Teamwork in Tech

Adapting Military Team Building Skills to the Tech World

Imagine a small town. Every day, the townsfolk gather in the same field to let their cows graze. While popular research suggested that the cows would overgraze the pasture, research by (Nobel Prize winner) Elinor Ostrum shows that these communities ably manage their own resources.

People often do their best work in small, communal teams. But as time passes, teams have gotten larger and messier. The tech industry recognizes this, and it is pivoting to Agile teams and a focus on workplace culture. This transition is marked by trust that technology companies place in their employees to manage themselves.

Tech Teams Work Differently than Military Teams

Tech team structures can confuse the outsider. Luckily, Kelly Cronin, a lead ThoughtWorks consultant and Code Platoon Beyond Tech workshop leader, is here to help our students understand how tech teams form and empower them to build better teams. 

“Code Platoon students have such a breadth of teamwork experience already,” Kelly said. “That’s why I focus on what their future tech teams look like and the psychology behind them.”

Many of the military teams that Code Platoon students have been part of are what Kelly calls “Command and Control” models. Military teams are traditionally formed around a rigid hierarchy: the top makes the decisions and information flows down from the leaders like a waterfall.

While some tech companies use such rigid models, many workplaces have focused instead on Agile structures. Agile teams are built around motivation, community, and trust instead of structure and control. Agile team members are still given goals and problems to solve, but they are encouraged to develop their solutions and control their projects from end-to-end.

“You will likely end up in a hybrid between silos and Agile teams,” Kelly said. “You will need to push for clarity, define your teams’ roles, and try to be as cross-functional as possible.” 

Soft Skills Build Strong Teams

During one workshop, Kelly asked students what qualities they appreciated the most during their military service. Some students defaulted to skill-based qualifications, but many others pointed to soft skills like “listening” or “having each other’s backs.”

The tech workforce also prefers these qualities. According to a 3-year multimillion-dollar Google study, the highest-performing teams were the ones most committed to psychological safety and equal air time, not the ones with the strongest skills. 

“The best team members feel safe to ask questions, make mistakes, and be vulnerable with each other,” Kelly explains. “Every team member has the same amount of time to voice their opinion. When team members disagree, they engage in constructive conflicts, and everyone votes together on how to proceed.

“You don’t have to be friends or even like each other very much to make this work. You just have to have established norms, mutual goals, and an understanding that you are there to fail or succeed together.”

Learn More Beyond Tech Transitioning Skills 

Kelly’s teamwork workshop is just one of eight topics covered in Code Platoon’s Beyond Tech curriculum. Beyond Tech teaches our Veteran, active duty Servicemember, and military spouse students the norms and conventions of the civilian technology workforce. Other interpersonal Beyond Tech topics include overcoming imposter syndrome, diversity and inclusion, and interview prep. Learn more about our Beyond Tech curriculum.

Kayla Elkin is the Marketing Content Specialist at Code Platoon. In this role, she utilizes her marketing, writing, and editing skills developed by previous positions in higher education and educational technology. Kayla has degrees in English and Sociology from Clemson University and completed the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad. She lives with her partner in northern Chicago.

Teaching to Tech

From Teaching to Technology

Teachers have many skills that make them excellent candidates for the tech workplace. Decision-making, adaptability, management, and problem-solving are skills that good teachers and programmers have in abundance. 

Like many educators during the Covid-19 pandemic, Kat Wegrzynowicz, a military spouse and former special education instructor, left teaching. She decided to pursue a new opportunity in a tech career and started Code Platoon’s Immersive Full-stack Software Engineering Bootcamp three years after her husband, Greg Wegrzynowicz, graduated from the same program.

Kat was a special education teacher and case manager for eight years. In 2014, she met Greg, three years after he retired from the Marine Corps. They got married in 2019, the same year he graduated from Code Platoon.

Then, the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

“My teaching career felt out of control due to Covid,” Kat said. “So I left teaching full-time and worked that school year remotely as a contractor.”

