Featured in SME’s AdvancedManufacturing.org | January 2026

Every year, roughly 200,000 men and women leave the U.S. military. They walk away from careers defined by discipline, high-stakes decision-making, complex technical systems, and — perhaps most importantly — leadership under pressure.

At the same time, U.S. manufacturers are staring down a projected shortage of 3.8 million open jobs by 2033. Nearly half of those positions may go unfilled.

Two problems. One solution hiding in plain sight.

I was recently featured in SME’s AdvancedManufacturing.org as part of a deep-dive into how military veterans can help solve manufacturing’s looming workforce crisis — and I want to expand on what I shared there, because the conversation didn’t end when the interview did.

Veterans Don’t Just Fill Seats. They Elevate Organizations.

When most manufacturers think about hiring veterans, they think about technical skills — mechanics who can troubleshoot complex systems, operators who follow procedures, technicians who don’t rattle under pressure. And that’s all true. The technical transferability is real.

But here’s what I told the SME team, and what I believe most manufacturers are still missing:

Veterans understand the power of purpose.

That’s not a soft, feel-good observation. It’s a competitive advantage. When you’ve operated in an environment where the mission genuinely matters — where your decisions affect lives, not just quarterly numbers — you develop a different relationship with your work. You show up differently. You lead differently.

That’s exactly what’s missing on most shop floors right now.

The Leadership Problem Nobody’s Talking About

The workforce shortage conversation almost always centers on finding people. We don’t talk nearly enough about what happens after we find them.

Here’s the pattern I see constantly: manufacturers hire great people — veterans and civilians alike — and then promote their best ones into supervisory roles with zero leadership development infrastructure to support them. They were technically excellent, so we assumed they’d figure out the leadership part on their own.

They don’t. Not because they can’t — but because no one ever gave them the tools.

Veterans are uniquely positioned to break this cycle, if we set them up correctly. The military doesn’t promote someone to a leadership position and say, “Good luck.” It builds systems. It trains to standard. It creates leaders intentionally, not accidentally.

That’s the model I’ve spent my career trying to import into manufacturing.

What I Learned Flying Apache Helicopters

As a West Point graduate and former Army Apache pilot, I was never handed a cockpit and told to figure it out. I went through ground school. I trained in simulators. I flew with experienced instructors before I flew solo. There was a system — a deliberate progression from foundational knowledge to demonstrated competence to independent execution.

And here’s the thing: no one questioned whether that system was worth the investment. Of course it was. The alternative — an undertrained pilot in a $30 million aircraft — was unthinkable.

So why do we hand a first-time supervisor keys to a $30 million production line and say, “You’ve got it”?

That’s the question I brought into the SME interview. That’s the question I bring into every conversation with manufacturing executives.

Why You Should Be Actively Recruiting Veterans Right Now

The SME article does a great job profiling companies — like General Dynamics Land Systems, Hypertherm, and Jergens Inc. — that have made veteran hiring a strategic priority. And the results speak for themselves.

But I want to be direct about the why beyond the obvious skills match:

Veterans have already proven they can learn. They’ve demonstrated the ability to develop a skill set in a structured, high-accountability environment. If someone has a track record of success in the military, they’re telling you something critical: I can be developed. That’s not a small thing.

Veterans are promotion-ready. The soft skills — adaptability, composure, organizational awareness, decision-making under pressure — are exactly the qualities you need in your next generation of frontline leaders. You’re not just filling a technician role. You’re building your bench.

Veterans are purpose-driven. Manufacturing is mission-critical work. The products built on American shop floors matter — to our economy, to our defense, to our national security. Veterans get that in a way that’s hard to teach.

The Gap We Still Have to Close

To be fair, there’s work to do on both sides.

Manufacturers need to get better at translating military experience. Terms like MOS, AFSC, or NCOIC mean nothing to most civilian recruiters — and that gap costs us access to exceptional candidates. Companies like Cincinnati Inc. are solving this by putting veterans in their HR and recruiting functions. That’s smart.

But the bigger gap — the one I care most about — is what happens after the hire. Recruiting veterans into an organization that doesn’t have a leadership development system is like recruiting exceptional athletes for a team with no coaching staff. The talent is there. The infrastructure isn’t.

That’s the work. Building the infrastructure.

The Bottom Line

The manufacturing workforce crisis is real. The projected numbers are sobering. And there’s no single silver bullet.

But if you’re a senior manufacturing leader trying to build a workforce and a culture that can compete in the next decade, veteran talent isn’t just an option worth considering — it’s a strategic imperative.

Hire them. Develop them. Build the systems to turn them into the leaders your organization desperately needs.

That’s not charity. That’s competitive strategy.

I was honored to be featured in SME‘s AdvancedManufacturing.org piece, “On the Front Lines of Manufacturing.” You can read the full article here.

If you’re a manufacturing leader thinking about how to build a systematic leadership development infrastructure — whether for your veteran hires or your entire frontline — learn more about our system and process here. We’ve developed a library of resources you can browse through podcasts, featured and journal articles, and more. Check out our resource hub here.