In this edition of Veteran Voices, hosts Scott W. Luton & Kevin L. Jackson interview the founders of PRJKT VET: a Black, Disabled Veteran-owned company that focuses on helping veterans in their ventures after the military. Co-founders Jermaine Cohen and Rod Lee share their backgrounds, journeys & vision for the path ahead.

Scott Luton (00:02):

Welcome to veteran voices, a podcast dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States, armed forces on this series, jointly presented by supply chain. Now in vets to industry, we sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insights, perspective, and stories from serving. We taught with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of veteran voices. Hey, good morning, Scott Luton and Kevin L. Jackson

Scott Luton (00:43):

With you here on veteran voices. Welcome to today’s show Kevin special guest cohost. How you doing, sir?

Kevin L Jackson (00:50):

Hey man. You know, this is one the topics I really love doing with you, this, uh, veteran voices. Thank you very much for having on board. Okay.

Scott Luton (00:59):

Absolutely. We got to, you know, I still, it reminds me, we still got to do a deep dive into your time with the us Navy.

Kevin L Jackson (01:06):

I don’t want to bore people with that. I mean, I I’d make you look too bad. I mean, I’m sorry, but you know, the Navy has the best pilots we land on aircraft. We fly in space. I mean, we do all the good stuff, man. You air force. Well, nevermind. Well,

Scott Luton (01:24):

I’m just so pleased that we, the air force, we we’ve got two representatives myself and one of our special guests are strongly representing the us air force here today. We’ve got the army representative, of course the us Navy, but we also most importantly have got two outstanding guests that we’re gonna be talking to, uh, and diving into a lot of cool things they’re doing to serve the veteran community and, and, and just doing good stuff, big things across the business landscape. So let’s do this quick programming note, Kevin, before we get started here today. So this program is part of the supply chain. Now family programming proudly present it, serving our veteran community can find veteran voices, wherever you get your podcasts from subscribe for free. As we like to say money back guarantee, if you don’t like any of the shows. Um, but our show is also conducted in partnership with our friends over@betstoindustry.com.

Scott Luton (02:13):

They’re a nonprofit that are doing wonderful things for our veteran community that we’ve got to get everyone here connected to vets to industry. You can learn more about Brian Arrington and the whole team over there, uh, at V2 at vets, the new more to industry.com. Okay, Kevin, you’re ready to get going. Yeah, let’s get going, man. This is great. All right. Let’s bring in our two featured guests here today. Jermaine Cohen, managing partner, and co-founder at project vet Jermaine. Hey, doing and tastic. Thanks for having me. You bet I’ll already have enjoyed the conversation so far. We should’ve been recording the previous session, but you brought with you your partner, Rodley partner, and co-founder at project Ben. How you doing rod? Well, thank you, sir. Appreciate y’all having us on you bet. Uh, and, and rod who were talking earlier as a fellow air force veteran Jermaine is an army veteran. And of course Kevin is our Naval aviator, uh, with the U S Navy. So, all right, so let’s start, let’s start with you Jermaine up front. You know, we want to talk, we want to talk about, uh, some fun stuff, right? Where you grew up, like some, some memories of those formative years. So where are you from and tell us about it.

Jermaine Cohen (03:20):

Born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Yeah. I grew up a family of three, really played a lot of sports. Growing up. Baseball is in the band, do all that. I wasn’t really a pretty mild-mannered kid and do a whole lot. One day I came home from baseball practice, my senior year in high school. And there was an army recruiter at my house.

Scott Luton (03:47):

Well, it was that it was already bad. Then bullet point couldn’t you early.

Jermaine Cohen (03:52):

Oh really? And that was pretty much also really after that, I signed up shortly after alcohol. So

Scott Luton (04:00):

Sports in high school was baseball. Your strongest sport.

Jermaine Cohen (04:04):

Baseball was my thing. I was probably better at football considering I actually walked on to play football at Texas state when I was years older, like when I was 25. Right. But I didn’t play football. My friends didn’t play football. My friends who were in the marching day with all the girls. Right? Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Luton (04:29):

So one other question. So sports aside, and it sounds like you are a music lover, what else? And by the way, I was born and raised essentially in Aiken, South Carolina. So just up the road or down the road from the upstate there, what, what else did you really, were you passionate about, you know, in your early,

Jermaine Cohen (04:47):

In my earlier years, I was really passionate about music and definitely spending time with my family. We had, we did a lot of stuff together. I had a lot, I had a large extended family growing up that was back in the days where, you know, people grew up and they didn’t move away. So I knew all my cousins and now I’m an adult. I don’t know any of them. I enjoyed those things.

Scott Luton (05:12):

Yeah. I’m with you because everything, man, that’s right. I had some big, big reunions as a kid and loved the big football games, everything else we did. So I’m with you. All right. So rod, let’s talk about, uh, your upbringing a bit. We learned just a moment ago before we went live that you’re, you’re from Texas. So tell us about where you were born and raised and some of the things that you love to do as a kid.

Rod Lee (05:34):

So it’s pretty much the same story as Jermaine, except, you know, Texas is football, so lived a little different. Um, I was born in West Texas Midland to be exact. So Friday night lights was, you know, my, my real life. I saw, I knew some of those guys growing up, moved to Fort worth, which is where I live. Now. Most of my dad’s family is here to this day. You know? Um, I live right down the street from my grandparents. Uh, my grandmother now lives right down the street from me. So family is everything, but for the most part, grew up playing sports. Both my parents are, uh, college athletes. That’s how they met, you know, my birth kind of stopped my mother’s college career before that. I’m sure.

Rod Lee (06:23):

But you know, now it’s, it’s really been a focus on helping the community. And, and a lot of that comes from my mother. She is a newly elected Constable and a precinct out here. So she’s all about giving back to the community. Uh, that’s kind of what she’s preached my whole life. I joined the military because of my uncle, her youngest brother, he and his wife are retired army. So my first interaction with the recruiter was taking the ASVAB for the army. I wanted to become a tank mechanic. My uncle told me you’re too smart for that and go to the air force.

