News
10.10.18

Community Thought Leader Spotlight: Rex Laceby on the unique strengths and needs of local veterans

Community Thought Leader Spotlight: Rex Laceby on the unique strengths and needs of local veterans

“When you abruptly take away something awesome from a person – having a purpose and being part of a team – and there’s no task, no continuity in place, imagine what that does to a person. My own purpose now is to make people aware of the strengths of our vets, and the many ways they’re equipped to contribute to community life.”

Support our local vets by donating to the Veterans Fund at the Community Foundation by Veterans’ Day, November 11. 
 

“There are so many things to be aware of in recruiting and retaining veterans in the workforce, and as active participants in civilian community life,” says Rex Laceby, Employer Development Specialist at CU Boulder Career Services, Co-founder and President of the CU Boulder Veterans Alumni Association, and a member of the Veterans Fund Advisory Committee at Community Foundation Boulder County. “In broad brush strokes, I teach civilian employers basic awareness of the military, including relevant differences among officers, enlisted service members, the national guard, active duty versus retired, and much more. I call it Veterans 101. 

 
“In 45 minutes, my presentation also includes the facts around common misperceptions. For example, most people don’t know that women comprise 16% of our military. The female vet population is incredibly resilient, and it’s important for their future employers to know, appreciate, and put that to work. Just as it’s important for them to understand the different dynamics at play between, say, officers – who’ve been more intensely vetted – and enlisted men.”
 
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As such, Rex – himself a vet who retired from the Marine Corps after 21 years of service conducting combat operations, peacekeeping missions, humanitarian and disaster relief operations, pirate interdiction missions, and more – is truly paying it forward. 

 
“When I first got out – after being enlisted for 10 years and an officer for 11 years – I struggled to find a job,” continues Rex, who will be a panelist at the foundation’s October 17 event – Up Close: The Veteran Experience in Boulder County. He’s also helping to develop the fledgling Boulder Veterans Resource Network, which provides Boulder County vets and their families with access to resources offering everything from education and career/employment assistance and legal assistance to transportation, counseling, emergency assistance, and help for veterans experiencing homelessness. 
 
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Adds Rex, “I went from being in charge of $330M in equipment and overseeing hundreds of men [including stints in both Iraq and Afghanistan] to not being able to land a job right away.
 
“The military gives you a one-week transitioning class, only one hour of which is focused on how to get a job, including a crap template for a résumé … the rest is more focused on how to get your stuff moved, and the VA and healthcare.”
 
As a CU Boulder alum – he earned a bachelor’s degree in European history – Rex turned to Career Services where he met Ann Herrman, Associate Director of the Career Development team, whom he describes as “my favorite civilian.”
 
“Thanks to her, I was able to land some interviews, and job offers were coming my way,” recalls Rex. “I was thinking of taking a job at Ball Aerospace when Ann said, ‘hey, we’re thinking about hiring vets at CU.’
 
“I thought, ‘I love CU and I love helping vets,’ having learned through my own struggles.” Fast forward to his current role at CU Boulder, Rex hopes his years as an enlisted Marine – as well as his commissioned officer experience – are an asset for any veteran seeking advisement, regardless of their former rank, branch, or specialty. 
 
Earlier this month, as Vice President of the Colorado Advisory Council on Military Education (CO-ACME), Rex helped bring together higher education leaders at the University of Colorado for a summit on veterans in higher education. “The goal was to connect people who work to support student veterans statewide, and provide updates about relevant changes in organizations and policies at both state and federal levels,” he says.
 
“There are approximately 17K vets living in Boulder County, and when I was a CU student, our ROTC Battalion was the fourth largest in the country. So you have hundreds and hundreds or women and men who graduate from CU, and who want to come back to this area. But they face a lot of unfounded biases, like the notion that someone who’s served in the military might shoot up the town. 
 
“In truth, the overwhelming majority of folks in the military weren’t in combat troops or special ops. Ask a vet their job in the military, and most will tell you they worked in logistics, communications, administration, or other support roles … or humanitarian disaster relief.”
 
If Rex sounds like a busy man (did we mention, he’s also a volunteer emergency rescue operator with the Boulder Emergency Squad?), it’s because there’s a lot at stake. “Some 20 to 22 of our vets kill themselves every day. When you abruptly take away something awesome from a person – having a purpose and being part of a team – and there’s no task, no continuity in place, imagine what that does.
 
“My own purpose now is to make people aware of the strengths of our vets, and the many ways they’re equipped to contribute to community life.”