Dead Drop: November 17

HIRE A VET:  Just before Veterans Day, The Wall Street Journal noted that “the unemployment rate for former service members is 2.9%, a full point lower than the overall U.S. rate.” Employers are reportedly battling over the right to hire military veterans because of their reputations for “hard work, humility and attention to detail.” Reporter Callum Borchers’ admittedly unscientific research suggests that ex-drill sergeants do particularly well. While those turning in their uniforms for civilian employment often find steep learning curves, hiring officials say “they come with little sense of entitlement and can handle – or even crave – constructive criticism.

ELECT A VET: In the over eight years that The Dead Drop has been appearing on these pages – we have – many times examined the trends of military and intelligence community veterans running for elective office.  With the 2024 elections less than a year off, it is time for our first installment for the upcoming electoral cycle.  We learned this week, that Representative Abigail Spanberger (D, VA) who was once a CIA case officer, has decided not to run for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives – so that she can devote her time to running for Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2025. Virginia prohibits sitting governors from serving consecutive terms – so the incumbent, Glenn Younkin, will have to find some other employment beyond 2025.  Just days after Spanberger revealed that she would not run for reelection to Congress, retired Army Colonel Yevgeny Vindman announced that he plans to run for her seat. Vindman, along with his better-known twin Alexander, got cross-threaded with the Trump administration over Ukraine.  While on active duty, Vindman was a senior ethics official at the National Security Council. It is unclear whether ethics experience would be of use in Congress.  In other veteran electoral news, we have learned that Jacob Chansley widely known as the “QAnon Shaman” who wore horns, face paint and no shirt while illegally occupying the Capitol on January 6, 2021 is looking to return to the scene of the crime. Chansley, a Navy veteran, is running for Congress as a libertarian in Arizona’s 8th Congressional district. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in 2021 but got out early and was sent to a halfway house in March of 2023. Now, he is looking at serving in another house – the House of Representatives…which probably is a better idea than invading it – and besides, Members of Congress only get two-year terms. Should he win – someone should remind him they have rules in the House – such as: “No shoes, no shirts, no service as a Member.”