Defense and aerospace contractor HX5 has earned the 2025 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award from the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service. The federal recognition places the Florida-based firm among employers demonstrating quantifiable commitment to veteran hiring, retention, and professional development.
The award arrives as labor competition is intensifying across defense contracting, where demand for security clearances and technical expertise can create persistent hiring challenges. HX5’s veteran workforce exceeds 30 percent of its roughly 1,000 employees, more than quadruple the national average for private-sector veteran employment, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics pegged at 6%.
Margarita Howard, HX5’s owner and CEO, knows military transition firsthand. An Air Force veteran, she founded the company in 2004 after working on the Tricare military health care program’s implementation. Her trajectory from service member to defense contractor executive shapes how HX5 approaches veteran employment.
“Experience in their respective fields, while supporting these agencies’ respective programs and missions, is very different from experience gained from working in the commercial world,” Howard said about hiring candidates with Department of Defense or NASA backgrounds.
Veterans often possess that government-specific experience. Many hold active security clearances. Some have worked on classified programs or operated advanced technical systems. Those attributes translate directly to defense contractor requirements, provided companies like HX5 create pathways for military members making the transition.
Measuring Veteran Employment Commitment
The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is based on specific metrics. Large employers like HX5—those with 500 or more employees—must meet several criteria for Gold Medallion status. At minimum, 7 percent of new hires during 2024 must be veterans. The company must retain at least 75 percent of veterans hired in 2023 for a full year.
Beyond hiring and retention numbers, award recipients must maintain a veteran organization or resource group and establish a leadership program for veteran employees.
Hiring veterans is easier than retaining them, and retention rates reveal whether companies value veteran employees beyond initial recruitment. HX5’s 30% veteran workforce composition retention far exceeds baseline requirements.
The company operates across more than 20 states at over 70 government locations, supporting Department of Defense and NASA missions in research and development, engineering, information technology, and mission operations. Much of this work requires security clearances and familiarity with government operational environments, attributes military members often carry into civilian employment.
The company also participates in the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program, hosting two transitioning service members annually since 2021. The program, a Department of Defense SkillBridge initiative, allows active-duty members within 180 days of separation to gain civilian work experience while still receiving military pay and benefits.
Fellows spend 12 weeks working four days weekly at host companies, supplemented by professional development training. The structure lets both employer and veteran evaluate fit before committing to permanent employment. More than 500 fellows have completed the program nationwide since 2015, with an 80% hire rate and average starting salaries of $70,000.
Veterans in Defense Contracting
Defense contractors need people who understand government operations immediately. Clearance processing can take months or years for civilians without prior government work. New hires lacking military or defense backgrounds often require extensive onboarding to grasp how government customers operate, how classified information gets handled, and how risk-averse cultures like DoD and NASA make decisions.
Veterans frequently bypass portions of that learning curve. They’ve worked within government structures, understand operational security requirements, and recognize the cultural differences between military organizations and commercial enterprises. Those advantages matter for companies like HX5 operating in specialized technical domains where contracts demand rapid integration of qualified personnel.
Howard describes ideal candidates as “purple unicorns,” professionals combining rare technical skills, appropriate clearances, and relevant experience.
HX5’s veteran hiring practices reflect both mission alignment and practical workforce strategy. Howard’s military background and subsequent defense industry experience inform company culture, making veteran integration smoother than at firms lacking that organizational understanding.
The 2025 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award recognizes that integration work. It validates what the numbers already show: HX5 hires veterans at rates well above industry norms and retains them long enough to build careers, not just fill positions. Whether that approach stems from Howard’s values, practical talent acquisition strategy, or both, the outcome remains the same—a defense contractor where veterans comprise nearly one-third of the workforce and continue choosing to stay.
