Operation Song CEO Helps Americans Tune Into Veterans

A song needs a hook to connect with listeners. Operation Song® delivers that appeal by capturing stories of service. The nonprofit pairs professional songwriters with veterans, active-duty military members and their families to create songs that share, celebrate and heal.

From the genesis of weekly song sessions in Tennessee, Operation Song has grown into a national movement. Leading this charge is Jon Foti, a veteran whose journey from the skies to the stage has been propelled by the United States Air Force and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Capturing Memories Through Music

The nonprofit was started by Bob Regan as weekly song sessions in a VA Medical Center in Tennessee. Regan is a Grammy® and Dove Award-nominated songwriter based in Nashville. On his Armed Forces Entertainment Tours, he discovered many service members were natural storytellers who could benefit by expressing their thoughts, feelings, and memories. These collaborations became a series of weekend songwriting retreats and charity events. More than 1,500 songs now reflect experiences from World War II to current deployments.

Both rewarding and traumatic memories are captured by Operation Song, from the snapshot of a single moment to the ongoing struggle with post-traumatic stress or addiction. Foti points out, “There are songs about sacrifice and struggle, but also songs of triumph and pride. We have a really beautiful song about Air Force aviators that would fly into Afghanistan every day and support the ground troops there. On their way back to Kuwait or Qatar or wherever they were stationed, they would go over this mountain range called the Karachi. They would call it the Karachi Sunrise. So there is a song about the beauty in a simple moment in a war-torn area.”

That song is a collaboration between hit songwriter Chuck Jones, who has written more than 50 songs for Operation Song, and airman Ryan Cobb, a 2020 graduate who earned a degree his Master of Science in Aeronautics. Jones had high praise for his writing partner. “Ryan is a musician himself, plays B3 organ and a little slide guitar, so I sent him the music stems and he added the organ and slide on that song.”

The Power of Song: Healing and Connection

Foti sees the power of song in his work every day and views it as equally important as his previous nonprofit work focused on housing, healthcare, and transition services. “Songwriters can be great therapists. A song can be a catalyst for veterans who are often disenfranchised by the system, who aren't engaged with the system at all. This song can be an opening of a whole new world of the nonprofit community to them, and it can open them up to their own story. There's a lot of veterans that will say things in a song that they won't say out loud to their family, and it can be an incredibly powerful way to connect.”

From the Skies to the Stage

Foti is a veteran committed to serving those in the armed forces. He was a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot. As one of the top ROTC cadets in the country, when he was told aviation was hardest to get into, he set his sights on flying. He credits a buddy who attended Embry-Riddle with helping him through flight school. “He had so much fixed-wing time, he already knew a lot of what we were learning. Things like navigating a traffic pattern were basic to him and he really helped me make it through flight training.”

Foti earned his Master of Science in Aeronautics in 2022. Attending graduate classes through Embry-Riddle Worldwide at Fort Campbell in 2015, he was initially leery about whether hybrid, then remote, learning would work for him. “All of us were there, but then our teacher was on screen in Florida. That took down a barrier for me. I didn't know if I had the discipline to be in a completely remote program. And so what I really liked about Embry-Riddle at the time is that it had that option, which really opened me up to that concept. As an aviation officer, I was thinking ahead about ways to strengthen my resume for aviation management after I transitioned. I knew it would help to have some of the civilian learning experience from Embry-Riddle and pair that with my military experience to find a job.”

That transition came much sooner than he expected. A diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes grounded Foti. “The only thing I had done in my adult life up to the age of 27 years old was lead troops in combat and fly helicopters in combat, and I couldn't do either of those things.”

After working in some “aviation-adjacent” management jobs and some sales work for a tech startup, Foti’s wife joined the United States Air Force and he followed her to Oklahoma. Looking through USA Jobs, he spotted a Wounded Warriors Fellowship available for a Congress House of Representatives member in Oklahoma City. His disability rating qualified him for the two-year fellowship focused on advancing veterans' issues. He loved the work and eventually landed a management position with Dale Graham Foundation, a nonprofit.

The once super-competitive cadet now focused his energy and management skills on growing the operation. “I took the Dale Graham Foundation from a $900,000 budget to a $1.4 million budget over the course of three years. I tried to really grow and scale the processes by using lean principles and project management principles to improve how the veterans we served could flow through the process and receive the benefits they were entitled to.”

Foti appreciates that he has a mission and a sense of purpose, which many veterans struggle to find. “I would put the uniform back on today, but now I put on a suit and that’s my uniform. The military is incredibly powerful at giving individuals a purpose. Even if they don't like it. They might be upset, they might grumble, they might complain about their commander or their mission, but at the end of the day they do have purpose and it could be incredibly rewarding being in the military.”

Steering Operation Song Closer to the Vision

Moving forward, he hopes to put Operation Song out of business. So to speak. “What I love about the nonprofit sector is that nonprofits exist to solve problems. The moment that problem is solved, they're supposed to close. Any cancer research nonprofit that you've ever donated to, their vision is to cure cancer. Their mission is what they're going to do to get there. So, Operation Song has done incredibly well over these past 10 years at building a culture around the mission. And now I want to slowly start steering it closer and closer to the vision."

That vision is to share stories with every American. “My goal is to share more stories with Americans so they remember the sacrifices of those who've borne the battle. That is my singular priority. If I don't take those songs to Americans, eventually I'm going to run out of juice. I'll lose donors. I'll lose corporate sponsorships. Grants will dry up. I have to continue to find ways to take those songs to Americans so that they remember that they need to support veterans. That's our mission.”

In its new CEO, Operation Song has helped one more veteran find his purpose after service. And through service.