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Growing the Next Mission
Podcast of Blog Post:
Today I want to recognize a project that’s still in its early stages of development, yet one that, I think, has great promise. Maybe it’s my American, Middle-Western roots, but after all: who couldn’t get behind a farmer with a little bit of attitude? The article for the day is from the website Food Tank, entitled “STAG VETS Showcases Veterans in Culinary and Agriculture.”
Jon Jackson is a former member of the United States Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, out of Fort Benning, Georgia, a veteran of six deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For those of you who might be wondering: yes, that means he was an Army Ranger.
And yes, therefore, he is a man who has known War up close and personal. He admits the scars that he bears as a result.
And he is determined never to forget that he still has what it takes to do what needs to be done.
As well as determined never to leave any veteran without at least one viable option to remember the same.
For you see: he wants to create an organization that can introduce homeless veterans who suffer from War’s wounds to the fine arts of growing food and then serving it up on a well-planned plate.
I have to smile at the thought of a former Army ranger turning his energies onto agribusiness and the restaurant industry. Sort of reminds me of the opening scene of My Best Friend’s Wedding, when the late Chicago chef, Charlie Trotter, roars at this kitchen crew, “I will kill your whole family if you don’t get this right.” Thank God for that staff that Julia Roberts was not that picky.
I hope that Mr. Jackson will forgive the joke, for in fact his goals are quite serious—and quite ingenious. He saw opportunities and he seized them, in a way a good combat veteran would: strategically, passionately, and with an eye to service to the public, a service that might not be about protection this time, but will still be about the highest quality product that can be provided.
And opening up a world to veterans who might otherwise have forgotten themselves in a world that has forgotten them.
Check out www.stagvetsinc.org. Let’s get the food on the table.
Until tomorrow, be well,
Doc
Listening to War 