By Naeisha Rose
Lieutenant Colonel Justin Constantine, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, was the guest speaker at the Queens College Disabled Veterans Awareness Program last week in Flushing.
The Disabled Veterans Awareness Program was held Dec. 5 at the Rosenthal Library Auditorium in room 230 at Queens College, according to the CUNY school.
Constantine joined the Marine Corps while at the University of Denver School of Law and served on active duty as a JAG (judge advocate general) officer for six years. Then, as a reservist, he was deployed to as a Civil Affairs Team Leader while attached to an infantry battalion and during a combat patrol was shot in the head by a sniper in 2006, according to the retired lieutenant colonel.
Since retiring from the military, Constantine has received a Combat Action Ribbon, Commendation Medal and a Purple Heart, according to his website.
He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., with an advanced law degree in National Security Studies in 2014, practiced law for the Department of Justice and the counter-terrorism unit at the FBI.
Outside of law, he has become a motivational speaker and the author of the 2015 book “My Battlefield, Your Office: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines,” and wrote the 2018 guide “’We Will’ to ‘At Will’: A Handbook for Veteran Hiring, Transitioning and Thriving in the Workplace.”
He is also the Chief Business Development Officer of his own firm JobPath, one of the most robust and fastest growing veteran employment platforms in the country.
The retired lieutenant colonel is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, was named a Champion of Change by former President Barack Obama and was one of the wounded warriors painted by former President George W. Bush in 2017.
“When Navy Corpsman George Grant first rolled me over, I was no longer breathing. So I know that life can be tough and full obstacles. But trust me, life is also sweet, precious and beautiful. Life should be about celebration, not merely survival. So you need to turn life’s challenges and fight through them. If I can do it, so can anyone else,” said Constantine.
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
