enlist, while others really didn’t have much of a choice due to them being drafted into service.

Alejandro’s passion is working behind the scenes as a director of music videos, documentaries, and is aspiring to run his own production company one day. Alejandro is still in the middle of his journey; and for some it might be hard to understand the amount of hard work and time it takes to achieve “celebrity status.”

Although reaching celebrity may not necessarily be the end goal for Alejandro, I thought it would be great to profile a Veteran who has already accomplished quite a bit in the entertainment industry in order to show other servicemembers and Veterans what can be achieved over time with hard work and dedication.

A Look At Clint Eastwood:

Clint Eastwood was drafted into the Army during the Korean War in 1951. He served as a swimming instructor at Fort Ord., a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay, Calif.

After his discharge, Eastwood moved to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in acting where he stumbled across a few minor roles, but mostly experienced a lot of rejection and struggle.

It wasn’t until 1959, almost 6 years after his military discharge, that Eastwood landed the role that would finally catapult his career in the entertainment industry.

He was offered the role of Rowdy Yates in the CBS TV series Rawhide.

Eastwood worked on Rawhide for eight seasons and also took on other Western based projects in Italy. His projects in Italy resulted in Eastwood becoming an international celebrity.

Eastwood leveraged his celebrity status and pay from his roles to eventually set up his on production company and music label called Malpaso.

In addition setting up a production company, Eastwood directed his first film called: Play Misty For Me, in 1971.

Clint Eastwood has since gone on to act, produce, and direct many popular movies that have made him a well known household name. These movies include: Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, and American Sniper, just to name a few.

A Few Take Aways From Clint Eastwood’s Journey

Don’t Be A Victim To Things Outside Of Your Control
Clint Eastwood served in the military during a time when young men didn’t have much choice in rather or not they would like to serve. Although military service may not have been a choice for Eastwood, he didn’t let the experience make him bitter or hold him back from achieving great things in his life.

Don’t Give Up On Your Goals
Like many starry eyed people before him, Eastwood moved to Los Angeles with hopes of becoming a star. He was by no means an overnight success in achieving this goal. There was a long stretch of time, struggle, and disappointment that he went through before he finally got his big break.

If he’d given up due to these setbacks, he would have never reached the celebrity status he is at today.

Since I haven’t had the pleasure to meet Clint Eastwood, I am not able to ask him if he got this determination from his service in the military or if his passion for his career field was so strong that giving up wasn’t an option. Either way, the fact that he stuck to his craft, even during the struggle years paid off.

Find Ways To Create Opportunities For Yourself
Eastwood went above and beyond his original goal of obtaining a career in acting. He completely dove into his own creative freedom by investing in his own production company and music label.

Too often people wait around for opportunities to come to them or feel stuck because they don’t have the freedom to express themselves the way they would like in their work.

We live in an age where there are so many ways to create opportunities for ourselves. Don’t wait around in order to do what you love and show your talents to the world. Find ways to create opportunities to shine.