In the United States, there are eighteen million veterans. And just to share with you some of the feelings that nobody understands what they went through, and everyone kept on moving with their lives while they were out there for us. Often, they are fighting the eternal battle and coming back, and they have no sense of who they are. Mike Schindler takes us through his journey back from the front lines and where it has led him.

Mike Schindler states oftentimes, the uniform can be both an internal and external battle. A third-generation Navy member had struggles leaving the military into the workforce. Bouncing through 14 different jobs. Mike jokingly referred to this time as speed dating. He created a skill from sampling different industries, which was the start of how he developed self-discovery and took that to create his non-profit organization. What prompted Mike to speed date jobs, that he realized quickly that there are people on jobs he doesn’t like and can't trust. He created a filter, and that's why he started the nonprofit, focusing solely on mission, purpose, identity, and getting guys to really understand and create this trusted circle.

“I don't really enjoy doing that, so I don't have to do it anymore. They're like, "oh, you can quit." So I got really good at sampling different industries and finding out what I really enjoyed. And that's how I developed self-discovery.”

Within Mike Schindler Circle group, some members share their stories, and Schindler states a lot of veterans are really missing that mentorship. One such story was from Mike.  He reached out and, to his shock, got a callback. Mike was unhappy in his marriage and drinking too much and felt he lost that sense of team and a trusted environment. He couldn’t find the connection in sharing his experience with those that have never served. Within a few meetings, Mike begins to drink less and exercise more.

“And then he comes back and reports back and goes, you know what? That really works. I travel so much, and I just sat on up to the bar, and I order a couple of beers before, you know what, I'm a six-pack. He goes, but here, I tried you're just a little thing, like, I'm just having two glasses of water before I have a beer, and I'm done. I'm okay after a beer. And so he started working out. I'm like, what? Tomorrow I want you to just kind of work out and work out. Ten push-ups, ten setups. Just do that. Just start there. And so we started losing weight. And it was really that mentorship that oftentimes we look for.”

Through the Circle app and people like Mike Schindler we are building support systems. Its humans helping other humans fulfill these needs. Operations Military Family has facilitated a greater need to the veteran community with they’re process for self-discovery helping veterans fill that team mentorship void. On November 11 Circles app will have a full day of supporting veterans opening rooms and working together to help others.