Save Our Allies founder applauds Legion for giving veterans tribe and purpose

Some of the hardest things about leaving military service are losing tribe and purpose, Nick Palmisciano told American Legion members Aug. 31 at the 103rd National Convention.   

“We need you. We need this group of people. And not in the way we typically think of how we need you,” he said. “The Legion provides that tribe.”   

When he left active military service where he served in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer, Palmisciano earned an MBA from Duke University and then went on to work for a Fortune 100 company. Being 30 years old and earning nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year, he felt he should’ve been on top of the world. The reality was far different, he said.   

“I had never been more unhappy in my entire life. There was no meaning. I felt like I was marking time,” he said.   

Palmisciano decided to leave corporate America to focus on something he believed in. He founded a military and veteran-centric apparel brand called Ranger Up.   

“Things got really, really hard,” he said. “But I felt alive because I had found purpose in my life.”   

Today, he is the vice president and founding board member of Save Our Allies, an effort that rescued refugees in the final days of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.   

“We ended up with 12 people who all felt like we could fit one piece of the puzzle together,” he said.   

One year after 20 years of war in Afghanistan came to a formal end, Palmisciano reflected on his experience during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal. People are often bound by the limitations of their experiences when it comes to understanding the depth of anguish witnessed as the U.S. withdrew the last American troops — and with them — hope that the Afghan people would be free of Taliban rule.   

“It is impossible to comprehend the level of desperation people must be feeling to hang onto a C-17,” Palmisciano said.   

According to Palmisciano, he was either going to be one of the people sitting on his couch, tweeting about the tragedy unfolding on the other side of the world — or he was going to be one of 12 people who traveled to Kabul to assist with the evacuation.   

His documentary, “Send Me,” follows 12 American veterans who travel to Afghanistan during the final days of the war where they try to evacuate as many American citizens, permanent residents, special immigrant visa holders and Afghan refugees as possible before they run out of time as the country falls back into Taliban control.   

The team of 12 men established an operations center in the United Arab Emirates — and in just hours — were running flights into Kabul on C-17s donated by the United Arab Emirates and 737s they procured themselves.   

“We all had the same mentality,” Palmisciano said. “I’m going to keep trying to do something, and I will eventually succeed.”  

Together, they saved 12,000 lives.   

Palmisciano’s personal hero has the same mentality.   

“Charlie Brown is my hero because he keeps trying to kick that football,” he said.  “No matter how many things go wrong, no matter how many times he misses, no matter how many times he fails, he gets up and he keeps trying to kick that football with the same reckless abandon as he has so many other times.”  

There is a generation of veterans not much younger than him who grew up in the age of social media. Rather than turn toward personal relationships as they leave military service, many turn toward voices in the ether, he said.    

“This is where I think people get into trouble,” said Palmisciano. “They don’t have a tribe, they don’t have purpose and suddenly they don’t have a pathway.  

“When I quit my Fortune 100 gig, I was not a member of The American Legion. I did not have this tribe. I did not have guidance. I did not have purpose. What I did have is a Vietnam veteran dad that said, ‘I think you can do it.’”   

He told the Legionnaires that each of them can be that support for someone.   

“As these veterans leave the military they are looking to the future. Even if their dream is dumb or their purpose isn’t your purpose … guidance, encouragement and helping them find their way” will keep them from falling into bad situations.   

“The 12 of us working together and doing our part, putting ego aside, putting pride aside and not worrying about potential failure, but just desperately trying to kick that football made a huge impact on over 12,000 lives.  

“There is a whole generation of veterans coming right now that need you to tell them it is OK to keep trying, I am here asking you to lean forward and help them be the next generation of winning veterans.”