Jeffrey Mittman: America's the only country in the world that logistically can pull that off, but more importantly has the will to pull that off.
Nate Spangle: Anyone that has a reason to wake up in the morning and go out and provide for their family or do whatever it is, like you start to get this sense of pride.
Jeffrey Mittman: Sometimes it's the individual's perception of their capability.
That's the great barriers. Changing those perceptions.
Nate Spangle: When you think about the stories, uh, from the impact that y'all are making, are there any that just stand out to you as like, this is why you get up every day? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today.
I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. This episode of Get IN is brought to you by Indy Grills and Outdoor Living. The team that turns boring backyards into Hangout heaven. They design and build custom patios, outdoor kitchens, and fireplaces made for real life.
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Again, visit indygrills.com and lock in your spot for the spring. Now let's get into today's episode. Today I'm joined by Jeffrey Mittman, president and CEO of Bosma Enterprises. He is a retired U.S. Army veteran. He was blinded by an IED in Iraq in 2005 and went on to become a national advocate for people with disabilities.
He is known and self-proclaimed as the luckiest man alive. He now leads Bosma Enterprises as the president and CEO. He oversees the company, which delivers goods and services to commercial and governmental entities. They are also the only comprehensive rehab center for the blind in the state of Indiana.
They provide vision rehabilitation to Hoosiers with vision loss. Bosma's mission is to create opportunities for Hoosiers who are blind or visually impaired. Today we're gonna dive into Jeff's story and talk about his almost 22 years of service in the United States Army. We're gonna talk about the impact you continue to make today as president and CEO of Bosma Enterprises.
And we're gonna talk about the state of Indiana 'cause this is the get in podcast. Jeff, welcome to the show.
Jeffrey Mittman: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Nate Spangle: Oh man. I have had this one circled for a minute. I have known about Bosma, uh, for a while. I think I first met a member of your team maybe. Two years ago.
Okay. When we, when I was kind of getting the podcast going and they're like, Hey, keep this story on your radar and, and you guys need to meet and you need to talk to Jeff and learn a little bit about your story. I've 22 ye, almost 22 years,
Jeffrey Mittman: almost 22 years.
Nate Spangle: A veteran. Yeah. Um, for the United States Army.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yes, absolutely.
It was an infantryman in the army. Best job in the world.
Nate Spangle: Best job in the world. Best
Jeffrey Mittman: job in
Nate Spangle: the world. The second best job then would be president and CEO of president
Jeffrey Mittman: and CEO of O.
Nate Spangle: And that's how you become the luckiest man alive, boys and girls. What age did you get into service for our country?
Jeffrey Mittman: Graduated from Warren Central on the east side of Indianapolis. Born, raised here in Indianapolis, warrior, uh, graduated. Went to college for a year and uh, decided, hey, college is expensive, but let me go off into the army, have them pay for college. But the intent of staying four years, getting out, going back to college, got in, loved it.
Stayed, uh, and went to college. So I came out of the army actually when I retired, I finished with four college degrees,
Nate Spangle: four
Jeffrey Mittman: college degrees, four college degrees. So. That was through my service. So I was able to do both. I was able to serve my country and, and stay. And then, you know, through four combat tours and all the deployments and the years overseas and the years away from home, uh, just becomes a part of your life, your family's life.
My wife, my children, me all understand that. So you all, you know, you're all as a team, you work as a team, uh, while you're, while you're doing. That just became our way of life and loved every minute of it.
Nate Spangle: So where, where's that one year of college at?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, IUPUI.
Nate Spangle: So you graduate from Warren Central?
Jeffrey Mittman: Go
Nate Spangle: to IUPUI. You head to to down. RIP Jags.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: You head downtown. Well, I guess there's still the Jags, but it's not There is IUPUI? Yeah. Yeah. So you head downtown, do that for a year, and then you're like, you know what? Let's go join the service. Where does that send you?
Jeffrey Mittman: That send As me to Fort Benning, Georgia at the time was the home of the infantry.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Uh, did you know, like, was there a selection process where you're like, okay, you could drive a truck, you could do this.
Jeffrey Mittman: So I'll tell you my whole career
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Is always by saying yes. I don't put a lot of thought into my career move. So I, uh, go to college and decide I want the Army to pay for it. I meet a recruiter who, I just talked to my recruiter probably two weeks ago, by the way.
Oh, it's been 36 years. I talked to him the other day. So I joined the Army. I go, I go downtown, the old MEPS center downtown. First question he asked me, he said, do you wanna be a combat infantryman? And I said, yes.
Nate Spangle: Sure
Jeffrey Mittman: there I go off to Fort Benning, Georgia to be a combat infantryman.
Didn
Nate Spangle: didn't even hear,
Jeffrey Mittman: didn't, I didn't hear any, I didn't hear any of the option.
Other options. Yeah. But every career move I've ever made has been that way.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. You just said you wanna be a combat in
Jeffrey Mittman: power saying Yes.
Nate Spangle: Okay. So that sends you down to Fort Benning, Georgia. Is that where you do like your basic training?
Jeffrey Mittman: You do? Yeah. You do? Uh, how long
Nate Spangle: is that?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, would've been about 13 weeks.
Nate Spangle: And had you been, like, are you sports growing up, working, growing up? Like what was your background?
Jeffrey Mittman: Both. I did sports, I worked, uh, I was very, I, but that's part of the reason I loved it. The physicality of it. Yeah. So every day I would, I didn't have office hours, right. I was either on a road marching down the road somewhere to range the train or I was going out to the field or I was deploying somewhere or I was on a helicopter.
I was whatever.
Nate Spangle: Was there ever a moment when you're getting there, you said yes to the first thing that came along and you're like. Son of a gun. I wish I would've listened to the other
Jeffrey Mittman: options. Well, it's probably when I was, uh, laying on the ground, uh, in Korea and it's about 10 below zero thinking, man, I should have been an accountant.
Right. But that, uh, that always, you know, wait, what? Years and years of that laying Yeah,
Nate Spangle: you're laying on the ground in Korea in negative 10 degree.
Jeffrey Mittman: Negative 10 degree weather.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Okay. Well, well let's go 'cause you did four tours of duty.
Jeffrey Mittman: Four combat tours.
Nate Spangle: Four combat tours of duty.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: What can you explain that?
Combat tours versus just normal.
Jeffrey Mittman: So obviously a combat tour. So I was in the first Gulf War.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. That's one. Then uh, after, uh, 9/11, I was in Afghanistan.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: With the 101st Airborne. And then I went to Iraq for the invasion. And then my last combat tour when I actually got hurt. I was an advisor to an Iraqi battalion.
Nate Spangle: Wow.
Jeffrey Mittman: So I had an Iraqi battalion that I would help plan, resource, and execute missions.
Nate Spangle: You finish up your time in basic training. Uhhuh, Fort Benning, Georgia. Yeah. I mean, you're at, you're combat infantry. So you knew I'm an infantryman. Yeah. Day day one. You knew that you guys were going to be activated somewhere.
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, at some point in time. Right? That's, that's your whole life. Yeah. So you train for that. You train for that happens sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't happen. Well, it happens.
Nate Spangle: What is the morale, kinda like locker room dynamic, let's say use a sports term there of guys that are preparing to go active duty, infantry.
Like they're gonna be in the, you guys are gonna be in the front lines of, of the conflicts.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. So it's, you hear it all the time. You're closer than family, right?
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: They become your brothers, you know, everybody goes to war for God and country and then when you get there, you fight for the God of your left or right.
