By way of Atlanta Public Schools I rose to one of the professions highest honors, the rank of Fire Chief in the City of Atlanta Fire Department. There I led the modernization of the department borrowing from the insights of those I met both at home and abroad.While the personal reward for my own service has been saving lives, enjoying stable employment and the privilege of achieving the position of Fire Chief, my closest associates and I have watched too many of another group that should be first languish - our nation's military heroes. Too often, these heroes have a difficult time finding work or are underemployed when they come back home from service. That's why I started Troops To Firefighters, a nonprofit that aims to transition military service members and their spouses to careers in fire service and 9-1-1 emergency call center operations.