In the 18 months between the time Kurtis Mancuso decided to leave the Army and his discharge, he found out more than his career was changing — he was also going to be a father for the first time. He applied to programs aimed at helping soldiers find their next careers in civilian life, but nothing was coming together. Panic ensued.
Then, everything fell into place with SMART Heroes in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“Some of them wouldn’t work because it took too much time. They couldn’t get me working, and I had a kid coming,” he said. “Out of the grace of God some guy dropped out, and I took his spot. SMART Heroes was able to get me working while I was still on my ETS [expiration term of service] leave, so it worked out.”
Mancuso excelled in the program, said Greg Daniels, SMART Heroes coordinator at SMART Local 9 in Colorado Springs.
“He changed a lot from when he was in my class to when he came back and saw me for this. I’ve watched him mature a lot over the last four years,” Daniels said. “He brought experience to the table. He grasped onto everything really quickly. He always stood out. You can tell he’s a born leader.”
With a wildfire fighting background, not to mention his five years of military service, Mancuso had lived his life at top speed, in high-stress situations with lives on the line. While SMART Heroes, and the unionized sheet metal trade he was entering, was fast-paced, compared to what he was used to, it was calm — and steady.
“For me, the transition wasn’t bad at all. I will say it doesn’t matter what you do, when you get out of the military, you still feel lost,” Mancuso said. “When you’re in the infantry especially, you’re constantly at 5,000 RPMs all day long, and when you get home, you can’t turn it off. But when you’re working, it’s nowhere near the amount of stress you deal with in the military.”
Time on the jobsite, therapy and the camaraderie of union life made Mancuso “a completely different person than when I was in the military,” he said.
In November, Mancuso was selected to attend the SMART Heroes Sponsor Recognition Reception in Washington, D.C., where he and fellow SMART Heroes graduate Kevin Moore, from Western Washington Sheet Metal, took to the microphone to share their experiences.
“It was a huge opportunity. I wanted to show them that this program is impactful, and we need to make it bigger than it is now. It is possible to get out [of the military], have a career and be able to take care of your family,” he said. “I felt like everyone there was touched by it. We’re not the best public speakers, but you could tell everything we were saying was coming from our hearts.”
Mancuso graduated from Local 9’s apprenticeship program earlier this year, and he will soon welcome his second child.
“Honestly, when my wife was going through the pregnancy with our first one, I was so wound up. There were so many things going on in my head. I couldn’t enjoy the process,” he said. “With this one, I have more appreciation for it, and I can soak things up.”
If he had the chance to speak to a soldier exiting the Army, Mancuso said he would tell them not to listen to the naysayers — it’s possible to find a career with good pay and benefits, paving the way for a good life ahead. Even high-stress projects on the job pale in comparison to wondering if that day will be his last, he said.
“It’s a good day’s work,” Mancuso added. “You can go home and shut off the work day, wake up and do the same thing over again. It’s the simplicity of it. Even on the bad days, I can keep a smile on my face.”