So that's, that's what it really becomes. Um, my best friend today, I've known for 30 years.
Nate Spangle: That's a quote.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Everyone goes to war for God and country, but when you get over there, you're, you're fighting for the guy, fight
Jeffrey Mittman: for person to your left or right to your
Nate Spangle: left and your right.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Where was the first moment that, that was tested for you
Jeffrey Mittman: on a daily basis?
I think, you know, especially as I got, I, I got senior and I was leading men in combat. So I had infantry platoons and I'm leading them into combat and you realize the, their entire existence and survivability is on your shoulders. So you're seeing that. So you talk about taking things seriously and, and being hard.
You're not being hard for the sake of being hard. You're being hard for the sake of their survival. And I think that's where it really clicks as you, as you grow senior year and, you know, you've got 16, 17 years in the Army now you're platoon sergeant, you're a first sergeant, whatever you are, Sergeant Major, eventually you, you take that, that on.
You internalize that and you realize this is, I have to know this kid. I have to know about him. I have to know about his wife, I have to know about his kids, his family, his background. Because you spend 24 hours a day for a year with them.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: And uh, you get to know them and in that process you become very close even to your subordinates and your seniors, but you've become very close.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. What were maybe a few of the characteristics that helped you advance and become a leader of men in the army?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, I think it's always, I'd said the power of saying yes. Um, I never, never shy away from anything. I always. Exceeded work ethic, right? Yeah. So if you're gonna run five miles, I'm gonna run six.
If you're gonna walk 25 with a hundred pounds, I'll walk 50. It's the, it's that push, push, push. The competition of it. You're competing against your peers, but you're also competing against your own capabilities.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So that's that, that push, that drive is what always kept me driving forward and going and going and going.
And it's the same thing I applied today to Bosma. And you know, if you ask my team, they'd probably say I drive the hell out of them, but it's 'cause we're trying to be successful in trying to, trying to meet our mission.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. What, what years, so where was your first deployment overseas?
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, I was stationed, when I graduated, basically training.
I went to Germany. I was in Germany for two years and I came back and I was in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, then I was in Korea for a year. And then I was at Fort Benning for four or five years. I was a drill sergeant in the very place I went to basic training at for three years. And then I went to, where'd I go from Fort Benning?
I can't remember. I went back to Fort Campbell. Deployed. Deployed. Deployed. And Fort Drum is where I was actually ended my career when I got hurt.
Nate Spangle: So you really saw the world?
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah, quite a bit. I spent a couple years in Germany, spent time in Asia, spent a bunch of years in the Middle East and uh, central Asia.
So it's, uh, it's, a lot of people don't experience that in life.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. You know, you talk about you do one year of college and then you're like, you know what, let's go join.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Join the, the Army. And
Jeffrey Mittman: I'm in Germany in November. December, oh gosh. Timeframe. Yeah. So
Nate Spangle: you're talking about being in Korea, you're, it's negative 10.
You're laying on the ground. You're like, damn, I should have been an accountant. Like, was this like a training mission or like, what are you doing in
Jeffrey Mittman: Korea? Oh, we were out, uh, we were out on what's known as the, uh, MPRC, which is a multipurpose range complex. We were doing gunnery.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: And, uh, it's the winter in Korea and it's, it's what it is.
It's just cold.
Nate Spangle: It's just cold.
Jeffrey Mittman: It's just cold. It's not like you have housing out in the field. You're actually out in the field, you know? It's called a field. 'cause it is a field because you're living in field. Yeah. Because you're living in the field.
Nate Spangle: You're like, man, I could have been
Jeffrey Mittman: crunching
Nate Spangle: numbers on a spreadsheet
Jeffrey Mittman: back home.
Yeah. I could have been a teacher, whatever it was. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: But something, I mean, you, after that one, you could have like, you could've gotten out at any point. You know, you finish your, and what kept drawing you back in,
Jeffrey Mittman: uh, you grow to love it. So you actually, in a way, you know, we have a term, you know, embrace the suck.
You embrace it as a lifestyle. It's a, it's just like a professional athlete who's working out six hours a day and they're exhausted. Same thing. That's your job. So that's, it becomes a part of you and your, your habits and your daily habits and what you're doing, and you apply that to, uh, to everything you do.
So it just, it becomes what is,
Nate Spangle: yeah. Right. So you talk about serving in the first Gulf War.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Right. And then again after 9/11. 9/11, you end up in the Middle East. Yeah. Talk to me, was there a change in. Maybe not necessarily mindset, but, uh, morale or just like the purpose of what y'all are doing after September 11th, 2001.
Like, does, does anything change around that?
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, you gotta remember in 2001, the, the homeland was under attack, right?
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So that's kind of the, the force that's driving
Nate Spangle: you
Jeffrey Mittman: forward.
Nate Spangle: I mean, and you talk about, you know, serving for God and country, right? It's like this is, you know,
Jeffrey Mittman: God and country,
Nate Spangle: God and country, like to a T, right?
Yeah. Like I, I was a young, a young pup back in, in 2001, but I still remember, you know, that there was just like, like for me, I think I was like in kindergarten maybe, and it was like, there, it still rings out of like, there was just something, uh, culminating and happening amongst Americans.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: And how quick after that do you find yourself in the Middle East?
Jeffrey Mittman: Three or four months.
Nate Spangle: Three or four months. Yeah. You're, you're over there and you know, you guys are you. I would say working, that's like a very, like, yeah, this is, this is work. This is what you're doing. Right? Yeah. At that point,
Jeffrey Mittman: it is your job.
Nate Spangle: Right. Do you have a family at that
Jeffrey Mittman: point in 2000? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
I've got a wife and at that point, um, well, in Afghanistan, my youngest daughter was born while I was in Afghanistan, my oldest daughter was five. How,
Nate Spangle: how do you balance that? You have a wife and family at home. Mm-hmm. But you have this career as a mm-hmm. As a soldier.
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, you have to have a strong spouse, right?
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Have
Jeffrey Mittman: a strong spouse. So I always say that, uh, my children never had a choice being born, you know, to a soldier. My wife did.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So she married me, and, and here we are 33 years later. Right.
Nate Spangle: How old were you guys when you got married?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, I was 23. She was 20.
Nate Spangle: So you're still pretty fresh in the, in your career of service at that point, right?
Like four years? Uh,
Jeffrey Mittman: no. I would've been, uh, we got married in 93, so this would've been. Oh, one or two. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Oh, well, I mean, but when she, when you got married in nine, oh no, four years in, right?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, yeah, yeah,
Nate Spangle: yeah,
Jeffrey Mittman: yeah.
Nate Spangle: It was four years in. So, so it's like she gotta gets And you keep We're going back at it.
We're going back at it. Yeah, we're going back at it.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Um, what's like a lesson that you've learned from your wife through, uh, even from her being the spouse of a soldier?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, I'm not in charge at home, but you, you learn true dedication and, and love. Right. So I leave for a year,
Nate Spangle: a whole year,
Jeffrey Mittman: and then I, yeah.
For a whole year. And then I come back and I have to reintegrate into the,
Nate Spangle: yeah,
Jeffrey Mittman: into the family. And, and it's about trust too. 'cause now she's made all the decisions for a year. I have to trust that, 'cause I'm not here. Yeah, I have trust that, so it's that trust, I think that's built and I think the people who are successful at it, it's based on trust.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Man, that's, I can't, like, I think that one, it's courageous and everyone knows, you know, the life of a soldier, very courageous, very, you know, challenging. And then you think about the wife of a soldier or the spouse of a soldier. Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: It's the overlooked, uh, element a lot of times.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Family. The family,
Nate Spangle: yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: The sacrifice of the family, the spouse, the
Nate Spangle: children. And you think about, you know, like your kids too. Like that's hard too.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Um, especially then when, uh, we kind of foreshadow a little bit of like your career and your service doesn't, has a lot of, uh, let's say adversity when you talk about what happened in 2005.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Can you take us to, was it July 7th?
