Devin McClain Wozniak

Name: Devin Wozniak
City/State: SOUTH LYON, MI
Branch of Service: Army
Dates of Service: 2003-2008
Last Rank Held: E4
Military Occupation: Healthcare Specialist (Combat Medic)
Current Occupation: Senior Veterans Service Representative, US Department of Veterans Affairs
X: @THEDocWoz
Instagram: n/a
Facebook: facebook.com/devin.wozniak/

Devin outside of the military:

I am a proud employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs, working for the Veterans Benefit Administration to ensure my fellow Veterans get the benefits and respect to which they are entitled. I’m wrapping up two bachelor’s degrees, one in Political Science and one in Public and Non-Profit Administration, and applying to MBA programs. I have two daughters and a stepson, and an anxious but adorable mastiff rescue. In what little free time I have after work, family, school, and advocacy, I enjoy reading, sports, martial arts, traveling, and pretty much anything outdoors, especially hiking and kayaking.

Devin on joining the IAVA Cavalry:

To continue my service to my county, my community, and my fellow Veterans on as big a scale as possible while hopefully making a meaningful impact on individual lives.

How the military experience affected Devin’s personal growth:

It taught me how to channel my skills, intellect, and desire to serve in a direction that can do the most good for the most people (if properly applied). It also taught me the patience to deal with undesirable circumstances when they arise (hurry up and wait). And it taught me to value the ideals that are core to my person, and my time with the people I love or spent in service to others over short, frenzied outbursts of emotion and trivial nonsense, because the time we have is finite, never guaranteed, and once gone, it’s gone for good.

IAVA’s policy priorities that are the most pressing:

The protection of our democracy. The failure of our leaders to address the threats to our way of life and the Constitution which we swore to protect and defend in favor of authoritarianism and social and class divisions has become increasingly distressing to me over the last decade, to the point that it’s becoming and existential crisis for our nation. And as with so many other problems, our Servicemen and women, our Veterans, and their families are often the first to shoulder the burden of that crisis.

IAVA’s policy priorities with the strongest personal connection for Devin:

Veteran suicide prevention. While no longer specified as one of the “Big Six”, all of the “Big Six” ultimately tie back to an existential crisis for the Veteran community every bit as dire as the crisis currently threatening our democracy. It’s personal for me as the survivor of a suicide attempt myself, and because I’ve lost more former brothers-in-arms to suicide than I can even count at this point, including Zach McIlwain, the namesake of the IAVA Leadership Fellowship. I dread getting another one of “those” phone calls, texts, or messages on social media, and if I can help prevent even one more brother or sister from taking that step, it’s worth it.