Every Veterans Day, our social feeds fill up with the same words: “Thank you for your service.” They’re well-intentioned, but words alone aren’t enough. Veterans didn’t just serve; they signed on the dotted line and swore an oath to protect this country, knowing full well the risks that came with that promise.
Many of them stood on a wall so that we could build businesses, innovate freely, and live safely under the protection of liberty.
If we as business leaders truly mean what we say every November, then it’s time to go beyond hashtags and heartfelt statements. It’s time to take concrete action. Veterans deserve more than gratitude; they deserve our respect, our opportunity, and our commitment to be worthy of their sacrifices.
Here’s my challenge to every founder, CEO, and business leader reading this: instead of just posting “Happy Veterans Day.”, you have the opportunity to make a real impact and do something that actually matters.
At an absolute minimum, we should never charge U.S. veterans to use our products or services. These men and women risked their lives for our freedom, and too often we turn around and charge them for access to the innovations and platforms they helped make possible through their service and sacrifice.
At TRULEO, we drew a hard line: we do not charge U.S. veterans for our software. Period.
It’s a small gesture, but a meaningful one. If you’re a veteran, you get to use TRULEO for free.
I’m calling on other business leaders to normalize this approach. If you operate in the public safety or technology sectors, make your products free for U.S. veterans. Build it into your business model. Don’t just give discounts. Don’t create marketing gimmicks. Build gratitude into your pricing.
This isn’t charity; it’s moral clarity. Veterans have already paid their share, often with their time, their health, and their peace of mind. The least we can do is meet their service with service of our own.
While we’re feeling patriotic this Veterans Day, let’s extend that sentiment to how we build.
At TRULEO, we’re proud to say that we are 100% made in the USA. Our engineering, design, and infrastructure… all American. We don’t outsource the creation of our AI platform to other countries.
Why does that matter? Because American taxpayers fund TRULEO. They pay us to deliver AI capabilities to American police officers. To offshore that development, whether to a friendly NATO country or to a rival in communist Asia, is, in my view, wrong.
It’s not just about economics; it’s about ethics and national security. Building AI for American law enforcement overseas sends a chilling message: that we don’t respect or understand the power and responsibility of what we’re creating. AI isn’t a commodity; it’s a force multiplier. To hand that creation to foreign developers, no matter how well-intentioned, is to undermine the very security and trust that our public safety institutions rely upon.
My hope is for a complete elimination of foreign-developed software for American policing. If you build products for public safety, build them in the U.S.. Keep the code, the data, and the expertise on American soil.
Our veterans didn’t fight to have our nation’s most critical technologies built elsewhere. And yes — offshoring to Vietnam or anywhere else may be cheaper, but that doesn’t make it right.
This Veterans Day, I’m not asking for more LinkedIn posts or Twitter threads. I’m asking for leadership — real, tangible leadership that honors service through action.
If you’re a founder, don’t just talk about values; price according to them. If you’re a technologist, build in America.
And if you’re an executive, stop optimizing for maximum extraction and start optimizing for maximum integrity.
We are forever in debt to the people who stood on the wall for us. The least we can do is stand for them, not just with our words, but with our work.