Ep. 67: The Bird Clock and Millennial Veterans with Jenna Carlton

Jenna Carlton is the founder of The Millennial Veteran and the podcast Vet Chats.

She utilizes her voice and platforms to engage in conversations with other veterans, focusing on their experiences and perspectives.

Her Instagram page reaches millions of veterans per month and provides a space to openly discuss the emotional side of transitioning out of the military.

Jenna blends personal stories, insights, and discussions about the challenges and triumphs faced by veterans, particularly from a millennial viewpoint.

Her aim is to foster understanding and community among veterans while highlighting issues relevant to their lives and experiences.

Jenna is also a monthly columnist for Task & Purpose as well as the author of The Veteran Workbook, a journal-style book to help veterans reflect on service and plan for a successful future.

This episode will help veterans find their way and work as an initial guide for transitioning people writing a new chapter in their life.
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🌟 Episode Highlights 🌟

Creating Positive Change
➡︎ Jenna shares her journey from feeling unfulfilled post-military to taking proactive steps by starting a community group and leveraging social media to connect with like-minded individuals.

Military Influencer Conference Insights
➡︎ Discover Jenna's take on the diverse and inclusive environment at the Military Influencer Conference, challenging the outdated "old boys club" stereotype within the veteran community.

Genuine Connections in Podcasting
➡︎ Jenna and Martin delve into the importance of authenticity over transactional interactions in the podcast world.

Leadership Lessons from "Mean Girls"
➡︎ Enjoy a lighter segment where Jenna discusses the leadership themes in "Mean Girls," highlighting how jealousy and gossip can impact social dynamics.

Fictional Crushes & Personal Stories
➡︎ Jenna reveals her literary preferences, citing "Pillars of the Earth," and shares heartfelt anecdotes about her new friendship with a neighbor and her beloved dog.

Hypothetical Military Influencer TV Show
➡︎ Engage in a fun and imaginative discussion about creating a TV show featuring military influencers, with suggestions like Jocko Willink and David Goggins.

Personal Reflections & Growth
➡︎ Jenna opens up about her motivations for joining the military, her growth in self-responsibility and self-love, and the impact of stepping back to gain new perspectives.

Mentorship & Community Impact
➡︎ Hear about the significance of mentorship in Jenna's life, her current efforts with a non-profit in New Jersey, and her advice for young veterans transitioning from military life.

Words of Wisdom from Jenna:

"Love has motivated my success and positively impacted my community interactions."

"To tackle big problems, start small and local within your own neighborhood."

"Invest in a supportive community and seek therapy to help process past experiences."

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Jenna's Resources:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/themillennialveteran/

Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/themillennialveteran

Veteran Workbook

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Mentioned:
Bryan Cranston

Melinda Jefferson

Andrew Bustamante

Caitlin Bassett

Marty Skovlund

Shannon Kent

Military Influencer Conference

Pillars of the Earth

Kristen Bell

Nidia

Jocko

David Goggins

Zach Bell

Jennifer Marshall

Thom Tran

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Episode Quotes:

“Time is the only currency you spend without ever knowing your balance.”
– The Universe

“Taking a step back does not mean I am losing, it means I am learning, healing, and growing.”
- Jenna Carlton

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Conversation:

Intro
0:00 Jenna Carlton I like that quote. That's very jarring because I think that's something we don't think about a lot. Time is the only currency that we don't know. You don't think of it as currency, but it absolutely is. I actually have this app on my phone and so anytime I want to go on Instagram, Facebook, any of it, I have to press it. And it makes you take a deep breath in and out, and then it gives you some quote to make you reflect, like how you're spending your time.

And one of them says time is money.  And then sometimes I say, no, I actually don't need to scroll. It just gives you that thought.

Worst Uber Driver Ever
3:16 Jenna Carlton Okay, so yeah, I think it was just last year, me and my husband and our really good friend Steve, we were going from his house and we're leaving his neighborhood. He lives in like kind of a suburban neighborhood. And this Uber driver's just flying by. And so Steve, he's from North Jersey, he's like, whoa, man. Can you watch the speed? And the guy just like looks at us and gives us this crazy look of like, don't tell me how to drive. And then Steve plays it off, he's like, oh, you're coming from D.C. I know they got the crazy drives up there, but it's like, you know, more slow here. There's kids running around and so we're supposed to go to this winery and he's flying over speed bumps.

