Savan Kong
“LAID OFF: A Year After the Pentagon. The Story I've Been Afraid to Tell.”
Season 1, finale. Unemployed for a year after leaving the Pentagon. This is my raw story. I spent nearly a decade inside the Department of Defense across three administrations, holding a title nobody had ever held before, doing work I genuinely believed in. When I left, I thought I'd be fine. Everybody told me I'd be fine. I was not fine.
“Laid Off From the Pentagon After Almost a Decade. Here Is the Year Nobody Prepared Me For.”
I am writing this from my home office in Longview, Washington. Small town. Population around roughly 40,000. Not exactly what you picture when someone says Pentagon career. But here I am, a year out. Still looking. Still grinding. And finally ready to say out loud what this year has actually been.
I spent nearly a decade inside the Department of Defense. First as a Digital Service Expert at Defense Digital Service. Then as the first Customer Experience Officer within the Chief Information Officer office. I served under the first Trump administration, the entire Biden administration, and the start of the second Trump administration. I loved the mission. I loved the people. I don’t say that to make the story sound better than it is. I say it because it matters for what comes next.