Veterans who have completed their military service sometimes struggle with what to do next.
The GI Bill provides an opportunity to earn a college degree, but the challenge is how to attach experience to a passion and develop a rewarding career.
The restaurant industry is often a great place to start. Take people like Adam Scianna, an Air Force veteran from St. Cloud, Minn., who spent his military career guarding nuclear missiles in Minot, N.D., and Eric Sartan from San Diego, who deployed multiple times for combat as a U.S. Army infantryman. Both have found positions they love at Cork & Cow in Franklin.
Sartan was in basic training on Sept. 11, 2001, a date that changed everything. He fought on combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was honorably discharged in 2005. Using the GI Bill, he attended Florida Atlantic University and earned a degree in business while working nights as a server and then a manager. His move to Nashville provided an entry into fine dining.
“The market is flooded with degrees right now, and I’d like to open my own business one day and enjoy working in this industry,” Sartan says. “I knew fine dining would allow me to maximize income while managing the hours worked. We have young children and I work 35 hours a week and live comfortably. I don’t take any stress home. That’s important to me.”
Scianna left the Air Force in 2006 with no college education or business experience, but he had worked side jobs throughout his military service: as a dishwasher while stationed in Italy, then at an Irish pub in North Dakota, and later at a sports bar in Minnesota before moving to Nashville to be closer to family.
“I got that job in Minnesota because the owner wanted to hire veterans, and I think that’s true for a lot of places,” he says. “The restaurant industry is such a great industry. I’m able to get my degree while working here at a very high-end restaurant and making good money. Even at our busiest, most stressful times, it’s nothing compared to guarding live missiles.”
Sartan says the only direct translation from his combat service to a civilian occupation would have been in law enforcement, perhaps as a SWAT Team member. But when you look at the qualities the military instills – loyalty, dependability, teamwork, work ethic, integrity – the picture of a high-quality restaurant team member emerges.
“Restaurant owners know that we will do the job right, treat people with respect, pay attention to details,” he says. “In the military, we clean more than anything, and we take small tasks very seriously. I believe that makes veterans desirable to restaurant employers. It’s really a perfect fit.”