With more free time on her hands, Kat explored her interest in coding. She taught herself JavaScript fundamentals and did some peer programming on Zoom with a friend of her husband. 

“I had some great experiences but needed to strengthen my knowledge to be more competitive on the job market,” Kat said. “Once I got to that point where I needed structure, I thought of Code Platoon. I knew they had a great program based on Greg’s experience.”

As a military spouse, Kat’s benefits options were limited. Military spouses don’t qualify for VA benefits like VET TEC, and Kat’s husband already used his GI Bill. But, when Kat was accepted, she qualified for one of Code Platoon’s military spouse-eligible scholarships. She received the full-tuition Women in Technology scholarship.

“I was nervous at first to pursue software engineering and attend Code Platoon,” Kat said. “Being in education, I was used to working with mostly women. I’d also heard that other bootcamps are very competitive, with students that feel threatened by each other’s success. But at Code Platoon, the staff, instructors, and students have all been supportive and inclusive.

“Emma (the Diversity and Inclusion workshop leader) showed my class some challenges women in technology face. She gave the women students the idea to be more mindful about connecting with other women in coding. We started a Slack group to network and help each other out.”

After graduating in May, Kat will seek positions at inclusive companies that offer learning opportunities for her first tech job. She has no preference for remote or in-person work if the company has a good workplace culture and a supportive environment for junior developers.

“I encourage anyone interested in coding to consider Code Platoon. Their program offers a lot of advantages. 

“When I left teaching, I didn’t think there was a place for me in technology. But Code Platoon showed me that tech has a place for anyone who can dedicate themselves to it.”

Are you a military spouse interested in attending Code Platoon? View our scholarship options for military spouses and apply to Code Platoon today.

Kayla Elkin is the Marketing Content Specialist at Code Platoon. In this role, she utilizes her marketing, writing, and editing skills developed from previous positions in higher education and educational technology. Kayla has degrees in English and Sociology from Clemson University and completed the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad. She lives with her partner in northern Chicago.

Military MOS

What Was Your MOS?

Most of us who served in the military have been in a place where we ask ourselves, “what kind of civilian job does my military experience translate into?”

For some, transferring military experience is more straightforward than for others. If you were a nurse or a motor pool mechanic and want to remain in those fields, the experience transfer is obvious. Internal medicine and combustion engines don’t magically change outside of DoD purview.

But for many Servicemembers, this is no easy thing. I was an Airborne Infantryman who became a PSYOP Team Chief, which is pretty limited outside of military life (except for being a mercenary and a politician, but I digress). Those in a similar position have to think a bit more, and that can often seem daunting, given what little messaging is out there on this subject. 

Transferring your military experience is more simple than many people make it, and here’s why. Consider the world of software development. This seems like a stretch for some Servicemembers, as there aren’t a lot of military specialties that directly correlate to programming, but that’s thinking about it the wrong way.

Here is the better way of looking at it: your military service sets you up for success in numerous ways. Chief among them are the educational opportunities available to you. Servicemembers now have more options than ever for learning a new skill, and they already have a foundation for doing that quite well.

When you went through Basic Training (or boot camp, or equivalent), you entered a world you had never been a part of before. It was entirely new, and you were suddenly immersed in an all-day, every-day newness – a flood of novel information streaming at you in a way you had never experienced. 

And yet, you succeeded. Despite the overwhelming nature of your situation, you adapted and adjusted to your new normal. 

More than anything else, this background is what can prepare you to learn new skills and transition into a new career. It doesn’t matter that your military specialty doesn’t transfer directly to another job – what matters is that you have a foundation upon which to build.

Most students who attend Code Platoon haven’t been software developers before or even written that much code. 

Our students come out of everything from the Infantry to the motor pool, from the medical field to linguistic analysis and military intelligence. They succeed because they know how to adapt to a fire hose of new knowledge hitting them in the face. They’ve done it before, and so have you.

