Veterans Day: The Vets Training Your Next Crew

📬 INTRO: WE BUILD, WE FIGHT

In 1942 the Navy needed builders fast, so it recruited men who had already built Boulder Dam, highways and skyscrapers. Adm. Ben Moreell gave them a motto: “We Build, We Fight.” By the end of World War II, nearly 325,000 Seabees had built more than 400 advance bases and 111 major airfields.

Today the pipeline runs the other way. The military trains people to keep complex systems running under pressure, and our industry needs them. Construction unemployment fell to 3.5% in September, and AGC counts 45,000 fewer experienced jobseekers than a year ago.

With Veterans Day on Wednesday, here’s who is recruiting them well!

🌍 FIELD NOTES: WHERE THE NEXT CREW COMES FROM

🔥 Marines Into Pipe

Some of the best recruiting in the trades happens before anyone leaves the uniform. UA Veterans in Piping just graduated Camp Lejeune Welding Class 32, Marines who used their final months of service for a 118-day welding course on base. Each one leaves with a job and a five-year registered apprenticeship, with skilled trades organizations from Atlanta to Spokane waiting.

Instructor Gregory Abrams: “They were a very hardworking bunch of Marines. Tip of the spear to them.”

⚓ From Submarines to Server Halls

Think about what a submarine is: a sealed building with its own power plant, water treatment and air handling, run by a crew that can’t call a service tech. No wonder data centers want those people.

Tim Chadwick leads Google’s data center operations in Ohio and Indiana. Before that he was a nuclear-trained Navy operator and submarine officer. “It turns out, a lot of the skills you pick up running a nuclear submarine are the same kinds of skills that come in handy when your job is to oversee data center operations,” he wrote.

Google just committed to help 25,000 veterans and military family members into the trades. If you run a hospital, a campus or an office tower, that’s your competition for operators.

☀️ Solar Near Fort Hood

Navy veteran Reginald Hodges runs a 15-week solar maintenance program just outside Fort Hood that takes GI Bill benefits, and Origis Energy Services hires his graduates. His rule: “You cannot let the first day on the job be the first time you see this type of equipment.”

A MESSAGE FROM BUILDINGPLAQUES.COM

The Better Way To Present Your LEED Certified Project to The World

Using buildingplaques.com online Plaque Designer, you can quickly and easily design and order customized LEED recognition plaques that features the details of your specific LEED certified project.

Our architectural grade anodized aluminum signs are available in multiple sizes, and identify the elements of your design that earn LEED certification and acknowledge key project members, all while being less expensive than comparable LEED recognition plaque options.

Ready to create your own LEED recognition plaque?

Check Out BUILDINGPLAQUES.COM

🏛 BUILT TO LAST:

Compass Datacenters decided to grow its own operators, donating a $12.6 million training building on its Red Oak, Texas campus to Texas State Technical College. “We’re handing TSTC a deed, not a check,” CEO Chris Crosby said.

Navy combat veteran Michael Carvalho, from the first class, now works as an operator at Red Oak. “This program gave me back the skills I had once thrived in,” he told Military.com.

By role:

📐 Designers: Put a hands-on training room with real equipment in the facility program.

🔨 Builders: Look at DoD SkillBridge. Service members can intern with you for up to 180 days on military pay.

🏢 Operators: Know which engineers retire within five years, then call the nearest base transition office before Google does.

🌱 Emerging pros: Veterans, your GI Bill housing allowance drops 20% every six months in an apprenticeship. A bipartisan bill to fix that dies in January unless Congress acts.

LIMITED SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

Green Building Matters Podcast is now exploring a select number of brand partnerships with organizations aligned with the future of sustainable building.
Reach the professionals shaping the industry—and do it with intention.

[email protected]

Now Open: Limited Brand Partnerships

✍️ Brian Bollinger, our Head Writer, helps sustainability professionals connect performance, workflow, and real-world results.

🌍️ Charlie Cichetti, our Fearless Leader is the CEO of Skema and a LEED Fellow. He has guided more than 150,000 professionals as building practice continues to evolve.

Let’s Green Up together.

👉 [Explore Sustainability Credentials at GBES.com]
👉 [See what Skema’s building for architects]
👉 [Book a Waste2Zero audit before your next ESG deadline]