The George W. Bush Institute is now taking applications for the 2023 Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program. Since launching in 2018, 176 veterans and civilians have completed the program.
The Veteran Leadership Program aims to increase support for veterans by providing leadership training to bridge a "civilian-military divide." Increasingly, service members are likely to have family members in a branch of military. In 2019, the U.S. Army said 79% of recruits had a relative who had served.
"How can we address those cultural divisions or misunderstandings between the civilian population and those who've served?" asks Col. Matthew Amidon, director of the Veterans and Military Families Program at the George W. Bush Institute.
Amidon says the Veteran Leadership Program can help build relationships among veterans and civilian business leaders. A survey of last year's participants showed more than 90% said the program gave them skills that have since made a difference in other people's lives.
"Absent of what time or chapter our country is in, we always need committed and compelled leaders of integrity," he says. "We believe those come from the ranks of the all-volunteer family."
The program lasts five months. Participants will hear from educators and people who have helped veterans transition to civilian life. The Bush Institute says previous speakers have included the former president and Laura Bush along with former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, retired Air Force Major General Alfred Flowers and former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Deborah Birx.
Amidon says 18.8 million veterans are living in the United States; 200,000 service members transition away from work in one of the branches each year.
"VLP helps leaders, both civilian and veterans, to know more effective ways to leverage that talent and begin to understand the unique features of the [civilian-military] divide and realize it's just a human, fellow American in front of you," Amidon says. "Let's get to know each other."
Amidon says his work at the Bush Institute focuses on supporting veterans and helping them with better lives after they leave the military.
"We really don't talk about the all-volunteer force. We talk about the all-volunteer family, acknowledging it's the family who joined, served and transitions together," he says.
He says the program focuses on employment, education, and health and well-being. Amidon says the program aims to advance the state of leadership in the country by building long-term relationships among business leaders, veterans and civilians.
"[Veterans] are used to decision making, decision making with incomplete information. They're used to working in multi-cultural environments," he says. "What an enormous opportunity for our country to leverage those leadership talents."
Amidon says the program also supports military spouses, calling them an "enormous resource" but are more underemployed.
"Each definition of 'normal' is unique to the family, but if I was in charge of a large corporate enterprise, I can tell you I would be really targeting and seeking out not only veterans but their spouses, just an immensely talented pool of leaders."
Applications are open to both veterans and civilians.
"You don't have to have served," Amidon says. "You just have to have the deep and fundamental belief in advancing our democracy and providing the opportunity for all via community leadership."
Tuition, accommodation, meals and travel are provided by the Bush Institute. Applications will be accepted through January 18, 2023. Details about the program are available at www.bushcenter.org/standto .
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