Secret Ops: How Veterans are Developing Next-Generation Warfare at Battelle

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It was dark that night. So dark that the dim light shining up from the GPS screen into Daniel Loesch's face felt blinding. He knew it was dangerous to look down at the screen. He wasn't responsible just for himself, but also for the soldiers he was leading on this mission. Anything could happen in the split second he took his eyes off the battlefield in south Iraq. The consequences could be fatal. But he needed to get his team to safety, and that glaring screen was his lifeline.

It was 2008, in the midst of the Iraq War. Loesch was a 23-year-old sergeant in the U.S. Army leading a team of about 10 soldiers whose mission was to stop insurgent attacks-most involved snipers or explosives-on villages. Missions would take them off U.S. bases to a secluded area, where they'd be dropped off in Humvees. After walking to a village and patrolling the area, looking for any signs of insurgents or an impending attack, they would walk to a different discreet location to be picked up.

They were moving fast, covering a lot of ground in a short time. The terrain was difficult to navigate. Just outside a village, they were surrounded by rivers and dense vegetation on one side and desert on the other. Another team was nearby and on call in case they were attacked. But Loesch could barely figure out where he needed to go-and how would he radio his location to the other team if he didn't know it?

"You realize, we are vulnerable right now," he says.

Though he successfully led his soldiers to the pick-up location, the memory of that night stuck with Loesch. In a time when we can remotely control our house thermostats and door locks and use phones to monitor our heart rates, why was the military still using portable GPS units and radios on the battlefield?

"I don't want to be paying attention to the technology-I want to be paying attention to my guys," the Mansfield native says.

There had to be a better way. So he invented one.

Seven years later, Loesch is making the rounds at trade shows presenting two technologies he created while interning at Columbus-headquartered Battelle Memorial Institute in fall 2013. Using existing commercial technology, he conceived the ideas for Tactical Augmented Reality Applications (TARA) and Battelle's Immersive Training Environment (BITE) and worked with other Battelle employees to bring them to life. TARA combines Google Glass and a tablet computer to connect military personnel in the field with their commanding officers on base. Instead of being limited to a GPS unit and a radio, soldiers can navigate using the built-in GPS in Google Glass. Without taking their eyes off the battlefield, they can drop a pin at their location and show officers back at base what they're seeing in real time. They'll also be able to use the tablet to take quick notes, videos and photos. BITE uses the Oculus Rift headset-designed for playing video games-to create a virtual training environment for soldiers, keeping their skills sharp between missions.

"There were a lot of times [in the Army] when both would have come in handy," says Loesch, who's now a full-time research associate at Battelle while working toward a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Ohio State University.

One in four people hired into Battelle's defense technology department is a veteran, says Christopher Hill, director of human resources operations. (Batelle's definition of veteran includes anyone who served in active duty.) But it's not a new trend related to the large number of veterans who have returned home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Battelle has a long history of hiring former military personnel. In fact, about 900 veterans work at Battelle companywide, including 155 in Central Ohio alone. Though other companies, especially other defense contractors, employ people with military experience, Battelle's veteran-hiring mission is amplified by the size and long reach of the institute. The company employs more than 22,000 people at more than 60 locations around the world, including the Columbus headquarters and four other Central Ohio offices.

A significant portion of employee population and leadership, Battelle's veteran workforce has, in many ways, shaped the work culture there. That workforce reinforces Battelle's shared values with the military-national security, a strong work ethic and an unmistakable camaraderie-which in turn attracts more veterans. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, with veterans bringing real-world experience and knowledge of military processes to the defense contractor and Battelle reciprocating with formal and informal support for vets. Though the name Battelle coincidentally resembles military jargon (it's named after the institute's founder, Gordon Battelle), sections of the company function as cohesive units, not unlike battalions in the military.

Battelle's commitment to hire people with military experience predates the recent emphasis on veteran employment. In November 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Employment Initiative, which focused on recruiting and retaining veterans for both government and private-sector jobs. Two years later, he signed into law the Returning Heroes Tax Credit, offering incentives to businesses that hire unemployed veterans. State- and local-level governments and non-governmental organizations followed with initiatives to encourage companies to hire vets, and several corporations-Walt Disney Co., The Coca-Cola Co., Walmart, Starbucks-have publicly committed to employing veterans.