Don’t let your military specialty define the rest of your life. You can choose to move beyond that, and Code Platoon is a place of like-minded people who can help you enable that transition. 

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach and Recruitment Manager. He holds a BA and MA in history, as well as a Masters of Science in organizational psychology. He is married with four children who keep him more than slightly busy, and is passionate about helping Veterans find their paths in life and develop the skills needed to pursue their goals.

E&W Profile

Evening & Weekend Profile – Balancing Life and Learning

Stephanie Lentell starts her day at 5 a.m. An Air Force Veteran, military spouse, and mom to four children, Stephanie wants to pivot from a teaching career to the technology sector. But because of her family responsibilities, she was unsure if she could make time for or afford a career change. 

“I ruled out a full-time program because I have four kids between six and fourteen years old, and my husband is in his own full-time program,” Stephanie said. “One of my kids is medically complex. When the nurse calls, I need to go. I need the flexibility to be present for my family while doing something for myself.”

Stephanie helps her children get ready and drops them off at school. She then tackles the housework. Her husband, a recently retired Navy Senior Chief, is also home undergoing a career change. 

“When my husband retired from the Navy, I was going to work,” Stephanie said. “But the Covid-19 pandemic obliterated my teaching prospects. Schools were locked down, my kids needed to stay home, and education became an unpredictable and increasingly stressful career path. I had to figure out what to do.”

Stephanie always enjoyed technology. So she decided to pursue a new career in tech. After trying some workshops, she discovered the coding world to be challenging and exhilarating. She taught herself the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then she decided to join a remote coding Bootcamp.

“I decided to apply for the Code Platoon Evening and Weekend Program, but I missed the deadline for Bravo Platoon,” Stephanie said. “I emailed (Greg Drobny, Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Manager) and asked what I could do. He sent me Intro to Coding and offered to help me find another option. We never spoke, but I could sense Greg’s passion for helping Veterans like me.”

When Charlie Evening & Weekend Platoon was announced, Stephanie applied and was accepted. 

Still, Stephanie worried about how she would pay for the Code Platoon program. She already used her GI Bill benefits on degrees in education, and military spouse benefits were not an option. But Stephanie learned that she qualified for the Veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program (VRRAP), which pays for Veterans unemployed by Covid-19 to receive retraining for in-demand careers. 

After finishing her household responsibilities each day, Stephanie now works on her Code Platoon projects. When her kids come home from school, Stephanie helps them with their homework, takes her son to therapy sessions, and makes dinner. 

“If I’m in a waiting room, I usually have my laptop with me. That’s definitely part of the balancing act,” Stephanie said.

Three nights per week, Stephanie attends live remote classes until 10:30 p.m. She also has class on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. While she’s in class, her husband watches the kids.

“My husband and I work together,” Stephanie said. “He has class during the day, and I have class at night. My instructors, Tom and Chad, are also so supportive. They help me balance class and my family.”

After graduation, Stephanie hopes to find a remote job to continue being present with her family. She is especially interested in virtual learning technology after seeing her kids’ pandemic home-schooling.

“Existing virtual learning platforms aren’t designed for the kids,” Stephanie said. “They are designed for the grown-ups teaching them. But I think we can make virtual learning better. That’s my favorite thing about technology–it’s constantly evolving.

“When I went to college, I learned to teach one subject, and that’s it. After Code Platoon, I can combine tech with anything. I’m working towards being a software engineer, but there are so many other directions I can explore. I’m so excited for the opportunities Code Platoon opens the door for.”

Kayla Elkin is the Marketing Content Specialist at Code Platoon. In this role, she utilizes her marketing, writing, and editing skills developed by previous positions in higher education and educational technology. Kayla has degrees in English and Sociology from Clemson University and completed the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad. She lives with her partner in northern Chicago.

