Military Veterans

PRIDE Industries is honored to be recognized by U.S. Veterans Magazine as a “2021 Best of the Best Top Veteran Friendly Companies.” We proudly support members of our nation’s military and work to employ veterans in meaningful careers.

PRIDE Industries was also mentioned in an article on September 13, 2021 on ClearanceJobs.com

Top 25 Veteran-Friendly Businesses in National Security – ClearanceJobs 9/13/2021
Recognition Lists – US Veterans and Military Magazine | A US Veterans News Resource (usveteransmagazine.com) 8/12/2021

Are you a veteran?

Contact our Veterans Employment Advantage Program for support.

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Media Contact

Kat Maudru

(916) 753-4339

media@prideindustries.com

PRIDE Industries is a social enterprise delivering business excellence to public and private organizations nationwide.

Awarded Best of the Best by U.S. Veterans Magazine

Roseville, Calif. — PRIDE Industries has been named among the nation’s Best of the Best Top Veteran-Friendly Companies by U.S. Veterans Magazine (USVM). With an eye on veteran employment, the publication’s annual review evaluates the nation’s employers, initiatives, government agencies, and educational institutions.

“We strive to encourage other companies to follow the lead and ultimately create a more diverse workforce,” said Mona Lisa Faris, President and Publisher at USVM. To this end, the evaluation list highlights transitioning service members, disabled veterans, spouses, and veteran business owners. It also cites business and supplier opportunities for veterans—both in corporate America and the federal government.

USVM polled more than 375 Fortune 1000 companies for this year’s Best of the Best evaluations. The goal is to bring the latest information and guidance to readers and encourage active outreach and diversity policies among corporations and government agencies. These non-biased assessments are valuable resources for jobseekers, business owners, students, consumers, senior management, business associations, employment agencies and consumer groups.

“This is yet another strong validation of PRIDE Industries’ steadfast commitment to gainfully employ veterans who have so faithfully served our nation with distinction and honor,” said Major General (Retired) Casey Blake, Chief Operating Officer at PRIDE Industries. “We are pleased to achieve this recognition and remain ever vigilant in our resolve to network with community partners to recruit veterans.”

PRIDE Industries recognizes that the experience veterans gain serving our country makes them valuable employees. The company has an employee helpline [(844) I-AM-ABLE] and a dedicated Veterans Liaison who provides job readiness, coaching, and employment placement assistance to veterans. Veterans are also eligible for paid internships, mentoring and training programs, and membership in PRIDE Industries’ Veteran Employee Resource Group (ERG). Using tools like PRIDE Industries’ Military Skills Translator, veterans can match a civilian career to their skills and talent. Their Inclusive Talent Solutions enables companies across the nation to hire veterans as well.

“We appreciate all the men and women who bravely served our country,” said Frank Goehringer, Veterans Liaison at PRIDE Industries. “It is our honor to provide our veteran heroes, active duty spouses, the guard and reserve soldiers and families with employment opportunities. Thank you to U.S. Veterans Magazine and to all of our veteran referral partners.”

About PRIDE Industries

PRIDE Industries delivers business excellence with a positive social impact. A social enterprise, we provide facilities operations and maintenance services, custodial services, contract manufacturing, supply chain management, packaging and fulfillment services, and staffing and recruitment services to private and public organizations nationwide. Founded in 1966, PRIDE Industries’ mission is to create employment for people with disabilities. Through personalized employment services, we help individuals realize their true potential and lead more independent lives. PRIDE Industries proves the value of its inclusive workforce model through operational success across multiple industries every day. Learn more at https://PRIDEIndustries.com

About U.S. Veterans Magazine (USVM)

At USVM, our goal is to open up employment, business and supplier opportunities within the federal government and corporate America for veterans, transitioning service members, disabled veterans, spouses and veteran business owners. Learn more at https://usveteransmagazine.com

Media Contact

Kat Maudru

(916) 753-4339

media@prideindustries.com

PRIDE Industries is a social enterprise delivering business excellence to public and private organizations nationwide.

On a hot June day in 2011, Sergeant Braden Matejek was driving a tactical vehicle along Afghanistan’s Route 1 when the truck ran over a pressure-plate IED. The injuries he sustained in the incident led to two Purple Heart recognitions and a medical discharge. So it was that, three months later, Matejek was back home. However, his responsibilities with the military did not end there. In 2012, he joined the Defense Personnel Accounting Agency where he helped retrieve the remains of fallen soldiers who, once DNA-identified, were sent home to receive a proper burial with full rights. Matejek carried out this honorable duty until he was medically retired in 2016. Then, in the proverbial blink of an eye, he was back in the civilian world, about to become a father, and seeking employment as a veteran with a disability. As if these life changes weren’t jarring enough, Matejek was still recovering from a combat-related traumatic brain injury. He had also been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Among Veterans with Disabilities, PTSD is Common

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of veterans with PTSD varies by service area. Of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as many as 20 out of every 100 arrive home with symptoms, including flashbacks, nightmares, and hypervigilance. Often, veterans with combat-related PTSD are hesitant to speak about the experiences that affected them so deeply. But because Matejek wanted to raise awareness about the issue, he agreed to share his story in the National Geographic documentary series, My Fighting Season. He and his company are featured in Season 1, Episode 1: “Hunting Ghosts,” in which body-cam footage captures the moment Braden’s vehicle is struck by the IED.

