Garett Reppenhagen at the Clinton Global Initiative University conference. Photo courtesy Stacy Buell / Clinton Global Initiative.

Recently, I had the honor of participating in the Clinton Global Initiative University’s 2012 conference held at George Washington University. As it was the end of March during the Cherry Blossom festival, the atmosphere helped set the tone for change and forward thinking.

It was great to be around so many young solution makers and innovative thinkers. The panel on which I presented was called “Employment for Empowerment,” which took place just before the closing plenary session on Saturday March 31st, where President Bill Clinton was interviewed live by Daily Show Host John Stewart.

I shared my panel with Veronika Scott, who started a business called the Empowerment Plan. Her business employs homeless single mothers to create winter jackets that transform into sleeping bags. Also on the panel was Khari Mosley, who works with Green Economy Initiative in Pittsburgh. That organization is focused on helping inner city youth develop job skills. Rishi Jaitly of the Knight Foundation moderated.

I focused my discussion around why veterans are a unique demographic that experiences higher rates of unemployment and homelessness, how young innovators can build veteran programs that overcome employment barriers, and how the post-9/11 veterans will impact our future economy. The audience was interested to hear that every homeless person in the U.S. costs tax payers $40,000 per year in services, and that the cost of caring for our modern veterans will cost our country over $589 billion dollars in VA, SSA, and medical payments.

The students there were encouraged by the fact that the first World War II GI Bill helped create 14 Nobel Prize winners, three Supreme Court justices, three presidents, a dozen senators, and two dozen Pulitzer Prize winners. This news excited the students who are now inspired to create a second greatest generation.

While at CGIU I also attended sessions on the environment and poverty, as well as an open plenary discussion where nonprofit leaders and successful entrepreneurs talked about challenges related to starting Twitter and the Zip Car.

Photo courtesy Stacy Buell / Clinton Global Initiative.

Conference goers left the weekend with great advice on maintaining their personal brand through owning up to their mistakes and learning from their experiences; finding a niche market for themselves; and building upon incomplete ideas and complications that often prevent projects from going to scale. They also gained a great amount of motivation from guest speakers like President Clinton, volunteer projects from the USO and Take Action contest winners like the Bamboo Bicycles For All.

It was such an honor to present at this event, and Veterans Green Jobs looks forward to attending and participating in future Clinton Global Initiatives and commitments.

Garett Reppenhagen
OIF Veteran 1st Infantry Division
Director of Veteran Transition
Veterans Green Jobs

Do you have an idea related to Clean Energy and a dream of starting your own business? We can help!

The State Energy Sector Partnership
(SESP) will help a limited number of
budding entrepreneurs to learn the
business skills necessary to launch
a clean energy-related business
(including how to find financing).

The State Energy Sector Partnership is offering tuition scholarships to entrepreneurs who want to start a business in the renewable energy or energy efficiency fields. To be eligible, candidates must be unemployed (not receiving a wage from any source). Depending on the type of training needed, scholarships can be granted to attend training on how to start a business from the Small Business Development Centers or at a business incubator. Scholarships cover tuition and training materials only and are paid directly to the training provider. Training includes topics such as writing a business plan, marketing strategies, legal issues, and access to capital (to name a few).

Examples of Clean Energy businesses:
• Weatherization, HVAC, and insulation
installation
• Biofuels manufacturing, distribution,
sales, or usage
• “Green” design, construction, or
building materials
• Wind energy manufacturing, sales, and
installation
• Recycling
• Energy efficient lighting
• Sustainability practices and consulting
installation
• Solar manufacturing, sales, or
installation
• Or other ideas

Contact
Colorado State Energy Sector Partnership
Carol Craig, Project Coordinator
carol.craig@state.co.us

A Business Incubator Gives Funding And Jobs To Vets 

Story on NPR

Colorado Aspen Trees in September

In the rural areas of northern Colorado and Utah exist one of the more remarkable river basins and geographic areas in the world. The Yampa River runs through the mountains and badlands, eventually connecting with the Green River, and flows into Utah providing critical fresh water to the farms and ranches on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The area was once home to many generations of First Americans. Native Americans who settled the valley realized immediately its importance to their survival and the power of its majestic landscapes.

Today it bears importance due to the fact the Yampa River is one of the last “wild” rivers in the United States. Meaning, it is one of the few rivers that has not been dammed. It serves as an important place for research on the ecology and behavior of uninfluenced waterways. It also happens to be one of the most important locations for paleontologists. Because of a special bend in the river system, dinosaur bones have collected downstream in sediment and been preserved. It is one of the largest collections of fossils in the world. The open quarry is an attraction that people from all over come to observe.

