#82 – Nate Hankes (US Army) – Apogee Instruments
About this episode
Nate Hankes shares his journey from a US Army drone operator to a soil scientist and sales engineer at Apogee Instruments, exploring themes of purpose and personal transformation.
Today’s guest is Nate Hankes – US Army drone operator turned soil scientist then sales engineer at a cutting-edge agricultural sensor manufacturer. Nate spent 14 months in Baghdad during the 2007 troop surge, watching chaos unfold from a screen thousands of feet above, feeling both omniscient, at times, and impotent. He came home carrying a weight of the war he didn't know he had, spent nine years writing a book to process it, and took five months to hike the Appalachian Trail to figure out who he was after the uniform came off. As Nate says, “I called it the Bagdad hangover. I lost a decade of my life to it.” His path into agriculture wasn't some romantic calling—it was practical advice from his dad during the Great Recession and a college program that didn't require calculus. But somewhere between a Monsanto internship at an Idaho phosphate mine, graduate research on a selenium-accumulating plant that killed livestock, and learning hydroponics in a Bob Marley-playing, barefoot California office, Nate found something he didn't expect: Purpose through Science. Now he's at Apogee Instruments in Utah, working with researchers and growers who are trying to do everything from grow…
People in this episode
Guest: Nate Hankes
Topics covered
- military experience
- agriculture
- soil science
- environmental sensors
- personal journey
- purpose through science
Keywords
- Nate Hankes
- Apogee Instruments
- military
- agriculture
- environmental sensors
- personal growth
- soil science
- Appalachian Trail
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Apogee Instruments, Monsanto
Places: Baghdad, Utah, Appalachian Trail
More episodes of Vets In Ag Podcast
- #88 – DMR Drones – Wes Mathews (US Army)
- #87 – Ag View Solutions, Monier Seed, Ag View Pitch Podcast – Shay Foulk (US Army)
- #86 – DNA Acres – David and Nicki Yanak (US Air Force)
- #85 – Arizona State University & Carbon Cowboys – Peter Byck
- #84 – Arizona State University – Alicia Ellis (US Air Force)
- #83 – 1840 Farm Foundation – Matt Adler (US Air Force)
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