Jeffrey Mittman: July 7th? If you remember the day of the London bombings. It was the exact same day I was on. The eight man advisory team and we were moving out to link up with our Iraqis Go on a mission. I don't even know what mission it was. There were five of us going out and one of our interpreters just so happens I was driving one of the vehicles that day we switch out, so we're all senior NCOs or officers and uh, you know, you'd drive one day, you'd be in the gun one day, you command the vehicle one day you just switch out so you didn't get bored 'cause you're doing the same thing over and over and over.
And it was my turn to drive a second vehicle. And the convoy came down off of, or of two vehicle group came down off of a, uh, on ramp onto highway. Came under an overpass, came under the overpass, came out the other side. And then boom, they blew an ambush on us with an improvised explosive device, IED, that sent a projectile through our driver's.
My driver's side window came across my, uh, face through the radios that sat to my right and out the other side of an up-armored Humvee. Left the whole, the sides of my fist all the way through it. Uh, knocked me unconscious. Went up across the field, down into a canal full of water. And, uh, there I was unconscious.
And, uh, my teammates, of course in the, the lead vehicle heard the fight, came back into the secure the area. Had a nearby patrol that heard the fight. Young medic, I don't know how old he was, 20, 21 years old. I was his first combat casualty and he gets to me and, uh, I, uh, my team had got me out, got me behind cover.
'cause there was also some small arms fired mortar fire, I guess. And, uh, treated me, saved my life on the battlefield. Um, he got to me, thought I was dead. I had, uh, I'd lost my nose. My teeth was bloodied, couldn't, you know, couldn't talk. Um, they were able to get me onto, uh, a MEDEVAC bird. Get me out to the green zone if anybody remembers a green zone, which is probably only a five minute flight away at the time.
On an operating table, and then I start to regress back to the old Walter Reed in Washington, D.C.. So after getting hit on the battlefield, 72 hours later, I'm in Washington, DC at the hospital. It's an amazing feat. Logistically. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing that, uh, you know, I, I've always said that America's the only country in the world that logistically can pull that off, but more importantly has the will to pull that off.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So I was unconscious for a month,
Nate Spangle: A month.
Jeffrey Mittman: A month.
Nate Spangle: So this the recount, this is all Yeah. You know, other people like this medic telling you about his firsthand experience. Yeah. Uh, finding you
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. My team.
Nate Spangle: Yeah,
Jeffrey Mittman: yeah, yeah. After action review,
Nate Spangle: did, did anyone else in among your team get injured?
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Uh, one of my, uh, one of my teammates was in the gun and had a significant leg damage and, uh, concussion.
And we ended up spending, I think a year Walter Reed together.
Nate Spangle: No way.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah, the old one before he retired and left, I was in the army another four years as I went through medical treatment. So I spent the last quarter of my career in medical, medical treatment.
Nate Spangle: So this is 2005.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. I didn't retire until 2011 because I was still in the hospital and in and outta the hospital and everything.
Nate Spangle: Talk to me about the last thing, the last thing that you remember. The first person you're in this driver's seat and the first thing you remember,
Jeffrey Mittman: I don't remember being in the driver's seat. My last memory I was hit July 7th. My last memory is July 4th and we were actually, uh, firing fireworks off for the 4th of July in the middle of Baghdad.
And I was explained to one of my interpreters, what the 4th of July was. My next memory is sometime August 9th, eighth, ninth, 10th. My wife speaking to me at Walter Reed and I couldn't speak to her. I had a, you know, I had a hole in my throat and I was bandaid. I couldn't see speaker. Or walk. I was tied to the bed and everything.
So I remember hearing her voice talking to me. My first reactions, what the hell are you doing in Baghdad? 'cause my, I don't, I have no memory. I had no idea what had happened. And it took about two weeks to really come out of that fog. 'cause I was in a medically induced coma.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: It took 'em a long time to wake me up and you get all those drugs and everything and you're trying to absorb what had happened to you. So
Nate Spangle: yeah, like talk us through the process of understanding and internalizing. Yeah. That like your life is now completely different.
Jeffrey Mittman: Oh, it's completely different. So I remember her, she tells the story now that she, she talks about, I would wake up, she'd tell me a story, I'd go back out, wake up, not remember again.
She'd have to go through it. So my wife at the time is going through this over and over and over. Right. And so she has to tell me, and I slowly start to realize, you know, something's going on. So, you know, I had multiple injuries. I lost my nose, lost my teeth, lost my lips, had right arm and left arm damage.
And, and I remember and lost the majority of my eyesight. My left eye was completely destroyed. My right eye have no central vision, uh, from the injuries. And I remember when I'm talking about coming out of the fog and coming to the realization how things would be different when they had done surgery on my right arm, they'd removed my right index finger, which was my trigger finger.
And I remember thinking to myself and saying something to my wife once I, you know, at that, by then I could speak was, uh, well, you know, I guess my career's over, they don't have much need for an infantryman without trigger finger. Not thinking at any point in time that I couldn't see either. So, you know, to me I'm like, I can't pull a trigger.
What am I gonna do? Well, hey stupid, you can't see either. So, you know, co that's kind of the delirium you're in coming outta that. Yeah. And trying to absorb everything that's happened to you and realizing, oh crap. Yeah. Well my career's probably over now, so.
Nate Spangle: Well now this is, we're 20 years on the other side of this.
Yeah, yeah. And I dunno remembering back, but in the moment, like the emotions that you're feeling, is it one of like, why me? Is it one of I want to get revenge on these sobs? Or like, how are you feeling internally dealing with this dramatic change?
Jeffrey Mittman: It's funny you say why me, I can honestly say the only time I ever had a why me moment, it lasted about five minutes.
And, and I'll tell you why real quick.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: I had, uh, it was about a month after I was hit, my wife was there at Walter Reed with me. One of my fellow teams had come under attack and one of my. Close partners had been hit by the exact same type of device I was hit with and everything else. Instead of bringing him to Walter Reed, they took him to where the new Walter Reed is now the Naval Center in Bethesda.
So my wife had actually gone over to help his family and explained everything that happened, why they were gone. The eye surgeons would come in and talking to me and they'd take, they'd wheeled me down to the center, Walter Reed, and they were looking in my eyes, telling me the story and they, they finally get to the point where they say, Hey Jeff, your vision's gone forever.
It's not gonna, it's not gonna come back. And about that time my wife had shown back up and she found me down in the eye clinic. She got me in a wheelchair and she's pushing me back up to my room. And quite frankly, I started crying. I, you know, I hadn't cried since, I don't know, Nixon resigned. I'm having, you know, I'm, I'm going, oh my God, I can't see.
I got a wife, I got two children, you know, why did this happen? So we get up to the room, she gets me into the bed and she's sitting there holding my hand, talk to me, does this, to this day when I'm upset, she'll sit and hold my hand and talk to me. And, and as we're talking, we get word that my friend who she had visited had passed away and died, didn't make it.
