Francisco Hernandez joins guest host, Travis Partington at Military Creator Con (MCC) to share their story as part of the MCC Live series.

Military Creator Con is the premier event for military-connected creators and entrepreneurs. Learn more: https://militarycreatorcon.com

Good morning. Good morning. My name is Travis. We are back here at Military Creator Con in Arlington, Texas. We're starting off today hot.

We are just going full throttle, full steam on the last day of this conference and I'm with my next guest, Francisco Marine Corps Warrant officer. Welcome to our ECAMM YouTube live studio, Ara Getsam.

What's going on, everybody? Thanks for having me. I appreciate it, Travis.

Absolutely, absolutely. What do you think about Military Queer Con so far?

It's, you know, when it was first thrown at me by my buddy Tom Long, who also kind of participated putting this together, he said, hey, you need to be here. And I was like, I'm there.

But what an amazing event where like minded individuals from different branches doing different things and our brothers and sisters just putting themselves out there, not only on social media, but other venues like podcasting. You know, I met a guy who runs a TV network.

I mean, all those great different things that we're all connecting and sharing and saying, hey, this is how I got here, so on and so forth. I think that there should be more,.

You know, tell me a little bit about your military story, what you did and what that was like.

Well, you and I were exchanging back and forth, so we're fellow brothers. I was in the Marine Corps. I did 21 years. Came in, enlisted right out of high school in Miami, Florida, then motor T by trade.

And the crazy thing is that after my first enlistment I, you know, I made it all the way to corporal. I got out and so I was like, oh, you know, I think I'm gonna try other things. But I'm that guy who was crazy enough to come back in.

Came back in Francisco as a.

They call, you know, it's a prior service program, but they call this retreads is what the. I'm a retread. So anyways, along the way and I, oh, part of that coming back in, I was demoted. That was part of the whole thing.

So I was behind my peers. Along the way I decided to become a warrant officer. So I ended up retiring as a motor T warrant officer. So it was cool.

You know, I've met a couple warrant officers. Is it true what they say that you all kind of just float around the periphery and come in there. We're gonna do it that way, sir.

And then kind of fade into the background. Is that what it's like?

Well, you know, like being like a professional skater?

Well, I didn't say it like that, but yeah, kind of.

No, not really. So there is a mis. Somewhat of that okay, what is this guy? What is this guy? Is he enlisted? Is he an officer?

I mean, we are initially, we are appointed, so we're not commissioned is when we get Chief 1, Officer 2. That's when we get our commission. But we have this notorious, not so labeled, like, oh, he's the lieutenant killer.

And he tells majors and captains to go pound sand. And there are some guys who are like that.

But one thing that when I became a warrant officer is I listen, the ass you chew today might be the one you kiss tomorrow. So I took that to heart.

And so I took it as a learning point, you know, guiding and mentoring lieutenants, or basically, I'm a good resource networking guy.

And that always paid me great dividends because the colonel's like, dude, why is it that I can't tell you no when you ask for stuff and everybody's like, dude, how do you ask the old man for all that? And he always gives you the money, but he always tells us no.

I'm like, hey, I was a recruiter dog, so you need to make it happen, you know, so it does have.

Transference, the recruiting skills.

Oh, yes. Oh, my God. If everybody loves the di, right? You know, oh, my DI and everybody, by the way. And I'm still friends with the heavy.

The guys I used to crush us shout out to Carlos Serrano.

But as recruiter, I thought for me, the skill set that you get out of that, no disrespect to the DI's, amazing what they do, but the things and the skills that I got out of being a recruiter, to this day, I still use the Jedi mind.

So you're a warrant officer and you did motor T. Yes. And you do that for 21 years and you get out. Tell us, what was your transition experience like coming back into civilian life for the.

For the final time, you know, because I had the pleasure of getting out twice.

Right.

I think the deal the DoD is doing is doing. It's gotten better. I usually go back to Camp palace, and I have a lot of clients there and a lot of my networks. I'm still connected.

And I've seen how their transition program has morphed and changed. I think we still can do a whole lot better getting on myself. Even the first time or 20 plus years later.

When you go through that transition period, it's like, okay, I'm trying to identify who I am. I've been in this bubble, so to speak, where, yeah, maybe somewhat of a small, little big fish or, you know, I've made a name for myself.

But now who am I and how do I plug in? What's a resume, by the way? Do I, oh, I have to network now. I can't just tell people what to do. So going and teaching people is like, hey, nobody.

Jobs aren't just going to be handed to you. You need to work on your skill set. Not everything is oora kill. It's, yes, that sounds great.

