Why This Marine Corps Veteran Chose People Over Profit

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself—am I putting people first, or just chasing outcomes?

For the first time, David Tellefsen removes the armor.

In this episode, the 22-year Marine Corps veteran and Director of Veterans Services in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, shares what drives his passion for serving others—and why people must always come before profit.

We discuss leadership, the identity shift after the military, and the reality many veterans face when transitioning. David also breaks down common VA benefit misconceptions, the danger of comparison, and why focusing on your own journey matters.

This is a conversation about purpose, leadership, and putting people first—every time.

⏱️ Chapters

0:00 – Opening and Guest Teaser
0:25 – What Unarmored Talk Means
0:52 – From Military Family to Marines
2:50 – Why He Keeps Serving Veterans
7:18 – Identity After Leaving the Corps
10:05 – People First Leadership in Civilians
13:00 – Comparison and Disability Rating Traps
17:10 – The Indoc He Wishes He Took
19:15 – Finding Help Through County VSOs
20:22 – Closing Thoughts and Thanks

Transcript

Opening And Guest Teaser

Mario P. Fields 0:04

22 years serving in the Marine Corps faithfully and honorably and more. And now he's taking care of thousands of veterans in Fondue Lac, Lac County, Wisconsin. Our guest today, David Telefson. David, welcome to the show, man.

What Unarmor Talk Means

David Tellefsen 0:23

Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

From Military Family To Marines

Mario P. Fields 0:25

But before we get to our amazing guests, everyone, welcome to Unarmor Talk, where we remove the armor, have real conversations, and strengthen how we think and respond to life. David's the current director of veterans services out there in Wisconsin. And in his role, he's helping lots of veterans and families navigate the system and access benefits they've earned through their faithful and honorable service. David, can you tell the listeners and viewers a little bit more about who you are?

David Tellefsen 0:55

Sure. As you said, I uh did 22 years in the Marine Corps. Uh, grew up at Air Force Bratt. Uh my dad was uh he retired from the Air Force. I have a lot of family history in the military. They uh we cover all the branches except the uh Coast Guard. Uh so and I guess now the Space Force. It didn't exist back then. Uh but yeah, we uh I call Pensacola, Florida home. That's where I went to junior high and high school, uh moving around a lot. Uh I got lucky and was able to at least finish out of high school in one place. So, and then from there I joined the Marine Corps and then uh I ended up moving here to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin because my wife is from here. I met her when I was recruiting here, and uh this is where we decided to settle down to be closer to family.

Mario P. Fields 1:38

Man, that is that that is cool. First, Pensacola's near and dear to my heart, David. I mean, that's where my wife and I 31 years ago met and got married, had a her uh had our two beautiful children. And then number two, Air Force. I can see your dad, you turned 17, he's like, So are you gonna serve in the military? Yeah, dad. Yeah, Air Force, right? No Marines. How did that go down?

David Tellefsen 1:58

Uh it went down like uh the first question he asked was, Do you want us to have a family? And of course, at 17, uh, no, I don't want one right now, but I mean eventually I probably would. Uh so he said, Don't join the Marines then. That's the worst for uh families, uh, which is probably not a hundred percent wrong, right? Uh and uh then my mom uh she threw the recruiter off because uh she looked at him and said, Are they gonna beat him in boot camp? And uh she hit the recruiter, of course. Oh no ma'am, no ma'am, of course not. You know, we don't do that kind of stuff in the Marine Corps. And she looked him dead in the eyes and said, Well, they need to. So he didn't know what to do.

Why He Keeps Serving Veterans

Mario P. Fields 2:37

Recruiter is like, never had this situation before. Um, she's asking for beatings for my son. Um, no, that's that is that is so cool, man. Well, let's just jump right into it. You know, I've seen uh you and I when we first met, uh, you know, and and I asked you, have you done any interviews um that asked you what was it that inspired you to do what you're doing uh today? And you said no. Uh so let's let's remove the armor. What is it or what happened that made you say after 22 years I'm I'm gonna keep serving?

