Robert Rettmann

Name: Robert Rettmann
City/State: Waterford, WI
Branch of Service: Army
Years of Service: 14
Last Rank Held: E7
Military Occupation: 88M
Current Occupation: Writer
X: TBD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobrettmann/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.rettmann

Robert outside of the military:

After leaving the Army Reserve in 1995, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and started as a newspaper journalist for a community newspaper in rural Wisconsin. After that I transitioned to become the Director of Research & Communications for an international training company specializing in managing complex behaviors for people with a wide range of disabilities. During this time, I also gained a Master’s Degree in Exceptional Education, focusing on developing effective strategies to help teachers work with students with severe psychological trauma. After this, I next worked for an agency specializing in working with transitioning military and federal employees, coaching and developing career documents for them to allow them to seek out Senior Executive Service positions in the federal government.

Robert on joining the IAVA Cavalry:

I have reached a point in my career where I would like to leverage the communication skills I have developed to push for better services for Veterans.

How the military experience affected Robert’s personal growth:

My experience as a drill sergeant and as a leader in combat have allowed me to develop highly effective leadership skills.

IAVA’s policy priorities that are the most pressing:

With the current political climate the most important is the fight to maintain our democracy. Politicians have complicitly allowed our country to be stolen by rich oligarchs, much to the detriment of everyone who has served in uniform.

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

Again, the fight for democracy. In my work with Veterans seeking federal employment, I was disgusted to see so many of the people in federal positions who I fought for were simply let go because they were still in a 2-year probationary period. Up to 30 percent of federal workers are also military veterans and most of the people I worked with over the last two years were let go.