Skillbridge Blog

Making the Jump into Tech via SkillBridge

Did you know Active Duty Servicemembers can start training for their civilian career prior to leaving the military? Michael Grandori and Seth Thomas attended Code Platoon and started paid tech positions before their military separation. How were they able to get a head start? They used the little-known Department of Defense SkillBridge program.

Headshot of Michael GrandoriMichael, a former Infantry Sergeant, joined Code Platoon in 2020. After graduation, he apprenticed with Motorola Solutions and accepted a full-time position six months later.

“I probably became a pariah in my unit because I pushed SkillBridge so much,” Michael said. “SkillBridge got me where I am today. I left the military, and a month later, I had a tech job. Without SkillBridge, I would probably still be struggling to get my foot in the door.”

Seth graduated from Papa Platoon in January 2022 and started an apprenticeship with 8th Light. He is an Active Duty Army Officer until April 2022.

“I owe everything to SkillBridge,” Seth said. “Leaving the safety net of the military was daunting. But with SkillBridge, I got the skills I needed when I needed them.”

SkillBridge helps transitioning Servicemembers get a head start on their post-military careers. Servicemembers, with command approval, can participate in SkillBridge during their last 180 days of active duty via a DoD-approved program like Code Platoon. 

Active Duty Servicemembers should plan ahead if they want to participate in a SkillBridge program, as timing is crucial.

“Because of Covid, I was stuck on a ship in the South China Sea,” Michael said. “Luckily, the stars aligned. I got the applications done in about two and a half months and returned to the United States before my program started.”

“I started looking for programs about a year and a half before my last day,” Seth said. “I also started Intro to Coding around the same time since Code Platoon requires some self-study to pass the application.”

After getting accepted to Code Platoon and SkillBridge, Michael and Seth went through Code Platoon’s Immersive Full-Stack Software Engineering Bootcamp. They both attended remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Code Platoon did a great job revamping their program to accommodate virtual students and create a sense of community,” Seth said. “The instructors stressed that you should rely on each other and your team for success. We all wanted to succeed together. I got the support network I had in the military, outside of the military. 

“Coding Bootcamps seem daunting at first, like facing a cliff. But once you start climbing, you realize you can do it.”

“Code Platoon is an exceptionally well-rounded program,” Michael said. “There are other bootcamps that teach the fundamentals, but Code Platoon has it all. You learn how to communicate with people, write applications, keep track of features, and then make the leap to your first job.”

Once Michael and Seth graduated from Code Platoon, they were matched with Chicago-based technology companies through our apprenticeship program

Headshot of Seth Thomas“Code Platoon’s focus on getting us a job at the end of the program is phenomenal,” Seth said. “You start with career prep, and by the end, you have the chance to interview with companies spanning the financial sector to consulting. Code Platoon chooses its partners carefully and sets students up for success.

“Right now, at 8th Light, I am going through a program to become a polyglot in technical languages. Code Platoon gave me the skills to feel comfortable learning new technologies quickly and effectively.”

Michael completed his Full-stack Developer Apprenticeship at Motorola Solutions and continued with the company until March 2022. He recently started a new Software Engineer position at F5.

“With Motorola, I worked on embedded systems that interact with the physical world. Now at F5, I work on a living, breathing project that lives on companies’ cloud infrastructures,” Michael said. “Getting to solve real-world problems every day is why I became a software engineer.”

When asked about goals for the future, Michael and Seth responded similarly.

“When I was in the military, I was a team leader, section leader, and squad leader at one point,” Michael said. “I would like to see myself in a leadership position again. I want to mentor junior developers because I remember what it was like starting out two years ago.”

“Everything I did in the Army was management and program-based,” Seth said. “I never thought those skills could transfer to a technical role. Thanks to the SkillBridge program and Code Platoon, I learn new things and advance myself in a collaborative environment. I wake up with a smile on my face every day.”

If you are interested in applying to Code Platoon with SkillBridge, apply to Code Platoon today. To help with the SkillBridge command approval process, we provide an introductory letter and command approval template.

