Disabled vets muster at business boot camp

Disabled vets muster at business boot camp

COLLEGE STATION — 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.

"It's been awesome," Keith Wright of Sacramento, Calif., said as he began to describe his idea, a Web site that would link veterans with a variety of services and programs.

Even more than the crash course in business, Wright said he was inspired by the time spent with other former service members.

Richard Lester, director of academic entrepreneurship programs at A&M, heard about the program last year. "I was just, 'That program was made for Texas A&M.' We have an extremely strong military tradition here, with the Corps of Cadets. It is in our fabric."

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."

Castaneda echoed that sentiment. "There's more to supporting your troops than putting up a little decal," the 27-year-old said.

From 2003 until his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad in 2006, Castaneda served his country as a corporal in the Army.

He was sent to Germany for treatment and eventually to the Veterans Administration hospital in Dallas.

Castaneda continues outpatient treatment for a brain injury suffered in the blast, supporting his wife and three children with his disability payments. He said his business, Gaijin Global Artist Products, would allow him to support another cause close to his heart — helping veterans.

Castaneda volunteers at the Dallas VA hospital. "I'm a big believer in veterans helping veterans," he said. "I believe it's my responsibility to make sure other soldiers are OK.

"Soldiers do need a lot of help," he said. "There's not many people that stick up for soldiers."

jeannie.kever@chron.com

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