The head waters of the Yampa and Colorado Rivers start in the Routt National Forest

Veterans Green Jobs has visited this region many times before. For the last two summers, the Veterans Green Corps program completed invasive species removal in the National Park rivers. This work helps to restore fish habitats and save other native plants species from being choked out. It is difficult and dirty work, but the reward of rafting on one of the most beautiful rivers, and sharing the experience with the park staff and other military veterans, makes it worth it. Veterans are never shy to lend a hand. Helping out with conservation efforts on the land they swore to protect is a continuation of their service to their country.

U.S. Army Veteran rows to the next project site on the Yampa River.

Although conservation is not the main priority among most public officials these days, those with the passion to conserve these great national resources find a way to include efforts to preserve our outdoors through job creation. It was for this reason that the head of the Department of the Interior came to help open the new Dinosaur National Park Quarry Visitor Center and speak to the public about the American Great Outdoors initiative.

Dinosaur National Park Quarry Visitor Center

The ceremony included a prayer from a Ute medicine man, a Utah National Guard Color Guard who presented the American flag, and a 21-gun salute by a local American Legion post. It was educational to hear about ways in which the materials from the old visitor center were recycled and reused, and how sustainable the new center is. However, the most interesting part of the presentation was Secretary Salazar’s words about how we can continue to develop our natural resources, and use them for recreation, while still protecting them for generations to come.

Secretary Salazar talked about the amount of work and the number of jobs it would require to undergo the level of conservation needed to accomplish the task, and how the Department of the Interior would support that work through the American Great Outdoors initiative. A Sergeant of the Utah National Guard had previously told VGJ’s staff that some soldiers in his unit worked in the oil fields nearby. However, many of them were out of work. After an upcoming combat tour in Afghanistan, many more will be out of a job when they return home in a year. It was encouraging to hear the Secretary talk about job prospects in this soldier’s local area that would allow him to work outdoors protecting the region he grew up in.

Sergeant of the Utah National Guard listening to Secretary Salazar talk about job creation in outdoor conservation.

At the end of the day there was a ribbon cutting and a private meeting with stakeholders and Secretary Slazar. Garett attended the meeting and talked more in depth with ranch owners, federal employees, and community organizers about how there could be better cooperation in conservation efforts. The Secretary promised to sign a memorandum of understanding drafted by the group by the end of October. The San Luis Valley, the Denver Metro Greenway project, and the Yampa River Basin are areas in Colorado highlighted by Governor John Hickenlooper under the American Great Outdoors initiative to receive increased attention. Veterans Green Jobs will look into additional ways we can help get training and meaningful jobs for veterans under these efforts.

Veterans Green Jobs with Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Department of the Interior

by Garett Reppenhagen, Veterans Green Jobs’ Director of Veterans Transition Programs

GET CHARGED

Arapahoe Community College Automotive Technology Program
Tour for Veterans

The Arapahoe Community College award-­‐winning Automotive Technology program now includes intensive training in hybrid in conversion and hybrid technology repair. Plug-­‐in and hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) technologies hold great promise – from rejuvenating the auto industry to creating quality, domestic jobs.

Learn about training and career opportunities available to today’s automotive technicians

Army Wheeled Vehicle MechanicAttend the ACC Program Tour for Veterans August 5th

TAKE THE TOUR! August 5th, 2011

The Day’s Events

1100 Welcome

1115 Automotive Tech Program: Overview and Tour

1200 Lunch with Faculty and Staff

1300 Veterans Services: Maximize Benefits

1315 Admissions: Next Steps

Location: Automotive Technology: is in the

Main Building Annex ACC
Littleton
Campus
5900 S. Santa Fe Drive,
Littleton

Park in any lot, follow signs to the tour

RSVP by August 2
to Christi Maes:
christi.maes@arapahoe.edu

ACC Vet Tour Flyer

“SPC REPPENHAGEN displayed professionalism and personal courage when Hib Hib Iraqi Police Station came under attack. The police station sustained a volley of RPG fire and he immediately began plotting and coordinating an indirect fire mission. SPC REPPENHAGEN’s quick thinking under fire ensured that an immediate retaliation against anti coalition forces was possible.”

I earned the award one night on a sniper mission on top of the Hib Hib police station, in the same town Abu Zarqawi was killed one year later. The police station received threats from the insurgency, so we deployed our sniper team on the roof for a few days. It was in the heat of the summer, and at night, many Iraqis sleep on the roofs of their homes. The police had pulled four beds to the roof so the police could take cat naps if there wasn’t anything happening in town. The main street ran pass the station a football field away across a crated dirt lot with concertina wire that made me think of a World War I battle field.

Early in the night of morning, while fighting off the bugs and sleep, we watched three vehicles roll slowly down the main road and by the empty lot. They went down the street and disappeared behind a thick strip of palms along a wide canal. It was strange to see the three vehicles close together at that hour, but we felt foolish to call them in to base, so we waited and watched. Minutes later the loud bottle rocket fizz of RPGs arced over the palms towards us. INCOMING!

