Today is Veterans Day. On November 11 the country honors everyone who has served in the U.S. Armed Forces: the veterans who came home, the ones still serving in their communities, and the families who served beside them. To every veteran in our community, among our clients and partners, and in the IT industry: thank you.
Why November 11
The date marks the armistice that ended fighting in World War I at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. First observed as Armistice Day, it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954 to honor American veterans of every era. Memorial Day honors those who died in service. Veterans Day honors all who served.
What veterans bring to our industry
Many of the best technicians, network engineers and security professionals we've worked with learned the trade in uniform. Three habits from military service map directly onto good IT, and any small business can borrow them:
- Readiness over reaction. Teams that practice are ready when something breaks. Test your backups and run a tabletop drill for a ransomware event or an internet outage before you need to.
- Clear lines of responsibility. When something goes wrong, everyone should know who makes the call, who contacts whom, and what happens next. Write down your incident contacts and keep a copy somewhere other than the systems that might be down.
- Learn from every event. After an outage or a close call, hold a short after-action review: what happened, what worked, what we'll change. A small fix each time adds up to resilience.
Ways to support veterans today
- Thank the veterans on your team and among your customers, and ask them about their service if they want to share.
- Consider veterans when you hire. Military experience often comes with hands-on technical training, discipline under pressure and leadership experience.
- Support veteran-owned businesses and local veteran service organizations in your area.
From all of us at Synergi Data & Communications: thank you for your service, and for everything you continue to give to our communities.