CAO Message: A Thank-you and a New Form of Recognition for Our Veterans

Message from Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer:

County colleagues,

I hope you’ll enjoy the long Veterans Day holiday weekend, and I also hope you’ll take at least a few moments to feel gratitude for those we are honoring. I want to offer my own thanks to everyone who has risen to this noble form of public service: the veterans in our community, in your families, and the thousand-plus veterans we have working for the County.

To choose military life is to choose sacrifice. It’s long separations from loved ones and missing the comforts of home. It’s hard, dangerous work, with a constant potential for suffering harm or giving one’s life. Their vigilance allows the rest of us to go about our days enjoying the freedoms that we do.

It’s hard to say thank you enough. And singling out one day seems insufficient. We have a couple new ways we want to offer ongoing recognition of the veterans in our workforce.      

One is a Veteran Service Pin. For our employees who are veterans, we’re sending one to each of you. I hope you’ll wear it with pride.

We also invite you to include your veteran status in your email signature block. Depending on your job, co-workers may see that more often than your pin. Our new brand guidelines have an example of how that should look. 

We’re continuing the tradition of recognizing our veterans on InSite. It’s great to look through and see our colleagues and learn about their military careers, which can be such a big part of making someone who they are. Thank you to everyone who’s shared their story, and we invite any veterans to do the same.

Let me add in here my appreciation for all the families of service members. You endure long absences from your loved ones, worry about their safety, and manage households singlehandedly. Your support makes our armed forces more effective, and I recognize the tremendous amount of work and stress that it can be.  

Veterans make great County employees, and we’ve stepped up efforts to get more hired here. I also want to applaud all the work we do on behalf of the more than 200,000 veterans who live in the San Diego region. That includes a new initiative to get permanent housing for veterans experiencing homelessness. Veterans have given so much, and I’m glad anytime we can offer help in return.

To our veterans: We are lucky and proud to have you with us. I invite all employees to join me in expressing our thanks for your service.

Happy Veterans Day!