Army Veteran Makes Mark on Veteran Education
As one of the leading experts on military demographics and civilian-military relations, Jason Dempsey is an author, an adjunct Senior Fellow to the Center for a New American Security, and a senior advisor to the Center for Veteran Transition and Integration at Columbia University.
Dempsey is the president of Virtual Veterans Communities and is well acquainted with the military lifestyle. Raised as an Army brat, he was born in Colorado, moved around through childhood, and graduated high school in Missouri. After attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, he served for 22 years in the Army as an infantry officer.
Go Army, Beat Navy!
Dempsey spent his final years in the Army as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he oversaw outreach to military community non-profits and conceived.
Dempsey has a doctorate in political science from Columbia University, where he focused on the relationship between the military and American society. He also served as a White House Fellow, taking the broad concept of military family support and turning it into Joining Forces.
"My job mainly entails identifying the higher education needs of military veterans and implementing best practices for assisting veterans through the process, building supportive communities, and helping them obtain meaningful post-military employment," he said.
Outside of work, Dempsey enjoys riding and racing bicycles and reading. He struggled to choose just one favorite, but right now, he says his favorite book is "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam."
Dempsey enjoys working with veterans in his post-military retirement career, even though he isn't sporting the "veteran beard." In fact, he said that's why he grew his hair.
"I had to grow out my hair after retirement as compensation for not being able to grow a 'veteran beard,'" he joked.
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