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A story of a soldier and the Gary Sinise Foundation
Warbirds
Member Posts: 16,837 ✭✭✭✭
About 3 years back, I got a phone call. It was from another person at my company whom I?d never met. He said there?s a guy I?ve met at the gym, he has an engineering degree, just got an MBA but he?s working in a warehouse.
These calls aren?t that unusual- the last few years have been crazy I directly hire alot of engineers and I screen, phone screen, and interview a few hundred engineers a year.
I am always looking for talent so I said send me his resume and I?ll call the guy.
Well his ?engineering degree? was from West Point, he was a Ranger infantry officer, and he became a double amputee after losing both legs in Afghanistan to an IED.
The role I needed to fill at the moment was a test engineer who would oversee all the activity in my engineering test lab- not running the engineers just making sure they are making good decisions, creating test and producability documents, and lots of communication and interface with the customer.
I decided to interview him and at least give the guy a fair shake.
He was a risk from a pure engineer standpoint but his drive and determination was like nothing I?ve ever seen and I made the decision to hire him.
It wasnt long before he was in the door and he really started to stand out.
In something you couldn?t imagine; just before I hired him, his service dog got sick and passed away. So he had been working for me for a year or so and he had the chance to get another service dog.
A dog on company property in this environment absolutely terrified the corporate lawyers but ultimately we were successful in allowing him to keep his role and have the dog on company property.
Around the time that was going on he was contacted by the Gary Sinise Foundation.
After nearly 2 full years, he received his home from the Gary Sinise Foundation last week.
At the end of the day when everything I?ve ever built is in the scrap yard, and I?ve climbed the corporate ladder until they push me out- I will always be proud to have played my role in enabling his success when none of the other stuff will make any difference.
All that said meet Captain Jake Murphy, and here are a few pics of his new home courtesy of the Gary Sinise Foundation.
[media]https://i.imgur.com/L2Yg03El.jpg[/media]
These calls aren?t that unusual- the last few years have been crazy I directly hire alot of engineers and I screen, phone screen, and interview a few hundred engineers a year.
I am always looking for talent so I said send me his resume and I?ll call the guy.
Well his ?engineering degree? was from West Point, he was a Ranger infantry officer, and he became a double amputee after losing both legs in Afghanistan to an IED.
The role I needed to fill at the moment was a test engineer who would oversee all the activity in my engineering test lab- not running the engineers just making sure they are making good decisions, creating test and producability documents, and lots of communication and interface with the customer.
I decided to interview him and at least give the guy a fair shake.
He was a risk from a pure engineer standpoint but his drive and determination was like nothing I?ve ever seen and I made the decision to hire him.
It wasnt long before he was in the door and he really started to stand out.
In something you couldn?t imagine; just before I hired him, his service dog got sick and passed away. So he had been working for me for a year or so and he had the chance to get another service dog.
A dog on company property in this environment absolutely terrified the corporate lawyers but ultimately we were successful in allowing him to keep his role and have the dog on company property.
Around the time that was going on he was contacted by the Gary Sinise Foundation.
After nearly 2 full years, he received his home from the Gary Sinise Foundation last week.
At the end of the day when everything I?ve ever built is in the scrap yard, and I?ve climbed the corporate ladder until they push me out- I will always be proud to have played my role in enabling his success when none of the other stuff will make any difference.
All that said meet Captain Jake Murphy, and here are a few pics of his new home courtesy of the Gary Sinise Foundation.
[media]https://i.imgur.com/L2Yg03El.jpg[/media]
![https://i.imgur.com/L2Yg03El.jpg[/media]](/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FL2Yg03El.jpg%5B%2Fmedia%5D){kind=link}
Comments
However,the link doesn't work,Dave.
My Hat is off to you Sir.
Salute.
As a fellow HR Manager, you did good, REAL GOOD! Thank him for his sacrifice for us!