Disabled vets taught to be entrepaneurs at A&M

Houston Chronicle:

Orlando Castaneda should have been exhausted — he had been up all night making a shirt to showcase his design business — but he shrugged it off and leaped to the front of the room.

''Hello, everyone," he said, taking the microphone. ''My name is Orlando Castaneda, and I am a combat veteran."

If the work of the past week is any indication, he may soon be a thriving entrepreneur, as well.

Castaneda and 15 other military veterans, all with lasting physical or emotional damage from their time in battle, concluded a weeklong session at Texas A&M University, designed to turn disabled veterans into successful business owners.

The program, officially called the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, began at Syracuse University in New York last summer. This year, it spread to A&M, Florida State University and the University of California at Los Angeles.

The program ended at A&M on Saturday with Castaneda and other participants pitching their ideas to a panel of business people from Bryan-College Station and elsewhere in Texas.

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The group — 13 men and three women, with injuries including hearing loss, burns and brain injuries — spent the week learning the essentials of running a business from A&M's business faculty. But the program didn't end with the final class on Saturday. Once they return home and start work in earnest, "they can send their business plan to me," Lester said. "I'll vet it or send it to other faculty."

The ideas included a school for at-risk children and a speciality sneaker store. But many were intended to help those still in the service or who have served in the past. Erik Dimmett, 28, said he wanted to make it easier for Navy bomb technicians to order the equipment they need.

"To get my gear, I wound up going to about 30 different companies," Dimmett said. "No one caters to bomb techs."

Maybe someday, his Tech Supply Co. will.

Dimmett, a native of Marietta, Ga., enlisted in the Navy soon after graduating from high school. He was badly burned two years ago when a roadside bomb exploded. He was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for treatment. He now lives in a nearby suburb with his wife and two children as he continues to receive care as an outpatient. He will likely receive a medical discharge soon but hopes to continue supporting the cause with his new business.

"I can't be a bomb tech anymore," he said. "But I want to see how else I can help out."

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What I like about these people is the fact that they never surrender to their disabilities. It would be easy for them to just feel sorry for themselves, but they are all eager to find new ways to contribute to the war effort and to other veterans. Kudos to A&M for trying to help them.