Finding the “Why”: Still serving the Warfighter, just differently

FORT WORTH, Texas – Aug. 25, 2026 – Three weeks into his new job, Julian Gomez sat in a meeting at StraCon’s Orlando office and felt something click into place. Russ Bergeman, Director of Navy Operations in Orlando, was talking about Warfighters and the training pipelines that keep them ready. Gomez realized he was hearing, almost word for word, something he already believed deep down.

“That’s what I need,” he remembered thinking. “That’s what I care about.”

After nearly 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Gomez had traded a uniform for a badge as a Logistician at StraCon, supporting the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, or NAWCTSD, in Orlando.

But the road to that meeting room wasn’t a straight line. It was a deliberate, sometimes anxious search for direction.

A career built on service

Gomez joined the Marine Corps at 18, looking to test himself. “I wanted to do something with my life and find purpose,” he said.

What began as a job in Aviation Avionics, maintaining Huey and Cobra helicopters, turned into a two-decade career that took him through quality assurance, maintenance control, three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and four rotations across the Indo-Pacific.

But the role that shaped him most, he said, wasn’t fixing aircraft. It was teaching. As an instructor in Pensacola, Gomez discovered that helping others learn and grow meant more to him than the technical work itself.

When retirement arrived, Gomez entered a SkillBridge transition program that forced him to confront a question most career service members rarely have the opportunity to ask: “Who am I outside the organization?”

The program’s instructors pressed further, asking him to imagine a life in which every material need was already met and to consider what would still give him a reason to get up each morning.

“That’s a very hard question that I don’t even know if many adults ask themselves,” he said.

His answer came down to one thing: helping people, especially service members.

That clarity, along with advice to build a network and seek mentorship, became the foundation of everything that followed.

The mentor who opened the door

That advice led him to Mark Myers, General and Operations Manager at StraCon and a fellow veteran. Gomez had been reaching out to veterans on LinkedIn, looking for honest conversations about life after service. Myers was one of them.

What started as an informational exchange became a mentorship. Myers spoke openly about his own transition and helped Gomez work through the anxiety of entering a civilian workplace.

When Gomez shared concerns about fitting in and finding work that still felt meaningful, Myers listened. He reminded Gomez that his background, his way of thinking and his focus on outcomes rather than checkboxes were exactly what the right team would value.

“From Julian’s first message on LinkedIn, his sincerity and drive were unmistakable,” Myers said. “He embodied StraCon’s values of integrity and ongoing improvement. The timing aligned perfectly, giving me the opportunity to help him find a place where he can continue serving with purpose.”

Eventually, Myers suggested Gomez take a look at StraCon. He explained the mission, the work supporting NAWCTSD and why someone with Gomez’s background, who had been the customer and understood how the military operates from the inside, could bring valuable perspective to the role.

“There are people who give everything to the mission, and people who just show up,” Gomez said. “When you find someone who genuinely cares, and then find a company built the same way, you know you’re in the right place.”

Weeks into the role, Gomez was still finding his footing. The job was new and the systems were unfamiliar. He relied on Myers for guidance as he worked through new processes and connected them to two decades of operational experience.

The environment itself also helped. Gomez was working in the same NAWCTSD training facility where he once served as an instructor. Now he was seeing the mission from the support side, helping ensure instructors and students had the equipment, test sets and supplies they needed to train effectively.

That shift in perspective carried real weight for him. It wasn’t just a new job. It was a different angle on the same mission he had always believed in.

Finding the “why”

Asked what advice he’d give to other transitioning service members, Gomez didn’t hesitate.

“Find your why,” he said. “Why do you want to wake up in the morning? Go back to being a kid again for a second. What jobs interest you, what things interest you in life, and why are you passionate about it?”

His point wasn’t abstract. It was a warning against the most common mistake he sees veterans make.

“Don’t look for a job and hope you find purpose in it,” he said. “Find your core, and then look for jobs, not the other way around.”

For Gomez, that sense of purpose remained constant: supporting service members and the mission behind them. StraCon gave him a new way to continue doing both.

About StraCon

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, StraCon Services Group LLC is an ISO 9001:2015 and CMMC certified small business supporting U.S. military aviation and defense programs. A trusted provider of support to NAVAIR and other government organizations, StraCon delivers mission-focused solutions across several core capabilities: digital engineering and product life cycle management, foreign military sales, program management, financial management, unmanned systems, strategic communications, logistics, training, and engineering support. Guided by its commitment to excellence in execution, StraCon provides integrated expertise that enhances operational effectiveness across the defense community.