"There are many companies around Ohio right now, both national companies and companies within different regions of the state, more and more of these businesses are recognizing the value of hiring veterans," says Mike McKinney, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Veterans Services. "It's certainly something that Gov. Kasich's administration and all our departments have been working on.

"Historically, [Battelle has] been an employer of veterans in this area long before I even got here," continues McKinney, himself a veteran who's worked in the department since 2011. "Battelle is a company that certainly knows the value of hiring veterans and what they can bring to the table in terms of being adaptable and having a strong work ethic."

Battelle likely started seeking out prospective employees with military experience in the 1940s, when the institute specialized in radioactivity research and worked on the Manhattan Project, says T.R. Massey, a Battelle spokesman. The company's veteran workforce continued to grow after World War II, peaking at different points of heightened national security, during the Cold War and after 9/11.

"You know what you're getting in a veteran in general," Hill says. "You're getting someone who is dedicated, motivated, disciplined, high-integrity, hardworking, honest. You're getting a good employee nine out of 10 times when you hire a veteran.

"A lot of our clients are former service members," he adds. "So it's a good, natural interaction."

Steve Kelly, president of Battelle's national security business, is also a veteran, with 12 years of active duty as a chemical officer in the Army under his belt.

"[Military] people end up here because, first, we have a pretty robust defense-related business, and it tends to be staffed by people who are driven by mission accomplishment. They're really driven by impact.

"They also tend to be more outspoken if you're not doing your job well," he continues. "Generally you're not going to be confused about whether your boss thinks you're doing a good job or not, and I think that's important. They take personal credit for failures, and everybody else gets credit for success."

Marty Toomajian, president of Battelle's Energy, Environment, and Material Sciences Global Business, joined The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) during freshman orientation at the University of Michigan. His dad, who didn't have fond memories of his time fighting in the Korean War, didn't want Toomajian to join. But when the recruiters did a rappelling demonstration and told Toomajian they got to shoot rifles, he was sold. He signed up in 1985 for three years of active duty-which turned into nine-and served as a chemical officer. When he left the Army, the U.S. was getting rid of its stockpile of chemical weapons following the Cold War, and he got a job at Science Applications International Corp. helping dipose of the chemical weapons. Two years later, Kelly, who served with Toomajian, called him recruiting for Battelle's defense business, and Toomajian started there in 1997.

"[In the military], you're doing things probably 10 or 15 years ahead of what you'd be doing in the corporate world," Toomajian says. "You get a lot of leadership experience. Because if you're not a good leader in the military, whether you're an officer or enlisted, you're not going to survive; you're not going to do well. So that expertise helps people when they get out of the service really excel in the corporate world."

Employing several people who have come through the military also has its challenges.

"For really high-achieving people, they might have never had a substantial failure," Kelly says. "Because of the level of technology and performance risks we take on, occasionally there are failures, and you may not have run into those depending on where you were in your military career."

Toomajian says the biggest challenge is getting used to sitting still.

"In the military, you move jobs about every 18 months. So you get used to that constant need for change," he says. "Battelle is nice because you get the chance to do so many different things."

Battelle works with and recruits through a number of veteran organizations, like Wounded Warrior Project, Hero 2 Hired and OSU Vets 4 Vets. The company also hosts quarterly workshops for veterans seeking employment at Battelle or elsewhere.

"We just kind of sit one-on-one, and they bring in their resume," says Lindsey Lappin, a Battelle recruiter. "I always ask them to bring in whatever their dream job would be. And then we help transition their resume from military speak to civilian speak. We answer all their questions, walk them through interview processes, from what to wear, what to say, what not to say, questions to ask, questions that are appropriate to ask, questions that it's appropriate for the employer to ask."

Because its national security department is one of the largest pieces of its business-and 73 percent of contracts in this department are with the Department of Defense-Battelle is notoriously secretive (a media relations rep sat in on all the interviews for this story). This has afforded the company an ivory tower image, even in its hometown. But behind the scenes, vets like Loesch, and even reservists who sometimes have military leave, are working to keep military technology on the cutting edge.