David Tellefsen 3:16

Uh I think it started with my you know, growing up, my family, my dad always put people first. Uh, you know, he the job was first, you know, he would always go to work and he'd bust his tail to provide for us, you know. And then uh uh, but if people needed anything and we weren't well off by no means, uh, you know, as far as the finances go. And so if you know we had food in our fridge and food on our table, and there's a neighbor in need or anything, they were invited, you know. And so I saw that. Uh, and then I joined the Marine Corps, and I know they say mission first in the Marine Corps, but I think I was taught a little different lesson uh throughout my time in the Marine Corps, and that was uh you can't have a mission without people. So uh I know we're second uh to the mission, but again, the mission doesn't exist without people. So Marine Corps taught me really well and and reinforced that people first mentality and you know putting everybody first. And uh I I really latched on to that, and that's what kept me in the Marine Corps for 22 years. It had nothing to do with the job, uh, especially toward the end, I was a first arm. And uh, as you know, that's not an easy job, and that doesn't make you want to stick around. Uh, it's the people that made me stick around. And so leaving the service, I knew I wanted to find a way to help veterans, especially with all the uh nonsense I saw with like scams and you know, people taking advantage of veterans and different, you know, different groups in general, but veterans specifically. And I wanted to be a part of something where I could uh be a productive member of society versus just retiring and you know doing my own thing and people forget about you, whatever. And that's fine. I don't need to be remembered for anything, but I definitely want to set a positive example for what veterans are because there's unfortunately, you know, the ones that have the loudest voices are the ones getting into trouble and people don't understand them all the time. And so I wanted to to really be a positive impact uh for folks. And I've I landed in this job by by happenstance. Uh it wasn't an advertised job. I didn't even know what a CVSO was, uh County Veteran Service Officer. I didn't know what really what it was when I retired. And uh so when I found this, this was the perfect fit for me. I get to help veterans, their families, I get to help be an influence in the community, and I like to think I'm being a positive influence. So hopefully I am.

Mario P. Fields 5:36

Yeah, you you definitely are. And for the parents out there, you guys heard David talk about the the influence from his his parents, you know, people first, humans first. And I'm with you, David. You remove the humans, ain't nothing happening. You come into work and uh, all right, team, what team? There's no humans, there's no people, and and I see that you're authentic and you're passionate um about that. And then first sergeant, first sergeant. Salute all the first sergeants out there. I think that's where my my little carpet, my little hair, I think that's where it went.

David Tellefsen 6:12

The the I got I got plenty for both of us.

Mario P. Fields 6:17

Yeah, and you just look like Wisconsin snow. That's true. Oh my god.

David Tellefsen 6:24

I get teased. This is uh Marine Corps hair, that's why it's gray. This is post-marine corps hair, that's why it's not gray.

Identity After Leaving The Corps

Mario P. Fields 6:33

Wow. So so now you're in your passion, you you know, you're still serving people with a lifetime commitment of helping people in this sense, veterans and um you know, and families. And and I 100% agree with you. There's so many, I've seen so many um false beliefs about all veterans. That's an honest statement. Oh, all veterans are like this, all veterans are broken. And I'm glad you brought brought that up. That no, it's not all veterans. I mean, what about us? Get us on CNN or whatever, Andrew. Put us on you know, all the positive things that veterans are doing, like David and others that's that's been on the show. Um, so a lot of veterans I've seen, and heck man, not just even veterans, just people period in any profession, struggle when they have to change. Um, in other words, they're a CEO of a company or they're serving in the military, the rank, if that goes away, then what's next? Did you ever, ever struggle with finding what what's next, or did it just happen?

David Tellefsen 7:34

No, it's it's uh, I mean, it did and didn't. So, and I see if I can phrase this properly. So, struggling is still happening. Uh, the change of leaving the Marine Corps, I still struggle with that. Uh, more than I wanted to admit uh when I first because when I got out, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna cut ties. I don't even need to tell people I was a veteran. I'll just get out and you know, grill my hair out and pretend I never did it, you know, because I don't want that to define me. Uh, but it it it was my entire adult life up until that point. I was a Marine, right? And I didn't I didn't truly grasp that concept and I didn't allow myself to to understand that. And so uh I found some I was able to land in some positive uh you know employment after service. Uh just you know, uh I was a recruiter uh back, you know, many, many, many, many years ago, and I learned how to sell things, you know, and so I could sell myself to a in a job interview. And so I was able to land some jobs because of that. And I was I'm also smart enough, I guess, or educated enough to put into uh words what I did in the Marine Corps to make it more civilian sounding, and that's a large part in you know, dealing with a lot of uh Marines that were getting out. I had to work with them to help build their resumes, and that helped me in the future. But yeah, I still struggle, but I definitely also just landed in this job. Uh, you know, I didn't didn't know what a CVSO was, and I got I got lucky. Uh the people that hired me for this, uh they believed in me, you know, they wanted to see what I had to offer and uh been doing it three years now, but it's it's not always easy. I I definitely have my moments. I uh I struggle still with the change, you know. Uh especially when you know current events, you know, war kicks off or whatever, and you're like, man, I need to be back there, but uh I'm too uh too old and broken for that, probably, you know.

Mario P. Fields 9:30

Yeah, we would uh we wouldn't do well. No. Mario probably pulled a hamstring before I get off the helicopter, you know what I mean?

