Corey (00:00.594)
screen it says Cory then please enter a name how does it look on yours
Scott Schimmel (00:06.314)
It looks like it says Cory I see your name. Yeah Thank you for doing this I'm sorry. It's been so long that we haven't asked you yet You were a part of an episode early on but that was a long time ago
Corey (00:08.095)
Okay, perfect.
Corey (00:15.104)
Absolutely
Corey (00:22.44)
I think that was on... I don't know if it was season, you were calling it seasons?
Scott Schimmel (00:27.086)
season. mean, yeah, seasons. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is I guess we're in season two. You're on season two. So you you made it back to season two.
Corey (00:37.728)
I'm still on the I'm still on the boat. I appreciate that still on the island I Did yeah
Scott Schimmel (00:40.974)
Did you speak of that? Did you ever watch the show lost back in the day? I'd so I just I just saw announcement last night. They're doing a limited series like return of lost like back. It's called like I have to go back or something. And it's with what was the guy's name Sawyer that character? Yeah, the cool guy. Yeah, so
Corey (00:59.347)
Right.
Corey (01:03.39)
Yeah, yeah, I remember the bald older dude
Scott Schimmel (01:09.516)
I don't know when it's coming out, but I watched that show with one of my kids a few years ago and I remember watching it when it first came out. It was awesome. I watched it again. It was better. It was like even better than when I remembered it. It was so good. This is a good show. All right, you ready to get started?
Corey (01:20.704)
That's incredible. That's awesome.
Yeah, can we do a couple admin things that way we get the flow right? Is there anything you want me to do to like, when I'm done talking, like sometimes I've seen on podcasts, you know, where it's like, then you wait to see if I'm finished. Like, is there any kind of thing that would make it easier for you?
Scott Schimmel (01:27.628)
Yep. Yep. I'm fine. I think it was worth it because I can see you and I think it'll be fine. I like natural. I have I've found less prep. I'm not for everybody. Some people really.
Corey (01:48.788)
Thank
Scott Schimmel (01:55.106)
you know, get stressed properly about being recorded on anything. So, but I found just like a real natural off the cuff, even if we interrupt each other is fine. Like Joe and I have done that a few times where it's like, even if we laugh at each other, it's like, it's, you know, but, that's obviously a style.
Corey (02:13.672)
And I appreciate that too because I and my wife and I were talking about this like I don't want to be too prepared because it's not It's more scripted even though it's still honest. It's I feel it takes way of the general First conversation I guess to keep it a little bit edgy or raw
Scott Schimmel (02:20.652)
Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Scott Schimmel (02:31.542)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Any else?
Corey (02:38.45)
And then I saw the prompt was kind of like based towards failures and things like that
Scott Schimmel (02:43.8)
Yeah, it's like, I mean, really just to hear about your transition experience is the general idea. And I think if they're my sense is when the conversation is like, hey, here's what you got to do guy, then there's a natural defensiveness. So framing it in here's what I wish I had done differently is just a slightly usually get to the same content.
but it's just like, it's out of a shared vulnerability sort of then. So we have in the longterm this idea, if this vector thing ever goes bigger, I would love to hear, I would love to have like, people send in videos, like this is my transition fail from silly things like I forgot to go, I went to the wrong Zoom meeting to, I never asked for help, like so big and small and.
Corey (03:15.323)
Perfect.
Scott Schimmel (03:38.616)
So the idea of transition fails, failures has been kind of in the back of our minds for the last few months. all right, let's just share in that and then get wiser together.
Corey (03:48.7)
And absolutely, and as you build curriculums and as you build your experiences in life, like at least for me, and I think it's probably normal for most people that you learn better that way. And if I could take that from you or you could take that from me and I could just like, I know I'm still gonna make mistakes, but I hopefully won't make Scott's mistake or Corey's mistake and be like, boom flag, yeah.
Scott Schimmel (03:58.816)
and I think that probably can.
Scott Schimmel (04:04.524)
Yeah. That's right.
Scott Schimmel (04:10.869)
Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly.
Corey (04:17.3)
Totally, have, my transition is, so the audience is gonna be recruits, military transition. Okay, yeah, easy enough.