Jermaine Cohen (06:58):

So that’s

Rod Lee (06:59):

Kind of what led me to the air force. I actually then took the, went back, talked to the Navy first because I was really interested in, in, I couldn’t swim. I didn’t grow up swimming. My dad was hard, but I didn’t grow up swimming. So I was like, all right, I’m going to get in the Navy, you know, work myself out like air, air force,

Scott Luton (07:21):

Maybe.

Rod Lee (07:24):

Hey, say he scared me wrong to tell you the truth. I know hot bunking. It doesn’t sound too. I am glad when my choice. Uh, and I thank him for that

Scott Luton (07:36):

Aqua rocks in the Navy. So. All right. So germane we’ll circle right back. Because one final question, before I pass the Baton to Kevin here, you kind of, you spoke to maybe the cause of what got you in the army was that recruiter in your house at an early age, but what was, what was your, wow, what made you ultimately sign a dotted line? And

Jermaine Cohen (07:59):

So there were several things going on. So my oldest brother, uh, recipes, he was a Marine. I always looked up, don’t ask me why I didn’t go into the Marine Corps at the time he was in. And I couldn’t talk to, you know, I wanted that autonomy. I got, I knew that my parents didn’t have a whole lot of money. My dad had had a stroke my senior year in high school. So I mean, days were going downhill and the sister’s in college and it was kinda my, you know, that was my step into it’s a mandate, right? Go out, take care of myself. And I didn’t have to depend on my parents. So that’s really what it call came down to. And I have to add this, they offered me money and they told me they paid for my college. I was a huge part.

Scott Luton (08:49):

So I appreciate you sharing that. And what was your brother’s name? Linco Lee Cohen. All right. Rest peace. Hate

Jermaine Cohen (08:56):

To hear that. So, but thanks for sharing to you both. All right. So Kevin, uh, on a much lighter note or are we going

Kevin L Jackson (09:02):

Well, actually, I was very interested about what you did while you were in the military, in the military, your branch, or your, your MOS, Rodney. What, what did you do? Uh, you didn’t want to do tank, so when you become ordinance, man, what,

Rod Lee (09:21):

Oddly enough, shortly after, you know, I took the ASVAB, I actually got into a private school, uh, college or so I kind of delayed that for a bit, but I had friends that were joining the air force just as mom, but told me one of them became an avionics technician. He was like, you know, I love it. We get to work on the aircraft without being on the flight line. It takes a lot of high technical expertise. I’ve always been a technical guy. So that kind of led me down that road. I like to put together computers when I was younger, you know, take things apart, put them back together. So that’s, that’s exactly what I, I went to do. I went to become a, uh, aeronautics engineer. Most people call it a technician, but because I was on the F 15 and F 16 side, and then from there, after doing that for about eight years, there were phasing out our job.

Rod Lee (10:13):

It Tyndall air force, base, Florida. So I had a decision, you know, what could I go and do I really wanted to go to Germany? My job just wasn’t going there. So I decided to become education and training manager. I had just got my bachelor’s degree from Emory riddle. So I was like, well, let’s, let’s try this out. See if I can go get deployed overseas, uh, go to, I’d been to Japan, wanted to go to Germany or back to Japan. So that was kind of my thought. And then they sent me up the road from Florida to Georgia. I got stuck there for a couple of years doing the same thing. And then, so I left active duty and became a guardsman here in Fort worth. And, and did, uh, training again for another two years.

Kevin L Jackson (10:52):

So you, you, uh, went through quite a few changes there. About how about you Jermaine? Did you, uh, you know, how did you pound at ground?

Jermaine Cohen (11:01):

Oh, it’s funny you ask because, you know, initially I just wanted you to you, you know, the easiest way to do that. It’s obviously 11, 11, 11, Bravo, and Charlie and I talked to him, my best friend is, is that Joe told me, he said, Hey, he’s like, ah, I don’t want to get you to do anything just tangent. He said, think about what you can do. And he said, you told me the longer the training, the more technical, the more valuable you get out. So yeah, I chose this job and I remember the recruiter. He was like, I said, well, what is this? And he couldn’t explain it to you, but it was 28 weeks of training, which is about eight or nine months. And it was a radio concept. Oh, well, I went to the fourth infantry division and it had four, it was four 21.

Jermaine Cohen (12:01):

We had all the new equipment for the army. So I couldn’t work on any radio or anything, any COMSEC nothing because it was all in the contract. Uh, so I ended up becoming almost like a SMI in life and I learned how to use it to MCs and I started training. And that was really, that was what I did. And, you know, when we got deployed, you know, you mentioned that, you know, we, they’ve got, they’re missing all the Cowboys and stuff, the birth tour with that. Um, you know, I, it was, uh, it was a great experience. Um, you know, I, I learned a lot while I was there. You know, we lost one guy, uh, rest in peace, uh, named Daniel. Paul will always mentioned it that you first got the die on camp call. Well, they named it ASAP. Um, but yeah, that was, that was it. I, I did sit, this is considered ordinance, but a lot of,

Kevin L Jackson (13:07):

So I mean, sometimes like I noted, there are quite a few lessons I learned in the military from, you know, people that I followed. Um, my, my commanders, my, my leaders, what, what stepped up in your mind, you know, we’re any leaders or people that really, you know, made you who you are.

Jermaine Cohen (13:31):

So Andre canny, uh, yeah, he, he, he has our first class canny. Uh, he was my NCO in the army and I actually ended up working for him as the contact for Apple, but he was the, he’s probably the best leader I ever had. He was representative of all the values of the army held to a high standard. It wasn’t an act. It was just who he was. He was fair. He did the right thing and B, he worked like no other. And so I getting out of the army and being in, working for him as where I learned everything I can learn about just even being a man, you know, the 19 year old kid first got there. And he said, you may, excuse me, probably Cohen. Uh, most of these guys, they’re not going to go to school or do whatever. He just, he kind of direct me in the right direction. Remolded you, huh? Absolutely, absolutely great guy.

