Injured Iraq War vet soldiers on as CEO of multi-million dollar company (VIDEO)

theGRIO VIDEO - When injuries forced him to return home from serving his country in Iraq, Richard Bennett said he struggled to find purpose in his life...

Todd Johnson

May 18, 2010

Perry Point, Maryland — Richard Bennett didn’t want to return home.

He wasn’t concerned about his own injuries to his brain and spinal cord—he just wanted to be with his fellow marines in Iraq.

When his injuries became more apparent to his superiors and he was sent back to the U.S., Bennett found a different world waiting for him. He struggled to hold part-time jobs for nearly five years and adjusting his aggressive personality to “civilian life.”

LEARN HOW IRAQ VET RICHARD BENNETT BECAME A CONSTRUCTION CEO:
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VIDEO shot by Todd Johnson>

“I couldn’t do much,” Bennet said of such jobs as car salesman and security guard. “I felt I was wasting my life…no purpose.”

Enter entrepreneur Craig Williams.

Williams read about Bennett’s story in a Philadelphia newspaper and was eager to help the former combat engineer.

“When I read about [Bennett], I thought, ‘this is a special individual,’” Williams said. “I saw an opportunity with the Veterans Administration to create a business opportunity for a veteran returning from Iraq.”

So in 2009, Fidelis Design and Construction was born—with Richard Bennett as its President and CEO.

With funding from the Obama administration’s Recovery Act , Fidelis is now a multi-million dollar company.

And because it qualifies as a service-disabled veteran owned company, Fidelis has secured several government contracts to work on Veterans Affairs medical centers.

“I feel like a big kid working in a super huge toolbox,” said Bennett, who was familiar with architectural drafting and blueprint reading before he became a marine. “There are a lot of veterans who I served with that are struggling to make ends meat. Believe me, I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

Unemployment rates for younger veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are more than double the national average. So Williams’ good deed could not have come at a better time.

“Bennett is the point guard for what we do,” said Williams, who serves as Vice-President of Fidelis while also running his own construction and management firm . “He had the background in construction, he served his country admirably—who can argue with that?”

Fidelis projects range from renovating facilities to repairing sidewalks and roads at several veterans medical centers, such as the Perry Point VA Medical Center in Perry Point, Md.

The company is projecting an excess of $10 million in revenue for 2010.

“I would love to pay it forward one day,” Bennett said. “Hopefully one, I’ll find a veteran that is looking for an opportunity—maybe in construction—and I can be a guide or change their lives the way Craig changed mine.”

Follow theGrio’s Todd Johnson on Twitter at @rantoddj