For the first couple years after getting out of the Navy, my mission was simple: don’t kill yourself. That was the only job that mattered. I had no real work to throw myself into, nothing to tether me to the world. I tried. I still had some old software, a computer. I taught myself everything I could about every program I had, trying to stay busy, trying to stay alive. It helped—but just a little. I was missionless, untethered, surviving on instinct.
But like they say—when the student is ready, the teacher appears. When I was ready, my mission appeared. And with it came back the beautiful narcotic of work.
I created HadIt.com out of righteous outrage. The VA was treating veterans—myself included—with indifference, delays, and a stunning lack of transparency. I was furious. There was no centralized source of information. Just pamphlets. Fragments. Silence. So I began gathering. I called every state for their veterans benefits. I hoarded brochures, repor…
