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Michael S. HoffmannMichael S. Hoffmann
• 3rd+Verified • 3rd+
Founder at Stealth Startup | U.S. Army Reserve CaptainFounder at Stealth Startup | U.S. Army Reserve Captain
6h • 6 hours ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

Why did some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley just join the Army? Today, the CTO of Palantir, CTO of Meta, CPO of OpenAI, and former CRO of OpenAI join the US Army Reserves as newly minted Lieutenant Colonels.

When I told people I was joining the US Army Reserves while working as a business leader in an AI financial technology firm, I often received baffled, even scornful looks, "but why?" Maybe that "why" won't sound so crazy anymore. I'm grateful to these technology titans for setting a precedent and critically, serving as role models for others to follow. To believe serving, and even sacrificing, for something other than yourself isn't foolish, but a noble and necessary thing to do.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is establishing Detachment 201: The Army’s Executive Innovation Corps, a new initiative designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation. On June 13, 2025, the Army will officially swear in four tech leaders.

Det. 201 is an effort to recruit senior tech executives to serve part-time in the Army Reserve as senior advisors. In this role they will work on targeted projects to help guide rapid and scalable tech solutions to complex problems. By bringing private-sector know-how into uniform, Det. 201 is supercharging efforts like the Army Transformation Initiative, which aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal.

The four new Army Reserve Lt. Cols. are Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer for Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer of OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, advisor at Thinking Machines Lab and former Chief Research Officer for OpenAI.

Their swearing-in is just the start of a bigger mission to inspire more tech pros to serve without leaving their careers, showing the next generation how to make a difference in uniform.