Along with Mathew Monson, Cessna, and Kentucky Wounded Warriors, PLITEK®‘s CEO, Karl, escorted over 30 veterans to Philadelphia to attend the Army Navy football game. Within the three transport aircrafts, multiple Purple Heart recipients were in attendance who participated in the Vietnam War, Bosnia, Iraq, or Afghanistan missions. It was a great honor to include some of PLITEK®‘s employee veterans at the event. Special thanks to all of the veterans in attendance for your service and to all of those organizing this successful event. PLITEK® is honored with the opportunity to continue giving back to the community by supporting those who have served our country.
A Veteran’s Point of View
One of the veterans in attendance, Jesse Sage, provided a beautiful reflection on the weekend: “I had the honor to go to the Army Navy game this weekend as a guest of my good friend Karl Hoffman, CEO of PLITEK®. We flew out of Chicago Executive Airport on a jet donated by Ron Draper, President & CEO of Textron Aviation. Karl & Ron sponsored 15 Veterans from the Wounded Heroes program. What an awesome weekend! I watched the game with some awesome new friends, including the Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter, saw Air Force One, & a cool flyover by 6 Apache attack helicopters.
After the game we had an amazing dinner set up by Matt Monson & his staff. During the dinner I was asked to share my story. There were about 30 people in the room. I stood up & shared my struggles with returning to civilian life after retirement, battling with PTSD, & using alcohol/drugs as bad coping techniques. Although I noticed tears in most people’s eyes, it still felt foreign to be vulnerable in that large of a group, especially with people I had just met. I do much better in smaller conversations. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t walking into a war zone, but this was scarier than a mission in Afghanistan. Putting the worst version of Jesse out for the world to see, & possibly judge, was terrifying. But I knew I needed to be brave.”
