'225': Retired Marine's company puts returning vets to work

Published Jun 29, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Jun 29, 2012)

"Between the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Cuba-controlled territory is a perilous patch of earth called the Cactus Curtain," writes 225 Editor Jeff Roedel. "Spiked with a needle bed of Optunia cacti planted in 1961 to keep Cubans from defecting into U.S. custody, it is even deadlier as the second-largest minefield on the planet." In the summer of 1993, Joe Reagan checked into his first overseas assignment at Gitmo, where he and his brothers in arms tried to guide Cubans who attempted the dangerous crossing to safety. Now 37, Reagan is guiding veterans from deployment to employment at the offices of Semper Fi Staffing Solutions, the global workforce placement agency off Sherwood Forest Boulevard that he owns and operates. "You're terrified coming out," Reagan says. "In the service, you spend all your time knowing exactly what you are going to do and what's going to happen tomorrow." Read the full story here.