He brings us to somebody's house, it's not the winery. So we give him another address and it's wrong again. And he won't even bring us like he brings us to the middle of nowhere and we're like, this isn't it. And he's like, I have to let you out. This is where the address brought me. And we're like, can you just bring us up the road to the driveway at least? And he wouldn't do it. Oh, it was just so embarrassing. Embarrassing.

I know there's crazier stories, but it was just because we lived in Southern Maryland. Stuff like that never happens.

Why life is great right now
5:20 Jenna Carlton Oh, life, life's great because I just, I get to like my job for the non profit. My part time job is literally planning events for women veterans and their children to help get them out. Find community, camaraderie, healing. It's so much fun. Every month, I get to plan two events. I have full control over what I want to plan and where I want to be. It's so cool, and it just creates so much collaboration, and it's helped me meet some great women. I found a mentor here up in Jersey and everything. It's awesome.

Interview with Bryan Cranston
6:01Jenna Carlton So Melinda Jefferson, she does a lot for The Capitol. Capitol 4th. They do concerts and stuff at the Capitol.

They will get big celebrities and they'll want to promote them. And she asked me if I wanted to do interviews to help promote it. And I was like, of course. Like, yes. And that's how I got it, was really just a two questions I could ask him, but he was so present and just so generous with how long he gave answers. He's a great person.

What motivated Jenna to join the military
9:14 Jenna Carlton I think it's kind of a timeless motivation to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

Having the honor of serving your country. And also I was limited in the options that I saw in myself. Just probably growing up in a small town, not seeing many, many jobs period. You know, just not exposed to a lot, I guess.

What Jenna’s present self would her military self not recognize
9:56 Jenna Carlton My relationship with alcohol, very different than I thought it would be. I was  all about partying and drinking in the military. I think also just how responsible I am and how consistent I am really in that I actually love myself and I'm learning to love myself more. I didn't really think that was possible.

How authenticity impacted professional success
10:50 Jenna Carlton It's helped me because I want to share things out of love instead of fear. 'm not posting every day because I'm scared, like, oh my gosh, I'm not going to be relevant anymore. I'm doing it because, wow, I love the response. I love the engagement. I love how this helps the community. I think that's really helped me.

If Jenna could time travel back to last day in the Navy, what she would say to herself
11:25 Jenna CarltonI was probably at that time said, like, I'm running away from the limits of the military. You know, the personal limits of not seeing myself become a leader and not seeing myself being able to grow in that environment. Also, I'd say I'm running towards love. I got out of the military and went and lived with my boyfriend, who's now my husband.  Gosh, you're only dating for like five, six months and luckily turned out. Turned out good.

So, yeah, I'd say definitely love.

What she is running towards and away from
11:54 Jenna Carlton

Advice on how you can uncover for yourself places you are not free
13:33 Jenna Carlton Yeah, I. I think when a fish doesn't know it's in water until it's out and it's you know, realizing like, oh, that's what I was in this whole time. You know, you don't understand what you're in. And even yourself, you're gonna go through this like, you don't understand you fully. You can't see what you're in, in the military until you're out. And, you know, when that, when you, when you take that step and you look back, you're gonna have a totally different view of it. And I know you can't picture that right now, but you're absolutely going to. And it's going to be interesting and you're going to see, you know, where.

Impact of Shannon Kent
15:42 Jenna Carlton Wow. I mean, her story, it was one of those moments when you realize, like, how have I been living my life? That's a good example of how to step outside of yourself is to really dive into someone else's life. I learned about her story through her husband and Marty Skovlund's book, which wasn't a personal account. It was whatever they could find out about her and write it. And I think they did a phenomenal job. But it, it really pulled. You pulled me out of my own life and be like, you know, what area could I be doing more? What could I be finding more purpose or deepening that purpose in? So, yeah, it really had a big effect. She's was an incredible person.

