Jared Kerntke (’18) and Hagai (Guy) Nir (’18) currently serve as co-presidents of the Anderson Veterans Association. The organization’s membership cuts across the board to include students from UCLA Anderson’s full-time, fully employed and executive programs. The group’s membership is not limited to veterans of the United States armed forces, vets from around the world are welcome.
The relationship between the veteran community and the civilian population is part of the current news cycle, the country carrying on a very public discussion on what it means to “support the troops.” Nir and Kerntke were gracious enough to sit down with the UCLA Anderson Blog team to share their views on recent events and life at Anderson for those who’ve served.
Q: To begin, why don’t you both tell our readers about your military careers?
Kerntke: I was in the Marine Corps for six years as a supply officer. I spent two years in Japan, three years in San Diego and one year all over. I joined straight out of college. I did not do ROTC, so I guess it was a little unusual in that regard. It was great. I love the Marines. I got out (of the Marines) in June and I started (at Anderson) in August. (I did) undergrad at Penn State.
Nir: I was in the Israeli Defense Forces. I was born and raised in Israel so there's mandatory service for us, but when you apply to a Special Forces unit you go through a qualification course. I got accepted to the Special Forces so I had to sign up for more years. The Israeli system is a bit different. You don’t go in as officers; rather, we join the ranks and then you get promoted. Then I was selected to go to the NCO course, and after that was selected to go to the IDF’s Officers Academy, coming out as a platoon commander. After three years I was promoted to company commander. Overall, I served almost five years active and seven years reserve, coming out as a major.
Q: The are a lot of public discussions right now regarding military service. As an example, some NFL players are kneeling during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to protest what they see as violations of freedom in the form of police brutality and overall mistreatment of Black Americans. But the narrative around the protest has centered on “respecting the troops.” That, in turn, has led to discussions of the overall public attitude toward veterans — which, historically, evolves in relation to the political vagaries of the times, as it did during the Vietnam War era. Without speaking for anyone other than yourselves, how do you see the issue?
Kerntke: I try not to overly simplify the situation and understand that there are a lot of unique perspectives from everybody involved. Viewers, players, active duty military, veterans, whatever — everyone has their own thoughts on it. My personal thought is I don’t feel any personal disrespect to me. At the end of the day I’m happy that people can express their opinions peacefully — a good thing about this country, I guess. The flag means something different to everybody and everybody’s opinion is valid. That’s kind of where I stand.
Q: How has the transition to civilian life — to life at Anderson — been?
Kerntke: It’s been a great transition. Anderson is an awesome place. I think the transition can be tough just because the (military) culture is much different, but it’s good because you grow when you’re exposed to (something) new. But it’s been a super welcoming place and I think, to go back to your earlier comment about Vietnam, we’re just fortunate to be in a time now where the public happens to think highly of the service. It could have just as easily been otherwise, right? That’s something to be grateful for.
Q: Guy, how has the transition been for you, as a veteran of the Israeli armed forces?
Nir: My best friend is Jared. He knows it. I don’t actually have a lot of American friends who are not veterans. (Israeli veterans) come (to the program) older than most Americans because of the military service. I think more mature. So, naturally, you connect with people with a similar background. We have Jared and his wife a lot of times over for dinners. The average American sometimes, first of all, is like five to 10 years younger than I am. We don’t share the same values, they haven’t tasted the same things, like the battlefield or losing someone who’s close to them.
Kerntke: One thing I wanted to add: I think the tendency for us in the U.S. is to overlook foreign veterans. (Guy) came into the club and he’s our co-president and we didn’t even realize that we were being biased, but we were definitely being biased. As an example, our club logo had the U.S. flag in it. For us, we’re like, “Of course it does.” But to think about it from the perspective of a foreign vet it’s not welcoming. I realize we have a long way to go to be better at incorporating and reaching out to our fellow vets who served in other countries. It’s been great to have somebody like Guy who can speak up.
Q: How have you been able to translate your experiences so that civilian employers will be interested in bringing you on?
Kerntke: The transition into the business world, it starts with the Parker Career Management Center. (But) I feel like the most meaningful feedback comes from other veterans in the sense that, who (else) could look at your resume and say, ‘I see what you’re trying to say. I know what you did in the first place and I see how you’re trying to translate it, but here’s the better way to say it.’”
Q: So what are your plans, post-graduation?
Kerntke: Planning consulting at this point. I had a great summer with Nike so it was a tough decision to go this way, but I like the industry track that consulting puts you on. I feel like it’s an accelerated learning curve and that’s what I need at this point, so that’s why I’m going that way.
Nir: (I’m looking to use my) leadership skills, mainly looking into general manager roles. It doesn’t really matter which industry. I have two offers at hand, one from the health care industry and one from the tech industry. I’m trying to evaluate which and where I can succeed more here in the U.S. One’s in the Bay Area and the other one is pretty much where I want in terms of location, but I have to decide prestige-wise and maybe salary-wise.
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