Kevin L Jackson (14:29):

So who made you Rodney?

Rod Lee (14:35):

Well, that would be Kevin and Sandra Lee who made me in the military. I’d probably say from an early, um, like I said, my, my first duty station was Okinawa, Japan. So when I got in there, you know, we were in the height of, uh, OIF and OEF. Yeah. It was, it was, uh, you know, kind of, it was a culture shock for me. Like Jermaine had a long tech school, uh, and, and that tech school was spent in Texas. So I went from basic training in San Antonio. They drove me across the street to go to my first tech school. They drove me, uh, or I drove myself up seven hours to Wichita falls. So I was never far away from home. Right. And then, so they shouldn’t be over to Japan. That’s my first time being a way away. And so, you know, Robert Sumlin, he was one of my chiefs there.

Rod Lee (15:29):

Colonel land got a lot of kernels that I could name that kind of, uh, because I worked close with a lot of the squadrons. I was kind of one of the young NCO coasts that people came to for information. And they just help me understand, you know, what I was doing it for and why you should always give 110%. You know, I never really, and Jermaine can attest to this. If somebody asked me to get stuff done, it’s going to get done and it’s doing to them, you know, you never had to ask them twice. They were gonna knock it out, uh, out of the park. And that’s why I really liked working for those guys. So, and also Derek Lewis, he was at my last duty station and more than anything, he taught me how to live outside of the military. So I was, I was in Georgia by myself for the first year waiting for my family to come up. And I spent a lot of time just kind of following him. He was, uh, uh, outside of the military, he coached his son, uh, in football. And I watched his interaction with his kids. He was, you know, top notch guy on and off base. And now his son is playing at Texas tech. So it’s just, it’s great to see somebody put that much work and effort into their children and watching them grow as well as in their professional career. So those are the guys

Kevin L Jackson (16:46):

Working with at 15 Eagles. I mean, that’s a, that’s an awesome, uh, airframe. So what I mean that in and of itself could be, I could see as a great accomplishment. I mean, you have to feed you only plane. It actually shot down a satellite with a missile, right. So what are your accomplishments that you’re really proud of?

Rod Lee (17:05):

So while I was in tandem, which typically is a training base, so most of the 15 pilot, well, all of the 15 pilots comes from Tindle to get their certification

Kevin L Jackson (17:15):

As a Kohler right down the street.

Rod Lee (17:17):

Right. And I actually graduated out of that, uh, that Naval air station. So it was all the place. And so I did actually go back and forth between those two, uh, locations. And, and I learned a lot about how different bases operate. So you have your operational base down the street in Eglin, um, and your training base at Tyndall. So my biggest accomplishment, I would say I got technician of the year for our MAJCOM and that was due to a lot of work between basis. So we’re having a lot of, uh, fails on a specific radar receiver. I was learning a lot from the diff from a lot of different people on how to properly troubleshoot and maintain aircraft. And I think had it not been for that interaction between multiple sites, multiple basis, understanding crosstalk and how you can come together and solve a problem as a group. You know, I think that’s helped me now in my career and in project vet, you know, depending on partners, depending on outside resources and not putting everything on yourself, allowing others to have accountability and things that you do,

Kevin L Jackson (18:21):

That’s really important in life. And I think we want to talk about your transition, but before we do that, Jermaine, what, what was your biggest competition? I mean, force 21 when I was in the military that was really driving a lot of decisions at the higher level. So, you know, what you were really proud of, are you in the military,

Jermaine Cohen (18:42):

I guess to that point course 21 is that whole integration process. I was a pretty big part in that unit training a lot with my warrant officer, uh, learning how to use C2, MCs and helping train the units. I mean, we support it, our shop support it the entire day, you know, one thing cab and there’s a lot of Bradley’s tanks. And so that was, to me, that was a big, we did a lot of small little teams. I’m actually very proud of that.

Kevin L Jackson (19:15):

Well, yeah, leaving, uh, the military and to, uh, it’s advanced technology that we just take for granted today. Uh I’ll remember that

Scott Luton (19:24):

Agreed. All right. So I’m a huge, I don’t know if y’all are, but I’m a huge, uh, military aircraft, nerd and F when you mentioned F 15 Kevin, a gorgeous aircraft that was at Shaw air force base, where we had three F 16 squadrons and one eight, 10 squadron back in the day, my first stent. And I’ll never forget, uh, demos. Do you remember demos when they fly over the flight line? And Charlotte was a pretty small base. I mean, it was, you know, when you’re eating at the chow hall, you weren’t far from the, from, from the, uh, the, um, the ramp at all. And man, I remember in my car eating my sandwich from my, that styrofoam box, listening to sports radio or something, and, and the pilot would kick in Kevin, whatever y’all do as pilots, it’d be a huge boom in a roar. Right. It’s tough to even describe to people that, that haven’t heard. Just the fountain, the fury of military,

Kevin L Jackson (20:19):

I ain’t going there after burner. Yeah.

Scott Luton (20:22):

And they’re there. Uh, if I understand it correctly, they’re remanufacturing new 15 platforms. I believe Kevin gorgeous, gorgeous aircraft. All right. So let’s talk about transition, appreciate what y’all shared already. It’s always tough to do these conversations justice in an hour or so, but let’s talk about transition cause we want, we’re gonna talk about project vet in a minute in great things you are doing across the veteran community there, but transitioning, we get a ton of questions and we talked about pre-show, you know, when I got out no two and really, since as I’ve interacted with with, well, I mean, heck I couldn’t find a job. Right. And I wasn’t a combat veteran, you know, I didn’t have some of those challenges. I had a four year degree, uh, broad, much like you, but I was enlisted, you know, and I had had a strong, you know, friends and family network.

