Marine Corps Combat Veteran Seeks Government Grant To Start Business
by Sgt Nathan Miller
Sitting on my HMMWV in Ramadi Iraq.
The proudest years of my life were spent in the Marine Corps and the day I realized my time leading my Marines was coming to an end was a hard day to swallow. I came home from Iraq with many underlying injuries that have resulted in over 8 surgeries/procedures so far, as well as hours upon hours of counseling that as a proud Marine Corps Sergeant were tough to face and come to terms with. I'm continuing care through the VA and realize that much of my medical fight will be a lifetime battle that I'll have to keep on fighting. My days as an active Marine may be over but I refuse to quit fighting. I've taken much of what I learned as a Marine, to include my drive and determination, and have decided to apply it to my dreams of owning and running a business. I'm at least smart enough to have recognized my strengths and weaknesses and have appointed one of my fellow Marines to take charge of the areas I lack. I'm excited to begin my new venture and look forward to the challenges of entrepreneurship. One of those challenges being financial capital, I put as much of my disability payments into my dream as I can afford, keeping only what's needed to live, and using a small amount to attend classes at a local community college to broaden my experiences and skill set to suit the needs of my business. The classes, the counseling sessions, various medical appointments, and the disabilities themselves have all made finding a job to supply the needed additional funds to get this thing up and running very difficult. Having said that though I'm determined to find a way and if you know anything about the determination of a Marine it's a pretty immovable force. My company is an apparel design company with very specific marketing targets, one of which is Marines. Inside of my entrepreneurial dreams I also dream to one day be able to use my company to give back to my fellow veterans. A lot of service members ended up worse off than me, I still have my life and the ability to continue to use it for good as I proudly did for 8 years as a Marine. Many of my fellow Marines and other service members left their lives on the battle field, leaving loved ones at home to grieve their loss, others still came back alive but in much worse shape than even I. For that I'm grateful for their sacrifice, and sincerely hope to one day make enough proceeds from some of my products to make donations that make a difference for veterans organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project. To find out more about Anguish Clothing LLC and what we're all about please visit our website, which due to financial capital is currently more of a gallery of our work and ambitions, no products are yet available for sale, but we design new designs every day. http://www.theanguished.com/ Any and all help, whether it's a government business grant, or other types of help, or even just words of encouragement are very appreciated. Semper Fidelis Nate Miller
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