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THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM
SOURCE: PR NEWSMEDIA
May is National Military Appreciation Month and according to many companies like 84 Lumber, the nation’s largest privately held supplier of building materials, one way to honor veterans is to hire them.
Roughly 200,000 military members retire or separate from the armed services every year, according to the Department of Labor. Veterans returning to the workforce after military service face a variety of challenges and, oftentimes, finding and vying for civilian positions can be challenging for transitioning veterans.
Translating Military Skills to Civilian Employment
The journey from military service to civilian employment is not just about finding a job – it’s about discovering a new sense of purpose and leveraging past experiences to thrive once back home, said Army veteran Zac Elenchin.
Born and raised in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, Elenchin’s journey began with a passion for service and a deep-rooted military tradition in his family.
«My father was in the Army, as was one of my older brothers. My uncle, and both my grandfathers, served. I have cousins in both the Army and law enforcement, so you can say it’s in my DNA,» said Elenchin.
After a year of college, Elenchin enlisted in the Army in 2015 and became a combat medic. After completing basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Elenchin was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky where he attended air assault school, earned the expert field medical badge, and received an air assault patch. While Elenchin was at Fort Campbell, he was deployed to Kuwait and did a nine-month rotation at Camp Arifjan in support of Operation Spartan Shield from 2017-2018. After returning from Kuwait, Elenchin was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas where he completed an expeditionary combat medic course and graduated, becoming an ECM. After graduating, Elenchin was given a PCS, or permanent change of station, to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he then deployed to Afghanistan in 2019 in support of Operation Freedom’s sentinel.
Elenchin was based out of Bagram Airfield and traveled around northern Afghanistan during his deployment. Elenchin returned stateside in November 2019. Months later, the COVID pandemic left the world at a standstill by March 2020. Elenchin was his battalion’s COVID response senior medic. After years of service, he made the major decision to leave the military.
