Meet One of Our Veterans: Joe DeBose
United States Marine Corps veteran Joe DeBose can’t hear the “D” in PTSD.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder,” a term that’s become all-too common a part of American vocabulary since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, doesn’t do veterans justice according to DeBose.
“I call it PTS because I don’t believe it’s a disorder. It’s a natural reaction to something you’ve experienced. You go through combat, and it’s not a disorder to come back and have the symptoms that you’re going to have from post-traumatic stress, so it’s not a disorder,” DeBose said. “If we treat it as a disorder then we’re looking at these veterans as if they’re broken, and they’re not broken. If you send people to war this is going to be part of it. It needs to be treated as part of the war process, not just an aftermath.”
DeBose’s unique insights and point of view on veteran affairs got him enlisted as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Veterans Services of Boots on the Ground. It only makes sense for an organization employing predominantly veterans to use some of the structures proven to work in the military, something DeBose mentions is optimal for production but more importantly optimal for the veterans because it improves their work environment. It’s DeBose’s job to see that environment through.
“Basically what I’m doing is designing our organizational & leadership structures to reflect aspects of the military culture that will work well with our company. We’re implementing a lot of that military structure in the teams and how we organize the company,” DeBose said.
“Veterans are the most purpose-driven people on the planet. When you put them together, and you give them a mission, they’re going to find a way to get it done; so we’re taking that structure and putting it in the company.”
Instead of structuring it like a typical business, Boots on the Ground employs both a non-profit and Lc3 for-profit arm, to maximize impact and resiliency. Profit sharing, worker ownership, and collaborative management are blended with military structures that veterans are used to and what they respond to.
It’s what veterans know. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you don’t have to reteach. It’s going to come right back to them.”
They are designing this organization utilizing breakthrough performance & team-based management techniques like the Holacracy model, used by thriving powerhouse companies like Zappos and Medium.
Holacracy “is a new way of running an organization that removes power from a management hierarchy and distributes it across clear roles, which can then be executed autonomously, without a micromanaging boss.”
DeBose, who closes his emails with “Semper Fidelis,” stresses that when people in the military are active they’re tapped into a brother or sisterhood, but when they come home that can disappear.
That familial bond is what he wants veterans to regain while working for Boots on the Ground. It’s a strong bond that DeBose still feels, and it’s inspired him to work on veterans’ affairs since he left the Marine Corps in 2009 after a ten year career.
“The brotherhood that you build is tighter than family. It would be like helping my sister or my dad. It’s my family,” DeBose said.
After enlisting at 17, DeBose deployed to combat 5 times. He lead Marines in some of the heaviest fighting of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, including The Second Battle of Fallujah in Iraq and the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, earning the Bronze Star Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for Valor in Combat among other personal and unit awards along the way.
During his Marine Corps career, DeBose was often in leadership positions. In 2008 he deployed to the Korengal Valley, at the time considered the deadliest spot in Afghanistan. There he served as Senior Combat Advisor of a three-person team that embedded with, trained, and advised the only Afghan National Army (ANA) pure firebase in Kunar Province. He developed a mentoring program in order to train ANA leadership on how to effectively counsel and evaluate soldiers individually and as a unit.
But DeBose’s military leadership experiences weren’t all combat-related. Between ’06 and ’08, DeBose was tasked with supervising the conduct and operation of the Marine Corps Water Survival Program for Marine Forces Pacific Command. Aside from teaching and successfully qualifying over 3,000 Marines in various levels of water survival, he became concerned with the outdated training curriculum and the increasing number of deaths due to drowning that were happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, and during training. Joe and a few other Subject Matter Experts took their concerns to Marine Corps Training and Education Command. He was then asked to represent III Marine Expeditionary Force on the Integrated Process Team that designed, tested, and developed the curriculum for the current Marine Corps Water Survival Program.
DeBose’s military experience gave him many leadership skills but also consequences. When he left the Marine Corps DeBose struggled with post-traumatic stress and the aftermath of traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
“The VA isn’t the most efficient system,” DeBose said politely. “I took it upon myself to look for whatever [treatment] I could.”
His six years of research into alternative therapies led to a lot of knowledge and curiosity about neuroscience, which DeBose hopes to study in graduate school, as well as the concept of sensory deprivation as treatment for PTS, TBI and pain management.
“There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence and peer-reviewed evidence that backs up the use of sensory deprivation tanks. Imagine your brain’s like a computer and when you get in a [sensory deprivation] tank you have no sensory input coming in, so you’re essentially freeing up space, so now your brain can defrag,” DeBose said. “That opens it up and provides space in your brain to take it all in. When it comes to trying to get through traumas and things like that, being able to have that space to do that in your head is very important.”
DeBose doesn’t think Boots on the Ground is only a boot company. He sees it as an organization that’s empowering a disenfranchised portion of the U.S. population and is excited for the future. After all, Detroit’s not the only American city with homeless veterans.
“We are starting our mission in the Motor City and going way bigger than Detroit. Our vision is to be a national company, maybe not in and of ourselves, but we can bring partnerships and companies to the table to understand that they have the most purpose-driven people right under their nose,” DeBose said.
“It doesn’t have to be boots. The mission is more than just boots.”
Eric Coughlin is a semi-employed writer and proud owner of an American-made, veteran-printed B.O.G. hoodie. You might see him running around Ann Arbor--he’s the one that’s out of breath. Follow his musings @EricCoughlin1 on Twitter. Contact him by sending a professional email to EricPCoughlin@gmail.com. Contact him by sending an unprofessional email to Enriq1805@comcast.net. Send him an email that’s unlikely to be read to Enriq1805@aol.com.
