“Veterans, writ large, miss being in the military because of that sense of community and a greater pruprose. In that sense, politics is a perfect fit for veterans: you work hard with a group of people to solve problems, and make a difference and serve your country; the mission statements are perfectly aligned. The thing that I think gets hard for a lot of veterans getting into the political space is that in order to get elected you have to be able to go out and tell a community of people why you're so great and why they should vote for you. Veterans as a group are a little more reserved about that."
– Kate Kranz
Kate Kranz is the Director of Women's Initiative at Veterans Campaign, a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage, mentor and prepare veterans, transitioning service members, and other members of the military community for a "Second Service" in civic and political leadership. She started out at the Naval Academy, and served as a Naval Flight Officer for 11 years. She is finishing up a Masters of Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University, and a Master’s of Administrative Leadership from Oklahoma University.
In this conversation, we cover a lot of topics, including:
- An overview of the Veteran's Campaign and what they do
- How veterans can work with Veteran's Campaign
- In what ways veterans would enjoy the world of politics and what might be more challenging
- How Kate figured out what she wanted to do after an unexpected transition to a civilian career
- And much, much more…
Related Links
- Kate's company, Veterans Campaign: http://www.veteranscampaign.org/
- Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers: http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/
- Homefront Rising - encourages and helps military spouses to run for office
- Service 2 School - free help for any veteran to get into your ideal college or graduate school program
- American Corporate Partners - free mentorship for any veteran pursuing a career in business
- Vets for Diplomacy
- Hill Vets - increasing veteran involvement in government and advocacy
- Vet Tech Trek - VetTechTrek runs immersive recruiting events for veterans and their spouses.
Show Notes
- 2:02 - Kate's background
- 2:52 - An overview of the Veteran's Campaign and what they do
- 3:56 - How veterans can work with Veteran's Campaign
- 6:08 - What Kate's day-to-day life looks like
- 10:40 - In what ways veterans would enjoy the world of politics and what might be more challenging
- 13:43 - Kate's decision to leave the military
- 19:33 - How Kate figured out what she wanted to do after an unexpected transition to a civilian career
- 24:33 - The most surprising aspect of Kate's transition to civilian life
- 30:10 - How people on active duty can start preparing right now for their eventual transition to civilian life
- 33:00 - Final words of wisdom