I recently joined the Operation Second Chance team as the Sales Development & Marketing Manager; after growing up surrounded by the military lifestyle it was hard to picture myself doing anything other than joining our armed forces. It wasn't until college that I began to find my individuality and passions, and began studying communication and marketing. I graduated from The University of Maryland, College Park with my Bachelor's in Communication in 2012 and began a career in sales. But something was missing.
Not a day went by that I wondered what my life would have been like if I joined the military, but at the same time I never regretted my choice to not join. Coming from a long line of Marines, my admiration for these men and women, and the sacrifices that they make, only grew over the years.
It wasn't until a conversation with my brother in-law, a LtCol in the Marines, that I saw a chance to use my passion and skills for marketing and communication to give back to our soldiers. He told me of a non-profit, Operation Second Chance, and what they did to help the wounded, injured, ill heroes coming home from war. I fell in love; I knew right away that I had to work for this organization. And, as if the stars aligned, not one week after this conversation, I found a job posting for OSC online, and the rest is history. I couldn't be prouder to be part of such a wonderful organization, helping those who gave so much in defense of our freedoms and liberties.

Check out the show notes at http://veteranpodcast.com/034

In this episode I talk about creating the VAP Family of Podcasts under the Veteran Artist Program non-profit.  I also talk about the new VAP Community that we just rolled out this week to allow veteran artists to interact with and help other veteran artists.  A rising tide lifts all boats.  This community will strengthen veteran artists as a whole.  To get your invite into the community, https://veteranartistprogram.leadpages.co/communityinvite/

Born to Holocaust refugees at the close of WWII when Truman was President, Denny began a lifetime of activism at the age of 13 when he joined a NAACP picket line. Since then he has battled for Gay rights, Women’s rights, Transgender rights, and LGBT veterans rights. During the Vietnam Era he left college and volunteered to serve his country, joining the Navy (either for love of the sea or for the dress blue bell bottom 13 button uniform). In less than 4 years he was a Petty Officer Second Class. Later he worked for the Army Reserves as a civilian administrator and, after joining his reserve unit, rose to Sergeant First Class. After AIDS took the life of his love of 20 years, Denny became inspired to found the New York Chapter of AVER – AVERNY, he served as Region 1 VP for a number of years, and currently serves as both the AVER national Public Affairs Officer and Vice President of Veterans Affairs.