Scott Luton (21:06):

I didn’t know how to get a job, but you know, that’s okay. That’s w S on a long list of things I didn’t know back back then, but I couldn’t find, I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to use the recruiters had no professional network. And really a lot of those elements have been very commonplace in the thousands of conversations we’ve had with veterans since. So I want to talk to y’all about your transition first, and then also want to, y’all both to give some advice to our listeners for their own transition, whether they’re about to get out already out, or if they’re kind of entering the professional space, I want to figure out how to, how to move up. So germane, let’s start with you. Let’s talk about your transition out of the army and then we’ll circle back on.

Jermaine Cohen (21:46):

Absolutely. And so I got out in 2004 when I came back from Iraq, uh, November of 2004. And you knows when you’re young, uh, 22, 23, really just ready to go, right. A cab them a book, so I can get at it, you know, hit the door. Right. And there are likely resources that either there, or you don’t go out when you don’t really care about your daddy. And I’m sure I passed up a lot, but I kinda just started carving out my own path. I got a job very quickly. Uh, it was a security guard or good. I started continuing med. That was the main thing for me. You know, I wanted the degree, I wanted to be a teacher and all this other stuff, but there wasn’t a lot of directions. And I know I mentioned before that worked for my in CYC action of going to await, to work as a contractor.

Jermaine Cohen (22:42):

And I guess to clear up what I said earlier, like when I said, I said that he said these other guys, won’t what he meant was that I volunteered to go back to school. Gotcha. I volunteered it. It was free tuition assistance. And they, they told me they would let me go leave work a little bit, really take classes, but I wouldn’t work overseas for a while. And then I came back and went back to college, Texas state that was kind of the path, but it wasn’t, I still was kind of in limbo all these years, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do or how to do. I was kind of just wonder, like I went to college for something that I didn’t really want to do. I don’t need that degree to this day. It wasn’t until 2017. When I went back to school at UT uh, the same program that Ronnie was in MSTC, it homes. That’s when I realized like, Hey, like, this is more aligned with what I want. I have an entrepreneurial spirit. And I want be that I want it to be involved in that world. I didn’t know exactly where I fit in. But, um, this is kind of how all of this thing about, you know, Ronnie and I, we became friends in 2014, working on aviation. And, you know, we just kind of grew from there and here we are the same, we founded project.

Scott Luton (24:06):

I love that. Um, there’s so many elements of that. 70 folks, I think never found that passion in their life. Right. And, and they just, they clock in and clock out every day. They don’t, they don’t maybe know any better. Your passion, your passion is your life. If you don’t find it, you just get lost. Amen. Amen. So, Jermaine, I love that one more follow-up before I move over to rod, do you think, um, so what I’ve picked up, you know, I got, as I mentioned in Oh two, so it’s been a long time. Uh, and as I’ve taught with people that got out when I got out, and then of course all the points in between, and then here recently, it seems like the services in general have gotten a lot better about how they prep, you know, airmen and, and see, uh, semen and, and soldiers getting the Marines, getting out. But did you, was it the G to get a mix of good prep and not so good prep as you are getting out of the army

Jermaine Cohen (24:59):

Back back then, Scott, uh, you know, I remember seeing the transition to CEO, you know, if you, if you’re not staying in and this is, it’s not throwing anybody under the bus, you’re not staying in that. They’re kind of just like, okay, he’s getting out. There’s no point in doing anything to this guy anymore. And that’s kind of how, you know, that’s kinda how I felt it may not have actually been that this guy’s getting out over. They let them go. So, but there wasn’t, there wasn’t a whole lot of,

Scott Luton (25:29):

And so that was a four that’s. Right. So I’m thinking, I was thinking, when you, when you, when 2017, did you founded the company, which we’ll touch on in a second, but, uh, all of the good, the good news there is, it seems like at least my air force, but as I speak to, it seems like they’ve gotten a lot better, whether you’re staying in or you’re transitioning out and separating that they’ve, you know, they’re, they’re preparing folks better for the gap we all have as we’re serving and trying to tackle the private sector. All right. So rod, let’s move over to you. Let’s talk about your transition. I’m going to circle back to both of y’all about advice. As you share your transition stories. Our listeners are going to probably pick up advice regardless, but we’re going to circle back and get you all really spell it out. So rod, tell us about your transition. Well, so as I mentioned, I left the active duty air force to go to the, then it was reserves and I was kind of already thinking full time reserves. So I was transitioning to Texas. My original plan was to go to Arizona, become a reservists there that didn’t pan out. Then I went to Houston, was going to work at the resiliency wing. So that’s what I did my last two years in the air force. I actually worked with Jay stars, EA wing surveillance, wing, awesome guys

Rod Lee (26:44):

Out there. And I really wanted to stay in that, that operations field. They told me that I was nondeployable. So I couldn’t be with the reservists wing, but the are their resiliency wings are, uh, so the reserves didn’t take me, but the international guard did, but I was going to have to be a traditional guardsman. So I went from thinking, I’m still going to be a full-time airman to, you know, what do I do now? I had just tried to get commission, as I stated, I was trying to get overseas, but that wasn’t working. I just literally graduated from, with an MBA in January of that year. So it was may timeframe. And I was like, well, you know, I got my MBA because I wanted to have my own business. I had been tinkering around with some things they didn’t really pan out, but now being a traditional guardsman, that was kind of what I needed to focus on.

Rod Lee (27:37):

Kept running into hurdles. As Jermaine mentioned, I started working with this aviation company for Maine and I kind of clicked. That was my first trip to Canada. Uh, we shared some, uh, share some time up there and yeah, w where did we go wrong? All the Roxbury break from it. Um, so I just kind of stayed in contact. I went to a couple of different aviation companies, and then I actually started working for a, uh, aviation software company out of Canada. So then I was going to Canada every other week there. I kind of learned how to run a business, being a product manager. So from start to finish, you kind of own this vision. And what I was doing was trying to figure out the best way to keep maintenance going within different sectors of the, of the globe. So I worked with a sob out of Sweden.