Scott Schimmel (04:25.558)
Yeah. Yeah.
I'd say the other folks that are listening are other veteran organizations who are trying to understand what vector is. I'm not thinking about them as we record, but I'm learning that that's who's like, yeah, yeah, right.
Corey (04:42.474)
That's what I would do. If I'm running a company, I'm investing my time in my competition.
Scott Schimmel (04:48.942)
Yeah. And, and the good part, I think for us is we're trying to plug into other organizations as a solution and rather than compete. So like, and that's different than us trying to grow through Facebook ads or Google ads, like, veteran out, you know, commercials, like we'd rather find there's, there's 40,000 veteran organizations who work with most of them. So let's just go to them and say, Hey, this is a missing
Corey (05:07.178)
Right. I think.
Scott Schimmel (05:17.484)
missing ingredients of what you're doing.
Corey (05:18.528)
This is a foundational thing that you can bolt on to an existing program.
Scott Schimmel (05:21.462)
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Hey, last thing. Here's my tip. Here's my podcast tip. Look at the camera. It looks like you're looking at me.
Corey (05:34.976)
So I got debriefed from my wife. I normally stand. But I'm sitting right now. So I'm trying this different approach so that like I think and some other stuff I had done and even with the vector accelerator like Joe and Halty like they were looking up and I was looking down. So I want to match what you're doing.
Scott Schimmel (05:41.41)
that's fine. Whatever you want to do.
Okay.
Corey (06:03.838)
to kind of keep it if we're doing this recording side by side when you finalize it. Alright, so I should look at the camera more so than you.
Scott Schimmel (06:14.614)
And what I do is I minimize my browser. bring it all the way up. And so it makes the video small up by the top. So I'm still looking at you, but it looks like I'm looking at the camera.
Scott Schimmel (06:33.486)
tricks of the trade.
Corey (06:35.636)
Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you. That way I won't stare at myself.
Scott Schimmel (06:40.588)
Yeah, that's, I used to do that in Zoom meetings. I would just find myself staring at myself. I'm like, what am I doing? It's so weird. I don't know what that is about human nature or just my nature.
Corey (06:52.946)
God, I'm the same way. like to especially if things aren't as gripping, know, I'm like hmm
Scott Schimmel (06:58.03)
That's why I take my glasses off, I can't really see.
Corey (07:06.848)
Or you just put it put something else to the side of your computer and read your tablet or phone. I'll be able to set up Yeah, let's do it Scott. I'm ready
Scott Schimmel (07:11.15)
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Vector Accelerator podcast. I'm one of the hosts, Scott Schimmel, and I'm here with, we'll call him an OG of Vector Accelerator. It's Corey Fossbender. Corey, welcome back to the show. You're probably our first, except for me and Joe, you're our first repeat customer, repeat guest. So, and that's a very, very rare, it's a very rare list. So thanks for making it back and, and remind us a little bit of who you are.
orient us those who are listening, like who you are, where you are in the world, and then maybe a little bit your military background too.
Corey (07:51.552)
I'll try to distill it more in a chronological way. So military, 30 years retired, enlisted in 1992. I was a weapons troop on the F-117 stealth fighter loading smart bombs, decided to change up a little bit of transition, went to helicopter gunner on the MH-53 Pavelo, did that for about 13, 14 years, retired that aircraft.
Transitioned to the AC 130 gunship as a gunner as well and then did that and then I did some staff tours here and in between and then Retired out of headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command spent about 27 years in Air Force Special Operations Command Aviation obviously as a helicopter gunner and a gunship gunner Transitioned out of the military
transformed, transitioned, transformed, went on a road trip for, and we're still, I'm in a transition right now, Scott, to be honest with you, we just wrapped up almost 850 days, 860 days on the road. We're staying on a little bit of a longer term rental right now. And my wife and I have been traveling the United States up and down more so the East Coast versus going out.
Scott Schimmel (08:49.591)
Ha
Scott Schimmel (08:52.936)
huh.
Scott Schimmel (08:57.742)
Okay, nice.
Scott Schimmel (09:04.113)
my gosh.
Corey (09:15.836)
know West and just learning every day trying to be a better person, better husband, better family member for my extended family and for my son.
