Greenlight A Vet - Josh And Trace's Stories
Josh W. casually mentioned purple dinosaurs when speaking of his eight-year career as a United States Marine and his more recent vocation with TQL Jacksonville.
“They both start you out Barney style,” he said, referring to the children’s television icon. “It’s child style. You don’t know anything going in. The training they give you, anyone can learn it if they work at it. They teach you everything you need to do and how to do it. But you’re the one who has to follow the training, to put in the time and effort.”
Trace A. came to TQL Ft. Lauderdale with an Army National Guard background and had a similar experience.
“Not many people come into this job knowing about logistics,” he said. “But with vets you have a whole group of people who are pre-trained to work hard, to work as a team, to adapt. The people who succeed are the people who can stay focused and work through the rough times.”
Josh was in the Marine Corps from 2005 to 2013. He was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and 2009, working in the field as an armored assault vehicle mechanic. He came to TQL in October of 2013.
“Being in the military gives you a base structure,” he said. “Self-motivation and self-discipline are expectations. Veterans have been through a lot, they’ve had some life experience and they aren’t going to be easily rattled.”
Trace began serving in the Army National Guard in 2009 during his senior year of college at Miami University. The Bronxville, N.Y., native is now an infantry officer and platoon leader expecting to deploy to Djibouti, Africa, in February of 2016. Florida Governor Rick Scott recently presented him with a special challenge coin.
“You can’t quibble. Quibbling is an honor code violation in the Guard. It means you might not tell the whole truth or you answer a question in a way to make yourself look good. You’re better just confronting the situation head on instead of trying to quibble. People appreciate honesty.”
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