I recently had the privilege of hearing Jake Wood speak to a conference at USC on the state of veterans’ affairs. As the co-founder and chief executive of Team Rubicon in El Segundo, Wood conveyed his inspiring and unorthodox story of how he mobilized a group of veterans to make a profound difference in the world.

Like many veterans, Wood returned to civilian life after serving as a U.S. Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was searching for a career that offered the sense of purpose and mission that defined his military experience. Images of devastation wrought by the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti spurred him to take the skills he had gained in the Marine Corps and join the relief efforts.

With a small group of friends who were also veterans, Wood and his team went to the most inaccessible, difficult places in the country — down rugged hillsides and up steep mountains — to dig people out of rubble and save lives. It made perfect sense to them; it was what they were trained to do.

Later in 2010, along with former Marine William McNulty, he co-founded Team Rubicon to provide worldwide disaster response while offering a sense of purpose and community to veterans reintegrating into civilian society. Since the initial experience in Haiti, Team Rubicon has brought together thousands of veterans to respond to natural disasters around the world, from Sudan to Burma to Pakistan to New Jersey to Colorado.

As I listen to the stories of people like Wood, I am struck by the place in society today’s veterans are crafting for themselves. Flying Scarfs, a self-identified “peace capitalism” enterprise in Raleigh, N.C., imports hand-woven products from Afghanistan, Haiti and Africa to support microeconomic development in countries where its co-founders, four Air Force fighter pilots, have been deployed.

Perhaps the most successful of today’s veteran advocacy organizations, Iraq Afghanistan Veterans Association and Got Your 6, were both initiatives of post-9/11 veterans. Here in Los Angeles, two veterans of Iraq have succeeded in unifying hundreds of veterans of all ages working in the entertainment industry by founding Veterans in Film and Television.

In the political arena, where the number of senators and congressmen who have served in our nation’s armed forces is at a 60-year low, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Congress is growing. Currently, 18 of the 90 veterans in Congress earned their stripes — or bars — in the post-9/11 era. And the number who ran for House and Senate seats at the federal level in 2012 was more than 40.

Cause for optimism

It should provide cause for optimism to see that in this period of political fragmentation and economic fragility, veterans are coming home from service throughout the world and dedicating their leadership skills, ingenuity and tenacity to creating social, political and business solutions.

The mantra of business today is that we operate in a global environment and we need to understand different cultures to connect with markets. A large percentage of veterans have traveled throughout the world — they are stationed in more than 150 countries — and they have gained invaluable cross-cultural experiences that they needed to help people on the ground, whether it was in the Middle East, Africa or Eastern Europe. Veterans understand all too well what businesses need: Organizations and their employees must understand the nuances of culture in order to be successful.

Business leaders talk about the pressing need for people who are nimble and can change direction quickly; these are skills that veterans begin to acquire day one from their training. And there is the idea that organizations must have people who can deal with crises calmly and effectively in a world of 24-hour information overload and global demands. Wood and Team Rubicon embody these characteristics, and if veterans understand anything, it is the idea that they must operate with what Ernest Hemingway called a “cold head” during difficult situations.

As we reflect on Veterans Day, it is right to focus on the past and America’s proud tradition of military service. At the same time, post-9/11 veterans are looking forward to a future that they believe they can influence for the better. Their actions and innovations demonstrate that today’s veterans, even those who bear the scars of war, are committed to taking on new challenges and transforming America. 

Retired Lt. Col. James Bogle is a U.S. Army veteran and is program director of the Master of Business for Veterans program at the USC Marshall School of Business.