And it was almost like a switch went off in my head. Why? What are you upset about? You know, you're sitting here with your wife, your children are safe, you're gonna be okay. You just gotta figure out a way to do it. So that was literally the only time I've ever, and it lasted five, 10 minutes, you know? And that's why I say I'm the luckiest man in the world.
Not 'cause my friend died because of lesson I learned so early.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So early. So from that point forward, I'm all right, let's go.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. 'cause had that not the, the exact same, you know, scenario that he's in and of much, much been worse. Sending
Jeffrey Mittman: could been
Nate Spangle: me. Could've been me. Yeah. What does the road to recovery look like from where you were in 2005?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, you know, I think recovery's a decision you make, you decide when you're recovered. Yeah. There's the physical aspects of it, right. And there's more, I could have done more, I could do, I had 40 operations.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. What were the things that had to be done?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, a lot of plastic surgery. They had to rebuild my entire, basically phase.
I broke every bone in my, you know, head basically. So they had to find, that's why some of my scars aren't related to injuries that related to the surgeries to replace other parts of my body. So taking parts of my ribs, parts of my bone outta my arm, taking an artery outta my arm to run blood to my new nose, to things like that.
So there's a lot of reconstructive, a lot of plastic, a lot of orthopedic surgery, a lot of, a lot of that going on. So
Nate Spangle: how long did it take for you to feel like. Okay. Like, I'm gonna, I'm not just gonna survive. I'm gonna thrive.
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, you know, I don't know. I never doubted I would, I don't think,
Nate Spangle: where do you, where do you feel like that spirit comes from?
Jeffrey Mittman: I think it's partially the military training, right? Yeah. So it's the military training, but I think it's a reinforcement of probably something innate that I have the internal drive to do that. Right.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: I'm not saying it's special, I'm just saying it's what's there. You know, it's the same thing. You know, if I take over bosma, I'm gonna be the CEO and we're gonna be the best we can be.
If I do this, I'm going to be number one. It's the internal competition in me, partially, quite frankly. But then it's the military survival kick in and win type. Yeah. Type mental.
Nate Spangle: So it was another several years where you were still in the military. Mm-hmm. Going through, I mean, you're in the hospital
Jeffrey Mittman: and
Nate Spangle: outta
Jeffrey Mittman: the hospital.
Nate Spangle: How, how long did you stay, like kinda in and outta the hospital?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, I was probably in initially three months.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Somewhere around there. But then I would have surgery. Recover for a month, surgery, recover for a month, and then you eventually get to 40 operations. Right. So it's, yeah, Speaker 13: there's your time.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: And then you make the decision to retire from the military.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Yeah. I told 'em I needed to retire.
Nate Spangle: What do you mean by that?
Jeffrey Mittman: They could keep operating on me. Right. They're more plastic surgeries. They could do, there were more cosmetic surgeries they could do, but you know, at that point I was at 21 years and 21 years, seven months and 28 days I believe.
And I said, you know what, you know, it's time for me to get on with my life and do something different
Nate Spangle: because you could have just, you know, continued to,
Jeffrey Mittman: I continued it. Try
Nate Spangle: like rehab
Jeffrey Mittman: the doctor. Yeah. The doctor's operate on you forever if you let 'em. Right. So, yeah. It's, it's to your benefit. Right. But, and my doctors told me that, they told me that at some point you'll be done.
Nate Spangle: At
Jeffrey Mittman: some, and that's what happened. At some point you'll say no more. Yeah. That's what happened.
Nate Spangle: And so you get there and then you have to go through this process of discovering what's next Uhhuh like, did you know like through those operations and stuff, like what you wanted to do?
Jeffrey Mittman: No, no,
Nate Spangle: no. You just, and then when, even when you retired, did you know what came next?
Jeffrey Mittman: No. So, well, I, by the time I retired I did, so what I started to do is in between operations, the Army allowed me to go out and start doing speaking events and talking to people and interviews and
Nate Spangle: yeah,
Jeffrey Mittman: everything else. So I would go out and I'd do, uh, talk somewhere and somebody in the crowd said, Hey, that was a great talk.
Won't you come speak at this organization, this organization? So eventually what ends up happening was I do, uh, a talk at a, I think it was an Employee of the year event for National Industries for the Blind. Uh, and then I come back the next year and I do another. Talk for them at their national conference.
When I come off the stage, the CEO goes, Jeff, what are you gonna do when you're retire? And I said, I don't know. He goes, he goes, why don't you come work for us? And I said, okay. It's just like my first
Nate Spangle: thing, didn't, didn't take options.
Jeffrey Mittman: So, so I've always talked about, I really don't set personal goals and I know a lot of people don't like this.
I don't set personal goals. I kind of prepare myself for opportunities.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So when it presents itself, I have to take it.
Nate Spangle: What was the organization?
Jeffrey Mittman: National Industries for the Blind.
Nate Spangle: Okay. So you say Yep. And what are you doing for them?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, I became a national account manager, believe it or not, for products going into the Department of Veterans Affairs, which by the way, are Bosma products.
Nate Spangle: Oh,
Jeffrey Mittman: now a little
Nate Spangle: foreshadowing.
Jeffrey Mittman: A little foreshadowing. Yeah. So Bosma Works. Bosma is one of the affiliated agencies with National Industries for the Blind.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: I didn't leave NIB and start working for Bosma. What I did was, and through my talks and everything else, somebody from Department of Defense had seen me.
Said, Hey, why don't you come work for us? I said, okay,
Nate Spangle: sure. So
Jeffrey Mittman: go ahead.
Nate Spangle: When you were giving these talks Yeah. What was, what was the overarching message that you were
Jeffrey Mittman: giving these I don't, yeah, I don't really have a direct message. So what I do is I tell kind of my situation, my recovery, and what I find is people apply their own lesson to their own life.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So, I, I mean, I've, I've done a speech in front of, you know, probably the, I think the biggest crowd is probably four or 5,000 people. And when I go to leave, I'll have other veterans who relate it to their service and their injuries or their career or whatever it is. Then I'll have somebody else who's not a veteran who say, you know, I kind of went through a hard time with my, my spouse and, you know, it was down.
So they apply it to whatever situation they're in. Yeah. So I don't, I don't, um, I don't really go into a room saying, I'm gonna teach you something. 'cause I think it's a little presumptive, but. You're grown, you're gonna take your own lesson from it.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. You're gonna hear your story. I think, I mean, already when you say like, your recovery is a choice, Uhhuh.
Right. And you talk about like this, you know, you hear this news about your friend.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: And you make this decision of like, I'm not gonna feel sorry for myself and I'm gonna go figure out.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: And, you know, pre or what, prepare yourself for opportunities.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: So the next opportunity comes and you end up leaving the national industry of blind
Jeffrey Mittman: industry for blind.
For the blind. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: For the blind. And go to the Department of Defense.
Jeffrey Mittman: I worked for Department of Defense for about seven years. They ended up being the acting director of communications there for DFAS, for Defense Finance and Accounting Service here in Indianapolis.
Nate Spangle: Okay.
Jeffrey Mittman: And, uh, while I'm doing that, the prior CEO of BOSMA industry or Bosma Enterprises had known me from my work at NIB and asked me to be on the board of Bosma.
Okay. And that's how I get to, I'm on the board of Bosma and then eventually. Hey, won't you come be the CEO of Bo?
Nate Spangle: Did you, was business something that was in your acumen, in your wheelhouse growing up or in your time in the service?
Jeffrey Mittman: Did you Yeah, I'm a, I'm a business major. I have an MBAI have, you know, so I think in numbers,
Nate Spangle: yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: If I'm making a run, I don't think I'm one mile into it. I think I'm a quarter of the way done. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: That type of knows how I process things. So yeah.
