The SOF for Life Seminar
On Thursday, the exhibit hall of the Modern Warfare Expo had no remaining signs of its 35+ exhibitors and the Symposium room was broken down into smaller meeting rooms for local use. However, the Global SOF team still had a small presence in the Iron Mike Conference Center on Ft. Bragg in the form of the SOF for LifeSeminar!
SOF for Life is a program consisting of three non-profits: the GSF, which maintains a resume database and distributes job postings; AAFMAA, which provides free wealth management services; and The Honor Foundation, which runs a robust transition course that goes above and beyond what is offered by military branches.
The goal of this multi-faceted program is to arm retiring or separating active duty SOF and SOF support with the tools and knowledge necessary for success post-active duty.
The SOF for Life Seminar is a one-day crash course that highlights the offerings of the full 12-week program offered by The Honor Foundation. It is taught by Mr. Joe Musselman, the CEO and Founder of the Foundation, who provides impassioned leadership to these seminars.
We hold these seminars in conjunction with many US-based GSF Symposium events, and we had around 15 individuals attend this specific workshop.
For those interested in enrolling in the full 12-week program, there are physical campuses in San Diego, Camp Lejeune, and Virginia Beach. The THF is also about to launch its “proof of concept” virtual program next week on August 29th, which will run through December 13th. If you’re interested in participating in the virtual program, contact Jeff at jeff@honor.org.
Venues for the Future
The Iron Mike Conference Center is located conveniently close to U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), which made it an ideal venue for the inaugural Modern Warfare Symposium. However, it was full to the brim with our 449 attendees, so after cleaning up the last of our GSF Signage, we used Thursday to check out some other local venues.
There aren’t a lot of options to host the Symposium and Expo, as our space requirements are fairly extensive, but GSF COO Meaghan Keeler-Pettigrew and Director of Marketing Chelsea Hamashin did get a good look at the Embassy Suites Conference Center along with its neighboring Springhill Suites. The Conference Center was all setup to host the Fayetteville Observer’s Reader’s Digest Awards, and it looked like it was going to be a spectacular (although crowded) evening.
Meanwhile, GSF Director of Partner Relations, Steve Jones, went with Rick Lamb on a tour of the history museums on Ft. Bragg. Although we think Rick already knows everything there is to know about SOF history, especially since he’s experienced at least 30 years of it first hand, it looks like they had a great time.
Chelsea and Meaghan took that as inspiration and decided to visit the Airborne and Special Operations Museum Foundation in downtown Fayetteville. This walk through SOF history is very impressive and educational, and we highly encourage a visit if you have not already been. We know the museum won’t work to host a Symposium, however we think it could prove to be an excellent venue for a closing reception! We hope to make that work in 2019, but don’t let that stop you from visiting before then.
Until our next Reunion…
As we’ve said before, the GSF is a family and our events are our reunions! We are luckier than most families, as we get multiple reunions per year, with the next one right around the corner in Madrid.
As a telecommuting non-profit Foundation, we value these opportunities to work together, solve problems, meet new people, and develop plans for the future of the GSF.
We can’t do any of this without our Members and Corporate Partners, so thank you again for your support, and we’ll see you soon!
Don’t miss the recaps of the Lead Up, Day 1, and Day 2 of the inaugural Modern Warfare Symposium and Expo.