If you have any questions about Code Platoon or SkillBridge, our recruitment team is here to help.

Kayla Elkin is the Marketing Content Specialist at Code Platoon. In this role, she utilizes her marketing, writing, and editing skills developed by previous positions in higher education and educational technology. Kayla has degrees in English and Sociology from Clemson University and completed the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad. She lives with her partner in northern Chicago.

Womens History Month

Women’s History Month: Gene Grabeel and the Venona Project

Sometimes multiple areas of interest collide into one topic, making my research easy and fun. Such is the case here with Gene Grabeel and Women’s History Month.

Given world events at this moment and the fact that a great deal of my education has to do with 20th Century European history, I’ve spent significant time revisiting Cold War developments. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that it’s Women’s History Month and that there is a connection between this month and the Cold War.

A little-discussed operation until recently, the Venona Project began before WWII’s end and picked up full-steam as the Iron Curtain descended across Europe. Many military leaders saw the writing on the wall, so to speak, regarding US-Soviet relations and began taking steps to address their distrust of Joseph Stalin with intel-gathering projects like Venona.

One of those leaders was Colonel Carter W. Clarke. Clarke ordered mathematician and cryptanalyst Gene Grabeel to create the Venona Project. This project was kept classified until 1995, after which time many secrets about the Soviet’s influence in the West came to light. Grabeel was a fundamental part of the Venona Projects and the information it discovered. 

Following college, Grabeel worked as a home economics teacher for teenage girls, which she found rather less than satisfying. In December of 1942, despite the incredibly vague job description, she took a job with the Signal Intelligence Service. Her initial duty was to decode Soviet ciphertext, and in less than two months, she founded the Venona Project under Colonel Clarke. 

This was the start of Grabeel’s 36-year career with the Signal Intelligence Service, and the incredible legacy she created. Grabeel and her cryptanalyst team deciphered codes that lead to the discovery of Soviet spies in the Manhattan Project, top government officials who were passing information, and great insight into the Soviet Union’s general intent and operations. 

Through a “brute force” approach using IBM punch card machines and good ol’ fashioned mathematical-influenced analysis, Grabeel and her colleagues made a significant discovery:

the former home ec teacher and her colleagues divined that Arlington Hall had messages passing along five different Soviet communications systems. One, the most voluminous, had to do with trade—often about materials being sent from the U.S. to Russia through the Lend-Lease program. Another carried regular diplomatic communications. In time, the code breakers discerned that the other three were spy systems: GRU, or military intelligence; naval intelligence; and the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB.

The real breakthrough came shortly after when Grabeel and others discovered that some Soviet spies involved in espionage operations had repeatedly used their encryption keys. While not quite equivalent to leaving your password to a secure facility up for a national television audience to see, it was a definite blunder in spycraft. It allowed the American intelligence analysts to make a significant crack in the code.

The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated. Had it been a one-time code-break that resulted in something like the Rosenbergs being caught, that would be significant in itself. 

The Venona Project continued on in almost complete secrecy for more than three decades and led to many leaps forward in understanding Soviet operations

Because of their work, we learned more about how the Soviets advanced their nuclear program. More than could have ever been learned via spying. The dedication of Grabeel and co-workers Angeline Nanni, Mary Jo Dunning, and others who worked on the project allowed for breakthroughs that have impacted everything from modern computers to ongoing geopolitical situations. 

In 1995, Grabeel was recognized by the CIA as an “American Hero.” After passing away in 2015, she was memorialized by a highway marker in Virginia. While that seems vastly inadequate recognition for her contributions to the world of computing and espionage, it’s in a way quite fitting for someone who was described as quiet and unassuming. 

So, this Women’s History Month, we pay homage to the hard work of Gene Grabeel and her associates. Their contributions to both the coding and international security worlds are worthy of high praise.

