Roberts & Ryan Investments rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to open today's trading day in honor of Independence Day. "We do debt, equity, and equity trading transactions for corporate money managers and we take a large portion of that and donate it back to support the veteran community that has done so much for our great country,” said Brian Rathjen, president of the company that is majority-owned by military service veterans. He also espoused the importance of training military members to succeed in the workplace at the end of their service. "These men and women are ready to go. And I think it just takes a little while to transition from the uniform to the civilian world."

Opening Bell

Roberts & Ryan CEO Says Companies Are Missing A Big Opportunity If They're Not Hiring Veterans

So joining us now is brian Rathbone, president of roberts and Ryan Investment, glad to have you on this morning, as I noted there a moment ago, the firm has a strong social mission in servicing veterans and disadvantaged young adults. Can you just talk a little bit about why it's important to financially support these groups? Yeah, thank you so much for having us on today. It was an honor to ring the opening valve. Yeah, Robertson Ryan is a service disabled veteran firm, as you said, that really is a financial engine to give back to the veteran community and we do debt, equity and equity trading transactions for corporate money managers and we take a large portion of that and donate it back To support the veteran community that has done so much for our great country and we're really honored to be here right after the nation's birthday, July four. Um, but I think it's very important that we support those who allow us to do what we do here in America. When we think about veterans, Can you talk to us a little bit about the challenges that veterans face in their post military life um, from a mental wellness standpoint, because I don't think that's often talked about enough. Yeah, thank you for the question. So, um, you know, we've been at war for over 20 years and three million folks have men and women have been over in combat situations since the towers fell just up the street here and of those three million, there's an estimate that one million have some type of Pts, post traumatic stress and I think it's incumbent upon us as americans support those brave men and women that fought for us. So there's a tremendous amount of mental health issues. We don't call it PTSD, we drop the D for disorder because we believe in post traumatic growth that which does not kill you, makes you stronger. And we've got many programs that we support, including the boulder crest retreat, which is 37 acres in blue mont Virginia and we have 100 and 30 acres in Arizona cost about $7.5 million of private funds to support the men and women. And what we do is we take 6 to 8 combat vets and put them through a 75 our curriculum to give them the tools to deal with stress, anxiety and Pts. But I think it's incumbent upon all americans to get those who served overseas uh back mentally healthy and back into the workforce. Their tremendous, they have tremendous assets and gifts, gifts to give back to the country. But a lot of guys, men and women have done some tough things overseas and that affects them mentally again as a service disabled veteran owned broker dealer. I think you have a unique bit of insight in terms of the challenges that our veterans face, but also their ability to kind of, you know, come back from overseas and then replaced obviously back into normal society and then the greater kind of economic picture what career opportunities are in high demand where you see veterans and other service members thriving. So I think, I think they could really thrive in any industry. You know, small businesses, big corporations, the thing about veterans, you know, a lot of people say, well, you know, it's great to hire a veteran. They show up on time, but most people show up to work on time. But what they have is an ability to analyze, adapt and overcome. And I think veterans make tremendous employees and partners because of their ability, their very mission uh mission driven. So if you give them a task, they will figure out a way to get it done. They've got tremendous problem solving skills and initiative that they've learned in the military. So really they don't, there's really, they don't need to be pigeonholed in a particular industry. They could be very helpful in a variety of different jobs. I like that your ability to analyze, adapt and overcome certainly seems like a strength you get from being a part of the military before I have to let you go here. What resources or tools do you think that former service members need in order to continue to advance in the workforce? So I I just think they need to be given the opportunity. There's a lot of corporations, you know, Jpmorgan Bank of America Black Rock City group. These guys have tremendous hiring and training programs internally. I think the one thing about veterans is to transition from the military into the civilian world. There's some great programs called taps or the Chamber of Commerce has hiring our heroes where they recognize that as a veteran is transitioning out the last six months of duty, they're gonna be focused on getting a job. So what they do, the government will actually pay for them to go internal at a, at a company. So a company can actually get a free intern if you want. And what what this program does is before these, these type of programs, 90% of veterans would leave their job after the first year because they really didn't know how to translate their skills to civilians speak so to let the civilians know what their skill sets were and they would grab the first job that came along. So that didn't work out for the corporations that didn't work out for the veterans. But there's a lot of programs out there now where the government will fund a veteran to go work at your corporation and I think we need to take advantage of that. But these guys, these men and women are ready to go and I think it's just a matter, it just takes a little while to transition from the, from the uniform to the civilian world. But there is an unbelievable talent pool and if we tap into it, I think we could really grow America nicely to your point there a moment ago. Obviously no need to pitch and hold our veterans. They can thrive in any environment. They simply need the opportunity and that ability to adapt and he helped. There is also welcome BRian, really appreciate your time and your insight. Congratulations on ringing the opening bell and certainly in developing a brokerage with this important mission, brian captain, president of roberts and Ryan investments.