Next Friday is September 11, 2026. Twenty-five years.
I am spending that day in Austin with close to four hundred people, and I would like you to be one of them. If you cannot make it, forward this to someone who should be there. Honestly, that second ask may be the more valuable one.
Why this year is different
Every generation gets a handful of days it can place itself inside. Where you were. Who you called. What you did next. For a lot of us that day is September 11, 2001, and the hard part about a turning point is that remembering it is a choice. It does not happen on its own. It gets handed down on purpose, or it does not get handed down at all. For perspective, 1966 was the 25th anniversary of Pearl Harbor for the Baby Boomers.
Twenty-five years is also the length of a career. It is long enough that the young men and women enlisting today were not born when the towers came down. Every one of them volunteered anyway.
That is the second thing worth sitting with. We have run an all-volunteer force through a quarter century of war, and the share of American families with someone in uniform keeps getting smaller. The military world and the civilian world used to overlap in the neighborhood, at church, at work. Now, increasingly, they do not touch at all. Neither side is wrong about the other. They just do not know each other anymore.
So next Friday we are going to spend a day fixing a piece of that.
The invitation
As CEO and co-founder of Leading To Win, it is my honor to invite you to Austin on Friday, September 11.
STATION Austin, 701 Brazos Street. It’s a multi-level event designed to remember 9/11 as well as honor the fallen by living a life of meaning. The Career and Resource Fair opens at 10:00 AM. The main program runs from noon to 6:00 PM.
More than twenty workshops and mentor sessions across nine tracks, and fifty organizations on the fair floor. Every one of them either hires from the military and veteran community or provides services to it. The reason for putting that many organizations under one roof is to bridge the gaps inside the military and veteran community, where a family that needs three organizations usually has to go find all three on its own. The bigger reason is to bridge the gap between the military and civilian worlds.
Topics include:
Entrepreneurship and financing. From Battlefield to Boardroom, franchising for veteran owners, and where the capital actually is.
Technology and innovation. AI, autonomy and the future of national defense. Cybersecurity certifications that lead to real jobs. Launching and scaling dual-use ventures.
Workforce and career development. Navigating government careers, veteran workforce integration, and reskilling for the industries hiring right now.
Health, wellness and resilience. Preventing burnout, veteran mental health, and a session called Closing the Empathy Gap aimed squarely at the divide I just described.
Education and talent pipelines. SkillBridge, fellowships and internships, and using your GI Bill for more than school.
Policy and advocacy. Texas as a defense innovation hub, veterans in policy and politics, and an honest conversation about the future of the VSOs.
Networking and mentorship. Learning how to better lean on others to accomplish big ideas.
Identity and service. Finding Your Tribe, for the part of transition nobody puts on a resume.
Creative and storytelling. Tell Your Story, because the gap does not close until we can explain ourselves to each other.
We’re excited by the interest from others that led to all fifty tables on the fair floor being claimed, the fastest that has ever happened to us, and between those organizations there are nearly three thousand open jobs in the room on Friday.
Tickets are free for anyone currently serving, Guard and Reserve, veterans, DoD civilians, military spouses and Gold Star families. General admission is $15 for everyone else, and every sponsorship dollar comps another service member’s seat. Sponsorships are still open, and so is the waiting list for the fair floor.
Register at leading2win.org.
And then the ask I opened with, one more time. Who do you know who is in transition right now? Send them this. Somebody who walks in when the doors open at 10:00 AM can reach a dozen organizations before dinner.
Hit reply. I read every one.
For more on the event, check out my interview with Walt Maciborski on CBS Austin.
Take care,
Joseph
Joseph Kopser
Co-Founder, USTomorrow.us
P.S. Friday is the summit, and three community events surround it. Thursday the 10th is the Gold Star Families Reception at the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry. Saturday the 12th is the game-day tailgate with ROTC and student veterans. Sunday the 13th is the Travis Manion Foundation 9/11 Heroes Run at Lakeline Park in Cedar Park. Come for the day, or come for the weekend.
Joseph Kopser is a lifelong problem solver committed to building the teams needed to take on our toughest challenges. He is currently President of Grayline after he co-founded and served as CEO of RideScout, before it was acquired by Mercedes. He served in the U.S. Army for 20 years earning the Combat Action Badge, Army Ranger Tab and Bronze Star. He is a graduate of West Point with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and also received a Masters from the Harvard Kennedy School and former member of the Army Science Board. He was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for his efforts in Energy and Transportation as well as won the U.S. DOT Data Innovation Award. He co-authored the book, Catalyst, a book focused on helping teams adapt to change. He is the Chair of the Board of Advisors for the CleanTX, an economic development and professional association for energy innovation. In 2025, Joseph was selected for the Texas Business Hall of Fame Future Texas Business Legend Award. Joseph and his wife of 31 years, Amy, live in Austin and they are extremely proud of their three adult daughters living their best lives.