Diversity Blog

Diversity and Inclusion Workshop Prepares Veterans for the Tech Workplace

The tech field values hiring and supporting diverse teams now more than ever. Top tech companies are increasing their inclusion efforts and hiring people from more varied backgrounds. Research shows that diverse software engineering teams more creatively problem solve and develop products that better serve their customers.

Because of this trend, diversity and inclusion training is an important part of Code Platoon’s Full-stack Software Engineering Bootcamp. Emma de Silva, a Code Platoon graduate and software engineer with DRW, talks about her own Code Platoon diversity and inclusion training experience.

The tech industry is highly sensitive to and accepts all types of differences,” Emma notes. “We are educating our students to be equally sensitive and accepting.” 

Emma leads a two-part diversity and inclusion workshop for each Code Platoon cohort. She approaches diversity and inclusion training openly and candidly. 

“The best way to learn more about other people is to talk to them,” Emma says. “Become friends, learn about their life, and above all, have empathy. Put forth the effort to look at things from a different perspective.”

Emma’s workshop teaches students the vocabulary surrounding diversity. Emma also guides students through discussions and exercises to get them thinking about their own identities. These conversations show the students how their personal backgrounds fit into their future workplaces. 

Students are invited to share past experiences of insensitivity they saw during their military service and how they felt in those instances. Emma also describes workplace inequity scenarios and challenges students to create solutions. Building on these scenarios, students consider ways to maintain and increase inclusion in their own lives and in the software engineering industry.

“People have been fired and lost job offers due to insensitive comments or actions,” Emma explains.

That said, diversity and inclusion training helps students with more than just getting and keeping jobs. Research finds that teams with diverse members are smarter, more creative, and able to solve more problems. A 2019 McKinsey & Company study also shows that employees in diverse workplaces tend to be more engaged, rate their work culture more highly, and are happier and feel more confident in their abilities. 

Emma even has personal experience from her own Code Platoon journey.

“Code Platoon provided a great environment to unlearn a lot of the anxieties and negative things I felt about myself,” she says. “I finished Code Platoon with a level of confidence in my identity that I didn’t have going into the program.

“It’s a big reason why I love doing these workshops. I believe it makes a difference. And I know firsthand how other people respecting your identity and accepting you can make such a huge difference in your life.”

Diversity and inclusion are important in the tech workplace. As such, they are part of Code Platoon’s Beyond Tech curriculum, which helps students transitioning from military service to civilian positions. Learn more about our Beyond Tech curriculum.

Kayla Elkin is the Marketing Content Specialist at Code Platoon. In this role, she utilizes her marketing, writing, and editing skills developed by previous positions in higher education and educational technology. Kayla has degrees in English and Sociology from Clemson University and completed the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad. She lives with her partner in northern Chicago.

Career Services Roadmap

A Roadmap for Career Success

Code Platoon doesn’t just teach Veterans and military spouses how to become full-stack software engineers. We also help prepare them for a career in software development. We call it our Career Services Roadmap.

The Career Services Roadmap is an individualized plan for Code Platoon students that takes them from the classroom to their new careers. The Roadmap is a commitment between the student and Code Platoon to work together as they successfully transition from the military community into the tech world. 

The Roadmap Starts During Bootcamp

Code Platoon’s Career Services Roadmap begins while students are still in Bootcamp. Our Beyond Tech curriculum is an informative and engaging eight-part lecture series where students learn unspoken rules and expectations for their new career paths.

Beyond Tech topics include overcoming “imposter syndrome,” the importance and advantages of diversity in the workplace, financial literacy, and how to best navigate the job hunt.

In addition to Beyond Tech, Code Platoon works with students to draft and edit their resumes and create brand statements and LinkedIn profiles. Students are provided with resume coaches and mentors to help them tell their stories to prospective employers.

