Kevin Hedahl and his brother joined the military at the same time, a scenario many parents fear.

"This was before there was good communication between deployed troops and family members," he said. "It could be radio silence for months at a time,"

At just 23 years old, Kevin served with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, in the U.S. Army, working on a small combat team and temporarily leading an automatic weapons squad. Stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, in 2001, he still vividly remembers the morning of September 11.

"When September 11 happened, within minutes of the first plane hitting, we were already being woken up and told to get our bags out into the hallway because we were on a short recall."

Later that month, he was in Jordan preparing for operations.

Whether responding to domestic events or deployed overseas, Kevin's family would have been in the dark about his safety if not for the American Red Cross.

"Any time my mom wanted to make sure I was okay, or if something important happened back home, she went through the Red Cross. For example, my sister had a baby while I wasin basic training, and the notification came through the Red Cross," he said.

In time of critical family emergency, we work 24/7 to verify and send messages to services members and their military commands. We also help connect the military community and their families to resources in times of hardship through the Red Cross' Hero Care Network.

For Kevin, those messages were more than updates. They were reminders that even from thousands of miles away, he remained connected to home.

After finishing his military service in 2003, Kevin's ties to the Red Cross continued to grow.

"After college, I started doing nonprofit auditing with a medium-sized local firm that specialized in nonprofit and construction auditing. I focused on the nonprofit side,” he said. “The Red Cross was actually one of our clients."

Over the years, Kevin would see the organization from several different perspectives, building a career that has taken him through multiple departments and leadership roles.

In 2010 Kevin was looking for a job in California. He saw a Craigslist ad for the Red Cross and started as a staff accountant. He then moved to another finance team focused on government grants and community service programs. Years later, he applied both for the Leadership Education and Development program and for the Director of International Finance position.

"I figured I wanted at least one of them, but I ended up getting both," he said with a smile.

Today, Kevin serves as a senior community disaster program manager for the California Gold Country Region. This means he guides, leads and supports teams of employees and volunteers to deliver comfort and care in times of disaster. He helps build and sustain a workforce that ensures communities are prepared to respond when emergencies happen.

"I make sure my team is supported, has the resources they need, has direction, and has somewhere to go when they run into roadblocks, he said."

In many ways, Kevin's role at the Red Cross mimics his time as a leader in the Army.

"I think one of the biggest similarities is training. "We do a lot of very specialized work. If everybody isn't on the same page, working through a predetermined plan and trained consistently, the entire operation becomes harder."

But Kevin believes leadership is about more than training and operational readiness.

"You could lead through fear, or you could lead through connection with your team. In the Army, I chose to lead through compassion and understanding of my team, and that's something I brought with me to the Red Cross," he said.

That commitment to service extends beyond his day-to-day responsibilities. For the past several years, he has helped fellow veterans through developing and launching the Battle Buddy program, an employee-led forum that fosters professional development, connection and support across the organization nationwide.

"It's a mentorship program. We connect veterans or veteran-connected staff and volunteers with a mentor, and we have a series of classes that go along with it."

Supporting veterans takes a community. The American Red Cross is launching an external online community known as the Military 2 Veteran Network, or M2VN. It is designed to connect transitioning service members and veterans with trained volunteer leaders who understand the military journey, resources and one another as they navigate life beyond military service.

Today, Kevin may no longer wear a military uniform, but his mission remains remarkably similar. Whether responding to home fires, floods, earthquakes or large-scale disasters, he continues to serve others during some of their most challenging moments.

When he enlisted in the military in 1999, Kevin was searching for a sense of purpose. Nearly three decades later, he still finds it through service.

"Being with the Red Cross gives me purpose to come to work every day."

For Veterans Day, Kevin's story is a reminder that service does not end when military service concludes. For many veterans, it simply takes on a new form. Through the Red Cross, Kevin leads, supports others and serves his community every day.