The first was a direct hit on the back part of the roof. Pieces of bed frame scattered across the flat building. The Iraqi Police screamed as one pounded the lot and another struck the side of the building. We toppled clumsily with the impact, trying to move to firing positions. Casey fired the 240 machine gun into the palms and Murphy popped grenades with his under barrel mounted launcher. Nothing reached or penetrated the trees, not even the infrared vision in our sniper scopes. RPGs kept slamming the compound.

In the confusion and helplessness I scrambled for the radio and the map. I had marked the canal’s position the night prior, along with several other reference points, and adjusted 50 meters right. I called in to the mortar team on the base and quickly established a grid for a fire mission. Tense moments passed as a few clicks away the infantry men got their mortars tubes oriented. The police dragged the wounded and dead down the concrete stairs into the building, so we were the only ones top side to see the mortars rain down onto the enemy’s position. The palms parted and swayed with the blasts, and plumes of dirt and vehicle parts splashed over the trees.

My familiarity and use of all of the tools I had made the difference between life and death.

In the US Cavalry I found that a majority of training for service members involves becoming proficient in the equipment issued, to trust it, and to utilize your team members. Whether it was an M-16, a Humvee, a Med Kit or a radio, once we could get the maximum use out of the tools we were issued, we could organize and execute a plan that could accomplish any mission. I had complete confidence in my comrades and I knew the tools I had like the back of my hand.

Today we veterans are coming home to a changing economy and a civilian world that seems some what foreign to the military community. Our peers that chose not to serve are excelling in school and the work place. Veterans are struggling with high drop out rates, unemployment, and homelessness, which leads to depression, substance abuse and accelerated mental health issues.

Our new goal is to transition into society, to conform, to adjust. Many people treat veterans as people that need to be supported or cared for, or fixed, like we are damaged goods. However, I see veterans as an immense untapped resource for our society. We have some amazing skills of leadership, and performing under immense pressure in the most hazardous environments. Veterans have strong values and work ethic, and a sense of service. It is not surprising many of my friends have entered careers of EMT, police and fire fighters, and many go back into the military without being conscious of what it is they miss.

We veterans have the base qualities that make natural leaders, give us the tools and the training to use them to make a real difference. In the difficult times that our nation faces, why not turn to the new generation of warriors emerging, and allow them to lead a new mission of restoring our country’s environment, economy and communities?

Although I wore hope on my collar I had doubt in my heart. It has been four years since I was in the Diyala River Valley in Iraq with my fellow scouts. When I joined up as a cavalry trooper in the US Army I had the delusion that because I was sacrificing to serve my nation, I would be taken care of if I were injured in the line of duty, or given benefits that put me back on par with my peers that chose not to serve. I thought Americans would do what was necessary to ensure war was avoidable and that they would do there part at home to create a country that supported their military and veterans. Instead, I returned from combat to find my country in economic ruin, the early signs of global warming effecting our environment, an even greater dependency on foreign oil, and my fellow brothers and sisters in arms neglected.

President Barack Obama stood before the immense crowd and, as always, seemed to speak honestly about change. He spoke about veterans, saying, “We honor them not only because they are the guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service, a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.” I have heard politicians make empty promises about supporting veterans, and I have watched in dismay as they turned their backs when we needed them most. It was not President’s Obama’s words that gave me encouragement that day. It was the reaction of the people watching, the energy in their eyes. It was indeed the greatest assembly of hope I have ever witnessed.

“Yes we can,” isn’t enough for change. That is why finding and joining Veterans Green Jobs has me feeling so optimistic. Veterans Green Jobs is a group that is taking hope a step further; actually creating a program to train veterans in growing green industries. I am now bringing together my fellow service members and empowering them to become leaders in solving this country’s greatest challenges. Veterans Green Jobs is a “yes we are” organization that isn’t waiting for change, we are creating it, one veteran at a time.

By taking qualities earned through the military and the desire to serve others and combining new knowledge and aptitudes in green careers, Veterans Green Jobs will create a dependable workforce to restore America’s environment, economy and communities. Veterans Green Jobs empowers veterans to once again serve their country alongside their comrades. This meaningful work is rewarding and provides veterans with skills that in the coming years will remain in demand – and cannot be outsourced. This green mobilization will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and business opportunities. Veterans Green Jobs gives veterans the chance to get on the ground floor of the fastest growing industry of our generation.

When most of the crowd left the National Mall to head for warmth and shelter, they were excited to see what was next. As I passed the reflecting pool and the Vietnam Memorial wall, I thought about my role in the changes to come. I thought about my father and what he fought for in Vietnam and my Grandfathers in World War II. I thought about my children and the world that I will leave to them. I am not in a position to wait to see what changes come, it is time for me to set to work and create the society I am proud of.

- Garett