Posts by Nathan Huret

In a late 2019 blog post, I detailed the year that had been – a year of so much “new” for HKY4Vets that it was honestly difficult to remember ALL that had been devised, planned, worked on, changed, moved forward and hoped for in those 12 short months. I went on to claim that with…

Back in December I wrote a blog that detailed our region’s population of military veterans (feel free to catch Pt. 1 here if you missed) – getting into demographic aspects of population, age and eras of service, through levels of education and skill sets. The data clearly showed several things: Owing to the large installations…

The 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg can deploy at a moment’s notice – literally within hours (to anywhere in the world) in a crisis situation. In response to rising tensions in the Middle East, it did just that. Strategically, I understand the deployment – the current situation in the Middle East is a virtual…

For HKY4Vets, 2019 has been monumental – a year of so much “new” that it is honestly difficult to remember ALL that has been devised, planned, worked on, changed, moved forward and hoped for these past 12 months. Try as I might to stay away from our own “End of Year List”, it is impossible…

Before Thanksgiving I received a request from a local veteran in pursuit of some demographic data on our region’s veteran population. I didn’t know the information myself admittedly, but found it particularly interesting, especially in light of new research from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) comparing the various veterans’ benefits offered state…

For those that follow HKY4Vets, I suspect you might be growing accustomed to these somewhat longer “dry spells” with no updates (outside of our social media outlets). Always know when we go a tad bit quiet, it usually means we are really deep into making some really cool things happen – hopefully to the benefit…

As I was doing my weekly content creation/search for our various social media outlets, I came across an article written by Amy Williams, who was chosen this past Summer to participate in the George W. Bush Institute’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program. Amy works with the Post-9/11 veteran population, but she has never served and was…

The following is taken from Chad Storlie with USAA’s “Going Civilian” blog. Chad wrote it so well and provided such good information, we foresaw no need to try and improve upon his work. Thanks Chad and USAA! “The USO has long been know as the military oriented organization that brings entertainers to deployed locations, the…

We continue our efforts to highlight the brilliant and strategic minds behind the HKY4Vets Military Taskforce. Today, meet Mr. Cary Bowman, who served in the US Army from 1983 to 2015. The following are some excerpts from a recent interview with Cary. What motivated you to join the military? A desire to serve my country,…

Each one of us owes our military veterans a debt of gratitude for their selfless service. As part of Carolina Caring’s (www.carolinacaring.org) mission to provide exceptional, compassionate care and enhance living for individuals and their families facing the end of life, Carolina Caring is committed to honoring all veterans in our country and in our…

In an effort to highlight the brilliant and strategic minds behind the HKY4Vets Military Taskforce, I thought it might be interesting to showcase some of the leaders that volunteer their time to guide this effort forward. Today, meet Mr. Tim Adams, who served in the US Army from 1992 to 1996. Tim is now an…

United by the theme of “No Man Left Behind”, the Veterans Transitional Advocacy Board recently hosted the 8th annual Foothills Veterans Stand Down at CVCC’s Tarlton Complex. Stand Down is a term that originated during the Vietnam War used to describe the practice of removing combat troops from the field and taking care of their…

HKY4Vets was given an awesome platform last week to come and speak to 300+ local businesses, non-profits, elected officials, and everyone in between at the Catawba County Chamber’s Future of Catawba County Summit. As you might have seen from our last blog post or just our general radio silence, we have been very busy getting…

Near the end of 2018 and into 2019, you might recall that we decided to shift away from this organization’s previous name (“Welcome Home, Hickory Metro”) towards something that spoke more to our intended audience…and yes, also happened to be catchier. We decided on HKY4Vets (Hickory 4 Vets) because we felt it accomplished those very…

For the particularly close followers of HKY4Vets or the most devoted from our legion of blog readers (all ones of you :), you will remember a mention that in recent months the Catawba Military Taskforce has attempted to put this “organization” on solid ground to build from in 2019. In virtually every respect, this is…

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – Charles Caleb Cotton A pretty well-known phrase we have all heard at least 200 times in our lives – be it when we find ourselves showing up to work wearing a similar color shirt as a co-worker or when you want to feature a graphic in your…

As part of the Welcome Home, Hickory Metro Weekends we hosted in 2017 and 2018, we always wanted to provide hotel accommodations for visiting military families. It was something we were always proud to provide, but hotels remained our most expensive line item each and every time. Soon after that first weekend (and a whopping…

I am going to tell you right now that the glue that holds HKY4Vets together, that gives it a solid foundation, that ensures it continues to evolve to best meet the needs of military families is our “Board”. For roughly the last 2 years (meeting basically every 2 weeks), this ragtag group of Hickory Metro…

This whole thing – this program and all of these efforts since – started with a simple trip to a job fair taking place at Fort Bragg in Spring 2016. In an effort to support several area companies participating in the soldier/spouse job fair, representatives from the Catawba County Chamber and Catawba County Economic Development…