The Next Mission: Autonomy Some veterans are discovering that the rigid life of the military can be the ideal preparation for the freedom of entrepreneurship.

The close connection between military service and entrepreneurship became clear to Mike Haynie shortly after he began teaching at Syracuse University in 2006, after serving 14 years in the U.S. Air Force.

"Entrepreneurship confers a sense of autonomy and control that many veterans find exceedingly attractive after an extended period of military service, where individual autonomy and control is 'given up' for the greater good of the organization," says Haynie, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse.

He also notes that veterans often find it difficult to apply the knowledge and skills they learned in the military to civilian employment.