Scott Schimmel (09:26.646)
What does work look like for you post Air Force?
Corey (09:31.104)
That is a great question. So when I was in the military, the normal, you know, progression was, and a lot of times you would keep almost your same seat. just became a contractor or a general, uh, service, you know, civilian DOD. I, I kind of went in a different direction. I, uh, saved a little bit of money. My wife and I were, my wife more so than me was good with money.
Scott Schimmel (09:45.816)
Yeah.
Corey (09:59.832)
so I've been supporting her on this journey. She still works. She's in the tech industry. She's a software engineer, doing great and has done better as I've focused more energy towards taking care of her job versus, you know, trying to split and feather in, you know, two full-time jobs, you know, you know, mom and pop doing the same thing every time. so really.
Scott Schimmel (10:15.373)
Yeah.
Corey (10:28.016)
no office work, no work, just traveling a little bit and taking care of what I can, doing all this mission planning on our trips, which is now starting to slow down.
Scott Schimmel (10:32.654)
Cheers.
Scott Schimmel (10:40.462)
How do you decide where to go?
Corey (10:43.836)
So we have been No, it is and we talk about this my wife and I we chase rivers to be honest with you We're chasing rivers or water, know properties lakes, but mostly rivers know do some kayaking things like that and just You know get away from some of the big big cities. We've been Rural extra rural. I feel like for a while there. I went feral
Scott Schimmel (10:44.834)
What a big existential question, isn't that? How do you decide where to go?
Corey (11:12.394)
So my wife and I, we hadn't seen too much interaction with folks because we were way up into the mountains and just go down for groceries and gym workout.
Scott Schimmel (11:18.872)
Well.
Scott Schimmel (11:25.198)
I remember seeing photos from like people on the prairie where they hadn't seen, you know, other humans in years and they just would like stare. I know if you ever saw this photos like back in like, you know, 150 years ago. I can just picture you and your wife just like, morning.
Corey (11:40.552)
Yeah, yeah, or you know when you do see people you wonder like especially if they're close to where you're staying you're like hey what are you doing here? But we've had a great time we haven't had we've had some dramas along the way three floods one real big one in western North Carolina last year. we originally were gonna travel on a camper van that we were working on that we got in a tornado in that one.
Scott Schimmel (11:48.048)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (12:08.438)
What?
Corey (12:08.552)
My wife was driving rotation through the forest, lightening trees falling on us. My wife saved us. She saved us. Yeah. So many crazy transitions and journeys that I've had since, you know, hooking up with the Honor Foundation and then Vector Accelerator.
Scott Schimmel (12:11.914)
What?
Scott Schimmel (12:17.332)
No way. Your life is a
Scott Schimmel (12:29.74)
Yeah, so talk about that. How did you find THF, especially when you're feral up in the mountains?
Corey (12:37.066)
So I think was like two or three months out of not getting out of the military, but being out of work since I had accrued so many days of leave, so many that I don't even know why I did. just, and with COVID and deployments and all this stuff, you were able to accrue a lot of leave. So I accrued a lot of leave.
Scott Schimmel (12:54.478)
Yeah.
Corey (13:07.488)
And I had time to you know do the planning or do different things and understand you know where we wanted to go or what we were going to do obviously plan changes there's always something that might pop up and we've definitely learned a lot about each other about our relationship about transition especially staying in short-term rentals you know after the van got totaled we still did our trip so
Scott Schimmel (13:27.758)
Hmm.
Corey (13:37.194)
can't even tell you how many Airbnb, VRBOs, hotels we've stayed in in that 800 and however many days. So every it was a transition constantly. mean, it's it's incredible. having a foundation of transition and being able to line up, you know, what your goals may be, how do those adjust to your values and priorities and things like that?
Scott Schimmel (13:45.111)
Sheesh.
Scott Schimmel (13:49.357)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (14:02.381)
Yeah.
Corey (14:06.76)
I mean, it still, you know, hits those chapters out your book.
