Doubt the carryover? Then just ask Brian Von Herbulis. He served with the Marine's special ops in three combat tours in Afghanistan and is now director of operations for Burger Construction.

Von, 43, spent much of his career in a world most of us only read about—as a commander of recon and special ops units while serving in the Marine Corps. During his time as a commander of special operations units, he led village stability operations throughout some of the most hostile areas of Southwest Afghanistan. For Von, who joined the Marines at the age of 25, life in the Marines was a perfect fit. “I grew up playing sports, and I needed that team atmosphere again,” he says. But the military life began to wear on the father of two, especially the stress of extended deployments. So in November, he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. The question was what next?

The answer came in the form of Jack Burger. Von had met the founder of Burger Construction when the firm provided assistance to his platoon as part of a NAIOP “Adopt a Platoon” program. The two struck up a friendship, and it became a natural fit for Von to come to work at Burger Construction when he returned to civilian life. And more importantly, Von says he can now plant roots in San Diego with his family.

Von now leads a construction management team at Burger. He says the job isn't all that different from being in the Marines. “It's project and team oriented. That's what I like about the construction industry. Every deployment in the military was a project,” he says. Among the construction projects he's coordinating are the build-out of 93k SF of office and lab space for Nordson Asymtek in Carlsbad and tenant improvements for DLA Piper at Wells Fargo Plaza (here).