NEW ORLEANS — For close to a decade, Robert Armbruster woke up and put on the U.S. Marine Corps uniform. The uniform was more than cloth and thread — it was a visual reminder that he was a part of a mission larger than himself.
Armbruster, a captain with the 3rd Battalion 23rd Marines in New Orleans, said he struggled to hold onto that sense of purpose in 2003 after he injured his knee while on deployment in Iraq and was sent home. The injury forced him to leave the Marine Corps on medical retirement a year later.
Back in New Orleans, small talk with neighbors and friends about desk jobs and football games could be mind numbing. He remembers the fog that seemed to settle in around him after getting the first call about a Marine he knew from his years at the U.S. Naval Academy who was killed in combat. There would be two such calls.
Armbruster was a Marine; he always would be. At the same time, he wasn’t anymore. Not in the career sense. He needed his next mission.
“All I knew was that I wasn’t ready to go to work for someone else,” Armbruster said.
Armbruster, who started his own construction firm after leaving the military, has since met dozens of ex-military who went through the same struggle. He started VetLaunch in 2014 to help link veterans with resources to ease the transition from military to civilian life.
VetLaunch runs the Landing Zone, a 20,000-square-foot co-working space at the corner of Celeste and Religious streets with discounted rates for veterans, and a business accelerator for veterans and spouses of veterans looking to turn entrepreneurial ideas into startups.
