Edition: The Most Inspiring Veteran Leaders to Watch in 2026
Publication: The Global Success Review Magazine™
Leadership Beyond the Uniform: Turning Experience into a Mission of Service
Leadership is often measured by the responsibilities people carry, the challenges they overcome, and the impact they create. Yet some of the most meaningful leadership begins when a person recognizes that others are facing a difficult journey without the guidance they deserve. For Julie “Sarge” Muster Bryson, a U.S. Army veteran, author, and founder of Boots 2 Benefits LLC, that realization became a mission: helping veterans understand the benefits they earned through their service and ensuring they do not have to navigate a complicated system alone.
Her approach begins with a simple principle: listen first.
“Don’t just hear what the veteran is asking for. Truly listen.”
For Bryson, those words represent far more than a communication philosophy. They express the foundation of her leadership, her advocacy, and the relationship she seeks to build with every veteran and family member who turns to her for guidance. Behind a question about a disability claim may be years of uncertainty, an experience that has never been discussed, or the exhaustion of trying to understand a system that seems difficult to navigate. Before offering an answer, she believes an advocate must understand the person seeking help.
Known to many veterans as Sarge, Bryson has built her work around the idea that no veteran should feel alone while pursuing the support they have earned. Through Boots 2 Benefits LLC, her educational resources, and her broader charitable vision, she is working to make complicated information more accessible, understandable, and useful.
Her guiding motto captures that commitment: “You’re not 1. We’re 2. And together, we win.”
A Foundation Built Through Military Service
Bryson’s understanding of discipline, accountability, and service developed long before she founded her organization. Having experienced group homes and foster care between the ages of five and thirteen, she entered adulthood with an appreciation for resilience and the importance of finding direction through difficult circumstances.
At eighteen, shortly after graduating from high school, she joined the United States Army. Over more than eleven years of active-duty service, she developed the practical knowledge, attention to detail, and leadership skills that would later shape her approach to veteran advocacy.
Her military assignments took her to South Korea, Germany, and locations across the United States. Working in logistics, she learned that every responsibility required accurate documentation, careful preparation, and an understanding of the regulations governing the task. As a Property Book Noncommissioned Officer in Charge and a small-group instructor at the Ordnance Noncommissioned Officer Academy, she combined operational knowledge with a commitment to helping others perform their duties effectively.
In 1990, Bryson became the first woman named Fort Lee Soldier of the Year, a significant milestone in her military career. That same year, she received the Meritorious Service Medal while serving as a Specialist. In 1993, she graduated as the Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Quartermaster Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course.
Another defining experience came during Operation Joint Endeavor. Supporting operations connected with the mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary, she was the first boots on the ground establishing a Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration unit in Giessen, Germany, and later helped relocate it to Babenhausen.
These experiences reinforced a lesson that would remain central throughout her professional life: when responsibilities are complex, preparation and knowledge matter.
“Everything you do, down to your fingernails, has a regulation behind it,” Bryson reflects on military life.
Years later, that understanding of regulations would help her approach another challenging system, one that affected her and countless fellow veterans.
Choosing Family, Discovering a New Purpose
Although Bryson had envisioned a long military career and hoped to retire from the Army, life presented her with a difficult decision.
During her service, she experienced an extended separation from her oldest son while supporting Operation Joint Endeavor. The separation lasted sixteen months. Later, following the premature birth of her second son, she and her husband faced additional medical responsibilities and years of appointments and specialist care.
Both parents were soldiers, and the demands of military service had shaped their family life. With two young children and one requiring significant medical attention, they made the practical decision that one parent needed to remain at home. Her husband continued his military career, while Bryson stepped away from the profession that had defined much of her adult identity.
Leaving the Army was not simply a career change. It meant adjusting to civilian life after years of structure, responsibility, and military camaraderie.
Nevertheless, her commitment to service did not end with her uniform. It took a different form.
In Charles County, Maryland, Bryson served in county government, including as Assistant Chief of Staff, citizen response manager, and the county’s first Veteran Services Manager. She helped establish the Charles County Veterans Corner in 2017 and contributed to the creation of the Commission for Veterans Affairs in 2018.
Her responsibilities brought her into contact with veterans, spouses, caregivers, and families seeking answers about services and available support. She researched concerns, connected residents with relevant departments, and worked to strengthen the county’s responsiveness to veteran needs.
The experience taught her that effective leadership is not always about having an immediate answer. Sometimes it means acknowledging what is unknown, investigating the issue, and following through.
“I don’t know, but let me find out” became a practical expression of her approach.