Scott Schimmel (14:12.214)
You, so I run specifically this organization called the U school, Y O U school. And it's the curriculum that sits inside vector accelerator. And it's a big part of first phase for THF. And I've kind of joked over the years when someone is, you know, married together that it's a misnomer U school is a misnomer. It's, ought to be more like y'all school. Like it's, it's, and I, and I'm
curious your perspective on this, because it sounds like you, above a lot of people, you and your wife have really kind of taken on a path together, even though she's still working. But you're together. mean, one probably speaks a lot to how much you enjoy each other. But two, I'm curious, how did you how did you? Geez. How did you navigate that bang?
Corey (15:03.754)
Really good question. And anyone that's in a relationship knows, you know, there's so many blinds or hopefully, you know, there's blind spots. I've had so many blind spots in my relationship with my wife and she has been a rock. Like I deployed a lot of times I was TDY or temporarily sent somewhere else to work. Like I was gone a lot. And then when I was home working.
I was still working when I was with her. Like it was still in my head. I was still, you know, running strategies. Turning that off has helped me a lot to do my own self internalized reflections constantly, daily, multiple times through the day. And I'm not rushing. Like I'm not.
Scott Schimmel (15:35.15)
Mm.
Scott Schimmel (15:39.907)
Yeah.
Corey (15:55.002)
on the train that's on fire anymore. Like that's what my career seemed like. It was a marathon sprint and I enjoyed it. I loved it. You know, I liked that stress and I thrive in that environment. But when I came back out of that, like I had to focus on, you know, making sure that the home was stable.
Scott Schimmel (16:04.236)
Yeah.
Corey (16:16.85)
I'm not perfect by any means and I learned so much through failures of my own mistakes in this relationship that I could be better the next day or try to be or later on that that you know interaction. It's afforded me a lot of time to really be present and generally present genuinely.
Scott Schimmel (16:43.886)
Has that been an adjustment that going from stress, high-paced, high-intensity to lots more downtime, quiet? What does that look like for you?
Corey (16:55.356)
It has. It's been a real adjustment to go from, you know, thinking in its perception, everybody's perception of what they do at work or how they, you know, survive in the military, if you will. The adjustment going from craziness or my perception of the speeding train with no brakes, trains on fire to
Scott Schimmel (17:04.803)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (17:08.354)
Yeah.
Corey (17:21.13)
Do I need any more fires? Do I need to be speeding? Do I own my time a little bit more? A lot more, to be honest. And it gave me an opportunity to reevaluate how I prioritized what I valued.
Scott Schimmel (17:42.222)
Yeah, and there's the perspective, I think that Vector takes and THF as well is that in transition, as you go through it in the military, I speak as an outsider. So I'm kind of sharing this with with humility and don't want to check with your experience that you are losing a few things as you're transitioning away, identity and purpose and a sense of team and belonging.
the big three that we talk about and you just mentioned like values and rethinking your values and prioritizing those like did you find for you that there is one of those big three that was harder to lose or to replace than the others between identity and purpose and belonging?
Corey (18:30.878)
belonging part I feel like identity you shift your identity you know as you change your career as you change you have children you know you're constantly evolving through an identity so I don't feel that that losing the you know title or job responsibility defined me I never wanted
Scott Schimmel (18:44.184)
Yeah.
Corey (19:00.584)
what I did for work to define me. wanted who I was and how people felt about me to define me. So I continued to do that no matter what.
Scott Schimmel (19:03.118)
Mm-hmm.
Corey (19:11.346)
Now the belonging part, that's a huge issue. Like that's your camaraderie. That's your, you know, being able to, you know, lean over or lean into your, your military peers that might have similar experiences. And I could still do that. You know, I just can't, you know, bring a cup of coffee to their office or cubicle or the flight line or whatever. You know, I have to reach out. I have to be more proactive with it versus more casual.
Scott Schimmel (19:33.676)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (19:41.046)
Yeah. We we've been talking more and more lately about the idea of looking back on your transition and rethinking it. So, you know, we've been using this phrase transition fails. Like, can you think if you were to go back in time, redo it? Was there something that you feel like you missed or neglected to do? Like, what would do you have any transition fails?
