Beyond Friendly. 

The Full Story

 Why Inclusive? 

MilSect LLC utilizes the term ‘military inclusivity’ or ‘military inclusion at the root of its purpose. However, the term ‘inclusion’ or ‘inclusivity’ deserves to be understood from a broad perspective and pinpointed one, such as when speaking about military inclusivity. 

The term inclusion by definition means including or covering all the services, facilities, or items normally expected or required or not excluding any of the parties or groups involved in something. In the diversity, equity, and inclusion space; inclusion means to involve all aspects of a person in an entity allowing that person to be their authentic self and feeling as though they can contribute, meet the needs, and feel as though they belong in the conversation of the entity as their true and whole self. 

Involve. Authentic. Contribute. Belong. True and whole self.

Take a Break

Before continuing, ponder those terms. 

Inhale. 

Exhale. 

Let’s continue

Studies show that when someone feels included in any entity they are involved with, they are more likely to stay, be more productive, and have a better time with the entity. Whether it be work, church, school, the military, government, or traveling abroad, the feeling of inclusion’s common denominator is that the individual feels better. This is paramount in creating a military inclusive culture. 

What is military inclusive? 

Being military inclusive is beyond friendly. It is beyond hiring. It is beyond Yellow Ribbon and tax breaks. It is allowing a military connected individual not to feel as though they need to hide that they are military connected. But also understanding there are intersections of this person outside of their military experience. 

The term friendly is one that is used to show stats of companies who hire veterans; however, these actions have overshadowed the true issues within the military community. Studies show that the way to truly help with curbing suicide and under/unemployment is by creating inclusive communities, campuses, and workspaces. While there are many companies and nonprofit looking to lower suicides, increase employment, and military/community interactions there are no organizations working with them to create inclusive cultures that are willing and able to help the entire military community. MilSect LLC does just that. When companies and institutions consult with MilSect LLC they are accessing expert advice on how to create an inclusive culture for the military community and not just hire or attract veteran talent. This inclusivity will lead to better employment for spouses, better understanding for the military veteran community, and fill the gaps that ‘military friendly’ creates. 

Take a moment to think about your intersections and how they affect your experiences. These intersections and experiences can be further hindered if you are part of a minority group. 

Race. Culture. Sexual Orientation. Gender. Marital Status. Marriage type. Religion. Age. Parents. Caregiver. Disability. Military Affiliation. Socio Economic Status. Immigrants. First Generation. Pregnancy status. Neurotypical or neurodiverse. 

This list can continue and even involve hair texture. Each intersection in the pie of a person creates a vastly different experience from another. Accepting each intersection where they meet creates a more inviting environment. 

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Why MilSect LLC? 

MilSect, LLC aims to help DEI professionals at higher education institutions, government, non-profit, corporate, and more go beyond being ‘military friendly’ and be truly Military Inclusive. This starts with understanding the entire military community and what the whole community, not just the transitioning veteran needs. 

MilSect LLC is the only company that provides expert strategic training to support professionals in understanding, building, and strengthening their DEI efforts to increase competency and the unique needs of military spouses and military community. Through getting to know each client we help them to understand the uniqueness of the military community including spouses, immigrants, queer, caregivers, and more allowing the client be a certified Military Inclusive DEI professional.  

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Questions to gauge current military inclusion? 

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What does an active duty spouse need? What does a reserve or guard member need? What does a veteran spouse need? Do we only see military spouses as spouses who are women and married to men who are currently serving? How diverse is our current military population? What does a caregiver need? What are company/institution best practices during a PCS? What is a PCS? How can entities help immigrants that are military connected? Are you available OCONUS? Leave policies. PTO. What is the military culture among employees or professors? How many members of the military community are part of your entity? How accepting is your entity? How much do they know about the military community? Are people scared to tell others they are a spouse or caregiver? Does your application only ask if someone is a veteran or does it include those who are military connected? Do those who are not veterans feel included/seen/or like they belong in/at veteran centric activities? Have we asked a spouse when they PCS next? Do we question ‘jumpy’ resumes? And more.

What is in it for us? 

Each of the areas and more are areas that can be reviewed, analyzed, revamped with a SWOT analysis, trained on, and implemented. 

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This project design starts with finding out what the individual knows. Interviews, reviewing their current knowledge of the military community, military culture, how they include the community, microaggressions, understanding of the intersectionality of the community, and how they are currently being inclusive and not merely friendly to the military and veteran community. From there, training is conducted to fill the gaps and new strategic plans are made. These plans are focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and military cultural competency to be sure that the entity is working in its best fashion to be the truly military inclusive entity it can be. It is essential to note that each plan is personalized and will help each company individually. This is not a one-size fits all approach. Due to my background in psychology and person-centered planning, I believe that individual professional  centered planning will help address the needs of the company they are working for and the military community best. Additionally, aiding with retention, hiring, and attracting the military connected community will be addressed. This data will be collected during each process and will help with the viability of being truly military inclusive. This will be a top-down operation and buy-in from all parties is paramount to MilSect LLC. 

How is it done? 

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Each professional will have a time span of 6-12 months, minimum, with MilSect LLC before graduating to a certified “Military Inclusive” DEI Professional. This will be set in different phases. Phase one is understanding where the individual currently is, phase two is planning, phase three is implementation, phase four is any upgrades that need to be implemented, the fifth phase is a review of the return on investment, and the final phase is graduation. There will always be mentorship between the professional and MilSect LLC. Any further training, conferences, press releases, curriculum updates, licensed materials, public speaking engagements, or updates to strategic plannings etc.; MilSect will be ready and available with additional monthly fees if a contract is not established. 

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Let’s Work Together