A Veteran’s Appreciation of National Vision
My name is Derek Gravitt and I am a National Vision Associate and United States Marine Corps veteran. Here’s my story:
Military Life
I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1998 when the job prospects in Calhoun, Georgia weren’t all that great. I had a couple of options – work for my family, work in the carpet mills or work fast food. Being 19, none of those options really appealed to me, and I didn’t want to stay in my home town the rest of my life. I’m a nomad at heart, so joining the military seemed like a good way to feed that nomadic spirit.
My job in the Marine Corps, or Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), was a Field Radio Operator. Basically, my job was to make sure that everyone could talk to one another over the radio.
In the world of a Radio Operator, the radios have to work, and they have to work when they’re needed. If they didn’t, then I had to find a way to make them work no matter what. Most of the time that meant coming up with creative ways to get around problems with radio interference, like creating antennas out of telephone wire, or moving the antennas away from a big chunk of iron we just so happened to stop on. So I had to figure out what was the problem and then find a way to solve that problem.
Transitioning to Civilian Life
In 2006, I began my transition from military to civilian life, which was difficult. Combat trained personnel, especially Marines and Soldiers, tend to have a very difficult time readjusting. Because of the jobs we do, the discipline we’re used to and come to expect, the interactions between one another, and how we deal with stress is all very different from the civilian world. Coming into the civilian sector and trying to break those habits, while softening your approach and forcing yourself to remember that the mental conditioning of the people around you is 
completely different than yours, can be extremely challenging.
When I got out of the military, I had family that was willing to put me up while I tried to get my feet back under me, even though they couldn’t afford it. I got a job working part time, for minimum wage, at a gas station squirreling away every spare dime I could. About 6 months afterwards, I got a slightly better paying job working loss prevention at Sears.
When my family’s economic hardships got worse, I packed up what few belongings I had and lived out of my car for almost a year. I couldn’t bear to be an extra burden, or an extra mouth to feed, even though I was helping out with bills with everything I could…still squirreling away what little money I could.
I picked up a couple other jobs here and there, brushed off the rust from my childhood and started getting back into building computers and working on networks; learning everything I could from everyone I could.
This is what landed me the job here at National Vision. I came on board to work with the Hardware Engineer, to help him with our ever-growing ecosystem of stores and hardware. I am now the Hardware/Telecom Supervisor of a small four person department within Systems Support. This means that when our stores call Systems Support for help with their networks or their hardware (i.e. phones, faxes, printers, internet connection issues, etc.) and Systems Support can’t fix the issue themselves, my team does whatever it takes to try to get them back on their feet.
What it Means to be a Veteran at National Vision
National Vision provided me with a chance to start a career when no one else would do more than try to take me on to bolster their “veteran hiring” numbers, while paying almost next to nothing or providing so few hours that it’s barely sustainable.
I also appreciate the fact that National Vision has never tried to shoehorn me into a mold that I just can’t fit into. There are adjustments that I still have to make, even after 12 years of civilian life, and it’s not easy, but I have an amazing team that work for and with me; an amazing Director that tries to understand where I’m coming from and coaches me to get the results I’m looking for.
I’m proud to work for a company like National Vision, to stand side by side with veterans and civilians alike. From the bottom of my heart, I want thank all of you for being true to who you are, and for giving veterans (as stubborn and set in our ways as we are sometimes) a chance to work, to live and thrive, and to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Derek Gravitt
Latest posts by Derek Gravitt (see all)
- A Veteran’s Appreciation of National Vision - October 29, 2018
