September is Suicide Prevention Month. This is the third time I've written about my friend Bobby.

Bobby Barrios died on May 25, 2019.

He was a Green Beret and a senior communications sergeant on ODA 1211. He served twelve years before he separated. He had charisma, a good attitude, and more friends than most people I know. None of us saw it coming.

This one's more personal than what I usually send. I sat on it a while, because for a long time, I didn’t love my own answer.

You know why I started MilSpec. Too many of us come home, take the uniform off, and can't find the thing that made the alarm worth answering at 0500. The mission was the meaning.

Traditional Mentorship is Dead…
Go Find Something Else
I learned what mentorship was supposed to look like in the Army, and I've spent years in the corporate world watching a hollowed-out imitation of it fail people.

Dear Vets — it's okay to not be okay.

June is PTSD Awareness Month.

I almost didn't write this one. It's easier to talk about networking, leadership, AI — the stuff that keeps things professional and safe. But that's not what this series is about.

Dear Vets — it's Mother's Day weekend.

Some of this is probably landing the way it is because of the timing.
The first leaders most of us ever knew were our mothers. And almost none of them got the credit they deserved for what they were actually doing.

Use AI. But Don’t Over-Rely.

Recently, I worked on launching a new offering for a group of long-term customers. The goal was simple: create a structured program they would convert into something more predictable…

So I did what many leaders are doing right now. I turned to AI.

Dear Vets — are you a good leader?

I’ve asked myself that question many times. More often than not, the honest answer is: I don’t know.

From entering West Point at 17 through ten years of active service, leadership was the air we breathed.

Dear Vets – are you frustrated with networking?

When I first left the Army, I saw networking as a way to drink for free with my friends. And yes, I know many of you did the same.