Corey (19:50.24)
you
Corey (20:07.316)
I have so many transition fails. It's, but they did work out. So it took more effort on some parts of transition versus others, especially when you have to go through the administration of separation. So for me, I got a call from our centralized personnel office asking what I was going to do with my military career. And I was like,
wow, this is interesting. I'd been in for 29 years at that point, maybe three or four months, a little bit over that. they were like, you have to apply to retire. And I was like, what? I just thought it was understood. You apply once you get closer. And I hadn't done that. So the first thing in transition I had failed on already. And thankfully,
Scott Schimmel (20:43.246)
Uh-huh.
Scott Schimmel (20:48.526)
I
Scott Schimmel (20:55.896)
Okay.
Scott Schimmel (21:00.04)
What?
Corey (21:02.388)
You know, it was someone that I had worked with on base before that recognized the name and, you know, gave me the courtesy call because I was like, man, you, what happens is you just separate and that's it. Like you're out, no retirement, no whatever, I guess. I don't know how many people have ever done it, but I was like, okay. So then that's what started my transition. My lack of the understanding of it. And like I said,
Scott Schimmel (21:19.842)
Yeah.
You
Corey (21:32.2)
I felt, and a lot of folks are in our area, operations within Air Force Special Operations Command is always busy, always crazy. You're always sprinting. So if I didn't take a priority of me to transition out of the military properly, I would have just been out and separated. And I'm sure I could have gotten it fixed along the way, but it would have been even horrible.
Scott Schimmel (21:41.677)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (21:53.315)
Yeah.
Corey (22:01.818)
on that time off that I had consequently gathered so much leave or time off. Then you got to go through your transition assistance program. So we had a course there at Holbrook Field where I was retiring out of. Lots of peers, so that was great. And we all were able to help each other through the transition into whatever your next
whatever it was going to be if a pilot was going to go with the airlines if you know A logistician was going to go work at amazon things like that. So we were all kind of being creative in that experience Then I but I was still on Leave like vacation basically. So my whole transition I did on vacation
multiple fails with that because I wasn't in the office or you know, I wasn't, you know, I wasn't checking my email every second. Um, it ended up being that I wasn't on leave. So basically for like two months, the processing or whatever it got hung up with, and this was during COVID, so not everybody was in the office. So whatever happened into those, you know, administrative pileups or backlogs, you know, I was never on leave. So
Scott Schimmel (22:57.762)
huh.
Scott Schimmel (23:12.526)
huh.
Corey (23:22.496)
I had to get that squared away to get out. you know, I had all like I, if I didn't fix it, I would have gotten out with like 140 days of 100 and whatever days of leave and it would have been, you know, like I frauded the government. So anyways, one failed then another fail. then I was just like, all right, I got to get serious THF before that.
Scott Schimmel (23:38.242)
Yeah, not good.
Corey (23:47.038)
We're doing a road show. So they came out to Hurlberg field. They were up at 7th Special Forces Group up at Eglin Matt Stevens and Halty came down and what's crazy is a psychologist at 7th group Recommending my name to them and they came down to Hurlberg anyway, because they were doing the road show Got in contact with me and we had a meeting and I fell in love with their program. I fell in love with both of them I mean, it was just great
Scott Schimmel (23:57.538)
Corey (24:17.472)
So I kind of just, you know, and I was working as the senior enlisted leader of operations. So they knew, you know, sort of folks that we all, you know, we had a kindred spirit with, you know, dust or mud that we'd chewed along the way, you know, overseas. So that was really cool.
Scott Schimmel (24:35.661)
You
Scott Schimmel (24:40.92)
How did you approach it differently at that point? Hearing the THF message, and at that point, had you had a little bit of a shock? Like, okay, I gotta get dialed in here. I gotta start paying more attention.
Corey (24:55.656)
Yeah, you're absolutely and that was it, you know, and if I didn't have peers and of course family, but they don't know the process, but they support peers. We had groups of folks that were, you know, retired a year, retired six months, retired three months. So they would come in and brief us.
Scott Schimmel (25:06.296)
Yeah. Yeah.
Corey (25:22.334)
And that group grew and grew, you know, just because there's so much information that is lacking when you're getting out of the military. It's out there, but it's just not as easy to find. And unless you do that with some kind of, you know, group and peers or, you know, networking, especially through any of the, you know, veteran organizations out there that do professional
Scott Schimmel (25:33.155)
Yeah.
