Team Rubicon addresses two significant problems facing both the United States and the world, by using each to solve the other.  The first problem is an outmoded disaster response paradigm that lacks innovation, efficiency, and speed.  The second problem is a deluge of military veterans struggling to return to normal civilian life after ten years of war.  In Haiti, TR discovered that military veterans with skills cultivated on the battlefield – coordinated teamwork, decisive leadership, risk mitigation, and emergency medicine – were well prepared to respond to a natural disaster.  Quite unexpectedly, TR later discovered that this continuing service in disaster zones helps the veterans nearly as much as they aid the victims.

2.2 million Veterans return home after multiple tours to find a broken economy, with few ways to translate their skills into meaningful employment. Many veterans are having difficulties with the transition from military to civilian life, but TR is taking a new approach by engaging veterans as assets. TR empowers veterans to continue their service, provides them with an opportunity to utilize the skills they have learned, welcomes them to a community of veteran peers, and gives them the resources necessary to help with a successful transition home.

Since its creation in January 2010, TR has impacted thousands of lives – in Haiti, Chile, Burma, Pakistan, Sudan, and here at home, in Vermont, Maryland, Missouri, and Alabama.  TR reaches victims outside the scope of where traditional aid organizations venture; victims on the fringe.

The grant will fund TR’s annual mission to South Sudan, where TR is using medicine as a bridge towards peace between previously hostile tribes. In January 2010, a TR advisor brokered a peace initiative between the warring Dinka Bor and Murle tribes; if in one year there were no deaths (previously in the thousands), TR would return with a medical team and supplies to outfit destroyed clinics and train indigenous physicians. The initiative stuck and in January 2011, TR returned with a team of veterans and medics. They delivered a 40feet container of supplies, conducted up to 10 surgical cases per day, and created a transfer of services system where Murle patients are treated by Dinka physicians and vice versa. This unique approach is forcing previously hostile tribes to share in each other’s destiny through health care.

They are also organizing a half marathon to establish another level of collaboration and, ultimately, to find the first Olympian from South Sudan. They see collaboration through support as another opportunity to build pride and peace in the region.

According to 2010 financial records, Team Rubicon had total revenues of $275,193 and expenditures of $202,858.  The year-end balance as of 2010 was $71,588. 

Team Rubicon, as of 2011, has 3 full-time and numerous volunteers. 

Team Rubicon is an innovation in international aid—using existing “human capacity” to address need. Veterans, already trained and experienced in challenging situations, are equipped to immediately enter emergency situations while long-term humanitarian aid is established. Team Rubicon has become a resource and actively collaborates with many of the more well-established aid agencies. 

They come in with a specific set of skills and they are already trained for danger and disaster zones. They are the only ones on the ground because no one else is ready for deployment. They are an asset. They have partnered and have been seen as an asset to these organizations. They can go to dangerous areas because these other orgs might not be able to go. They provide the safety…veterans are ready.

The fact that Team Rubicon is a Millennial-created and -led organization is reflected in its model. Much like OPF, it was created as an innovative solution leveraging Millennial resources (veterans' time and talent) to help solve global problems. Traditional disaster relief is slow, expensive, and rigid. By quickly deploying veterans with specialized skill sets, Team Rubicon is able to mobilize relief efforts quickly, cheaply, and nimbly. This is an exceptionally creative, yet simple, solution.