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Battelle, the enormous but secretive research institute that was founded in Columbus and maintains its headquarters here, has a 75-year history of hiring military veterans. That commitment has paid dividends in recent years as veterans return home from Iraq and Afghanistan to find a supportive employer in Battelle and as the institute develops next-generation warfare technology with

the edge of battlefield experience.

By EmilY Thompson PHOTOS By TEssA BERG

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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 blind-ing. 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 battlefi eld 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 patrol-ling 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 diffi cult to navigate. Just outside a village, they were sur-rounded 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 fi gure out where he needed to go—and how would he radio his loca-tion 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 battlefi eld?

“I don’t want to be paying attention to the technology—I want to be paying attention to my guys,” the Mansfi eld 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 technol-ogies he created while interning at Columbus-headquartered Battelle Memorial Institute in fall 2013. Using existing commercial technol-ogy, he conceived the ideas for Tactical Aug-mented Reality Applications (TARA) and Bat-telle’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 per-sonnel in the fi eld with their commanding offi -

cers 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 battlefi eld, they can drop a pin at their location and show offi cers 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, keep-ing 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 associ-

ate at Battelle while working toward a bach-elor’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 defi nition 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 amplifi ed 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, includ-ing the Columbus headquarters and four other Central Ohio offi ces.

A signifi cant portion of employee popula-tion and leadership, Battelle’s veteran work-force has, in many ways, shaped the work culture there. That workforce reinforces Bat-telle’s shared values with the military—national security, a strong work ethic and an unmistak-able camaraderie—which in turn attracts more veterans. It’s a mutually benefi cial relationship, with veterans bringing real-world experience and knowledge of military processes to the defense contractor and Battelle reciprocat-ing 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 peo-ple with military experience predates the recent emphasis on veteran employment. In November 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Employ-ment 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 compa-nies to hire vets, and several corpora-tions—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 compa-nies 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 prospec-tive employees with military experience in the 1940s, when the institute specialized in radio-activity 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 offi cer in the Army under his belt.

“[Military] people end up here because, fi rst, 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 Offi cers’ Training Corps (ROTC) during freshman orientation at the University of Michigan. His dad, who didn’t have fond memories of his time fi ghting in the Korean War, didn’t want Tooma-jian to join. But when the recruiters did a rappelling demonstration and told Toomajian they got to shoot rifl es, he was sold. He signed up in 1985 for three years of active duty—which turned into nine—and served as a chemical offi cer. 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 cor-porate world,” Toomajian says. “You

The view from inside BITe’s Oculus rift goggles

Daniel Loesch with his BITe technology, which

uses Oculus rift goggles

Created with the help of veterans, this Battelle robotic submarine was used in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

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When Durham returned to Battelle after his deploy-ment, 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 first-hand knowledge of the terrain and environment and how the vehicles were being used to help develop Bat-telle’s next generation of armored vehicles. Each gen-eration 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,” Dur-ham 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 experi-ence, and they look for that in prospective employees. While this creates a tight-knit department, it also pres-ents some obstacles.

“It’s different in a civilian sector. In the military, you have a rank system, so if you tell somebody to do some-thing, 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 proj-ects. I’ve gotten to go to conferences.

“There’s a lot of vets here, and it’s a cool broth-erhood,” 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.”

ohio Department of Veterans servicesConnects veterans with employers through out-reach and online job-search tools. “the leadership of our department has reached out and spoken with over 150 companies in ohio about the benefits of hiring veterans,” says com-munications director mike mcKinney. dvs.ohio.gov

Wounded Warrior projecthelps veterans with a physical or mental injury, illness or wound from their service (on or after 9/11) through several programs, including an employment-placement program woundedwarriorproject.org

osU Vets 4 VetsProvides resources to veterans transitioning to student life at ohio state university vets4vets.org.ohio-state.edu

hero 2 hiredWorks to connect national Guard and Reserve mem-bers and their spouses with employment opportunities h2h.jobs

HIRING HELPseveral organizations and agencies advocate for transitioning service members looking for employment. here, we highlight a few.

Jerry Durham with an armored truck made for U.S. Special Operations Forces

Jill Harvilchuck in a Battelle lab

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, occasion-ally 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 get-ting 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 Wound-ed Warrior Project, Hero 2 Hired and OSU Vets 4 Vets. The company also hosts quarterly work-shops for veterans seeking employment at Bat-telle 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 appropri-ate 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 some-times 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 Hill-iard. 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.”