Rod Lee (28:37):

I worked with BAE out of the UK. I was working with the Canadian air force, and I was trying to figure out the best way for them to transition from, you know, a local maintenance program into a global maintenance program. And that got my years thinking about, okay, if I can build this thing, create something and make sure that these different entities are able to use it. Why can’t I do that with my own, my own thing? Right? So that’s where Jermaine and I, we started talking, I ended up going to a MSTC, as he mentioned, which is a technological commercialization. They figure, they teach you how to become an entrepreneur. And that’s really, when things started clicking Jermaine went the next year I graduated in 17, he graduated in 18, and then we kept trying to figure out ways to become business partners. And last year it finally clicked things that we love to do, you know, help veterans and, and the communities that we were a part of. So love it, figure on how to deal with change. That’s what’s important resiliency all day. Yep.

Scott Luton (29:42):

Hmm. So, and we’re going to talk about project vet here in a second. Um, I want to circle back one more time. If you had one or two things to share with veterans again, whether they’re, whether they’re about to get out and if you’re doing what I did, you wait until, uh, you’re already out to start looking for a job that was one of my mistakes, or if they’re, if they’re out, they’re in transition already, or if they’re, again, if they’re, you know, in industry, maybe we get lend to their first job and trying to figure out how to advance and make connections and build network and whatnot. So what’s one or two pieces of advice germane that you’d offer those folks.

Jermaine Cohen (30:17):

First is a USO Pathfinder program. This is, I, I actually had a call with them this week, cause I’m inspired by them because what they do is essentially assign you a scout and the scout actually puts together somewhat of a, obviously a roadmap, but to suit it to your needs and what you want to do. And they have the connections to do it within your region. So whether it’s education, employment, all types of there’s so many different resources out there, but the problem is, is, well, it’s not always, it’s a problem with, you know, everyone can’t market, all their services or national, right. As I’m going through these, you know, these companies, they’re just connecting me with more and more people that are doing all of these things. And they’re all free resources for veterans, but people just don’t know about. So, you know, reach out to the USO Pathfinder program. I think that that’s a good start, right? And that’ll actually spider without too, a lot of other resources actually get them to things where they

Scott Luton (31:28):

Wonderful USO Pathfinder. We’ll see if we can’t find the link and put that in the show notes. I appreciate you sharing that. And by the way, a little plug for our non-profit partner, they, they do similar things. So vets to industry they’ll vet, you know, there’s a plethora, a real resources and then some not so real resources out there that, that tout their service to veterans. And, uh, they do a good job of vetting that and then adding, or, uh, kind of maintaining a library of resources of those folks they vetted at that’s to industry.com. So it sounds like USO Pathfinders is similar with Quintin. Of course, everyone knows USO. Right? I love those folks. All right. So Rob, let’s talk about what’s that one or two key pieces of advice that you’d offer the same folks.

Rod Lee (32:09):

I would say with both of you kind of mentioned building that network, knowing what resources are out there probably three or four months before you get out, give yourself some runway so that you can hit the ground running literally. Cause that’s probably what we’ll be doing running from interview to interview, trying to figure out what it is that you want to do and who you want to do it with. So I think building that network going on, LinkedIn, making sure you have the right connections, making sure a part of the right communities doing outreach to your veterans commission. So whatever local veterans commission can reach out to, uh, I’d advise doing that as well as department of labor and, and things of that nature, understanding how to articulate what it is that you did while you were in the military and convert that into civilian terms. I think that’s another key piece.

Kevin L Jackson (32:55):

Yeah. You mentioned a network, something that when you’re in the military, you don’t realize how powerful a network is and how much you really needed when you, when you leave, uh, the military. And you gotta think about that before you leave things like LinkedIn and stuff. So, you know, people that you meet in the military become your business network when you leave. So you, you just got to build and maintain that, that network.

Scott Luton (33:22):

Excellent point excellent point. Um, I believe, uh, Kevin LinkedIn has made it free at least for a year, I believe, uh, for veterans to use the enhanced product, which was a nice move by, I guess, the folks over at Microsoft. So, but, uh, Kevin, so before we move on to project vet, which I’m, I’m looking forward to hearing about, what’s one, one other key thing that maybe we didn’t hear here, here, here yet that folks transitioning should keep on the radar. Kevin.

Kevin L Jackson (33:48):

Well, actually the fact that everything is constantly changing and you have to leverage these technologies, these communications technologies, you know, like social media, people say social media is just something to play with, but really it’s a communications technology. And, and over the past year with the, the epidemic pandemic, I guess, online communication, we would just talk them before about, you know, one you’re using zoom, then you’re using WebEx, then you’re using teams and you’re, you know, you, you have to know how to present yourself and communicate electronically. So, you know, having a camera and being able to deal with these, uh, collaboration technologies and having a good microphone and headset, all of that is really part business life today. And when you’re in the military, you don’t, we may not recognize that. And that’s, that’s a critical learning skill for business today. So, uh, you know, as part of your transition, learn how to use these tools, be

Scott Luton (34:57):

Excellent points there. And I would just add one more that we’ve mentioned before, and I’ve really enjoyed, of course, the supply chain space, right? Uh, beyond a military aircraft nerd, I’m a big supply chain nerd too. And there’s, uh, there’s a lot of associations, professional associations that serve that space. And many of them offer free or highly discounted memberships to, to veterans. And that’s a great way, especially if you start, you know, a year out and if, you know, you’re getting out of no you’re retiring or separating, you know, a year out kind of work backwards, identify what you want to do. Find the influential association that served that space. And then first to see if they offer discounts for veterans and military members, but then getting their network, add those members to your network and, and piece together kind of how they made it to where they are. I wish I’d done that looking back, but all right, so now we’re going to get to the cleanup hitter portion of today’s podcast. I’ve really enjoyed learning from Kevin and tr and tracking you on social, the great things that you are doing at project vet. I’ve just saw earlier on LinkedIn and th this will, I’m not, I’m not enlisting my own advice. I’m dating this stuff, guys.

