VETERAN TEAM BY JAMES WALLACE Whether in peacetime or in war, at home or abroad, they have served their country with pride and honor. Some answered the call to duty many years ago, serving in Korea and Vietnam, and later during two Gulf wars. Others answered the call more recently. Some still serve, in the Reserves or National Guard. John Oncay enlisted in the U.S. Army two days after graduating from high school in June 1954. Almost a halfcentury later, Edwin Galan signed up to be a U.S. Marine after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Kim Knoch joined the Army in 1975. She was 18 and wanted to see the world. Frank Einsetler served in the U.S. Air Force on a B-52 bomber and flew combat missions over Iraq. They are among some 22,000 men and women who work at Boeing today and served their country in the military. As veterans they brought with them to Boeing not only specialized skills they learned in the military but diverse perspectives and character traits such as discipline, leadership and teamwork. Boeing works diligently to recruit veterans and make it easy for them to match their skills and experiences to the work the company does, said Tony Parasida, senior vice president of Human Resources and Administration. Since January 2011, as part of the White House–led “Joining Forces” initiative, Boeing has hired and trained more than 6,000 veterans. “We want veterans on our team because they bring specialized leadership, integrity, and critical skills and perspective from their unique military experience,” Parasida said. “Veterans are a crucial part of Boeing’s workforce strategy because our business demands that we maintain an active, diverse and skilled pipeline of talent to build our future for years to come.” Boeing veterans say they draw on their military service, experiences and training in their Boeing jobs. “I learned valuable skills that would later help me in my Boeing career,” said Marine veteran Galan, a planning production specialist with Commercial Airplanes in Bothell, Wash. “Skills such as attention to detail, first-time quality, work ethic and leadership, to name a few, have determined my success with the Quality organization.” An avionics technician with the Marines, Galan was deployed twice to Iraq and helped keep Cobra and Huey helicopters ready to fly. “After leaving the military,” Galan said, “I knew I wanted to work for a company that takes care of its veterans, but also builds products that have the capability to impact people’s everyday life … there was no question 36 BOEING FRONTIERS PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
Frontiers November 2015 Issue
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