For those who have never walked in a soldier’s shoes, it’s hard to imagine what it must be like—“hunting ghosts” one day and, the next, searching for a job. Thankfully, after a Google search for “jobs for veterans with disabilities,” Matejek found PRIDE Industries.

PRIDE Industries Connects the Dots Between Employment and Veterans with Disabilities

“Pretty quickly after contacting PRIDE Industries, I was connected with the incredible Job Developer/AbilityOne® Recruiter Sean Sullivan,” says Matejek. “He mentored me and saw that my skill set included leadership experience.”

With Sullivan’s guidance, Matejek prepared a résumé and scored a job interview. Then, just three days before the birth of his first child, Matejek was hired as a Production Control Clerk at PRIDE Industries’ Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH). In this role, Matejek acts as a liaison between the Marine Corps and the PRIDE Industries facilities team, ensuring that the barracks are in top condition, and creating a “home-like” atmosphere for our country’s troops and their families.

“Landing this job was truly a blessing,” says Matejek. “I’ve been at MCBH for five years, and I still look forward every day to interacting with the young people in uniform. I also enjoy the chance to share my military expertise while managing the barracks.”

Matejek also credits Luis Gutierrez, Regional Government Contract Manager at MCBH, for helping him succeed in his career.

“Luis is a retired Army Sergeant Major,” says Matejek. “He’s always been more than willing to mentor me and to listen—even in his off-time.”

When asked about PTSD recovery, Matejek is quick to point out that it’s “not necessarily something you get over.” Rather, he’s come to understand how his experience can be positively leveraged in the workplace—especially in an environment that calls for order and structure.

“Being in a military environment has actually helped me to maintain a constant level of professionalism,” he says. “There’s a lot of structure. Things are very coordinated. And in the military and in combat, failure is not an option.”

When it comes to employment for veterans with disabilities, Matejek has some words of advice for job-seeking veterans.

“Remember your military training and become comfortable knowing that you hold the correct skillset to carry you forward,” he says. “What I learned in the military—self-reliance and perseverance—got me to where I am today.”

Braden Matejek has, indeed, carried forward. He has worked for PRIDE for five years and doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon.

“PRIDE Industries has given me ample opportunity to be successful and creative,” Matejek says. “My bosses have always been helpful and understanding. And Zig? He was an awesome individual—a true inspiration to stay positive.”

Need employment placement support?

Contact our I AM ABLE Helpline to discuss your options.

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“PRIDE Industries has given me ample opportunity to be successful and creative.”

The U.S. Army celebrates the 246th anniversary of its founding on June 14. On that day in 1775 (a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence) the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution that read:

Resolved, That six companies of expert riflemen, be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia… [and] as soon as completed, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.

Up until that day, the colonial revolutionaries had relied on civilian militias to fight the British, each colony contributing its own force to the effort. But with the creation of the Continental Army, placed under the leadership of George Washington, the fledgling nation’s forces reached a new level of sophistication.

The Continental Army was crucial in securing the victory that led to the founding of the United States of America. But despite this success, the Army was disbanded after the War of Independence. Having just waged war against a professional army, Americans distrusted the idea of a national army for their own country, preferring to rely on state militias instead.

New Century, New Approach

America’s “as-needed” approach to defense was challenged during the War of 1812. At the time, the U.S. had only a small Regular Army, preferring to rely on state militias, which would be raised and disbanded as needed. But this ad hoc approach almost cost the U.S. its independence during its second major conflict with Britain.

Organizing militia volunteers was a slow and inefficient process. And most militia members weren’t well trained. This lack of expertise allowed the British to burn down the new capitol in Washington, D.C., and gave Britain a clear advantage in the war. The shocking loss of Washington prompted Congress to increase its efforts to grow the Regular Army. With additional forces, the U.S. did manage to eke out a victory, but the Army never reached the size the nation’s leaders wanted. Because of this, some historians argue that luck, as much as military might, played a large role in America’s eventual victory in this conflict.

Modern Times Require a Modern Army

After the War of 1812, the nation’s leaders recognized the need for a better-organized military. Congress acted soon after to support the growth of a national Army, one that had strict training protocols and career soldiers.