Scott Luton (36:10):

Y’all, y’all got a culmination of a wonderful tournament. Uh, that’s going to already have taken place by the time this publishes, but let’s start with you, uh, Jermaine, tell us about project vet and let’s start with why you, why y’all founded the organization first.

Jermaine Cohen (36:24):

So it kind of goes back to what we talked about earlier in the conversation. So when I got out of the military, you know, there, there wasn’t a lot of guidance or direction, at least I didn’t know where to find it. And, and that was kinda, you know, it was really free social media days too. So it wasn’t like I could pull out a smartphone and be on Facebook or whatever it was just wherever I can get information. And so, you know, kind of just thinking about all of that, where me arriving, where I’m turning 40, I spent all these years working in these jobs that I really, I could’ve done without. Right. If I read them really get down to the meat potatoes on, I probably shouldn’t have worked a lot with the work that, that, uh, you know, you gotta, someone’s got to pay the light.

Jermaine Cohen (37:16):

And so we started kind of brainstorming and we make heaven along that process. Um, I I’ve dealt with mental illness, the majority, all of my adult life, even my childhood, there’s a lot of it goes in and, you know, finding resources for that has always been Brown, especially when you’re in the military. When we got back now to camo and all this guy, and what did you do? And there’s, there’s all these things and stigmas, and you kinda just shy away. You don’t go get help. And what happens if years later when you’re alone and single man or whatever, you can, you can take off for a weekend and get your mind, right. I can drive as far as I want to no responsibility, but when you have a family that no longer works and what happens, you know, you don’t want that to bleed over into your children’s house. And so project vet to me, like that was a big part. It’s like, Hey, we need to figure out a way to connect these veterans, have these communities, because especially now during this pandemic where everyone was at home all the time, especially guys who are home, you know, domestic violence rates are going up. There’s so many things that are happening.

Speaker 6 (38:36):

It’s like, how do we provide, how do we

Jermaine Cohen (38:39):

Provide a path to where we can bring more together? And we started brainstorming different initiatives, Kevin, you know, he reached out, it’s like, Hey, what about, you know, naming? And I had done some research from Johns Hopkins. They just research on the effects of mental health, right on the, how war veterans, these things did active, go play with your friends. And it’s just talking comradery because when you’re a veteran, the thing that I miss the most is the comradery. That’s like my battle, but the guys that I, I live everyday network. Absolutely. And so we’ve, we’ve wanted to be involved with that. We want to be the guys who help guys transitioning. We wanted to have these resource initiatives to kind of be that type of platform. And that’s what essentially, that’s what we’re doing. So, and I don’t want to run over Rodney’s time during that, but I just wanted to outline a few of them.

Jermaine Cohen (39:41):

This is just that we’ll work more now to kind of give you guys an update. And so the video games for pets that is ongoing online gaming, it’s done through an app company, we partner with a Whirlpool. You guys can go in and register at any time and play and they can click points and convert those into tokens through our platform. The beauty of all of this is the tournament that we’re running. We’re actually going to issue the prize money in USD comb. So we pride ourselves on being forward, thinking with technology as well, because you know, now the commercialization. So if we did, like, we want to be, we want to be out in the front and the front of things when it comes to technology. So there’s so many things we have going on. I think really good position there. We partnered with a, another company that actually does most of emotional support you, which are the evil dogs who have, and you know, if anyone of you guys know anyone who has a service animal, you know, that takes an average of three years, mostly it gets serviced. Wow. We can do that three

Speaker 6 (40:43):

Years. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Jermaine Cohen (40:46):

And you know, we, we can do it, these emotional support animals and these dogs are heroes because they save their people, dogs. They, they, they freeze their blood platelets and these dogs save dogs. But when they miss their capacity, um, you know, they have to retire them and they need homes. And who better than, you know, veterans out there who may want a pet or a companion, right? So there’s, there’s that aspect right there. We also help with VA claims through one of our partners as well. And lastly, I’ll just end with this. I don’t want to run over on time, but our, our main cornerstone is being able to provide a platform, allows transitioning veterans to learn how to start business, to start a business, to learn what it’s like to work in a startup. Um, where I, I mentioned before the USO Pathfinder program had a lot of inspiration into what we arrived.

Jermaine Cohen (41:52):

We started rainstorm because our background with university of Texas in STC has everything to do with that. And we know that people who are getting out, a lot of people want to work for themselves, but they don’t really know how, like, I, I didn’t know how, like, you know, now that I messed up so many things, even the handler Roddy, Roddy’s my name. We all did. We all do still riding my rock. I got I’m up so much stuff. You know, he’s, he’s just on top of it, but you know, we’re learning as we go. And, uh, so, so yeah, that’s in a nutshell, you know, we’re a company out here we’re trying to help as many veterans, whether it’s transitioning out of the military, whether it’s mental health, some of the partners like the warriors resource with the, to the Cohen veterans network, we partnered with all those guys to be resources for those veterans. And that’s how we want to grow up.

Kevin L Jackson (42:52):

Yeah. One thing I just wanted to highlight in case people, the audience missed, you said that people could get on and play online games and get real money. You said tokens, but that’s funny.

Jermaine Cohen (43:10):

Let me, let me, let me, let me be clear. So it’s not real. So the prize money is real because the USD coin is real USB point is backed by the us dollar. That’s, that’s the stable. However, we, the brother that store, we have our own token positive Bitcoin, which can be converted from points from playing the video games to, you know, win, or could we buy or redeem, you know, some of our merchants from our store search, t-shirts things of that nature.

Kevin L Jackson (43:49):

So, so that really can, uh, support you and help you grow and help you partner and support the bets and transitions. Cause, you know, cause you know, you need to get those gamers, they get addicted and that’s, that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing for a good cause.

Scott Luton (44:08):

Well, and I’ve seen some studies, uh, I w I wish I had had them here right on my fingertips here, but I’ve seen studies where that sense of community and connection and connectivity that, you know, some folks get it by going to a local coffee shop during normal times. Of course, some folks get it by going to church, some folks get it in the video game community. Right. Uh, so, and, and we’re all different strokes for different folks. Some folks get it through all those. And then some before rod, before I get you to weigh in on some of what Jermaine has shared, and Kevin has shared about project bet, I think it’s really important that you remain what you said earlier about halfway through about mental health. Mental health is not a bad word. It should not be stigmatized. We all have mental health, whether we want to embrace it or not.

