KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A brother’s love is the motivation for a new job training program launching this summer at the University of Tennessee.
“I was watching him through his transition, it was heartbreaking,” said Bill Leahy. “My (military) career was nothing special. But his was right place, right time.”
His older brother took his own life less than two years. Sean Leahy was a decorated Marine and led platoons during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the transition from the military back to civilian life turned out to be the fight of his life.
“You’re taking someone who has given their life (to the military), was born for it, and the next day, ‘Who are you?’ It's a very difficult proposition,” said Bill.
After the sudden loss of Sean, his younger brother went to work. He understood firsthand the challenge of finding a new identity and purpose outside military service. His solution was to build a workforce training program targeting men and women in uniform winding down their military career.
At that pivotal time, the program puts them through a certification program to hone their leadership skills for a new career. The target field for this program is the field of manufacturing, desperate right now for skilled workers with expertise in managing people and systems.
He started working with the University of Tennessee to create the program.
“It was a no-brainer, we were pretty excited to be part of it. We were already doing the certification for some of his industrial customers. So, it just made sense for us to be a part of that as well,” said Kim Kallstrom, the Assistant Director of the University of Tennessee Reliability and Maintainability Center.
In the coming weeks the first students will run through the program and by the end of summer, the hope is they will have a better understanding of "what’s next."
“Caring for yourself, and transitioning, understanding where you're going, what you're doing, and putting a lot of thought into it is really key,” said Leahy.
To learn more about the effort and see a documentary capturing the development of the idea, visit www.unturningsteel.com.