BOISE, ID – Ross Dickman and Dan McGurkin know firsthand the difficulty of finding employment and transitioning to civilian life after a career in military service, although their experiences happened about a decade apart.
Now both men help other veterans and military spouses find employment. Last year, the national nonprofit Hire Heroes USA worked with Boise-based Mission43 to connect more than 378 people to jobs in Idaho, and this year the groups are working with more than 230 veterans and military spouses around the state.
Dickman is CEO of Hire Heroes USA, which provides one-on-one employment coaching and other services to connect veterans and military spouses with jobs. Dickman works closely with McGurkin, director of Mission43, which provides a range of services to active and former military members and their spouses statewide, including employment, education and engagement events to connect members.
The nation and Idaho nonprofits started working together around a decade ago, since the inception of Mission43.
“Over the last decade, we’ve found tremendous value in our national employment system plugging in at this local level, where our team members are on the ground, they’re part of this community, they are connected in the events,” Dickman said. “But they also are able to tap into our coaching expertise, our network across the country and really encourage both employers and individuals to think about living, working and making life here in Boise.”
Dickman was visiting Mission43’s headquarters Wednesday at the Idaho Outdoor Fieldhouse in Boise to participate in the 9/11 Miles of Remembrance 5K, scheduled for 5-8 p.m. Thursday, starting at Ann Morrison Park.
Mission43 launched in 2015 by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation with a goal of making Idaho “the most desirable state for life after the military, and value service,” according to its website.
Veterans face unique challenges in employment in Idaho
Dickman joined Hire Heroes USA in 2015 after serving 12 years in the U.S. Army, much of which spent as an AH-64D Apache helicopter pilot.
McGurkin, a Moscow-native, transitioned out of the military this summer and has been director at Mission43 for about two months. He had been an intelligence officer and infantry officer in the Marine Corps.
“It is hard to like to come to a place like Idaho and say, ‘all right, I’m here ready to use my skill set,’” McGurkin said.
Dickman faced a similar challenge, and noted that his metrics of success in the military didn’t have much bearing in the civilian workforce.
“How many hours, how many missions, how many combat engagements … Those were how we measured effectiveness when I was flying,” he said.
The specialized skills and metrics many veterans leave service with often don’t translate well in an interview. Both organizations are also focused on finding fulfilling careers for servicemembers, often looking for something with upward mobility.
Dickman said he sees a lot of veterans get put in highly specialized fields that may have matched their training but they get stuck there, with their leadership and other skills remaining under-utilized. He said some of these veterans’ skills would be applicable to a broader range of careers, but the people he works with struggle to articulate how and the employers struggle to understand it.
“There’s a really positive affinity for veterans and military spouses,” Dickman said, “but doesn’t always necessarily correlate to positive opportunities.”
Areas around Washington, D.C., with federal and other defense-related industries may offer more opportunities for some veterans with specialized skills, McGurkin said, but there are different kinds of opportunities in Idaho. Mission43 also offers education opportunities, such as programs to obtain certification in project management or cybersecurity.
McGurkin said there is sometimes a gap between the industry veterans are interested in joining and the opportunities in those industries in the Gem State.
He encourages people who are looking to move or return to Idaho to connect with other veterans here and get a sense of the environment as early in the process as they can and to be open-minded.
“The earlier you can start those conversations, the better,” McGurkin said.
Military spouses face high unemployment nationwide
Both organizations also have services for spouses of activity duty members and veterans. Those married to service members face even more unique challenges, with an unemployment rate around 22%, five times higher than the civilian population. Constant moves can make it difficult to transfer certifications or find relevant opportunities.
Dickman said he met his spouse late in his military career while he was working at West Point Academy, so her experience with his active duty service was different from his colleagues who were on deployment cycles. However, upon his exit from service, the couple moved a few times and they learned that navigating different VA health systems was a challenge.
McGurkin said that he and his wife moved 11 times in the 13 years total he served in ROTC and in the Marines. During that time, his wife went back to school to get a graduate degree, and eventually chose to stay home with their three young children.
“Of all the people that we have met, we’ve seen people try to navigate it 100 different ways,” McGurkin said.
Correction: This story has been corrected at 9:33 a.m. Sept. 11, 2025, to reflect the accurate numbers of veterans and military spouses served in Idaho by Hire Heroes USA.
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