The Roadmap Continues After Graduation

Once the student graduates, the Career Services Roadmap leverages their newly acquired skills to secure career opportunities. Graduates must commit to continuing to participate in the Career Services Roadmap. That commitment includes weekly check-ins with our career services team throughout the job search. Graduates also participate in ongoing homework and interview prep sessions.

In return, graduates partner with dedicated career services team members throughout their job searches.  Career services team members help students navigate their job searches to become competitive by developing individualized plans based on their career goals and background. The plan includes personalized job target lists and application trackers.

Participants also have access to career services classes on networking, salary negotiation, interview follow-up, and other topics. This access continues even after the graduate secures their first job.

Graduates also have access to exclusive employer “intro” sessions. These sessions with our employment partners highlight available career opportunities and introduce the hiring team filling those roles. These sessions are exclusively for Code Platoon graduates.

The Roadmap Works

How do you know that our Career Services Roadmap and contract work? Look at our outcomes.

Eighty percent of our graduates found jobs in software development within six months of graduating. The median starting salary of those graduates was $72,000 and, after 24 months, the median salary grew to $96,000.

Rich Luby has more than fourteen years of experience in disability and inclusion training, initiative development, and workforce development for healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and Fortune 500 companies. Rich recently leveraged these experiences to build out career development programming for national startups in tech education. He leads with an empathetic nature and attains results through collaborative approaches.

Black History Month

Black History Month: Three Standouts in Military History

From the beginning of our history, Black men and women have made tremendous contributions to our society, particularly the U.S. military’s success. As we celebrate Black History Month, Code Platoon wanted to recognize standouts from that community who rose above and beyond the call of duty, making their contribution all the more significant, given that they succeeded despite the disparities of their situation. So, we have chosen three individuals who embody that spirit of rising to meet a challenge and overcoming their surroundings.

Robert Smalls

Born into slavery on a plantation in South Carolina, Smalls eventually married another enslaved person and, after having children, wanted to “buy” his family from the enslavers. Not having Robert Smallsenough money, Smalls joined the Confederate Navy and developed enough trust with his commanders that he was allowed to pilot a ship which he then craftily sailed away in – with eight other enslaved people – to freedom in the North.

Following the Civil War, the Department of the Navy gave him enough money to buy the home he belonged to before the war, where he then lived for the rest of his life. But he wasn’t done carving out a path, as he went on to serve in the South Carolina State Assembly and also the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms, helping shape the country for years to come. 

To put it bluntly, he never quit fighting, which is the true mark of a hero.

 

Clara Leach Adams-Ender

Author of the book My Rise to the Stars: How a Sharecropper’s Daughter Became an Army General, Clara Adams-Ender had nine siblings, graduated high school at 16 years old, and joined the U.S. Army in 1961 to pay for her nursing school education. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant,  Adams-Ender began her service in the U.S. Army Nursing Corps.

Adams-EnderBy 1964, Clara became an instructor at Fort Sam Houston, where she taught until 1967, which means that many medics who went to Vietnam received education from her. In 1967, she earned her master’s degree in medical-surgical nursing, moving on to teach and work at Walter Reed Medical Center.

By 1978, she was the Assistant Chief of the Department of Nursing at the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. She became Chief there and  was promoted to colonel by the time she left in 1981. She attended the U.S. Army War College, became the first African-American Nursing Corps student to graduate from there, moved on to recruiting more nurses for the Army, and advocated for higher wages for nurses in general.

In 1991 she became the Commanding General of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and Deputy Commanding General of the United States Military District of Washington, two positions she held until her retirement in 1993. 

You may notice that there is no crazy story of charging an enemy foxhole or heroism under gunfire in the narrative here, and that is partly why I chose to include her story. We often overlook the people behind the scenes who enable the success of others. In many of those categories, General Adams-Ender did exactly that but also accomplished all of this as the “first” to do so. 

She rose to the top from humble beginnings, always advocating for and instructing those who came behind her for them to become better. That’s worthy of celebrating any day.