Nate Spangle: So this was like in your wheelhouse, like you getting into business making that transition
Jeffrey Mittman: and as part of the program that I worked in NIB, but what's amazing is as I've retrograded back and I've got to know all the organizations across the country, and the AbilityOne program, which is the program Bosma as a part of that employs people who are blind or visually impaired.
A lot of the products that they produce in the program are the very products I that they used on me, on the battlefield and in my recovery, whether it's the, the surgical gloves and the examination gloves, or it's the bandages they stop my bleeding with are actually produced like by agencies like Bosma Cross Country.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. And it's like sometimes people say it's like. You know, like, oh, we're, we're saving lives. Like, you know, it's like a long, but there it is. There it is there. It's the direct, the direct correlation. Like these products ended up saving your life.
Jeffrey Mittman: I, I always said, you know, when I was an infantryman, you know, I call, make a call and they drop something outta the helicopter.
To me, I had no idea where it came from. Well, now I'm on the other end of that. I'm seeing where it's coming from. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: For us, the, the, don't know. Talk us through what Bosma Enterprises is.
Jeffrey Mittman: So, Bosma Enterprises is 501(c)(3) and we have about 180 employees, half of whom are blinded, visually impaired, all the way from, uh, first line workers at the me as CEO. And, uh, we are the largest employer of blind people in Indiana. But our main business is we provide examination, surgical gloves, medical kits to the Department of Veterans Affairs. And we also, uh, domestic products to. The Department of Veterans Affairs. And then, uh, we do a lot of other things like, uh, IT consulting and Salesforce consulting and, and things like that.
But the whole idea is that we use that to employ people who are blind or visually impaired. And then we also have two other kind of wings to Bosma Enterprises. We have our. Our programs, which is the only comprehensive state and the only comprehensive blind rehabilitation program in the state of Indiana, where we serve about a thousand Hoosiers across the state every year who are blind or visually impaired or lost their vision.
And all 92 counties, by the way.
Nate Spangle: Hey.
Jeffrey Mittman: And then I also have the. Uh, the Bosma Visionary Opportunities Foundation, which is there to raise money to support programs, uh, in the long.
Nate Spangle: This episode is brought to you by our friends at the Kelley Evening MBA program. On this show, we talk a lot about how people across Indiana navigate, change, and tackle what comes next.
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You'll learn from world class Kelly faculty, collaborate with classmates from leading Hoosier companies, and apply what you learn at work the very next. Day. Whether you're looking to step into leadership pivot industries, or strengthen your business foundation, the Kelly Evening, MBA helps you move forward with confidence and without putting your life on pause.
Learn more about how the Kelley Evening MBA pays off at go.iu.edu/evening mba. That's go.iu.edu/evening mba. Or check the link in the description of this episode. We have it down there. Go check it out. Our friends of the Kelley Evening MBA program are awesome. Now let's get back into the episode. The starter is that this is a 501(c)(3).
Jeffrey Mittman: That's 501(c)(3)
Nate Spangle: nonprofit organization. Yeah. A lot of times those are, those are charities that is like literally, that's, that's
Jeffrey Mittman: what people think. It's charity. But Bosma is really a business with a mission. Our mission is to provide those opportunities to people who are buying, whether that's through employment in our warehousing distribution centers, or it's through the training in our.
In our programs, which is, you know, rehabilitation training. It's employment training for people. And it's, uh, we also have an, uh, a senior program where we go into the homes and help people later in life who've lost their vision, maintain their independence, and age in place.
Nate Spangle: How did, uh, Bosma get started?
Jeffrey Mittman: Gosh, Bosma started in 1915. It was originally a state agency. 1915. 1915. Yeah. So we're 110 years old this year.
Nate Spangle: Holy.
Jeffrey Mittman: Um, and I haven't been there the whole time.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: But they, uh, started a state agency, uh, about 1988. They privatized it. It's named after Charles Bosma, state Senator. Um, who had a, uh, a big heart and a push to help people with disabilities in the state.
His son was Brian Bosma, who was Speaker of Bandana and is the founding one of the founding board members of Enterprises when it was privatized and still on the board today.
Nate Spangle: Okay. Take me through that. Yeah. Yeah. 1915.
Jeffrey Mittman: 1915.
Nate Spangle: If someone was blind or visually impaired in 1915.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Yeah. They made brooms.
That's kind of it. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: They made what?
Jeffrey Mittman: Brooms
Nate Spangle: made.
Jeffrey Mittman: Brooms made brooms. That was really what they did.
Nate Spangle: And is that like what this, like what this organization helped them
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Do. Yeah. So it was state agency to employ people who are blind. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Like how many employees did you like?
Jeffrey Mittman: 19, 15? I don't know. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm just thinking like it was very tive. 'cause back then, obviously the perception is somebody who's blind is they have very limited capabilities of doing anything. Right. Nobody would ever thought 1915, that the CEO of Bosma would be somebody who's blind.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Or that my guys who were in the warehouse.
Can use technology, be visually impaired and go up into a rack three, four racks up in the air and pull products out because they have the technology to do it. Technology is a great equalizer.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and like the opportunity, you know, the
Jeffrey Mittman: opportunity
Nate Spangle: to do that, you talk about purpose and like having, I don't know, just like a, a, a job.
Like, I dunno, I think that anyone has a reason to wake up in the morning and go out and provide for their family or do whatever it is. Like, you start to get this sense of pride that comes with
Jeffrey Mittman: this. You get, you get the sense of pride and purpose. Right. And what you're doing is independence really comes through economic independence.
Yeah. If I have the, if I have the resources, I can do whatever I want, whether I'm cited or not. And what you find is that people who are blind, you know, only 50 something like 56% of the people who are blind or visually impaired are not working. And a lot of that's through, I think, other people's perceptions of their capabilities.
But sometimes it's the individual's perception of their capabilities.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: And having to change that. That's the great barriers. Changing those perceptions, whether it's their own or somebody else's and their capabilities.
Nate Spangle: Let's think about, let, let's say maybe you grow up somewhere where there aren't a ton of, maybe there's none.
Maybe you're the only blind or visually impaired person.
Jeffrey Mittman: I'm the first blind person I ever knew.
Nate Spangle: Isn't that crazy?
Jeffrey Mittman: So I woke up
Nate Spangle: and, and it's like, but then you go through, let's say you, you go through years and everyone is constantly saying, you know, they feel bad for you. They are sorry for you. And like, and if that is the life that everyone, and, and it's like, oh, you know?
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: You maybe start to feel like, oh yeah, you're right. Like. Maybe I shouldn't go work or shouldn't go do this thing or like,
Jeffrey Mittman: or maybe I can't.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Or maybe you can't.
Jeffrey Mittman: Maybe you can't. So yeah, you see a difference in that. You see a big difference in that and, and where we see it a lot is in our rehabilitation is a lot of times the barrier to get people there is their families.
'cause the family's reluctant, not sure it's safe, not sure it's appropriate, not sure it's the right thing to do, just 'cause they haven't been, it's not an evil choice on their part. It's, it's the lack of knowledge of what's available and what's capable, what's possible.
Nate Spangle: More than likely they never knew anyone
Jeffrey Mittman: that was blind.
Yeah. More than likely. Yeah. So it's a low incident. Uh, disability, quite frankly.
Nate Spangle: It's a what?
Jeffrey Mittman: Low incidents. There's not a lot, you know,
Nate Spangle: like how many blind people are there?
