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This Is for the Immigrant Veterans Who Inspired My Fellowship

August 29th, 2017
By Jin Kong, Fellow


My name is Jin Kong. I am a husband and a father, an immigrant and a veteran. I am not a rarity, but one of many immigrant stories from my military days.

One friend told me he walked across the Mexico/US border with his mother at a very young age. He was deported then and later came back to the US legally. Another medic was a Southeast-Asian Buddhist who converted to Mormonism and married before our deployment. One of our infantry brothers immigrated from Argentina. He took an injury to one eye in the war while serving as a sniper. He later became a photographer and traversed Iraq while the war was still on, armed only with a camera and a local guide. Continue reading “This Is for the Immigrant Veterans Who Inspired My Fellowship”

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What It Means to Be Today’s Veteran

November 7, 2016

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Here at The Mission Continues, we have our own way of honoring Veterans Day. As a veteran service organization whose mission is to empower veterans to serve again in their communities, Veterans Day is one of our biggest opportunities to show the country that veterans can make a positive impact in cities for youth, for the environment, for other veterans, and everyone in between. To this end, we are mustering hundreds of veterans nationwide to serve in all kinds of service projects this Veterans Day weekend, and we invite civilians to come serve alongside us too. Continue reading “What It Means to Be Today’s Veteran”

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Who Do I Want to Be? Finding My Identity After the Military

October 22, 2016
By Ian McCall, Fellow Alum

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In recognition of his perseverance and dedication to service in the face of overwhelming adversity, Ian McCall received the Mark Weber Award at this year’s Delta Orientation. Through his fellowship, Ian launched a campaign for women’s empowerment which has grown exponentially through his efforts. He wrote children’s books to empower young girls, which was well received and supported by his community. But his six months as a Fellow were met with unforeseen challenges. This is his story — an adapted version of his speech to the Fellows of Delta Class 2016.

I’ve never felt as lost as I have since I’ve left service. I’ve repeatedly asked this question, and had life present it to me:  “Did going in make me who I am? Or did who I am make me go in?

They’re two very different questions. One assumes that the Marine Corps gave me some essential quality that I didn’t have already, without which I am less than or incomplete. The other assumes that I gave some essential quality to the Marine Corps, some quality I came with, then went out into the world with, without which the world is incomplete.

Continue reading “Who Do I Want to Be? Finding My Identity After the Military”