As questions continued to arise, she discovered that many veterans were confronting similar challenges. Information existed, but understanding how to find it, interpret it, and apply it to individual circumstances was another matter entirely.
The Experience That Changed Everything
Bryson’s determination to understand the veterans’ benefits system became personal when she began examining her own Department of Veterans Affairs disability claim.
Despite her military background and years of experience working with regulations, she discovered that she had misunderstood important aspects of the process. She recalls receiving denials she struggled to interpret, having service-connected conditions rated at zero percent without understanding the significance, and losing potential back pay because of a later intent-to-file date.
Her experience revealed an important gap: knowing that a system exists does not necessarily mean knowing how to navigate it.
As she studied Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations, commonly known as 38 CFR, she began connecting the rules with her military records, medical history, and the criteria used to evaluate disability claims. She also learned the importance of reading an entire VA decision letter rather than stopping at its opening page.
The later pages can explain what the VA recognized, why a claim was denied, and what evidence may be missing. Military records, the wording used to describe a condition, and the way symptoms affect daily life over time can all be important to understanding an individual case.
Bryson also discovered that a denial does not necessarily end a veteran’s options and that an existing service-connected condition rated at zero percent may warrant reevaluation if it worsens.
One of the most consequential lessons concerned the timing of an intent to file. In her own case, she believes that a later filing date cost her a substantial amount of potential back pay. The experience demonstrated how unfamiliarity with procedural requirements can have lasting financial consequences.
For Bryson, this discovery became a turning point. If she had struggled despite her experience, education, and willingness to research, how many other veterans were facing the same confusion?
Her answer was to make the information easier to understand and to help veterans become more confident participants in their own claims.
“This is not the military,” she tells veterans. “You can say that you don’t agree. You can say that they’re wrong. And you can ask them to explain.”
The message is especially important for people accustomed to a military environment in which discipline and following lawful orders are fundamental. In the benefits process, veterans can ask questions, challenge decisions through applicable procedures, and seek clarification about their options.
Boots 2 Benefits: Knowledge, Dignity, and a Battle Buddy
What began as years of answering questions gradually became a defined mission. Bryson officially launched Boots 2 Benefits LLC on May 1, 2025, creating a platform through which veterans could receive educational and organizational guidance in understanding their VA benefits.
Her approach is deliberately practical. She helps veterans understand decision letters, locate relevant regulations, organize supporting documentation, and prepare to discuss their conditions and evidence. She encourages them to consider how their experiences relate to their military records and the applicable requirements.
Just as importantly, she believes the veteran must remain in control.
Boots 2 Benefits provides educational and organizational consulting; it does not file claims on clients’ behalf. Veterans submit their own claims or may work with an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative or other appropriately accredited professional. Bryson’s role is to help them understand their information and make informed decisions about their next steps.
She does not promise a particular disability rating or guarantee approval. Instead, she emphasizes what she can offer: attentive listening, research, practical explanations, and a commitment to follow through.
Accessibility is central to this model. Approximately 94 percent of her client hours are provided pro bono, and her stated commitment is to ensure that veterans do not face an upfront fee for the help she provides. Since 2025, she has served 26 veterans and families, with 24 paying nothing, while donating more than 355 hours to individual veterans and the Patriot Paws Plaza initiative.
Her work reflects the conviction that financial circumstances should not be the barrier preventing a veteran from understanding available resources.
The word “2” in Boots 2 Benefits explains the relationship she wants to establish. The veteran is the first “1,” bringing individual needs, experiences, and choices. Sarge is the second “1,” standing beside that person as a battle buddy. Together, they become the “2.”
That partnership does not require a veteran to be ready immediately. Some may want to explore information privately before speaking with anyone. Others may begin preparing documentation and later decide they are not emotionally ready to submit it. Bryson respects those decisions, recognizing that trust cannot be built through pressure.
Her philosophy is simple: support should remain available when the veteran is ready to move forward.
An Author Making Complicated Information Understandable
Bryson’s commitment to education extends beyond individual consultations. Recognizing that the same questions continued to arise, she began documenting the explanations she repeatedly shared with veterans.
Those notes eventually became Boots 2 Benefits: Operation FUBAR, published in October 2025 under the byline Sarge J. Muster Bryson. The book became a number-one Amazon Hot New Release in its category, extending her practical guidance to readers beyond her immediate community.
The publication is the first in a planned eight-book Operation series. Her writing focuses on making difficult subjects more approachable, providing readers with manageable information and encouraging them to understand their options before making decisions.