This was the Army that served so well in both World Wars. In World War I, more than four million Army “doughboys” helped ensure the Allied victory, facing machine guns, tanks, and airplanes in one of the first recognizably modern conflicts. And two decades later, the U.S. Army proved its mettle once again in World War II, when more than 8 million troops fought bravely overseas and proved decisive in this second victory for the Allies.

Today’s all-volunteer Army proudly continues these traditions, even as it has grown more technologically sophisticated. The Army has also expanded its humanitarian missions over the past few decades, frequently dispatching troops to help after natural disasters both at home and abroad. From evacuating civilians from dangerous situations to providing critical medical aid, Army personnel provide lifesaving services throughout the world.

PRIDE Industries and the US Army

Since 2007, PRIDE Industries has been supporting Army installations across the country, including Fort Novosel (formerly Fort Rucker), Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk), Fort Bliss, Fort Campbell, Fort Dix, and Fort Gillam. Our carefully vetted and highly trained employees provide a full range of facilities services, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and carpentry work. We also perform landscaping and custodial services.

From roof repair to road repaving, our services help the Army stay mission ready. Our work teams take pride in being able to meet any request, no matter how unusual. They have rebuilt walking paths, installed backup generators, and even managed the aircraft arresting barriers at a major Army installation.

More than 800 PRIDE Industries employees currently perform work for the U.S. Army. In keeping with our mission to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities, nearly 500 of these workers have a disclosed disability. And across all the military installations we serve, roughly 20% of our employees are military veterans, a group that PRIDE Industries supports through specialized job training, recruitment, and placement services.

The Military Skills Translator and Other Services

PRIDE Industries is fortunate to employ many Army veterans, along with dozens of veterans from other branches of the military. During the past fifty years, we’ve helped thousands of people find meaningful employment after retirement from service.

To help soldiers find their place outside the barracks, PRIDE Industries offers an online tool designed specifically for veterans: the Military Skills Translator. With the Military Skills Translator, veterans can easily determine which civilian jobs best correspond to the valuable experience they gained while serving our country.

At PRIDE Industries, we know that the training military personnel receive while serving our country makes them valuable employees once they return to civilian life. And ours is not the only company to recognize the benefits of hiring veterans. That’s why PRIDE Industries does more than offer direct employment to veterans. We also help companies across the U.S. find these sought-after employees through our Inclusive Talent Solutions (ITS) initiative.

Innovations like ITS and the Military Skills Translator, along with the many employment services we offer veterans, are why PRIDE Industries has been recognized as a top employer of military veterans. If you or a veteran you know is ready for a new career, contact PRIDE Industries today.

Are you a veteran?

Contact our Veterans Employment Advantage Program for support.

PRIDE Industries is excited to welcome Glen Gleesing and Nick Hines as Regional Operations Directors. Both are U.S. veterans and will use their leadership expertise to manage the nationwide operations of PRIDE’s military contracts. Together, they bring decades of experience to the Government Services Division. Their work will help PRIDE continue its 30-year legacy of providing meaningful career opportunities for people with disabilities through Department of Defense contracting.

Glen and Nick are excited to apply their considerable expertise to a new mission.

A New Way to Serve

“What excites me the most about working for PRIDE is the opportunity to continue to serve this great nation by employing Americans with disabilities,” said Glen.

In his new role, Glen will oversee regions spanning from Seattle to Little Rock. In each, he will support PRIDE’s federal contracts in several different fields, including landscaping, custodial, procurement, ship provisioning, pest control, and warehouse packaging.

Before joining PRIDE, Glen served for 30 years in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a Chief Master Sergeant. During his career, he guided over 700 personnel in domestic and global operations. Glen also served in Korea and Turkey, taking part in Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom.

“People with disabilities deserve the same opportunities for career advancement as anyone else,” said Glen. “Since my goal is to increase employment opportunities for Americans with a disabilities, this includes identifying obstacles that challenge our employees; strategizing and implementing solutions; and building strong relationships with site managers, site teams, and customers.”

A Work Ethic Learned on the Farm

Nick Hines will be managing several government contracts across the country, including NAS Fallon (Nev.), Travis AFB Custodial and Landscaping (Calif.), Mare Island (Calif.), Fort Campbell (Ky), and DLI Monterey (Calif.).

Before joining PRIDE, Nick worked as an Industrial Engineer at Safeway where he oversaw labor budgeting and analysis, scheduling, and janitorial floor care contracts for 290 retail locations. He also served as the company’s government liaison for recycling redemption in California, Hawaii, and Oregon—successfully applying multi-state compliance regulations.

“Growing up in New Mexico, I learned the value of hard work on the farm and in the oil fields,” said Nick.