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. You see people in a wheelchair quite often.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Or in a car, but you don't see people who are blind. Part of that's, it's not that they're not there, it's a, you know, there's a lower occurrence of it, but there's also, they tend not to be on the public.
Nate Spangle: That is fascinating. And, and it is interesting that you, you know, you talked about that Uhhuh, your recovery was a choice for you, Uhhuh. You're like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna figure out what comes next and I'm gonna say yes to these opportunities and keep going. You end up as the CEO of Bosma.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: Leading.
You said there's 170 employees?
Jeffrey Mittman: A hundred, 7,000.
Nate Spangle: So, so that would mean you were the what, 85 people who were blind?
Jeffrey Mittman: 85.
Nate Spangle: And that's the number one employer of visually Indiana
Jeffrey Mittman: blind people in the state
Nate Spangle: of Indiana. Oh, blind people in the state of Indiana? Yeah. And what kind of jobs are they doing at Basma?
Jeffrey Mittman: So some are working in a warehouse, right? Some are pulling shipments, some are shipping, some are, uh, doing, uh, packaging. We do a lot of kiting and everything for the, uh, for the VA and other customers. So they're actually doing kits running shrink wrap machines and, and other items. Some of them are my salespeople, some of them are my vp.
Some of them are doing my social media. Um, and some of 'em are working in my programs, teaching other blind people. So it's throughout, throughout the organization.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Let's talk about some of the programming. You said you, you have, you serve all 92 counties in Indiana?
Jeffrey Mittman: I sure do. Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Like what's the entry point usually of someone uhhuh coming into your programming?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uhhuh the entry point, usually what we have is it's, they're working with the state vocational rehabilitation center, or they call us because they've heard of us. Or they've gone to bosma.org and sent in a request and my team's reached out to 'em. Um, so when, when you have somebody who's blind or visually impaired and they go to the state for help, state VR will refer 'em to Bosma, Bosma will evaluate, determine what they need.
Some people need to go back to work, some people need to go to school, some people need to stay with us for 16 weeks in our residential rehab center. And, and you do that evaluation, you give them what they need to be successful. Right? So there's a, there's a lot of that. And then when you have your seniors, we're going into their homes, helping them, you know, adapt to loss of vision.
A lot of times it's age related. You know, it could be macular degeneration or something else. They've lost their vision to helping them adjust to their environment with a lack of vision.
Nate Spangle: One thing about. People who are, you know, getting up there in ages. Change is hard. Change is hard with, with your eyesight.
Change is hard. Yeah. You know, like whether you get moved into different facilities or places like that, that can already be a change. And now you talk about adding in visual impairment on top of that. That's a lot of change.
Jeffrey Mittman: Not knowing where to go for the resources. Right. Yeah. So you're, you've lost your vision.
Like, well, like I said, who do you know who's blind? So what do I do know? Jeff? Where do I go? I know Jeff. Yeah. Now you know Jeff. Call me now. I know. Jeff, you call me and I'll hook you up. We're good.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: So when you think about the stories that you hear Uhhuh from the impact that y'all are making, are there any that just stand out to you as like, this is why you get up every day and
Jeffrey Mittman: do Yeah.
It's why you get up every day. So we have employees, we have clients, we have, and they all have their own individual story. But it's the renewal of hope. Right. Or it's the employee who's now sent their kid to college. It's their client who's now bought a home. They're now a homeowner or their kids are in college, or they're independent, they're no longer on, uh, disability payments.
They're, they're whatever it is, it's that opportunity you're providing them. Now, again, we provide the opportunity they have to take it, right? So it's the hard work that goes into it. But when they do, and you see that, that that change take place, it changes their perception of the future. Or the possible, right.
Yeah. What's possible now. And you hear that over and over and over and it's really, it's pretty amazing.
Nate Spangle: Is that challenging to, to lead and to get people like you present this opportunity mm-hmm. Uhhuh, but like, I'm sure the success rate of everyone that like thinks the way you think and want to do things the way that you wanna do and all that stuff is not 100%.
Yeah. I'm sure that, that sometimes you run into barriers there. Mm-hmm. Is that a hard thing to balance of like, I mean, obviously you are, you know, visually impaired and
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: And not everyone that has the same disability will have the same mental
Jeffrey Mittman: outcome
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Outcome and the same thought process behind it.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. I don't know that it's hard to balance.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. I mean, I think the numbers tell me that's gonna happen.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: The, the numbers behind. So, but I, I think what we have to be aware of is, uh, you know, I'm not a savior. What I can do is offer you the opportunity. Show you the opportunity, assist you in meeting it or taking advantage of it, but you gotta do it.
Nate Spangle: How long have you been the CEO at Bosma?
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, about six years. Uhhuh.
Nate Spangle: Six years ago when you came in, were people maybe a little apprehensive to like drill sergeant? Oh yeah. Drill sergeant Jeff coming in here to,
Jeffrey Mittman: I think they still are in some cases, but yeah. I can tell you I don't wear my, uh, heart on my sleeve, right.
Because I'm thinking, okay, here's the, here's the opportunity. Here it is. Let's go.
Nate Spangle: I mean, some people process emotions different and they process this adversity different than, than the way you did. Absolutely. How do you balance that with also you presenting this opportunity and you want to keep getting better and you have this internal competitive
Jeffrey Mittman: drive to go be the best?
I have good staff around me who can do that. Right. Um, so, you know, I think, I think what I really like is, you know, I, I'm out in front obviously in the, in the world, in the community representing Bosma, the individual basis, right? I have people who. That is their whole life is working with that client and adjusting to that client and giving that client what they need.
Right. Because when, when I look at something, when you say client, I may not say Yeah. When I'm talking about somebody who's coming into a rehab center. Okay, yeah. This is
Nate Spangle: like someone who,
Jeffrey Mittman: somebody who's lost their vision and they're coming in. Yeah. So I have, I have a whole team of professionals out there who's, that's their day to day everyday life is, is, is doing that and working with them and, and providing them what they need, because my experience is different than their experience.
Right. Yeah. And so I have, I have rehab specialists who are trained to do that. I have counselors who are trained to do that. Right. My true job is to spread the message. Provide resources. That's really my true job. And be the spokesperson and, and tell the story of the good things we do.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. And I do work with, uh, with people, but on a day to day it's my staff, whether it's on the business side or the rehab side.
Yeah. Who's working constantly to, to provide them and, and help them along. And again, but it still comes down to you gotta want to do it right.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Yeah. It's been over 20 years since your injury. How has technology and the innovation and advancements there changed your life?
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, technology's, as I said, is a great equalizer.
So, you know, computers speak to you. You can make a computer speak to you, you can, I can make my phone read things, I can take a picture of something, my phone will read it to me. Uh, when I get a text message, which is sometimes embarrassing when it's read in public, but I get, I get, I get text messages and I can have it read out loud.
Yeah. I don't have to see it. Right. So when I'm doing, I'll give you an example. When I worked at National Industries for the Blind, I was working with the contracting officer in Colorado, talk to 'em every day, providing information, providing information, had no idea I was visually impaired. And I showed up at their office for a meeting.
I had no idea it was visually impaired. And that's because of the technology. So the product they receive and the communications they receive and everything was the same.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So they had no idea.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. That,
Jeffrey Mittman: that's the technology of the levels of playing field,
Nate Spangle: isn't that? And then you're like walking through the grocery store and you're always like, your wife's like, I love you so much, sweetie.
