Chef Andre Rush never does anything with half-effort \u2014 the Army, fitness, family or food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Embracing passion was a notion engrained in him by his parents at a young age, and it\u2019s something he shares often in the hope that other veterans will be inspired to pursue their dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI tell everybody, go for your passions,\u201d Rush told Military Times. \u201cDon\u2019t do the safe side. You put your work in, you put your service in, now do something that\u2019s going to make you happy, something that you want to do, not something that you\u2019re forced to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raised in a family of nine in Columbus, Mississippi, Rush says he adopted his intensive work ethic from his father, while having a profound sense of tenderness instilled from his mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy dad taught me how to work my butt off as soon as I could walk, actually crawl,\u201d he joked. \u201cAnd my mother taught me the principles of love and caring and all those good things. It was a perfect combination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he played football and was offered numerous college scholarships, Rush chose instead to enlist in the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn my mind, I always wanted to serve in the military, I want to do something bigger, better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rush rose to the rank of master sergeant over a decorated 24-year Army career. Coincidentally, 24 is also the number of inches each of his biceps measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everything Rush has done to this point has involved total commitment, he says. The same is true of his culinary career, which brought Rush all the way to the White House \u2014 during his Army service and beyond \u2014 where he was a chef for four U.S. presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he cooked with his mother when he was young, the professional culinary arts were not something Rush ever expected to practice. Still, he wants his career to serve as a guide for other transitioning veterans \u2014 a way of encouraging others to explore off the beaten path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour career may be altered or changed by things that you don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cYou may start in one direction, and then something may happen that takes you in a whole different direction. That\u2019s what happened for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just because a service member enlists in the military, Rush added, doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re locked into government jobs for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople tell us all the time, \u2018Well, here\u2019s a GS job that you can go into. Just take it,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cStop devaluing yourself, you are walking billboard, you are all those things. Your biggest cheerleader is going to be yourself. But your worst enemy is also going to be you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why Rush continues to work so closely with veterans as an advocate for career goals, mental health, and blue star families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI still do a lot of work with the military,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely important, even more so now, because transitioning out the military is so much harder.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
‘I tell everybody, go for your passions. … Don\u2019t do the safe side,\u201d Rush said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":61587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,68,12,26,13,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3271],"class_list":["post-78656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-military-culture","category-news","category-newsletters","category-off-duty","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6TTPMHUGV5GWBIFEJ75QXIA7SA","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2024\/01\/05\/chef-andre-rush-wants-veterans-to-choose-passion-over-a-paycheck\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n