Military Service
U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant
Experience
7 years served
Future
Seeking a career in marketing, advertising, & communications
Location
New Braunfels, TX
About Justin
My name is Justin and I was born and raised in East Texas, Arp Texas to be exact. It's a small town not too far from Tyler, TX which most people would be more familiar with. Most young men and women from small East Texas towns do 1 of 3 things. They either go play sports somewhere on a sports scholarship, get married at a young age and stay at home, or go off to the military. I was one of those who couldn't wait to leave so I joined the military. I have so much to say and so much on my mind but I realize I have to keep this as short and sweet as I can but it will most likely end up long so bare with me. I want to focus on what I feel is the most important issue which is the role veterans play in today's society. First, I want to bring up a question for everyone which is why does our society have 100's and 100's of veteran programs? Have any of you ever sat and really thought about this? Why do so many of our nations men and women who've been trained by the best government and best country known to man, why would we all need so much assistance on the outside? And why do so many of us follow the same patterns as one another regardless of where we've all been or what we have faced while serving? These are questions that should have been answered a very long time ago but they still remain unanswered. Mainly because not enough of our nations hero's have actually asked the questions themselves! Just about every Presidential election, or even state and local elections are going to address veterans and what we can do as a nation to improve veteran services. Why is that such an ongoing issue? Just recently the President signed an Executive Order for a Task Force to be released at the state and local levels to combat Veteran suicides. The number changes quite often but it's at least 20 suicides a day last I saw, that's outrageous yall. As far as me personally I've moved 9 times and had 15 different jobs where I actually drew a paycheck. Going back to the patterns I mentioned before those are two patterns that should sound pretty familiar to many of you. So I wonder which it is exactly that causes moving around and bouncing job to job. Is it because we are constantly trying to get back to who we were before we ever joined the service? Or is it because we can't seem to reach the bar we actually set for ourselves while serving? Actually I think it's a mixture of both. But what about civilians and where they fit in all of this? When it comes to working with civilians I think we all can relate to the fact that they simply don't share our perceptions on many many issues. Our whole form of communication is like night and day and we mix together like oil and water in so many situations. So is that the answer to the 100's and 100's of veteran programs? It's probably 1 of 50 answers more than likely. Here's a different question for people. When it all boils down to it are we the one's who should re-learn working with the civilian sector or is it the civilian sector that needs to be educated on how to work with veterans?
I realize I've asked a lot of questions and haven't really said a whole lot about myself as I'm supposed to. But I've made it my mission to change the focus and the perception of a lot of different issues that just play themselves over and over and over. We all know the importance of communication and that's exactly what I plan on doing more of out here. Instead of Veterans being the one's who need all these special programs to help us out we need to be the one's continuing where we left off and utilizing our potential instead of our potential basically being taken for granted or taken away from us. Or us continuing the pattern of bouncing from job to job and home to home searching for where our potential can be used while also trying to learn what our potential even is in a civilian role. Doesn't this all sound so familiar and can be nail-biting for so many of us? We continue to be severely underutilized in today's society and it's time we change the conversation and our focus entirely. Instead of being thanked for our service it's time for actions over words and for us to be allowed to "continue" our service. The best way we can be thanked for our service is by getting rid of all the special programs because frankly we don't need them! We need more jobs that are tailored towards Veterans and we need credit where credit is due, our rank and our time in service giving us more qualifications than what we currently are being qualified for or qualified to do. I'm making it my mission to get this out to whomever it needs to be communicated to and I need more Veterans and leaders and people with power to help me do it. Not only are we helping ourselves along with our country and society, but most importantly we're saving veteran lives that continue to be lost every single day! We don't need an executive order signed with some task force we need more opportunities! And the right opportunities that are waiting to be created! We can no longer wait for our government or "other" people to take care of us. We need to do what makes us special to begin with and take care of each other! I need mentor-ship and for the right people to add to what I have said and to help me start this mission. I know this is all something that needs to change and needs to evolve along with everything else that's evolving in today's world. Thank you for reading if you've made it this far guys.
Sincerely,
Justin Carson
SSgt, United States Air Force