Corey (25:50.196)
transition assistance. You you're going to have your military transition assistance and that's hit and miss depending on the base. You know, look at those other organizations with the vector accelerator. That's the foundation of the beginning of it all. And I would even say that vector accelerator isn't just military transition, it's life transition. So it's symbiotic, easily weaving into parts of any of, you know,
Scott Schimmel (25:51.885)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (26:12.536)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Corey (26:19.71)
THF and definitely can help out some of those other organizations that just start from the sprint of resume, interview prep, you know, before you even know what your purpose is, who you are, what you want to do when you grow up like me, I still am questioning that.
Scott Schimmel (26:30.327)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (26:35.278)
Yeah, me too. And I just saw I recently saw a model about identity, identity formation. And it and it talked about what you just mentioned, like, that almost sounds funny, like, hey, I've figured stuff out, but I still don't know who I am and what I want to be. And I would reflect back. That's that's actually a healthy psychology. That's a that's a healthy human. The idea of being fixed. know who I am. I know who I'm not. never going to change.
We know those people and that's fine maybe for them, but it's also feels like rest of development because life continues to evolve. So to have this posture of like, you know, what's next? What am I learning now? What does that say about me? That's to me, that's the ultimate goal.
Corey (27:12.672)
and generations will.
Corey (27:22.624)
Absolutely. And you don't know what you don't know until you have those experiences or have friends or peers that can help shepherd you a certain way. know, THF talks about the 50 cups of coffee from an article back in the day, like that if you don't know what you want to do, you're still hopefully going to live. You know, you just got to figure out which path you want. You know, do you want
do you want money? Do they intersect? know, could Venn diagram or Excel spreadsheet, however you like to make calculated data driven decisions. There's so many different angles that you could go and depends on what Netflix movies playing to like, I'm like, man, I want to be an artist or you know, or
Scott Schimmel (27:57.71)
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (28:09.762)
Yeah.
Yeah, I just saw there's a new documentary about the Boston Red Sox like a season with them. And so I better not watch that I'll get I'll get all excited about baseball and take me on a rabbit hole. I don't need to go.
Corey (28:24.382)
Yeah
It's an I think what it comes down to you know purpose for the milk mission, you know, what's your mission? What's your purpose? You know You should have something for everything so that you don't hear have all this noise You know what's gonna affect you have a purpose have a mission and it doesn't have to be just one it could be multiples and you could even distill it down and
keep up with your military planning process or your course of action or your primary plans. You need an alternate, need a contingency, you need an emergency, things of that nature. One thing though, if I could bring this up, Scott, there's a metric that you guys use and it's the HOPE metric.
That's what people need. As a leader in the military, you needed to provide hope for folks, you know? And we all need hope. America needs hope. know, the society right now is going crazy. People want hope, you know? The hope of success, the hope of not being a failure, the hope of my family being proud of me. mean, hope is a purpose to me.
Scott Schimmel (29:35.18)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (29:46.466)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (29:52.942)
Yeah, no, I love that. and that reminds me of the the the researched definition of hope that tomorrow is going to be better than today. And I'm participating in that. So obviously, it's different than wishful thinking, where you're just like, you know, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. That's that's wishful. You have no less. You're deep into the chem trails. You probably have no you have no, I don't know, agency over whether the weather or anything else.
Corey (30:15.21)
Right.
Scott Schimmel (30:22.7)
But to your point, like, yeah, exactly. Okay, thank you. But tomorrow will be better because, know, I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what the career will be. I don't know if I'm to make an impact, but I sure as hell know I'm going to wake up and try to figure it out. And I'm going to call a friend and I'm going to read an article and I'm going to go on an interview, like whatever that looks like to take that step forward. and, and I, you know, the opposite of that seems to manifest itself in discouragement, anger, cynicism.
Corey (30:23.04)
Unless you're out cloud seeding.
Corey (30:37.097)
Right, absolutely.
Scott Schimmel (30:52.024)
giving up, like paralysis, like, and that's not good for anybody.
