Christopher Plamp, CEO of Hire Heroes USA, talks about the additional barriers female veterans encounter when entering the civilian workforce and how they can overcome them.

Christopher encourages companies to “look at what skills of veteran gets inherently by being in the military that they have been trained to show up for work. They have been trained to do things correctly. They’ve been trained to work under pressure. They’ve been trained to be to be innovative.”

He joined Hire Heroes USA after leaving the Air Force as a colonel in May 2014. He was an Air Force Command Pilot, flight instructor and evaluator, primarily flying the A-10 Warthog, the MQ-1B Unmanned Predator, the UV-18B Twin Otter, and the TG-16 Sailplane. He was an A-10 Fighter Squadron Director of Operations, and an MQ-1B Reconnaissance Squadron Commander, as well as a Flying Training Group Commander at the United States Air Force Academy.

He also served in the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as the director of a four-star general’s Commander’s Action Group (CAG). In his final position, Christopher was director of one of only two NATO Combined Air Operations Centers, which were responsible for the military air defense of the 14 NATO countries in Northern Europe.

Christopher participated in Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. He received two Bronze Stars for actions in Afghanistan, the first one in 2001, as a member of JSOC, for actions during the initial combat operations after 9/11. The second was earned for his work in critical operations in the 74th Fighter Squadron, including the planning and execution of the Operation REDWINGS “Lone Survivor” rescue.

As Commander of the 15th Expeditionary Resonance Squadron, he led his team to provide all conventional Predator Unmanned Aircraft operations during ‘The Surge’ into Iraq, in addition to personally flying some missions. When he first joined Hire Heroes USA, Christopher served as Director of Veteran Programs. He was promoted to Chief Programs Officer in 2015, Chief Operating Officer in 2017, and Chief Executive Officer in 2018.

Organized by America’s Warrior Partnership, the Warrior Community Integration Symposium is an opportunity to share best practices, find innovative solutions, and form new collaborative partnerships to better help the veterans in their communities address the work challenges they sometimes encounter when making the transition to civilian life. 

WorkingNation set up its cameras at the Symposium and interviewed the speakers and attendees about the important issue of helping veterans deal with workforce challenges. You can follow the conversation on our social media under the hashtag #WorkingNationOverheard.

Read more about the event here.