Charles L. Thomas

Charles was a mechanical engineering student at Wayne State University and worked for Ford Motor Company when drafted by the U.S. Army in 1942. After Basic Training, he was assigned to the Infantry, but he was soon selected to attend Officer Candidate School and was assigned to the 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion after being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

Charles ThomasIn October of 1944, Lt. Thomas arrived on Normandy Beach, and by November, they had connected with Patton’s Third Army, seeing their first combat by the end of that month. However, it was the middle of December when his unit found itself in a position that led Thomas to take actions that would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor.

In an effort to capture the village of Climbach, Thomas’ scout car was hit by enemy fire, and he was wounded. During his attempt to get his men out of the vehicle, he was shot in the chest, but rather than calling it a day, he coordinated a react-to-contact effort that would make every Ranger Instructor proud, directing where anti-tank guns should be placed, briefed other leaders on the situation as they arrived, and returned fire to provide cover for outflanking maneuvers. 

His unit received four Silver Stars and nine Bronze Stars, with (now) Captain Thomas receiving a Distinguished Service Cross. He came home a humble hero, stating, “I know I was sent out to locate and draw the enemy fire, but I didn’t mean to draw that much.” 

Thomas stayed in the Army until 1947 and then went to work as a missile technician before eventually landing the sweet, sweet role of – wait for it – a computer programmer! That’s right – this man had the career of a legend before passing away from cancer in 1980. 

Unfortunately, it was not until 1997 that his Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor after many recognized the reality that Black soldiers had been passed over for this prestigious award for no other reason than the color of their skin. Thomas’ name was one of those who came up in a study to determine this, after which time he was posthumously awarded this highest of medals, and deservedly so.

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach and Recruitment Manager. He holds a BA and MA in history, as well as a Masters of Science in organizational psychology. He is married with four children who keep him more than slightly busy and is passionate about helping Veterans find their paths in life and develop the skills needed to pursue their goals.

Papa Platoon Final Projects

Papa Platoon Final Projects

We’re showcasing the final group projects from the recently graduated Papa Platoon. During each Code Platoon Full-stack Software Engineering Bootcamp, our students form teams to create a capstone project that showcases the coding, development, and teamwork skills learned in the program.

First up is codeForward  – a micro-networking application for Bootcamp graduates and professionals to network and grow their careers.

Check out codeForward, presented by a team of Papa Platoon graduates, including an Army spouse, an Army Veteran, and two Marine Corps Veterans.

 

The next project, Secure Aid, is designed to help with the enormous humanitarian need in Afghanistan. Secure Aid aims to connect Afghans in need with aid organizations securely. A team of two Air Force Veterans, a Navy Veteran, and an Army Veteran created Secure Aid.

Wandrr is for travelers who want to dig deeper into the history of the places they visit. The app allows users to reveal the hidden history of sites and identify historic gems with a simple map interface that includes links to articles and user-generated content about the locations.

A team of two Army spouses, a Navy spouse, and a Navy Veteran showcase their coding, engineering, and teamwork skills in their capstone project, Wandrr.

The next group project from Papa Platoon is The Daily Planter. The app team includes Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans.

The Daily Planter is an app that makes gardening easier. The Daily Planter allows home gardeners to calendar their plantings, track soil test results, and identify pests. It also provides weather information to alert gardeners to frost warnings and other events that may impact their garden.

Chore Store is for families with school-age children to help manage children’s household chores and allowance. Chore Store features a family-friendly interface that appeals to both children and parents.

The Chore Store team includes two Army Veterans, a Navy Veteran, an Air Force Veteran, and an Army spouse.

The final project in our showcase – Food Byte – was developed by five Veterans and highlighted their coding, development, and teamwork skills. 

Food Byte is a web app that allows users to search for the “best steak taco” or other food items in the area. The app provides users with the top ten highest-rated foods, regardless of the restaurant. Users can also post reviews and earn rewards on the app.

Check out Food Byte presented by our Papa Platoon graduates.