Wanted: armed services stories
The upcoming January 2024 issue of Hardware & Building Supply Dealer—the All-American Issue —will examine the close connection between veterans and the industry. Military backgrounds have helped shape the careers of many of those who took their experience to the hardware and building supply industry.
We want to know your story about your experiences in the armed services and how those experiences shaped your career. Send us your thoughts – just a few sentences – and a photo, for inclusion in a future article. Send them here.
Some examples of this industry's military experience are here:
• The 2018 Independent ProDealer of the Year CHIC Lumber’s president Adam Hendrix was a U.S. Navy Seabee from 1989 to 1995 as a Builder 2nd Class Petty Officer.
• 2020 City of Hope Spirit of Life Award honoree Brad Paulsen, the president of HD Supply Facilities Maintenance, is a West Point graduate and former Army officer.
• Louisiana-based Stine Lumber founder J.W. Stine, and 84 Lumber founder Joseph Hardy were proud World War II veterans.
And that's just the tip of the battleship. Statistics are hard to come by, but the editorial team at HBSDealer believes that the percentage of military veterans in the hardware and building supply workforce and in leadership positions at lumberyards and industry distributors is higher than in most other industries. Much higher, in fact.
We regularly meet new industry personnel with military backgrounds – see this feature on Steve Sallah, Tim Mills and Michael Cassidy, who served respectively, in the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marines. And we look forward to meeting more.
Our own Greg Cole, HBSDealer regional manager, is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Drop him a line with a “Semper Fi” in your message.
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If you or a colleague served in the military, tell us about it here.