Scott Luton (44:53):

And, and to your point germane, I think one of the challenges that, that at least I’ve seen, not, not don’t stones or anything, but, you know, we don’t want to admit when something’s just not right. And unfortunately, it’s a lot of folks not getting some of the help they need, whether it’s a small, some small issues or challenges or mental health things that, you know, they want to address or that they need to address or some of the bigger challenges. So I think that’s really an important message folks should, should pick up on and embrace. I appreciate you bringing it up.

Kevin L Jackson (45:23):

Yeah. And I think it’s really important also because the military, as a culture teaches people to be strong and not to ask for help. And if you, you know, have a, um, uh, mental health or you need help with that, they people won’t ask, then it gets even harder if you’re leaving the military and you’re transitioning because now you feel that you’ve somehow let yourself down if you go ask for help. So, so project bed is really filling a, a critical role. These, uh, people that know the military culture know what it means to transition, and you can really help someone understand that, you know, if you need help, get help, and don’t be afraid to ask

Scott Luton (46:17):

Love that. Love that Kevin great point. All right. So Rob, let’s see, based on what you’ve heard, I really appreciate Jermaine’s point, you know, kind of the story of y’all’s founding and connecting and then founding, and then the point by point, some of the programming and initiatives are driving, what else would you add to the project? That discussion?

Rod Lee (46:34):

Well, I want to go back and talk about something. Kevin just mentioned throughout my time in the military, you know, I had a good 10 years, I would say where things were kind of sporadic, you know, you move around a lot. And I think that’s also what kind of got me in the entrepreneurial mindset is that I can’t stay in one job doing something for a very long time because the military always has you moving, whether you keep the same job or not, you’re kind of always transitioning. And so that’s what my continuous career was, was just continuous transition. In 2012, the us air force, um, started something for the first term airman’s course, which we call it F tech, which is called resiliency training. And this was based on, you know, recognizing mental health expect, especially for those new, um, men that coming to base, being away from family for the first time, trying to figure out how to maneuver, whether you’re a young airman or you’re young Lieutenant.

Rod Lee (47:39):

I think it’s, it’s a culture shock, right? It’s, it’s something new. And the military does tend to, you know, I don’t want to say sweep it under the rug, but not pay as much attention to it. And they kind of leave it on you. And that’s something that I wanted to bring, uh, to project vet, not putting it on that person and not having them deal with their mental health alone, but bringing that community together where we could have discussions, even something like we’re doing right now, and the zoom call talking about our military careers, just sharing stories, you know, positive or negative. It’s something that we can connect on. And it’s something that, you know, makes you feel like I’m okay, these guys, you know, they experienced the same thing I did. I’m okay. So that’s one of the best things I think we’ve done so far is this tournament and focusing on mental health, connecting with the Cohen veterans network, something else we have big that was supposed to start this year, but it’ll start next season is where we’ve actually partnered with the NBA G league team out of Dallas.

Rod Lee (48:44):

So they’re not Texas legends. And what they’re going to do for us is they’re going to allow a hundred veterans and their families come with them to game. So they’ll have free seats at home games, just showing support for veterans mental health and otherwise. Uh, so that’s, that was another big initiative that we wanted to, you know, hit the ground running with was letting the local community, uh, show support to veterans and, and keep those things moving throughout the year. And not just focusing on what, uh, mental health month or things of that nature, because it’s, it’s, it’s continuous, right? We talk about the, uh, 22 veterans that commit suicide a day. You know, it’s, it’s yeah. Numbers up, you know, especially during the pandemic. And, uh, you know, I’ve worked from home for about six years now, and sometimes I can get star crazy.

Rod Lee (49:36):

I traveled a lot when I was doing the, the thing with the Canadians, you know, they had me all over Europe and the coldest months of the year. And then I got to come back to Texas and sweat it off in the summer. But, you know, being on the road all the time and not being able to see family that did wear on me. So I may not have got the PTSD from, you know, being out in the, uh, in the desert. My deployments were actually pretty fun for the most part. So, um, not to brag, but that’s another air force perk.

Speaker 7 (50:08):

So yeah,

Rod Lee (50:09):

Coming back was, it was still, you know, hard to be away from family, but we weren’t doing it. Uh long-term as a summer, other brothers and sisters in arms, uh, were doing so most of mine was just traveling, everything wearing down on me. And, you know, I went to a lot of folks for support. I have a, a great system with a lot of veterans, uh, whether I met them at UT. And that’s the tower that you see behind me. I met a lot of great veterans through that program. Uh, army air force, Navy Marines, and a lot of them were still in trying to figure out their next moves. And that was, you know, the thing that the Jermaine and I talk about is, you know, what programs are out there that really do these things? What can we do to help these guys that are coming out, don’t really know their path.

Rod Lee (50:57):

They’re trying to, they may have an idea of what they’d like to continue doing, but they don’t know who they want to do it with. They don’t know if they necessarily want to go work for someone. So we’ve actually applied through a DOD skill bridge to become one of these companies that as members are transitioning out of the military, they can apply for an internship or mentorship with us. And they’ll spend some time learning what we know when it comes to entrepreneurship. Like Jermaine says, starting a business, how to get your business plan together, developing marketing strategies, pricing strategies, things of that nature. So we’re trying to, you know, further arm, our brothers and sisters, as they’re getting out of the military and not really leaving them out of the coal and introducing them to the programs that we know about. Right. So,

Kevin L Jackson (51:44):

Yeah, that’s, that’s great. And it’s perfect segue. I was thinking, well, how can people really reach out to you couldn’t even get connected because you have such great services that can help actually help anyone, but especially veterans that they’re transitioning, or if they’re find themselves, you know, way too long at home, you know, isolated from people, you know, how can they reach out and connect with you?

