Nate Self - Guest Speaker for GE Veteran Network Kickoff Event

Praevius Group’s Nate Self delivered a keynote speech at the GE Veteran’s Network Kickoff Event on March 3rd, 2010.  The event was held at the GE Durham, NC Engine Assembly Plant. GE initiated this program as a way to foster a business culture that recruits, transitions, develops and retains military veterans as an essential talent and leadership pipeline for all of GE. Nate delivered a speech that focused on the need for Veteran’s to support each other in their civilian professions, just as they supported each other as part of a team in the Military.

From newobserver.com:

GE Brings Vets Together

BY DAVID BRACKEN - Staff Writer

DURHAM — It was no accident that General Electric introduced a new companywide support group for veterans at its aviation facility on the edge of Research Triangle Park.

Of the 264 employees who assemble commercial airline engines at the plant, 120 have served in the military, a ratio that is among the highest of any GE facilities.

“It’s a big deal to have launched it here,” said Joe Frazier, 48, a mechanic who spent six years in the Marines before joining GE Aviation 14 years ago.

On Thursday, about 100 veterans from GE Aviation’s facilities in Wilmington, Asheville, West Jefferson and Greenville, S.C., gathered to brainstorm about how to make the company’s new Veterans Network a success.

The network, modeled on similar networks GE has created for African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and female employees, is designed to act as a support group and a recruiting arm for hiring retiring soldiers. It’s also partly a lobbying arm that can be used to persuade government officials to support projects that would boost business for GE Aviation, including new fighter planes.

Doug McLean, plant leader for the Durham engine facility, said most of the existing GE networks are dominated by salaried employees. About two-thirds of the veterans group is expected to be hourly workers.

About one of every 14 of GE’s more than 320,000 employees worldwide are veterans. The company employs about 5,000 in North Carolina, including 1,300 at GE Aviation.

For the employees in Durham, the new network will formalize a lot of the work they already do, including organizing a Veterans Day parade every November.

Rodney “Gunny” Wagner, a former Marine and one of the main organizers of that event, said the most useful aspect of GE’s veterans network is likely to be the digital link that will be created for all the company’s veterans. If a veteran needs assistance or advice, all they will have to do is send a request to network members.

Jerry Robinson works in Asheville for GE Aviation and drove to the event Thursday with more than 20 other veterans.

“It’s great,” Robinson said of the network. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The day’s events emphasized the unique bond among veterans, and how the character and discipline that the military demands are equally important in civilian life.

Among the highlights were speeches by Air Force Gen. Charles A. Horner, the air commander for the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and Nate Self, an Army Ranger captain who was awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his actions during a daring mountain rescue in Afghanistan in 2002.

Self said that the military motto “leave no man behind” should be applied to those returning from the battlefield and that networks like the one being created by GE can help.

“There are so many people that have come back from this war and other wars that have been left behind,” he said. “What they need is support.”

Horner said he’d heard from veterans who felt as if they missed out because they had not served during a time of conflict. He said that’s the wrong way to look at military service.

“It’s not what you do in the military,” he said. “It’s the fact that you were in the military.”