Calm Under Pressure: What Veterans Bring to Live Events

This Veterans Day, we're honoring the men and women who served and thinking about the transition many of them face next: coming home and finding civilian work that values what they bring.

Veterans already have skills that live event production depends on: planning under tight deadlines, keeping teams safe, following detailed schedules, and performing when the stakes are high. A 6 a.m. load-in with a showtime that won't move is much like a mission brief.

Our veterans bring that discipline to every show. Jim Fiebelkorn, Area Director of Venue Services at ON Site and a U.S. Navy veteran who served on submarines, put it this way: "My submarine service taught me how to remain cool under pressure, figuratively and literally in the depths of our oceans." In live events, technical challenges are inevitable. It's not if, but when. Staying calm and reassuring for your peers and clients is what drives the value we deliver.

SrA Schatz, a USAF veteran working as a lead audio engineer with our ON Tour and ON Events teams, describes the same mindset from the engineering side: "As a USAF vet, I'm coming from working with structure, checklists, and SOPs. The Live Events industry is in the same realm." Schatz also points to what the transition has meant for leadership: "Working for ON as a veteran has allowed me to continue and grow my skills not just as an engineer in audio but also to maintain leadership with fellow staff in audio and team building to ensure show deployment at 100%."

For over 40 years, we’ve delivered live events through audio, video, lighting, and staging. Veterans are a valued part of our workforce, bringing the discipline, reliability, and technical expertise our productions depend on.

If you're a veteran making this transition, your local Veterans Service Officer (VSO) can help you navigate benefits and next steps for free.

This Veterans Day, thank you for your service. If you know a veteran looking for work in live events, send them our way.