Founder story
Why I started The Service Connection Project
My name is Kyle Paneto, and I served for seven years in the Army National Guard.
When I joined, I wasn't planning on making the military my whole life. I was young, looking for a way to help pay for college, and interested in experiencing military culture while still building a civilian future. I understood that deployment was always possible and would go if I was needed, but deployment wasn't why I joined.
During those seven years, I was activated for two nearly year-long humanitarian missions. The first came during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I supported relief operations in New York City, including food distribution and security at testing sites. Years later, I was activated again during New York's asylum-seeker response, working in migrant shelter operations alongside soldiers, civilian agencies, and newly arrived families.
Each period of active service opened the door to benefits and programs I barely understood. But when those missions ended, nobody really sat me down and explained what had changed, what I might now qualify for, or what opportunities I should be exploring.
So I learned the way a lot of veterans learn. I asked older soldiers questions. I talked to random veterans. I searched Reddit threads. I read government websites. I worked with my Veterans Service Officer, who helped where they could, but much of the process still depended on me first knowing what questions to ask.
The turning point came when an older veteran became a mentor to me. He consistently gave me his time. He met with me, listened to what I was trying to accomplish, and pushed me to look deeper into benefits and opportunities he believed I had earned. When I doubted whether I qualified for something, he encouraged me to pursue it anyway. When I was ready to accept “no,” he pushed me to keep asking questions.
And again and again, he was right.
The information had always been out there. What I had been missing was a connection.
Someone experienced enough to say: “I've been through this. You should look into this. Don't stop here.”
Later, while studying at the University of Chicago as part of the Posse Veterans community, I realized how common that experience was. I was surrounded by veterans from across the country with military experience, leadership ability, ambition, and access to an incredible university. And we were still asking many of the same questions:
- Do I qualify for this benefit?
- What is VR&E?
- Can I use this program?
- Who am I supposed to contact?
- How do I translate what I did in the military into something a school or employer understands?
- How do I figure out what comes next?
That experience became the foundation of The Service Connection Project.
We learn how to become service members. Nobody really teaches us how to become veterans.
The Service Connection Project was created to help close that gap: to connect veterans with resources, education, and, most importantly, other veterans willing to share what they have learned.
Because sometimes one conversation with the right person can change the direction of someone's life.