Sailors Suit Up for B2B

JAPAN

11.09.2017

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Janweb Lagazo 

USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76)   

WATERS OFF THE COAST OF JAPAN – The forward-deployed aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), held the Boots to Business (B2B) Introduction to Entrepreneurship course Nov. 7-8.
“It’s a program designed to really help active duty service members and veterans better make the decision for the next phase of their career, focusing on business ownership,” said Clay Crocker, from Nashville, Tennessee, one of two B2B civilian instructors flown aboard Ronald Reagan for the class. “We provided the tools and tactics during the two-day workshop to prepare for the eight-week follow-up course.”
Despite the course being offered at 213 different military installations worldwide, Ronald Reagan is just the second U.S. Navy ship to host the B2B introduction class while conducting underway operations. The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD 20) held the first underway course in 2016 with 18 service members participating. Forty Ronald Reagan Sailors participated this year, more than doubling the program’s attendance.
“I think it was a great opportunity,” said Religious Program Specialist Seaman Heidy Salmeron, from Louisville, Texas. “It definitely gives us a better structure and path. Even if you’re staying in or getting out, the teachers gave us a better understanding of what we’re capable of doing and what resources we have as veterans.”
Chris Torelli, from Centerville, Virginia, a 33-year special operations veteran turned B2B instructor, said service members have the risk-mitigation skills, desire, dedication, and trustworthiness to follow a plan through – essential qualities for entrepreneurs to possess.
“The course is intended to help service members through the minefield of transition,” said Torelli. “By and large, people in the military already have characteristics that would help them on the outside.”
Crocker noted Sailors are more likely to have a “rockstar network” and are better at using their resources at hand to achieve their goals.
“The two-day course is like drinking out of a firehose,” said Crocker. “It’s like a two-day MBA course.”
Crocker said the course was meant to be the primer for the main event and the Sailors who completed the course now have a launching point to an eight-week follow-up course from one of three associated universities – Syracuse University, Mississippi State University, and Cornell University.
The course ended with Sailors able to compete by pitching their business ideas to Crocker and Torelli for assessment.
“We had three types of Sailors in the class,” said Crocker. “There was the type that had their idea pretty fleshed out already, and the two-day course validated it and really got them energized to dig into the market research. The second type had some sort of idea and they find out through the course that there may have been lots of holes in that idea. Then there’s the third type that had to pump the brakes and realize that they’re not quite entrepreneurs yet.”
Crocker said the entrepreneurial mindset takes years to build up and veterans and service members have the chops to execute things an average person can’t do so well.
“These Sailors have already made advantages for themselves, whether through their skills learned through training or the mindset they have built over years of service – but we give them the vision to move forward,” said Torelli.
For more info about B2B visit www.sba.gov/bootstobusiness.
Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

• Date Taken: 11.09.2017
• Date Posted: 12.26.2017 20:45
• Story ID: 260218
• Location: JP