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Community Update — May 2026
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May Was Full. Here's What Took Root.
Oath & Oak builds community, storytelling, and AI readiness programs for veterans, military spouses, and caregivers. This month had a lot of it.
On May 1, veterans presented live AI projects at Demo Day in Leesburg, VA, closing out the first cohort of AI Mission Ready. Episode 4 of OakLines, our podcast about the lives veterans build after service, is out. Ted and Mika Cross sat down with Federal News Network to talk AI readiness and what Mission Ready proved. We sponsored the Hyperformance Foundation's 48-hour Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu endurance challenge and supported the CJ3 Foundation's charity golf tournament in Loudoun County. The Cohort 2 waitlist is open and filling.
If you read one thing today, read Section 01. Then send it to a veteran who needs it.
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01
AI Mission Ready
Cohort 1 finished. On May 1, veterans, spouses, and caregivers stood up at Demo Day in Leesburg and presented real AI workflows they built from scratch. Every participant agreed their AI skills and fluency improved. Every one said they would recommend the program.
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AI Mission Ready Faculty — Demo Day — May 1, 2026
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100%
Improved their AI skills and fluency. Zero negative responses.
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12+ hrs
Reclaimed weekly by one owner whose workflow now runs three marketing channels.
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90%
Want to return as AI coaches for future cohorts.
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5
Branches represented. Army to Coast Guard. Vietnam to post-9/11.
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AI Mission Ready — Cohort 1
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Ted Adair & COL (Ret.) Kris Saling
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Founding Faculty
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AI Mission Ready is a five-week cohort for veterans, military spouses, and caregivers. Daily curriculum, weekly live coaching, and a real AI workflow built around your own work or life. No prior experience required. It closes with Demo Day, where everyone presents.
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"AI is not a settled thing, and I have my own reservations. But veterans, spouses, and caregivers cannot afford to be on the outside of it. These tools are already reshaping the jobs and benefits systems they navigate every day. The people who served shouldn't be on the outside of this. They should be building with it, on their own terms, for their own communities."
Ted Adair — Founder
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Demo Day Recap — May 1, 2026
Watch the AI Mission Ready Demo Day recap →
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"This course teaches the foundations of AI literacy — not just the tools, but how to think about use cases, with support along the way."
Cohort 1 Participant — May 2026
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Pass It On
Know someone who needs to be in the room?
Cohort 2 opens late summer. The fastest way to help is to put this in front of one veteran, spouse, or caregiver who'd be a fit. Share the waitlist:
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theoathandoak.com/ai-mission-ready-waitlist
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Joining yourself? Add your name to the waitlist →
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02
In the Press
| PRESS |
Federal News Network |
“As AI reshapes work, a new program is showing what it takes to keep up”
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The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton
Terry Gerton sat down with Ted Adair and Mika Cross on The Federal Drive to talk Mission Ready — veterans-led AI readiness, built around the DOL AI Fluency Framework.
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03
Welcoming Two New Advisors
Two people joined the Oath & Oak advisor team this month, and I want to take a minute to introduce them. Nina Atkin and Janie Scanlon, PhD are now serving as our Strategic & Technical Advisors.
Nina was our faculty MVP in standing up AI Mission Ready — advisor, coach, collaborator, and program anchor from the start. She thinks problem first, tool second, and she’s direct about the risks that AI hype glosses over. Her focus is on helping small businesses and team-oriented organizations find solutions that are appropriately sized, financially realistic, and secure.
Between the two of them, O&O now has real commercial data science depth sitting directly alongside our programs.
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Nina Atkin
Strategic & Technical Advisor
Nina holds an MS in Mathematics and Statistics from Georgetown and spent two decades leading AI and data science teams across financial services, healthcare, federal, and media — most recently running AI and data science for Warner Bros. Discovery across four streaming platforms and four global territories.
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Janie Scanlon, PhD
Strategic & Technical Advisor
Janie holds a PhD in Quantitative Methods from Penn and an MS in Statistics from Wharton, with nearly twenty years in AI and data science leadership — including a high-profile team at Warner Bros. Discovery — and deep roots in research design and experimentation.
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Read their full bios →
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04
Season One
OakLines Podcast
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EP04
Latest Episode
COL Herbert Irving Stern
West Point Class of 1941. World War II veteran. The oldest living graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He is 107 — and he sat down with us.
Listen →
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14 episodes recorded. 4 released. New episodes every other week. See all episodes →
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05
In the Community
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| MAY 1 |
Guitars for Vets at Demo Day |
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Guitars for Vets closed out the evening at Leesburg Junction. Robert Grealy led the chapter; Brian Cain at G4V national sent a personal note of thanks. The nonprofit pairs free guitars with one-on-one instruction for veterans coping with the physical and emotional wounds of service. It is healing through music — one veteran, one instrument, one chord at a time.
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Guitars for Vets — Demo Day — May 1, 2026
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06
What's Coming
| JUL 9 |
National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) Veterans Conference — Washington, DC |
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Breakout 6: Mission Ready — Preparing Veterans for the Age of AI
An interactive session with a hands-on Micro-Mission AI Learning Lab. July 9, 11 AM–noon, Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC. Presenters: Ted Adair, Mika Cross, COL (Ret.) Kris Saling. Over 100 proposals submitted — ours was selected.
Conference info →
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Ted Adair
Founder & President, The Oath & Oak
[email protected] · (202) 812-6458
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Thank You to Our Recent Sponsors
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1019B Edwards Ferry Rd. #1072, Leesburg, VA 20176
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