(NewsNation) — Levi Rodgers, a retired Green Beret, went from a successful career in the military to a thriving career in real estate. Now, he’s helping other veterans do the same, and make the transition back to civilian life.
Rodgers enlisted in the Army in 1996, and was deployed all over the world as a Green Beret. During his last deployment in Afghanistan, he was badly injured when his vehicle was destroyed by an improvised explosive device. Everyone who was in the vehicle died, except Rodgers.
After experiencing third-degree burns and broken bones, he was in need of a new career. An encounter Rodgers had with a real estate agent helped him get one.
The agent talked Rodgers out of buying a double-wide trailer, and instead got the veteran a fixer-upper.
“That man putting 30 seconds of honesty towards me making a smart real estate decision really helped change the course of my entire life,” he said.
Transitioning from one job to the next is tough for anyone. Adding in the pressures of war, and coming off of long deployments, can make it harder.
“We have a lot of people that are facing physical and emotional issues due to their service,” Rodgers said. Starting out, Rodgers didn’t have a college education that was needed for some of the jobs he was looking into, sending him into a “downward spiral.”
“It wasn’t until this amazing experience came to fruition with real estate that I really found a career that let me have the time that I needed to go to medical appointments to really focus on successfully transitioning from the military and still earn a great income,” Rodgers said. “For every military family it’s different … We just have a lot more on our plate while trying to navigate into something that is completely new to us.”
According to Military Times, Rodgers was named the director of Keller Williams Military. It’s an initiative aimed at providing tools, training and camaraderie to veterans and their family members, the outlet reported.
“We have a lot of veterans that are already in real estate, and we have a lot of people that are serving veterans that are looking to make smart real estate decisions,” Rodgers said. “And so education internally to our agents that are already existing, and helping veterans day in day out, that’s very high on the priority list.”