Yeah, just try to step back and really view your world in a different light if you can, or even through someone else's eyes, depending on how you like to do things. I'm a writer so I love to write from a different perspective and look in. But you could do that for reading through just conversation with someone or taking a trip somewhere else.

Most worthwhile investments for younger veterans
17:30 Jenna Carlton I would say invest in, in community. Absolutely. Finding those around you that can support you because you're going to, you're going to need that, letting your family know that you're going to have, you might, you might have a hard time and, and also if you can, therapy, some sort of therapy that's going to look different for everyone but just some way to really process what you just went through.

How active duty military and veterans can empower ourselves to make a difference against a never-ending number of hurdles and roadblocks
18:49 Jenna Carlton I think the best thing to do is just take that next challenge and don't try to get weighed down by all of them. You know, we, yeah, some of us just look at like, oh, I got out. Do I really want to go back to school and start all over? And it's like, don't look at it like a four or three year degree, whatever it's going to take. You just look at like what you're doing this year. Take that first year of school. Just don't try to look Ahead. I mean, plan ahead, but don't be overwhelmed by the future, because that time's going to pass no matter what.

Cheat code people can use to ensure military voices matters to congress
19:55 Jenna CarltonSo when you're calling Congress, how to get their attention, you're saying, yeah, yeah, that's tough because I was one of those interns answering the phone, and since it was a committee you were calling, I would just tell you to go call your own congressman, where another intern would answer and tell you they can't help you. So the cheat code is you have to ask for something. If you ask your representative for something, they have to give you an answer. So a lot of people just call and complain or write letters and just complain, which, you know, it's very warranted of why you're complaining, but you need to ask for something because the complaints are just going to go in, like a noted file, but say, hey, if I get approved for this, that's going to allow me to be in this program. Can you assist with this? They will respond to you. It will take time.

Yeah, that's what ignited my passion for wanting to help veterans and really help me solidify my identity as a veteran even. Because when I went into that office, they were all really proud, saying, here, this is our intern. She's a Navy veteran. You know, they'd introduced me. I don't know if they just wanted to show, like, hey, we have veterans working here, or, you know, I was like, that token, whatever.  A lot of them seem genuinely curious about my experience.

Right mindset to solve problems bigger than us
23:51 Jenna Carlton Yes. I think if you have this big problem and you're trying to solve it and you're just yelling, screaming at everyone about this issue, you're not really going to solve it. You might gather a few people to be on the journey with you to help you. It's a great way to get attention or an awareness about your issue. But you need to start right outside your front door. You need to look at problems, like many problems that are related to that or, what's in your neighborhood that you could help or what's in your community. What could you start right there that could eventually get bigger and match this problem or how could you build something in this system you're trying to take down to foster whatever. My example is how I see the veteran community as my big problem, like the toxic veteran community as my big problem.
 
And I want to take it down, but I'm not, I'm not really going to be able to do that from the outside. You know, I got to be in it, I got to be a part of it. I got to find like minded people, connect with them, try to set that tone of positivity. And you know, we're not just going to be complainers. We're going to be proactive about things. I did that by just walking out my front door. That's just posting on Facebook, you know, starting that group and then, you know, posting on Instagram, the ball is rolling. It's going to eventually become,  something really big and even bigger than the problem that I'm trying to take down.

What Jenna wants people to know about the veteran community
26:17 Jenna Carlton Yeah, I think the veteran community is really changing. And I love the Military Influencer Conference because it's such a diverse representative of many different people. Lots of women, lots of younger people, lots of older people. It just shows that our community is so diverse and that veterans are younger, they can be younger. And we don't all have to be a part of the old boys club. It's. There's so many options for whatever you're into in the veteran community.

New friendship from the past 2-3 years
30:54 Jenna Carlton Oh, that's cool. Like, the past two to three years. So my neighbor across the street at this house we were renting, she's what, 72? She became like my second mom, you know, being away from my mom, always living far, she kind of took me in just as someone, and it was just like this unlikely friendship. And I go over, just keep her company, or she would come over, and then she loved my dog. My dog would have sleepovers at her house, and her name is Nydia. And if she's listening to this, I love you.