Checking in on the 'New Jobless'

Since leaving the U.S. Army in March 2008, Adam Schulz, an Iraq war veteran and West Point grad, had been searching for someone who appreciated his battlefield leadership skills. After his story appeared in Fortune, he found that person -- the president of Allied Benefit Systems in Chicago, a third party administrator for health benefits, who read the article and invited Schultz to interview at Allied.

On March 16, Schulz started a job as manager of Allied's flexible spending department. Rather than leading a tank platoon, Schulz now leads a group of 10 white-collar workers, and after a bit of a transition period, says he realizes that his new job has a lot in common with his previous stint. "Finding a way to motivate people is very similar no matter where you are," he says. There are also plenty of differences: "If you tell a Private in the Army to do something, he's going to do it," he laughs. "Here you need to do a little more follow-up."

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