28/09/2026
Influencer is not a word I’d put next to my name. It’s most of why I almost skipped the Military Influencer Conference 2026, and why I walked in assuming it was well outside my strike zone and my comfort zone. Good thing I took a swing.
Something I tell veterans often: service can be part of your identity, but it shouldn’t be your whole personality. That’s what I watched all week. People who build brands, run companies, and make things for a living, who never had to lead with where they served to earn the room. The respect for the uniform was everywhere. It just didn’t dominate every conversation.
What I’ve missed in the twenty years out of uniform is the trust in keying the hand mic. Help was on the way. I’ve been on both ends of that, calling and answering, in some pretty gnarly situations. Business doesn’t work that way and isn’t built to. Shareholder value and mission impact don’t always run together, but we’re all better off when they do.
At MIC I watched veterans of every age and background put community value first. Look at the Mighty 25 and people like Michelle Lang along with the 24 other veterans, spouses, caregivers, and supporters recognized. Her Operation Honor: Rural Salute delivers services to rural veterans hours from the nearest VA, built out of what she and her husband didn’t find when they came home to rural Pennsylvania.
That’s the company I want to keep. We’re building connected military programming in Leesburg,VA at The Oath & Oak. Community building. Workforce development. And a bit of storytelling.
People ask about the name. The oath came first, sworn in front of Independence Hall in May 2000. The oak is our family name. Adair, in Gaelic, is the oak tree at the bend of the river. The bend is where the current runs hardest and the bank gives way. That’s where the tree does its work, and where we intend to be.
Thanks to the friends, family, sponsors, partners, coaches, and mentors who have backed it.