David Tellefsen 9:39

That's right, yeah.

People First Leadership In Civilians

Mario P. Fields 9:40

So you know, one thing listening to you, David, is people first. And in the military, that is very and we'll say Marines, very positive things. Care for your Marines. Be there with them, be out front, lead them. In the private sector though, different. Have you ever struggled with profit? Yeah, I've seen this and I wanted to get your take where we're companies and cultures are profit first.

David Tellefsen 10:12

So you're yeah, so I absolutely dealt with that. Uh the profit first, and I actually incorporated like a Lance Corporal seminar in one of one of the jobs I had, uh similar, you know, where I was teaching the first line uh uh supervisors how to better lead. And I explained to them too, with like you were saying earlier, we show up to the building, there's no people, well, there's no j there's nothing to be done. And I have to explain that and show that to people like this building. We're in a county courthouse. Well, if I took all the people out of it because they didn't want to work here, well, you just have a building. You don't have you're not gonna have profits without them. And so you really have to make them understand that. And it is hard for people to understand because they just see the bottom dollar. But when you take care of the people properly, that bottom dollar goes up. And as long as you can show that, uh, that's how you get your buy-in, is showing them that by taking care of the people first, your profits actually go up.

Mario P. Fields 11:12

Man, I love this, everyone. I hope you listen. I don't care what industry you're in. Do not, do not put for sale your human resource or your people for profit. Reverse it, like David said. If you take care of the people, your profits are probably triple.

David Tellefsen 11:28

Absolutely. Yeah, nobody nobody takes a job or leaves a job because of the type of job. I could have the best job in the world, but if the people above me or the people around me are garbage, I'm gonna leave, you know. And that's you look, you ask anybody that leaves a business, they're leaving because of their bosses, not because of the job itself. There's very few jobs out there that I would say that people just absolutely would leave because of the job. And but if the people are good around you in a crappy job, you're gonna do that crappy job because you love the people that are with you.

Comparison And Disability Rating Traps

Mario P. Fields 12:03

Hey, well, 22 years now, okay. So when David, like three years ago, I was on a podcast, and and and the gentleman said, You when you Marines meet each other, it's like you've known each other since childhood, but that's not true. But if you watch your non-verbal, it's like it's like wow. He goes, What is it? I said, I think it's shared suffering. Absolutely, yeah. Like, like David said, Everyone, as Marines, there's there's there's a lot of tough moments, but we all love each other, you know. You know, for the most part, we're like a family. We have our disagreements, we have our internal struggles, but at the end of the day, we still have each other's back. Um in your position, is there if there's one thing you could pick out, one piece of advice you can give veterans and family members, um, what would you give them today?

David Tellefsen 13:01

That's a great question. I I think I mean that's there's so many things I want to say, but I think the biggest one is is uh that that term uh joy uh or comparison is the thief of joy. And uh when it comes to veterans and their families, we we did it in the military, we're gonna continue to it after the fact, and it continues to take away your joy. So I'll use the disability ratings, for example. If you're at 100% disability and I'm not, I'm wondering, well, why I need to get there because you know you're there, and I I know him. He do he he doesn't have things worse than I do, but he's got a higher rating than me. So I need to fight for this other rating. Stop doing that. It's all about you and your your circumstances. Everybody's is unique. Don't worry about if they've never been to combat and they have a higher rating or they were in combat and you weren't, it, you know, whichever direction you want to go.

Mario P. Fields 13:56

Right.

David Tellefsen 13:56

Stop worrying about what other people have and be happy and and just worry about what you have and what you can get uh and stop chasing those disability percentages because it's not it's not about the percentage, it's about getting taken care of uh or taking care of the problems that you actually have to get help with. Uh so if you stop chasing that percentage, you'll see that you're gonna be better off that way. Would it be nice to get to the 100% if you qualify for it? Absolutely, you know what I mean? And we're gonna there's people out there that will help fight to get you there uh if if it is necessary, but don't do it just because somebody else has it. You know, try try to take care of your current situation and worry about your world and not compare yourself to others. And I see it too often. We do it and we are just terrible at comparing. I do it myself. I constantly compare myself to other service members, and I'm like, I didn't do enough, I didn't do enough, and I still feel that way, and I'm a kettle calling the pot block here because I definitely have not learned this lesson yet. Uh, but I'm trying. Uh, and it's it's very tough to not compare myself to others in their service. Uh and you know, the things that I didn't do is what I was focusing on the most. And now I'm trying to transition into focus focusing on the things that I did do and not worry about what I didn't do because I didn't have a choice. I did what I was told to do is what I, you know, I went where I was told, I did what I was told, I did my best where I could. I failed in areas in the Marine Corps, I failed in areas of my life, and I still am and still will, and I just got to learn from those. And I think if everybody takes that advice and actually imply uh uh implements it, they'll be a lot better off. Uh, because believe me, I am not always joyful and I am definitely not always happy because I am still comparing myself, and if we can all stop doing that, we'd be a lot better off.

