I recently attended an amazing surf camp through a non-profit I support, Team Red, White and Blue (RWB), who do fantastic work enriching the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. I’ve been involved with them since they first launched in 2010, and have really enjoyed watching the organization grow over the last few years.
The camp I attended was labeled as a surf camp, hosted at Oakley Headquarters, but in reality was for more than that. The camp was actually a leadership course, the likes of which I hadn’t seen since my time at West Point. It was a truly refreshing approach, and went well beyond veterans affairs.
I’m self employed and don’t have many worker bees below me, so sometimes its easy to forget that we can serve as leaders in many different ways. Sure, in group situations typically I’m the type of person who takes control a bit to get decisions made and things moving.
But what impressed me about the Team RWB camp was their vision.
They that feel we, the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, can become the next Great Generation. We all know that serving in the military is a unique experience and typically most leave their time in service with a certain ethos that they may not have otherwise developed. Team RWB wants to capitalize on that and encourage our veterans to be leaders in all aspects of our communities. Wherever it is that one feels they can be of service.
The bottomline is that most people feel our country is lacking leadership at all levels. We see it in the news everyday, and it was a little depressing for me to come back to America after 11 years living abroad to see, what many feel, is our country close to chaos. I won’t get into the politics of it all though, as right or left, I don’t believe anyone is happy right now.
So how do we fix this? Is it fixable at all? Team RWB thinks it is, and they encouraged me to take action.
Our veterans will need to step up in the coming years to help turn things around.
So… that’s me, I need to step up. And that’s why I’ve created this community within the context of financial planning. As a financial advisor, I strive to be a leader – not only for my clients, but also to advocate the importance of building a “wholistic” financial plan. We’re lucky to have an organization like Team RWB to remind us of how we can be involved and help ensure our country is on the right track.
If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to visit the Team RWB website and sign up. There is no cost or obligation whatsoever. We just love to build the community among veterans and non-veterans.