Semper Forward

Next week we're hitting the field: two events, two bases, one mission.

📍 June 16 — Fort Hood | MEGA Career Fair
📍 June 16 — Keesler AFB | Career Summit

If you're on base, come find us. Career and transition coaching with Semper Forward is completely free, and we'd love to help you find your next mission.

The next mission doesn't always announce itself. Sometimes you have to find it. That's exactly what Semper Forward's career and transition coaching is designed to help you do, whether you know where you're headed or have no idea yet. And for service members, veterans, and their families, it's completely free.

If you're navigating transition and wondering what comes next, we're here. Visit https://semperforward.com/military-transition to get started.

Transition isn't just a service member's journey. It's the whole family's. 🏠

Military spouses relocate. Pause careers. Rebuild communities, over and over. That's not a gap. That's resilience. That's adaptability. That's exactly what great employers are looking for.

Semper Forward was built to support the whole military family, connecting service members, spouses, and veterans to employers and communities where they can put down real roots.

The employers in the Semper Forward network aren't just partners. They're part of the mission. They understood that hiring a service member isn't just a business decision, it's a commitment to someone who has already proven they'll show up, lead under pressure, and get the job done.

That's the community Semper Forward has built alongside our employer partners; one that connects national companies with transitioning service members, military spouses, and veterans in a way that's built to last.

Steve believed every service member had a next mission waiting for them. The employers in our network believe that too. If that's you, we're here to help.

Learn about joining our partner network at https://semperforward.com/for-companies.

When Steve started Mission Wisconsin and Semper Forward, he knew that transitioning from one mission to your next is one of the hardest things a service member faces. He also knew that with the right network, the right employers, and the right community, it didn't have to be.

Semper Forward connects transitioning service members, veterans, and military families with national companies and local communities who are ready to meet them. That work continues today.

If you or someone you know is navigating transition, we're here to help. Learn more at https://semperforward.com/military-transition.

The outpouring of support following the loss of Steve Janke has meant more than words can express. Steve lead with a simple mission: serve those who served our country. He committed daily to showing up for the men and women who put on the uniform, and their families.

The way this community responded after his passing is proof that his passion for that mission resonated with everyone he met.

Thank you all for reaching out, sharing memories, and honoring him. Steve's family, and the entire Fastport-Semper Forward team, felt every message.

This week, we shared heartbreaking news with our community, the passing of our founder and president, Steve.

The outpouring of love, stories, and support from veterans, transitioning service members, partners, and friends across the country has meant more than we can express. Steve built something real here, and you reminded us of that.

Thank you to Hiring Our Heroes Veteran Employment Advisory Council and the Military Spouse Employment Advisory Council for honoring him this week.

Steve believed every transitioning service member had two missions: the one they served, and the next one. He made it his life's work to help them find that next mission. So next week, we get back to that work because that's how we honor him. Steve trusted us with the mission. We are carrying it forward. Semper Forward.

Steven Janke — U.S. Marine, fifth-generation Wisconsin dairy farmer, and the founder of Semper Forward — passed away on Sunday, May 31, 2026.

Steve said his story was one of soil and roots. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1996 and served with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, stationed in Kaneohe Bay and Okinawa. He came home to Westfield, Wisconsin and milked cows for fifteen years on the family farm. In 2017, he took a role at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Governor asked if Wisconsin could recruit transitioning service members to come live and work in the state. Steve walked out of that meeting saying, "I’ll do it. I'll show the gospel of the Great State of Wisconsin."

That inspired him to found Mission Wisconsin and then Semper Forward. Since 2020, Steve has supported thousands of service members through their transition, including hundreds of military families who chose Wisconsin as their next home. He believed every transitioning service member had two missions: the one they served, and the next one. He made it his life's work to help them find that next mission.

Steve led with warmth, pride for The Great State of Wisconsin, and the conviction that networking was about digging the well before you needed the water. He showed up. He made calls from the car between events to check on everyone. He told stories — because, as he put it, "if we don't share stories and if we don't tell them, they die."

So we will keep telling his story.

And we will keep doing the work he started for every service member, every spouse, and every family still looking for their next mission. That's the legacy Steve leaves us, and we will honor it.

He is survived by his two children, Ashton and Emma; his parents, Alyson and Terry; his siblings Tim and Margaret; and a community that runs from Westfield, Wisconsin to every base he ever set foot on.

A memorial service will be held Friday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Westfield, Wisconsin, with full military honors. Visitation begins at 4:00 p.m., and a celebration of life will follow at Thal Acres Golf & Bowling Complex.

In lieu of flowers, the family is planning to establish a fund for Ashton's and Emma's education. Details are in Steve's obituary at Steinhaus-Holly Funeral Home.

We encourage everyone to share a story about Steve in the comments (and, as Steve would say, the more inappropriate the better!).

Steve trusted us with the mission. We are carrying it forward.

Forward, The Semper Forward and Fastport team

Calling all veterans and Guard/Reserve members! Corporation is hiring and they want YOU on their team!

Oshkosh told us exactly what veterans can expect: a military-like structure, strong leadership, and outstanding military leave benefits so Guard & Reserve members can keep serving while building their civilian careers.

Current openings include Industrial Painter and Material Handler in Riceville, IA. Explore these opportunities and more on our job board:
👉 https://app.steame.com/jobs/semper-forward