The Indoc He Wishes He Took

Mario P. Fields 15:46

David, I love that one. Comparison is the thief of joy. You you you when you said that, and and you you're right. I mean, I'm actually doing it. I do we do it subconsciously and consciously and to and to stop it, but you took me back to when I wasn't growing in junior high, and I was comparing myself to other people. We come back from summer break, and all the dudes, like everyone, even the females, like everyone grew like four or five inches over the summer, and I shrunk. I was like, wait a minute, you know, I mean, I topped out at five foot four. The Marine Corps shrunk me to five, two and a half. But so I love that, everyone. Veterans, I don't care who you are, if you're in college, you know, if you're short like me with a deep voice, or you're tall, whatever. Comparison is the thief of joy. I wish I'd have known you in junior high, man. Um and well said, again, everyone, focus on you, focus on your health, focus on your family, your future. Stop chasing metrics, stop trying to get to a metric. By the time you get there, you probably have you know, you didn't you didn't live, you know, that all that waste of time trying to chase something that's an unknown. And so looking back now, if if if you had to give yourself one piece of advice when you were 18, what would it be? Take the indoc.

David Tellefsen 17:16

Go go for it, you know. And that's I I told myself no too many times. Uh, and I let other people tell me no too many times when I first joined, uh, and when I was 18, and even before I joined, you know, and I I don't ever don't let anybody else tell you no. Don't tell yourself no. Do the end doc. Fail. Don't don't make it. Because at the end of the day, now you can walk away saying, hold your head up high, you tried. Uh failure has been a fear of mine, uh, and I regret that in my life. I regret fearing the failure because there's things that I probably avoided uh that I didn't do because I talked myself out of it, or I let somebody else talk me out of it based off of I was similar to you. Uh I joined at five foot six, uh, I was 115 pounds. So, you know, at 18, uh, I think I topped out at 129 at 18 years old. And I was uh I did grow in the Marine Corps, though. I didn't shrink like you. I grew I grew to five foot nine. Uh but uh but yeah, I I talked myself out of taking that sniper indock, I talked myself out of taking that recon indock, you know, those things because I was too little, I was too skinny, I was too this, too that, you know. Uh and I I really regret those decisions uh because did they would they have altered the course of my life today? Probably. And I'm glad that things worked out the way they do because I have a beautiful family. I'm you know, I'm doing well uh right now, and I'm happy for that. So who knows what life would have turned into had I done it, but I do look back and wish I would not have ever let somebody tell me no and and then went with that. Just go for it, take life, take life on, right?

Finding Help Through County VSOs

Mario P. Fields 19:00

I love it, everyone. You guys hear that. People can say whatever they want, that doesn't mean you have to do exactly what they recommend, and then the amount of wisdom you gain from life's journey, David. Um, before I let you go, my friend, because this has been wonderful. How can people find you?

David Tellefsen 19:16

Uh it's a great question. There you can find us. Uh there's a national uh website for county veteran service officers. You can go there or in Fonlec if you happen to be in this area. Uh, you know, the state of Wisconsin, we definitely have uh pretty pretty significant uh impact with veterans because every county in Wisconsin has a person like myself. So we have all 72 counties and 11 tribes covered. So we're 83 strong. Uh but they can contact our office at the Fondalac County uh websites, go to that and look up veterans, or you can call us at 920-929-3117 uh and get a hold of us. Because even if I'm not in your area, if you just have questions about veterans benefits or veterans uh things in general, we'll we'll be happy to point you in the right direction or try to help you out the best we can. So we'll we'll do our best.

Mario P. Fields 20:08

And Dave, that is cool. This has been fun, and and I am honored and thankful for you to take time out of your schedule to come on the show, my friend.

David Tellefsen 20:15

No, the honor's all mine. Thank you for having me. This is awesome.

Closing Thoughts And Thanks

Mario P. Fields 20:19

I appreciate it. Well, everyone, you guys know the deal. First of all, thank you for your continued support. You guys know the YouTube channel uh has multiple playlists, but uh Unarmor Talk is a big piece of my YouTube channel, and we just went over 1.6 million views. There's no way um that milestone um could have been achieved without the 150, 160 plus guests on the show, and then all the other support on the uh the contents on the YouTube shorts for the for the humor. If you're having a bad day, you just jump on those shorts and get get a laughter. But until next episode, I want everyone to stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit. God bless you all. Thanks, David. Thanks.