In 2001, he brought his sterling work ethic to the U.S. Army. Nick served in Iraq from 2002 to 2004, supplying and transporting fuel. Upon leaving the military, he received his bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Colorado State University.

Like Glen, Nick’s rich career experience positions him perfectly to ensure that PRIDE continues to serve our military customers with excellence and extend PRIDE’s mission to new regions of the country.

On December 20, 2019, America added its first new military branch in 72 years. To the general public, the creation of this service may have appeared spontaneous. But in fact, America’s new Space Force is the result of decades of planning and development.

Space Force was created by absorbing the space operations of multiple service branches, including the Army and the Navy. But it drew most heavily from the Air Force, which has had the greatest influence on its development. In fact, Space Force drew its initial corps of 16,000 personnel entirely from the Air Force. In the same way that the Air Force grew out of the Army, Space Force is the offspring of the Air Force.

In many ways, Space Force can trace its origins back to September 1, 1982, when the Air Force established the Air Force Space Command. As the name suggests, the USAF Space Command had space operations as its primary mission. It focused on missile warning, launch operations, satellite control, and space surveillance. Space Command played an important role in establishing the Global Positioning System (GPS), which was originally developed for military use and has since made its way into hundreds of commercial applications.

If humankind’s use of space had stayed as it was in 1982, there would probably be no Space Force today. But the world, and global technology especially, has changed considerably in the past four decades.

The Rise of Satellite Infrastructure

The first cell phone call was made in 1973, on a phone that weighed 2.4 pounds and lost its battery charge after 30 minutes of use. Ten years later, around the time that the Air Force founded Space Command, cell phones became available to the general public. The phones were still big and heavy, and cost about $4,000—the equivalent of about $11,000 today.

Over the next three decades, phones became smaller and lighter, and their capabilities exploded. The first cell phones could do nothing more than make scratchy phone calls. Today’s phones are minicomputers, filled with dozens of apps. And as the cell phone has become more useful, it’s also become essential to everyday life.

We can now bank, get directions, and write letters on our phones. We get our information and entertainment from our phones. And of course, we make calls and send texts using our phones. All of this is made possible by a network of thousands of communications satellites.

Satellites are also crucial for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and other earth sciences. Your local ATM relies on satellite technology. Businesses use GPS to time-stamp credit card purchases. Engineers use satellites to monitor ground movement and ensure the stability of bridges and roads. Satellites are now a crucial part of every country’s infrastructure, which is why their defense has become so important.

Defending Assets in Space

In 1957, Russia launched the first artificial satellite. Today, nearly 3,000 human-made satellites are orbiting the Earth, and that number is expected to quintuple by 2030. In other words, the space surrounding Earth is getting crowded.

Compared to other types of infrastructure, satellites are particularly vulnerable. Since objects in orbit around the earth travel at thousands of miles per hour, if a satellite collides with even a small piece of debris—the size of a dime, perhaps—the collision can seriously damage or even ruin the satellite. And with more and more satellites going into orbit around Earth, accidental collisions are becoming more likely.

And there are intentional threats as well. Several countries are currently developing technology to disable or destroy satellites. Laser dazzler systems can confuse or damage a satellite’s optical sensors. Jamming systems can be used to purposely disrupt the data stream between satellites and facilities on the ground. This equipment can even send fake location data, rendering GPS systems useless.

Satellite infrastructure is threatened at the very moment it’s become indispensable to our modern way of life, which is why protecting the integrity of U.S. satellites is a core duty of the newly formed Space Force. It’s part of the service’s mission to preserve space as a global commons, and to protect its use for security, commercial, and social benefits.

This important mission is just the beginning for Space Force. The service will also play a role beyond the near-Earth, supporting NASA’s missions as the U.S. returns to space exploration. As General Jay Raymond, Chief of Space Operations, has said, “The sky is not the limit.”

PRIDE Welcomes All Veterans

For fifty years, PRIDE has welcomed veterans from all branches of the military. We know that the training they receive while serving our country makes them valuable employees once they return to civilian life. And PRIDE is not the only company to recognize the benefits of hiring veterans. PRIDE now helps companies across the U.S. find these sought-after employees through our Inclusive Talent Solutions initiative.

To seek out these highly valued employees, PRIDE offers an online tool designed specifically for veterans: the Military Skills Translator. With the Skills Translator, veterans can easily determine which civilian jobs—whether with PRIDE or another company—best correspond to the valuable experience they gained while serving our country.

As it has throughout its history, the U.S. military is adapting to a new environment. But no matter what changes come, PRIDE looks forward to many more years of welcoming veterans—including those from the United States Space Force.

Image: An Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral on March 26, 2020. It was the first Defense Department payload launched for the United States Space Force. Photo by Joshua Conti.