This Veterans Day, we're reflecting on what it means to recognize military service, and how the systems we build can help turn a lifetime of experience into a lifetime of opportunity.

Every Veterans Day, we pause to recognize the millions of Americans who have served in our Armed Forces. We thank them for their sacrifice, their commitment, and their contributions.

But there's another kind of recognition worth talking about.

What does it mean to truly recognize someone's service? Not just through words of appreciation, but through systems that understand what they've learned, acknowledge what they've accomplished, and help them build on those experiences throughout their lives.

A service member leaving the military doesn't leave their experience behind. They carry years of training, leadership, education, and practical knowledge into whatever comes next. Yet civilian systems don't always recognize or communicate the full value of that experience.

It's a challenge that extends well beyond military service:

Our learning and employment systems don't always connect the experiences people have with the opportunities they're capable of pursuing.

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An Ecosystem Worth Connecting

The United States has an extraordinary ecosystem dedicated to supporting veterans. Colleges recognize military learning. Employers recruit veteran talent. Nonprofits provide career coaching, mentorship, and training. Government agencies and technology providers contribute specialized services.

There is no shortage of commitment, expertise, or innovation.

But these organizations often operate within separate systems, each holding different pieces of an individual's story.

A veteran might share their military experience with a career counselor, submit the same information to a university, rebuild their profile for a prospective employer, and start the process again when seeking specialized training or mentorship.

Imagine how much more effective that ecosystem could become if information, insights, and opportunities moved more easily between organizations, with veterans in control.

The opportunity isn't to build one more destination for veterans. It's to create the connective tissue that helps an entire ecosystem work better together.

"The veteran-serving community already has extraordinary organizations doing meaningful work. The opportunity at hand is to help connect these efforts so the value of each experience can carry forward, creating more opportunity for the people they serve." - Taylor Kendal, LEF Chief Trust and Community Officer

VetPass: A Veteran Career Passport

At the Learning Economy Foundation (LEF), we're building that connected future through VetPass, the Veteran Career Passport.

Built on LEF's open-source LearnCard infrastructure, VetPass is designed to give veterans a persistent, portable way to collect, understand, and share their skills, credentials, and experiences.

Military training records, education, professional credentials, and work experiences can contribute to a richer picture of what an individual knows and can do. AI-assisted insights can help veterans explore how those experiences relate to civilian careers and educational opportunities.

But the real potential of VetPass extends beyond the passport itself.

We envision VetPass as an ecosystem catalyst, helping existing organizations and their technologies become more useful together.

A career coach might help identify a promising direction. A college could recognize prior learning. An internship could produce verified evidence of new skills. An employer could better understand a candidate's capabilities.

With the veteran's explicit consent, information generated through one experience could inform the next.

Our collaboration with Hire Heroes USA is one example of this approach, exploring how veteran-controlled information and referrals can help service providers coordinate support across organizational boundaries.

No single organization needs to own the entire veteran journey. Each can contribute its expertise while helping individuals carry the value of those experiences forward.

Veterans First, Then for All

Veterans offer a compelling opportunity to demonstrate what connected learning and employment infrastructure can enable.

Their experiences span formal education, technical training, practical work, and leadership development. Much of that learning is documented, yet its value can be difficult to carry across institutional and employment boundaries.

But these challenges aren't unique to veterans.

Community college students, apprentices, career changers, and millions of other learners and workers face similar barriers.

VetPass is a veteran-focused expression of a much broader, technology-agnostic vision.

Through LearnCard and EducationOS, LEF is developing open, interoperable infrastructure that allows different tools, institutions, and platforms to participate without requiring everyone to adopt the same technology.

"Veterans are a powerful place to demonstrate what's possible because their experiences touch so many parts of the learning and employment ecosystem. If we can make those experiences more portable, connected, and actionable, we can help establish a model that benefits everyone." - Jonny Coreson, Director of Workforce Strategy & Navy veteran

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The goal isn't to create a system that everyone must join. Instead, it's to help create a world in which the systems people already use can work better together on their behalf.

A Different Kind of Recognition

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Veterans Day reminds us that service has lasting value.

Recognizing that value shouldn't end with a ceremony, a message of appreciation, or a line on a résumé.

Those who have served to protect the freedoms of others deserve the freedom to define their own futures. That means being able to carry their experiences forward, access meaningful opportunities, and chart their own paths.

At LEF, we're proud to contribute to that vision alongside the many organizations already doing remarkable work for those who have served.

Because honoring someone's past should also mean investing in their future.

And what we learn by building a more connected future for veterans may help us build one for everyone.

To learn more about VetPass, visit about.vetpass.app