Corey (30:56.284)
No, it's it's not and you know when you think of hope, know, if you wake up and you're breathing you've got a chance If you don't wake up, I mean it doesn't matter, you know, like it's over game is done But you know if you wake up you've got a chance you've got a chance to make your family happy make yourself better Make someone else better You know open the door be a polite person be a good neighbor
And things will, you know, when you go for that job interview and they see that it's not artificial and if whatever trick they're playing on you with salt and pepper or the coffee cup or whatever it is, like just be a good person. It'll work out. People want to help. So ask for help to not when you need it, but before you need it so that you could just see like, I have a tough time asking for help. I know because I like to do it all and not have to burden someone else. But, know, you
Scott Schimmel (31:32.204)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (31:50.755)
Yeah.
Corey (31:52.126)
Ask for help, you know, as you're transitioning out.
Scott Schimmel (31:56.876)
You mentioned, and then kind of wrapping up that you're in a new transition and I'm just curious, what's on your mind for what needs to get figured out or alternatively, what is your hope in right now in this season where there's maybe not as much clarity about what's next?
Corey (32:16.638)
That's a really, I pondered that before we even talked about this podcast. Like the last couple days, I've been anxious and I've been trying to figure out why like every, and I don't, I don't want to jinx myself, but everything has been falling pretty good, but I've been anxious. It's because I'm going through this transition again. Like I unpacked my clothes and bags of what we have here for the first time.
you know, years and now the next hope or transition is, you know, take a knee for a second. But I have storage units in Alabama and Asheville, North Carolina. Like I have a car in North Carolina. Like I got to figure out, you know, like as we reset, do we, you know, do we collapse in on all our stuff that we have pre-positioned in North Carolina or our household goods for my military move that I still haven't used yet?
So we'll see. You know, we've been looking for houses too for the last couple of years and 21 just wasn't really good and 22 didn't get any better. 23 or 24, you know, so we, you know, we, could have bought houses along the way, but you know what we're looking for, especially chasing rivers, you know, we were just like, all right, let's just, you know, see where things go and see how, you know, what the economy does with housing.
Scott Schimmel (33:21.28)
huh.
Corey (33:39.36)
real estate and the rest of the economy, who knows?
Scott Schimmel (33:42.67)
Well, as you're listening, you just got a few pep talks from Corey and I'd say, I'm going to borrow your language, Corey. If you don't know where to go next, follow the river, follow the flow, follow the sense of what seems to be right next. then make sure that tomorrow you wake up and follow it again. And I think you're going to be on a good path.
Corey (34:05.862)
Follow the flow, but not like a dead fish.
Scott Schimmel (34:09.517)
It's perfect. There's a t-shirt right there. All right, Corey, thanks so much. And I look forward to episode three with you whenever the time is right.
Corey (34:12.062)
Yeah.
Thank
Corey (34:20.808)
Yeah, thanks again, Scott. Thanks to everything you guys all do at Vector Accelerator. It's amazing. I hope you guys bolt on to more organizations to make them better. And one of the things if I could wrap up here for the last thought, when I was getting out of the military, my brother, he works up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He put me in contact with one of our old buddies, his good buddy that he went to high school with that runs an organization called Fusion Cell.
Now I talk to him, great. So THF is linked in with Fusion Cell. And then a couple other things that I've done with Vector Accelerator, I've noticed that those organizations are, you know, connected with Fusion Cell. And the reason I bring that up is these networks that these folks have, you know, not just THF or Vector Accelerator, but all the plethora of other, you know, veteran transitions.
Scott Schimmel (35:11.779)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (35:17.123)
Yeah.
Corey (35:18.366)
look at their partners, look at who they're networking with. Because if you see folks and now you start seeing, like I said, that fusion, I see this, that, you know, some of the not the giant ones that you see, you know, hiring our heroes, but like some of those other ones, like there's a lot of folks out there that want to help veterans. So look at these organizations, join something, get something to build that foundation, such as Vector Accelerator or something else.
Scott Schimmel (35:21.539)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (35:27.608)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (35:41.411)
Yeah.
Corey (35:46.026)
but look at also those partners that they're working with because it's all inter-combined to help veterans.
Scott Schimmel (35:50.538)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Well said, Corey. Thank you. And we'll see you on the river.
Corey (35:55.55)
Yeah, thanks for having me. Love it.
Scott Schimmel (36:01.29)
Awesome.
