“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.” – Steve Jobs
Mentorship has always been a cornerstone of military culture. From the first days of basic training to advanced leadership courses, service members should (but often do not) seek out more experienced peers or leaders who will guide, correct, and develop them. This culture of mentorship is not only about professional growth; it’s about ensuring that knowledge, discipline, and resilience are carried forward to the next generation.
Wisdom is Knowledge mixed with experience
During my time in the military, I focused on passing down wisdom in order to ensure that my subordinates didn’t face the same obstacles that I had to work through. Regardless of these obstacles standing in the way of mission success or their career success, ensuring the next level of leadership was prepared was the goal.
Yet when many service members transition out, that same culture of mentorship often gets left behind. Civilian careers, particularly in the national security sector, can feel transactional, competitive, and siloed. More often than not, a cleared position can leave you feeling isolated from those who can offer advice or assistance.
But mentorship does not have to end with a DD-214. In fact, cleared professionals in government and industry may benefit even more from adopting a deliberate mentorship culture. The result is building stronger pipelines, retaining talent, and ensuring institutional knowledge doesn’t disappear when one person leaves.
The Military Model of Mentorship
In uniform, mentorship isn’t a side project; it’s baked into the system. Noncommissioned officers shape junior troops, officers are taught to invest in subordinate development, and entire organizations measure success by how well they prepare the next echelon of leaders. That constant investment ensures continuity even in high-turnover or high-stress environments.
What makes the military model unique is its blend of formal structure and informal trust. You might (by regulation, you should) have an official sponsor assigned when you arrive at a unit, but you’ll also develop natural mentor relationships over after-hours conversations in the motor pool, one-on-one counseling sessions, or after-action reviews in the field. Both formal and informal mentorship channels matter.
What Mentorship Looks Like Across the Services
- Army: Noncommissioned officers mentor soldiers through daily leadership, hands-on training, and formal monthly counseling sessions that focus on growth and goals.
- Navy: Chiefs serve as the primary mentors for sailors, guiding professional development and resilience through the traditions of the Chief’s Mess (“Goat Locker”).
- Air Force: Professional Military Education (PME) pairs junior airmen and officers with senior mentors who provide career guidance, promotion prep, and leadership development.
- Marine Corps: Small-unit mentorship is central; corporals and sergeants mentor younger Marines in tactics, resilience, and adaptability, often through shared hardship.
- Coast Guard: In small crews, junior members receive early responsibility, with seasoned petty officers and warrant officers mentoring them on mission-critical tasks like Search-and-Rescue or law enforcement.
Why Cleared Professionals Need Mentorship Too
Civilian roles that require security clearances share many similarities with military work: high turnover, stressful missions, long onboarding times, and a steep learning curve. Yet cleared professionals often enter this space without the guidance networks that military members take for granted.
This absence creates problems. New hires may take years to become fully effective. Institutional knowledge is lost when senior employees retire or burn out. And many talented individuals leave the field early because they feel disconnected or unsupported. By cultivating a culture of mentorship, cleared communities can not only address these issues but also strengthen their workforce in the same way the military has for generations.
Mentorship as a Career Pipeline
The power of mentorship isn’t just about helping individuals succeed. It is about creating self-sustaining pipelines of talent. When experienced professionals invest in their peers, they pass down technical expertise, the unspoken rules of navigating complex, high-stakes environments, as well as a supportive office environment that is welcoming and creates less turnover.
For example, a cleared analyst mentoring a junior hire can explain more than just analytic tradecraft; they can provide insights on career progression, work-life balance, and how to handle the unique pressures of working in secrecy. Over time, this creates a cycle where today’s mentees become tomorrow’s mentors, ensuring continuity in sensitive missions and organizations. It forms a culture of mentorship and empathy.
Building a Mentorship Culture in Cleared Spaces
Unlike the military, most cleared organizations lack formal mentorship programs. That doesn’t mean they can’t build them. Simple, deliberate steps can make a difference:
- Encourage peer-to-peer guidance. Mentorship doesn’t always require hierarchy; colleagues at similar levels can learn from one another’s experiences.
- Create structured mentorship programs. Even small organizations can match newcomers with experienced professionals for scheduled check-ins.
- Normalize career conversations. Just as the military encourages talking about progression, civilian organizations should create safe spaces for employees to ask about career paths and professional development.
- By embedding mentorship into workplace culture, organizations move beyond transactional employment toward building enduring communities of practice.
Military mentorship was never about rank during my time serving. It was about preparing the next generation to succeed. My leadership and mentors believed this, and I carried it forward. Cleared professionals face missions that are just as critical, and they deserve the same support. By carrying forward the culture of mentorship into civilian national security roles, we can strengthen career pipelines, preserve institutional knowledge, and ensure that the mission continues long after one person signs out for the last time.
Mentorship doesn’t just shape individuals. It sustains the profession.