Her next planned book, Operation Still Standing, addresses survivors of military sexual trauma. The project reflects her recognition that survivors may face particular challenges when documenting experiences, understanding evidence requirements, or deciding whether they are ready to pursue a claim.
Bryson emphasizes the importance of allowing individuals to determine their own pace. Her intention is to offer clear explanations without dismissing the emotional complexity of revisiting traumatic experiences.
Her wider writing portfolio includes veteran profiles, leadership reflections, and work on family and education. Through these projects, she continues to develop an accessible voice grounded in experience, research, and a desire to help people navigate unfamiliar situations.
For Bryson, writing is another way to stand beside someone she may never meet personally. A book or free online resource can offer a starting point to a veteran who is not yet ready to ask for help.
Extending Service Beyond Individual Claims
Bryson’s vision reaches beyond benefits education. Through the IGY6.2 Movement, whose name means “I’ve Got Your Six, Too,” she is working toward a broader support ecosystem that can sustain pro bono services through donors, grants, fundraising, and other resources.
Her objective is to make assistance more sustainable without shifting financial pressure onto the veterans who need it. She also wants to share practical approaches with like-minded advocates who have relevant experience navigating the VA system.
Another important part of her community involvement is Patriot Paws Plaza, a memorial initiative honoring the bond between veterans and their service dogs. Having supported the project through volunteer work, Bryson helped advance an effort that recognizes the animals who have served alongside military personnel. The initiative’s kickoff took place on September 20, 2025, at the Maryland Veterans Memorial Museum’s Patriot Park in Newburg, Maryland.
Her involvement reflects a broader understanding of service: honoring veterans also means recognizing the relationships, sacrifices, and forms of support that have accompanied them.
She also hopes to establish a transportation venture serving veterans in Southern Maryland who face difficulties reaching VA appointments. Long journeys, limited transportation options, age, and disability can turn a medical visit into an exhausting undertaking. Her proposed initiative would seek to make transportation more dependable, prioritizing access to appointments and medication. It remains a future goal rather than an existing service.
Alongside these initiatives, Bryson serves on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Veterans Memorial Museum and has spent seven years on U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen’s Service Academy Advisory Board, interviewing Maryland candidates seeking admission to the nation’s military service academies.
These responsibilities demonstrate the breadth of her commitment, from helping individual veterans understand a letter to supporting projects that preserve military history and strengthen future generations.
A Leadership Legacy Rooted in Listening
Bryson is also pursuing a Doctor of Criminal Justice at Saint Leo University, building on her Master of Science in Criminal Justice and professional credentials. Her doctoral research examines how organizational systems respond to people in crisis, a subject shaped in part by her concern for veterans seeking help when they are most vulnerable.
For her, leadership requires more than identifying a problem. It demands the willingness to investigate why the problem persists, acknowledge where systems fall short, and consider practical ways to improve the experience of the people those systems are meant to serve.
Her priorities for the coming years reflect that ambition: advancing Operation Still Standing, strengthening donor and fundraising support for veteran services, exploring transportation solutions for Southern Maryland veterans, championing lasting recognition for service animals, and completing her doctoral research.
Yet her deepest aspiration is personal in its simplicity. She wants veterans and their families to know that asking for help does not diminish their dignity, intelligence, or worth.
A veteran who receives a denial is not a failure. Someone who does not understand a regulation is not less capable. A person who needs time before discussing a painful experience has not given up. Each deserves respect, accurate information, and the freedom to make informed choices.
That belief defines Bryson’s approach to leadership. She listens before advising, researches when she does not know, and understands that trust is built through consistency rather than promises of guaranteed outcomes.
Her message to emerging leaders is equally direct: listen carefully, seek answers when they are missing, and keep your word. Effective leadership is not about pretending to know everything. It is about taking responsibility for finding the answers that matter.
For Julie “Sarge” Muster Bryson, the uniform may no longer be part of everyday life, but the commitment behind it remains. Through Boots 2 Benefits, her writing, and her continuing community service, she is translating military discipline into a different kind of mission, one measured not by rank or recognition, but by whether another person feels informed, respected, and less alone.
Every veteran has a story. Every family carries questions. Every difficult decision deserves to be understood.
And sometimes, the most powerful act of leadership is simply to stand beside someone and say: you do not have to do this alone.
“You’re not 1. We’re 2. And together, we win.”
For Bryson, those words are more than a motto. They are a promise to keep listening, keep learning, and keep standing by those who have already given so much in service to their country.
The Global Success Review Magazine™ recognizes Julie “Sarge” Muster Bryson for translating her military experience into a mission of education, advocacy, and practical support for veterans and their families.