You know, that sounds great.

You know, let's do that.

Yeah, right, let's not do that.

Exactly. And, you know, stop eating the fleet chow when you're in. You know what I'm saying?

Because that's going to help you big dividends transitioning out and learn how to use HR as a leverage because you don't have to do things that don't align morally or spiritually or whatever with you because, you know, that's how we were conditioned to be.

So, you know, maybe focusing on that I think will help a lot of veterans, because I went through some aches and pains myself, but those are learning lessons, too, that now I share through the platforms that I have as well.

You're at Military Creator Con now. How did you get connected with the conference and what's that been like for you?

You know, it's funny, I always. One thing that I always tell veterans, when I do, in a previous life, I was a safety guy. I did osha, and I still have my certs.

I made a pretty good name for myself in the west coast, so I teach a lot of those classes through vts, Veterans Transition Support. But one thing that. So I always preach network, network, network.

So I was on a networking platform, I met Tom Long, and it's like he's another brother from another mother from another branch. And we're like, dude, it's like the movie set brothers did we just become best friends? And he's. And so we. We kept going back and forth and then he.

He called me like, bro, I just got connected with Mara. You have to go to mcc. And I'm like, what is that? Oh, it's a military content creator convention. You got. And I was like, I'm like, stop. I'm there.

If you say I need to be there, I'm there. So. And it's been amazing, an amazing weekend. I love. I'm coming back next year. I'm a speaker next year. That's all I'm saying.

So you do safety, you do other things in the military space, advocacy space. How do you advocate for veterans now, Francisco?

So that's a great question. So obviously during the week, I'm Clark Kent. During the week, I'm a financial professional.

I help veterans and transitioning service members as well as retirees put strategies together, getting out, you know, not using sgli, vgli, all this. However, so what I paying it forward. I help veterans putting for their claims and benefits. Say, hey, look, you know, you don't have to pay claims.

And no disrespect to whoever does it, but, you know, I don't think we should be charging our brothers and sisters to get them better VA claims and benefit. You know what I'm saying? So I do it completely free. I help them put in. I use ChatGPT. I help. I teach you how to fish, so you do it on your own.

And as well as I'm out there advocating for our own, connecting vets to others, I'm like, hey, Travis, you should talk to, like, you know, as I mentioned, you should talk to Brian Colburn, because he does this. Da, da. You know, so that's how. And raising awareness. So wherever I can plug in and help vets, I'm in there. And I don't know if. How much can I.

How Marine can I be on this?

I don't want to be too Marine. Okay, so I'm feeling it, though.

Yeah. I mean, they're like a thong in a big girl. Let's just put it like that.

You're here now and what was the feeling like when you first walked in and saw everything up and realized there's no talk anymore? Like, we have a conference just for.

Us, you know, I wish, you know, woulda, shoulda could have had I known about this earlier, I would have been supporting it every year. And being here from the talks and hearing Mara and everybody else talk that, you know, look at where we're at.

Yesterday in the VIP room, Mara sat down with us, and she looks around, she goes, isn't this crazy? Look at this. It's like watching my kid grow.

And you know, what a great place where I can talk to other veterans, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, just from all kinds of other branches where we're like, dude, let's get together. Let's see how we can vibe and help each other out. So I hope that this keeps growing. It gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

Maybe for the bars in the local area, they're gonna have to restock them here, but, you know, or what if.

In three or four years we gotta move to a bigger venue because we have so many people here? Wouldn't that be, what a great problem to have Right.

I'm just saying, you know, so I hope that this keeps growing and growing and growing so that, you know, us veterans don't feel like, hey, do we have a voice? Or what other platoon as a civilian or maybe battalion or regiment can I plug into as a civilian where I can, you know, see my next adventure? Boom.

Mil con.

Absolutely. Absolutely. How can people connect with you, Francisco, about what you do and further, you know, themselves?

If they have questions, you can hit me up. You can find. I do. I do a podcast called the Field Op. You can find it on. I have a Facebook page. I also have a YouTube channel.

I'm on Spotify and all streaming platforms. In addition to that, you can also find me on TikTok at the field op, on Instagram, patrocorea3.

And you can also find me as Francisco Correa Hernandez on LinkedIn. You kill my father. Prepare to die.

Prepare to die. Love it. Francisco, thank you so much for stopping by and talking with us this morning. I'm Travis@militarycreatorcon this Saturday, April 18th.

Awesome. Simplify, brother.

Iraq. Get some.

Get [email protected].