Published May 28, 2026, 4:48 PM EDT
After 20 years in the Air Force, Jeff Andrejcik lost his federal job and discovered hard truths many veterans face entering today’s job market.
After almost 21 years in the Air Force, Jeff Andrejcik was looking forward to retiring from military life and embarking on a fruitful career in the civilian world. Andrejcik’s service time included multiple deployments, highlighted by three combat tours in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The Air Force veteran served in several roles and had built a solid resume, landing a job with the federal government and moving his family to a base in Florida for a position he had worked years to acquire. Then came the gut punch. President Donald Trump’s swift and indiscriminate overhaul of the federal workforce earlier this year suddenly meant Andrejcik was out of a job. Andrejcik, who was working on his master’s degree when his position was eliminated, didn’t know what to do. Spending two decades in the military, he was reared on planning, preparation and execution, but this new world of unemployment was about as foreign as one of his deployments to a far-off country. “The momentum vanished overnight, and I felt like I had every reason to dwell,” Andrejcik said. But he didn’t. While the military teaches soldiers planning, preparation and execution, it also teaches resiliency. The Air Force veteran dusted himself off and decided to reset, regroup and commit to finding the next opportunity.