Like, see you soon. It gets read out loud and you're good to go.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah, yeah. Or whatever it might be. Yeah. Yeah. Some my friends may say something different, but Yeah. Yeah. So it's great.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. You gotta, even the not not safer for,
Jeffrey Mittman: for, there's a couple infant entry words used on occasion.
Nate Spangle: Right. So, yeah. You know.
Exactly. Uh, are there other ways or other big innovations for people who are visually impaired? Obviously, you know, the phone reading it out to you and AI in that piece.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. Well we're looking, you know, I've got a, um, an AI group now looking to the future. How do we apply AI not only to our work inside the enterprises, but how do I use it and rehabilitation of people who are blind or visually impaired.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Whether that's goggles that tell you where you're at, what, whatever it is. I'm not smart enough to know. That's why I have other people. Right. Yeah. So, so we are looking at that and I think AI is gonna be a big push when it comes to the rehab side. It's gonna be interesting.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: The applications, it's gonna be a lot, like when I'm in the military, a lot of our civilian applications were originally military.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. And
Jeffrey Mittman: I think we're gonna see a lot of applications now that we may not see as useful for the blind. Used for the blind in the near future.
Nate Spangle: What are ways people like me, people like mm-hmm. Just general people that listen to this podcast.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: Can help ones support bosma. Yeah. And also be more cognizant of, you know, those, that, that might have visual impairments in Indiana.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. I think, well obviously bosma.org, you know, go to our website, send us a question, call us. We're happy to help out. If you know somebody who's blind or visually impaired, you know, send them our way.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: We're more than happy to do that. I think, uh, it takes research. Please visit. Donate. It's all right there@bosma.org.
All the information you possibly need. Yeah. What
Nate Spangle: are the things like from like a, a purchasing perspective? Uhhuh, you talk about health and safety items. Is that ice melt?
Jeffrey Mittman: Ice melt? We do ice melt. Yeah. Yeah. What, so you have ice on your sidewalks? Yeah, we provide ice melt.
Nate Spangle: I was gonna say, or is this like, you guys have, like customers that you, you know, you talked about the VA and other places like that.
Yeah. But like, can, can you
Jeffrey Mittman: call up and buy it? Yeah, absolutely.
Nate Spangle: What, what, yeah. What kind of stuff are you guys creating?
Jeffrey Mittman: So, so what you're gonna see there is a lot of medical items. So a lot of, again, the, the, the surgical gloves, examination, gloves, medical kits, as you said, ice melt if you need technology, Salesforce, I have a Salesforce consulting arm.
Wow. That helps people with Salesforce. It, we have something that's called BlindSquare. If you wanna make your buildings accessible, we can put BlindSquare in there. And what it really is, is an internal GPS system. So you download an app if you're blind or visually impaired, the app is. It can tell you where you are in the building and where you need to go.
So there's a, there's a lot of things out there. It's another technology that helps people who are blind. You see that we're putting those in, in, um, you see it in some state buildings and universities and things like that.
Nate Spangle: Wow.
Jeffrey Mittman: If you need help, we have the rehab. If you wanna donate, you do it right on the website.
So we're happy to, happy to help out wherever we can.
Nate Spangle: I love the fact that you say this is a business with a mission.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah, yeah.
Nate Spangle: Like, you guys are doing incredible things. I also love on here, uh, con, uh, talking about packaging and warehousing. Uhhuh, 99% plus accuracy rate, like
Jeffrey Mittman: 99.99. Nine nine
Nate Spangle: should keep
Jeffrey Mittman: going.
Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. Should keep
Jeffrey Mittman: going.
Nate Spangle: Absolutely. And it's like every piece of vibe that I get from you, uh, is like, this isn't. This isn't charity necessarily in like the way that maybe some people think about that. This is you are capable of doing incredible things they're
Jeffrey Mittman: capable of
Nate Spangle: doing. Yeah,
Jeffrey Mittman: absolutely.
Running, it's, it's about capabilities, right? Yeah. It's about capabilities, but the proper training, right? It's proper training we provide that.
Nate Spangle: Is there, is there someone in that, that may be blind or visually impaired that you get inspiration from?
Jeffrey Mittman: I'm often asked this like, who's your mentor? I think I have mentors for different things, but when I look across, uh, when I look across the, the blind community, I guess you'd say.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. I
Jeffrey Mittman: look at the, the ones who have been successful leaders, who have been successful leaders. I look at what they've done, how they've done it, take those lessons in and, and the results of what they've accomplished.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, but also look at people who aren't blind and look at what they've done.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: And how they've done it. Try to emulate that. So I think, uh, I don't necessarily look too blindness, however, when it comes to overcoming perceptions or barriers or communication issues. Right. Yeah. That's where I go.
Nate Spangle: What would you say to the people that have valid reasons? Uh, like, I think there are people, there are people out there that have valid reasons Absolutely.
Why they shouldn't succeed in whatever it is, right? You could call it,
Jeffrey Mittman: right?
Nate Spangle: You could call it sports, you could call it business, you could call it life, you could call it whatever it is. The odds are stacked against them.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: What do you say to those people? Uh, and like, what's the encouragement or the motivation or just the mindset that gotta have,
Jeffrey Mittman: you know, in my mind, if I don't try, I know what the result is.
I know, I know what the end result is. If I do nothing, I know where I'm at. You know, it's, it's what's up when I got hurt? You know, I think one of the, one of the other reasons I'm the luckiest man in the world is 'cause when I got hurt, I was 35, had a wife and two kids. So my injuries never relieved me of my responsibility as a husband and father.
That drove me too. Speaker 13: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: And because I knew if I did nothing, I was never gonna get up outta the hospital bed. I know what that result is. I don't know what the result is if I push forward, but I know it's better than this.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So I may not ever be ruler of the world. Right. But I'm gonna be more than somebody who lays in bed all day.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: So,
Nate Spangle: I mean, you've been featured in US Veterans Magazine. You've written for the IBJ. You've won, you know, lots and lots of awards and done a lot of very, very impressive things a hundred years from now when someone goes back and listens to this podcast. Yeah. What do you hope they say about you, Jeff, and what do you hope they say about Bosma Enterprises?
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, hopefully, well Bosma by that time will be, I don't know, employing 6,000 blind people across country or something, I'm sure. Mm-hmm. But me, you know what they say about me, I, I hope they look to my. Children, grandchildren, and see that they're successful
Nate Spangle: 2005, 20 years ago.
Jeffrey Mittman: Uhhuh
Nate Spangle: kids are all grown up.
Jeffrey Mittman: They are grown. Yep. They're successful.
Nate Spangle: They're successful. They're
Jeffrey Mittman: successful.
Nate Spangle: I mean, they have a heck of a role model to look up to.
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, they're their mom's really good. Yeah,
Nate Spangle: man. I think that, uh, that your journey and your story through adversity, it is like intense, you know, like not everyone, and, you know, most people in the world will not have that much adversity to, uh, to endure in their lifetime.
But it is a testament to whether, you know, I don't want to, you don't rate people's adversity versus another, but like whatever we're going through, there is this mindset change of, I think you just said it. Uh, you know what happens if you don't? Like, you know, the outcome if you,
Jeffrey Mittman: whatever, if I do nothing, whatever you're facing, I know.
I know the outcome if I do nothing.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. And I think that's just such a powerful testament, you know, whether it's your own journey with whatever it is, you know, the outcome that happens if you do nothing
Jeffrey Mittman: right,
Nate Spangle: and finding that internal drive and that, that choice that you made, that choice that we all can make every day, no matter what it is to go out there and be the change.