A sea of gray, nondescript warehouses line a street just off Roberts Road near Hilliard. But for a tiny Battelle logo on the door, one building blends in with the rest. Inside, though, a world of top-secret special projects and technology that could have come straight from a James Bond movie unfolds.

Jerry Durham doesn't say much at first. The mechanical engineer is shy-until he starts talking about his passion: building armored vehicles for the military. This is his dream job.

In 2007, Durham, a Louisville native, was deployed to Afghanistan with the Kentucky National Guard. He was already a Battelle employee at the time, so he was given military leave and returned to work in 2008. (After 10 years of service, Durham left the National Guard as a captain in 2013.)

"Battelle did pick up basically the difference in salary that I didn't make from my pay in the military, which was awesome," he says of his leave.

A toxicologist at Battelle, Jill Harvilchuck has felt a similar sense of support. A few times a year, she goes on military leave at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, where she works in a U.S. Air Force unit that combats weapons of mass destruction.

"In my military setting, we can kind of see the big picture of things," Harvilchuck says. "And so we can see how what we do here (at Battelle) with regards to looking at protective equipment or decontamination or how well vaccines or antidotes work against those big agents, we can see the big picture of how that fits into what the military's doing. It's actually really cool because it gives you a much different perspective on why what we do is important and who it helps."

When Durham returned to Battelle after his deployment, he picked up right where he left off. "I kind of just fell right back into my previous role," he says. "The experience I got from the deployment was great."

And, as it turns out, it was a smart investment for Battelle.

"I did get to see vehicles that we had made over there being put to use, being overused or abused, basically," he says. "You design a product to be used a certain way, but in the military, they're going to do what they need to do to accomplish a mission."

When engineers in Durham's department build an armored vehicle, they start from the ground up. They buy vehicles typical for the areas of the world where they'll be sent, strip them down to bare bones and build them back up with thousands of new parts that are undetectable from the outside.

Following his deployment, Durham used his firsthand knowledge of the terrain and environment and how the vehicles were being used to help develop Battelle's next generation of armored vehicles. Each generation has several new features and improvements, some advanced-like special operations vehicles with an infrared lighting technology that allows soldiers to drive in the dark and see without being seen-and some as seemingly simple as windows that can roll down.

"It's hard to tell, but it's a really heavy window," Durham says of a new model. "We designed it to be able to roll up and down, which is not something that really exists outside of Battelle for armored vehicles. Most of them don't; most of them are fixed."

He knows from having driven vehicles with fixed windows in Afghanistan. "The windows don't come down, and the air conditioner doesn't work," he says. "And it's just so hot."

Beyond gaining a better understanding of the products his department makes, Durham says his military experience transferred to his job at Battelle in other ways.

"In the military, you don't work by the hour; you work 'til the job's done," he says. "And we kind of have that mentality here. You work until the job is complete."

Several of his coworkers also have military experience, and they look for that in prospective employees. While this creates a tight-knit department, it also presents some obstacles.

"It's different in a civilian sector. In the military, you have a rank system, so if you tell somebody to do something, they do it, no questions," says Durham, adding he and many of his coworkers have had to adjust to working outside of the rank system.

But they're all working toward a common goal. "Everyone has that sense of responsibility to build a product that could potentially save a military person's life," he says. "That's always kind of at the forefront. You're designing something, or you're tightening a nut and bolt, and you just keep that in mind."

That community-minded sentiment and sense of urgency is echoed in other departments. For Daniel Loesch, it's a big part of what keeps him at Battelle.

"If I got my pick of working at Apple, working at Google or working at Tesla, I would choose Battelle," Loesch says. "I have been very fortunate. I've gotten to do a lot of technical work. I've managed several projects. I've gotten to go to conferences.

"There's a lot of vets here, and it's a cool brotherhood," he continues. "There's a piece of you that misses the military. And it's cool to have those people to kind of be able to talk to you. It reminds you of the good times."