Rod Lee (52:10):

So project vet.com, if you go there, that’s P R J K T that, and I’ll give you the phonetics. That’s a Papa Romeo, Juliet, kilo tango, right there listing you. Can’t see. Uh, so it’s a project that.com you can go in there, you can fill out, uh, a form to request any type of service that you see on the site. Or if you just want to get in contact with us, reach out there are LinkedIn and you should have access to our LinkedIns. Uh, after this, this podcast is posted. And yeah, I really encourage people to give me a call just because I like to have these conversations, whether it be zoom, I’ve reached out to a couple of Marines in the last couple of weeks, and we’ve just talked about their transition, some of the things that they’ve experienced, and that’s really what I like to do. I like to, to understand what it is that you’re dealing with and how we can help. So even if it’s something that we don’t necessarily do with ourselves, we’re definitely here to connect you with the people that do so love that. And then, you know, we’re gonna make it really easy. We’re going put, uh, links to your LinkedIn and

Scott Luton (53:26):

Your URL in the show notes where after one click here, really trying to help connect folks love what you’re doing well on, on, on a variety of levels. And it’s really neat to, uh, Kevin, as much as you and I collaborate. It’s neat to kind of hear a wrinkle in, in all the stuff that you do. Kevin L. Jackson is kind of, it’s neat to kind of hear, you know, the world is so small. You start, you start really peeling the layers back and, and, um, you know, it’s just really how small the world is. And, and, but Hey,

Kevin L Jackson (53:55):

Yeah, I really believe in and the mission and what project vector is doing. And, uh, my daughter is even involved also and helping somebody, uh, gaming operations and, um, talk about network, uh, Ruth Cohen. He’s a long, long time friend of mine. We’ve worked together in cloud computing and the government, and we maintain that network and he actually, he’s an entrepreneur and he, and he started award pool. So I got project bed in touch with award pool and boom,

Scott Luton (54:29):

It’s a beautiful thing. And, and huge things lie ahead, uh, beyond all the, all the great, uh, service work you’re doing for the veteran community. So we look forward to supporting the cause in any way, we can hear it veteran voices, love, uh, Jermaine and rod, the time we spent here, Jermaine, anything else to add in terms of how to track you down? Are you, are y’all both of y’all active on yeah.

Jermaine Cohen (54:51):

Yes, yes. Uh, LinkedIn definitely, uh, hit me up. Uh, you can also email me, it’s the same thing. Just put a hyphen in between project event and that germane at project, that.com I was on.

Scott Luton (55:07):

And you know what we didn’t touch on really quick, uh, to our listeners. And we’re talking pre showed some of the different ways that you can, that you can get involved and to help support from funding the organization, right? Like, like any early stage startup, whether you’re, non-profit, for-profit doesn’t matter. You’re after that funding oftentimes. So that that’s the big opportunity. I believe volunteers or employees, even Jermaine and rod that I think that’s another opportunity. There’s a third opportunity that I’m forgetting right now.

Kevin L Jackson (55:34):

I don’t know if this is the third opportunity, but if you’re a gamer jump on in games and play games, I mean, go to discord. You know, it’s a community, you know, this happened, this works when you build community community by interaction.

Jermaine Cohen (55:50):

And that, that third little thing there was, if anyone works for EA sports and they didn’t want to give us access to the back into their API, it’s for a good cause it’s for veterans develop awareness, help us out.

Scott Luton (56:04):

Got it. Yeah. Let’s see if we can’t do that. We just interviewed someone that was formerly with EA sports. And now she’s in the freight tech sector and y’all probably have a lot better connections than I do. I, I was talking about Madden football games. Uh, I grew up, we all grew up with so, but Hey folks, get involved. Love what, uh, Jermaine and rod are doing. Uh, we’ve been talking with Jermaine Cohen, managing partner, and co-founder at project vet and his partner, rod Lee partner. And co-founder at project bet. Big, thanks for your time here, germane and rod. I really, really appreciate what you’re doing and look forward to reconnecting with you again real soon. Don’t go anywhere because we’re going to talk about you now. Like you’re not here. Uh, so Kevin puts you on the spot. I really appreciate you bringing this story to veteran voices and the supply chain. Now family love what we’re doing with you and digital transformers, but what’s one thing that you heard Jermaine and rod speak to here today. That folks really need. If they, if they forget everything else, what’s the one thing

Kevin L Jackson (57:03):

Reach out. Don’t be afraid to reach out. You have friends everywhere. You’re not alone, right? You’re not alone in the world, especially if you’re in the military community. Look at this. We got, you know, four people from different walks of life, different beginnings, different branches of the armed service, but look, we’re all working together. We’re all community. So,

Scott Luton (57:28):

Uh, that’s a wonderful, uh, point to finish on there. So on behalf of our entire team here, Hey, thanks for joining us for this episode. Big thanks to the project vet team. Big, big, thanks to my special. Co-host Mr. Kevin L. Jackson who served in the second best.

Kevin L Jackson (57:44):

Uh, I’m a non aviator. I can’t pick on you. Don’t make me do it. Don’t make me do it to our community.

Scott Luton (57:55):

Hopefully you can see how much fun. Hopefully you enjoyed this episode. As much as we have. Hey, find us wherever you get your podcasts from subscribe for free. Hey, reach out like Kevin just mentioned and, and, uh, connect with Jermaine and rod and the project vet team. There’s a variety of ways we’ll get plugged in and, and you help them help serve the veteran community. So really appreciate that as always, you can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. If you have a veteran, you got a story to tell, reach out. We’ll try to work into our production calendar. And, um, as we sign off here on behalf of Kevin L. Jackson and our team, our team here, veteran voices, Hey, Scott Loudin challenging you to do good. Give forward, be the change that’s needed to be just like Jermaine and rod here. And with that said, we see next time here, own veteran voices. Thanks.

Speaker 8 (58:42):

Thanks. See you later. [inaudible].