That we, so that it, so that we don't know the outcome. I think that's one of the great parts of life is yeah, when you put, when you try and you put that effort in, you have no idea what's gonna come down the pipeline.
Jeffrey Mittman: You, you don't. And that's the, you know, I said earlier, I really don't set individual goals because I find goals limiting.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right. Because you
Nate Spangle: find it
Jeffrey Mittman: limited. I find it limited
Nate Spangle: and you never, I feel like that soon as I do that too, it's like I create this one goal and like this crazy thing pops up, you know
Jeffrey Mittman: everything around
Nate Spangle: you. Yeah. You're like, and, and then all of a sudden the next thing comes up, you're like, wow. That wasn't on my goal sheet for the year.
But that's pretty cool. That's cool. Um, well, we've come to the end of the show where we talk all things about the state of Indiana. Sure. All your times where you went, you know, whether it was Fort Benning or it was Korea or Germany or the mid the Middle East. What was your favorite part of coming back home to the state of Indiana?
Jeffrey Mittman: Well, was being home, you know, I've been all around the world probably five times and I just, you feel comfortable here. This is where I was born and raised. So I come back here, uh, it's the, it's the Hoosier hospitality, quite frankly. That's what it is. You know, I live in New Palestine.
Nate Spangle: Oh,
Jeffrey Mittman: the
Nate Spangle: dragons.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
So, uh, when I was a kid, New Pal was way out in the middle of the country. Now I realize, man, it's like 10 minutes from where I grew up. It's like 15 minutes from where I grew up. Now
Nate Spangle: you're a suburb guy now.
Jeffrey Mittman: I was, yeah. So, so that, that feel of, uh, Indiana, it's the feel Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Feel. Was there like a specific spot?
Like, okay, you get off the plane, you're back home, Uhhuh and obviously see wife, kids, family,
Jeffrey Mittman: so yeah. So obviously wife, kids, and family. Before I got hurt, my parents, when I retired, came back. My parents lived in Greenfield and my in-laws lived in New Palestine.
Nate Spangle: Oh.
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, so. Before I ever retired. So when we come back, that's where we go.
And of course you got, you know, you're going out to New Palestine, you gotta go to Frosty Boy and get all that.
Nate Spangle: Everybody swears
Jeffrey Mittman: by Frosty Boy. Everybody's frosty boy. Yeah, yeah. No, my kids opening day. My in-laws, my mom, my kids, they're all there. I don't like staying, staying in line. But it's, uh, it's great.
So, I mean,
Nate Spangle: Hancock County has exploded. It has, I think over the past few years,
Jeffrey Mittman: it, it, it has, you know, I think we've gone so far, northwest and south. The only place to go is east.
Nate Spangle: The only place to, Hey, there we go.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Uh, I love it. I've, I've spent some time out in Greenfield.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Um, they're doing a lot of that area.
Yeah. Yeah. And they're, yeah. New pal's, like they're holding out though New Pal, like likes being rural. Like, very much so
Jeffrey Mittman: they like, but I'll tell you what, there's 20 new, there's gotta be 20 new neighborhoods out there in the last two decades, so
Nate Spangle: that's wild.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Um, okay. We've come to the part of the show where these are the same questions that we ask every guest who sits in that chair.
Sure. So this question is brought to you by friends at J.C. Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, Jeff, why do you call Indiana home?
Jeffrey Mittman: I was born and raised here. My wife is a Hoosier.
My kids are now Hoosiers. And, uh, it's where my people are.
Nate Spangle: Is where your people are.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Amen. We've all got people here, man.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: As you traveled around the world and you tell people, you know, I'm from Indiana. I've, if you could just shout it from the rooftops, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
Jeffrey Mittman: It's, uh, not all corn fields. Right. I, I, I'll tell you the, the greatest thing that ever happened in Indiana was cable tv. I remember being in Afghanistan and I said, I was from Indianapolis. I had an Afghan soldier yell to me, oh, Reggie Miller.
Nate Spangle: No way.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah. This would've been 2002, told me he'd been watching the Pacers on satellite TV or something.
Yeah. He knew Reggie Miller. Boom, baby. Right. So, uh, we are more in cornfields. There's, there's a lot here. Legend today. Indianapolis is, yeah. Indianapolis, central Indiana. Yeah. There's great towns all over the state.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. You mentioned Frosty Boy, Uhhuh. This is your opportunity to share another part of the state that's special to you.
That means a lot, that maybe not enough people are talking about.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
Jeffrey Mittman: A hidden gem in Indiana, I'll tell you, is, uh, I love South Bend.
Nate Spangle: Really? What do you love about South Bend?
Jeffrey Mittman: My wife's family's originally from there.
Nate Spangle: Really?
Jeffrey Mittman: And when I go there, I feel being from Central Indiana.
I almost feel like I've left my home area and it's close, but it's, it seems far away. It's just, it's just a different vibe there. I think it's the Notre Dame thing and it's the, the presence there of the university.
Nate Spangle: Yeah.
Jeffrey Mittman: Uh, and I think it's, I think it's a little different blooming. I love Bloomington Bloomington's one of my favorite places too.
When I go up there, you have Indiana, you're tied geographically to the Indiana University. Notre Dame's such an international presence. Yeah. You talk
Nate Spangle: about like tradition to tradition legacy,
Jeffrey Mittman: which we're built in Bloomington now, by the way, so Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Yeah. I mean, uh, KTI and the Hoosiers are rocking and rolling.
We love that. Yeah. Uh, but I do agree. There's just something when you walk on Notre Dame's campus too, it just, it just feels like there's something special there.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right.
Nate Spangle: You know, it's that, that classic God country Notre Dame.
Jeffrey Mittman: Right, right.
Nate Spangle: Final question for you. You sure this is your chance? This is where we get new guest recommendations and just learn about people doing big things across the state.
Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things.
Jeffrey Mittman: I think Oscar Gutierrez, Oscar Gutierrez, uh, runs boundaries. One of, uh, he does a lot of work with Bosma. He on a. Bosma board, but he, uh, does a lot of finance, does a lot of work with school systems and everything else, so I'd say Oscar Gutierrez.
Nate Spangle: Oscar Gutierrez. All right, we'll have to check him out. Jeff.
Jeffrey Mittman: Yeah.
Nate Spangle: Thank you so much for coming on the show today and sharing your journey. I know that you're not necessarily a motivational speaker that was here to get me rah rah fired up, but I am rah rah, fired up. I think it's really incredible the mindset that you have and, and just the way the work ethic, all the things that came from.
You know, when you go down to Fort Benning, Georgia, right. And join the service when you were a year outta high school to, you know, obviously your injury in 2005. Mm-hmm. And the way that you still find ways to thrive today and the way that you're, you know, inspiring and, and building this business that has a mission.
I think that the state of Indiana is great because there are people like you here doing these incredible things. It's a pleasure to get to share the microphone with you for a little bit. Keep up the good work. And if people wanna find you, if people wanna find Bosma, uh, how can they do that?
Jeffrey Mittman: Bosma dot org.
That easy. bosma.org.
Nate Spangle: bosma.org.
Jeffrey Mittman: It's all
Nate Spangle: good. There we go. Well, I'm excited if you are one of the people a hundred years from now listening to this show, just make sure, well, you said, employing thousands of people all across the country. That's the goal a hundred years from now. Appreciate you coming on and we'll talk soon.
Jeffrey Mittman: Thank you.
Nate Spangle: This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get.
