How Call Of Duty’s New C.O.D.E. Bundle Honors A Purple Heart Veteran And Funds Real-World Jobs For Veterans

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 23: (L-R) Martial Artist and U.S. Marine Brian Stann, Former US National Security Advisor General James L. Jones, and Excutive Director Dan Goldenberg discuss their “Call of Duty Endowment” that helps veterans find employemnt at AOL Studios In New York on June 23, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Adela Loconte/WireImage)

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This Veterans Day, it’s important to consider not just the sacrifices that veterans have made in the past, but the challenges they face in the present. In 2025, after a tumultuous year of federal layoffs and government shutdowns, this is more crucial than ever. Finding quality employment is one of the most challenging hurdles veterans face upon leaving the military.

Call Of Duty Endowment (or C.O.D.E.) executive director Dan Goldenberg’s message to the public this Veteran’s Day is simple. “Honoring service is important,” he says, “but opportunity is essential. Saying “thank you for your service” means more when it’s paired with action—hiring, mentoring, and investing in veteran talent. Veterans don’t want a handout; they want a fair shot to compete in the capitalistic system they’ve been defending. That’s how we truly honor their sacrifice.”

Placing veterans into high-quality careers has been the sole mission of the Call Of Duty Endowment since its inception on Veterans Day, 2009. This is one of the key missions of the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs as well, of course, but C.O.D.E. does it cheaper and with better results than the federal government, according to Goldenberg.

High-Quality Jobs And Accountability Are At The Center Of C.O.D.E’s Mission

I sat down with Goldenberg at the ‘Call Of Duty” NEXT event earlier this year and corresponded with him after to learn more about the Call Of Duty Endowment and its mission to place veterans in high-quality careers where they can thrive.

“A high-quality job isn’t just about pay,” Goldenberg tells me, “it’s about fit, stability, and upward mobility. At the Endowment, we define it through measurable standards: strong compensation, full-time hours, and high retention rates. We track all these numbers quarterly because our mission isn’t just to place veterans—it’s to launch long-term success stories.”

The Endowment has placed over 165,000 veterans into high-quality jobs since 2009, but Goldenberg notes that veterans still face “a staggering 18% at best (60% at worst)” unemployment rate, depending on how you run the numbers. Goldenberg tells me that the most surprising thing about his job has been “how much untapped talent exists among veterans—and how resistant the broader labor market still is to recognizing it.”

Goldenberg wants to dispel the notion that veterans are “broken or damaged” after leaving the military. The reality, he says, is that “they’re among the most resilient, capable, and purpose-driven people in the workforce. What they need isn’t pity—it’s opportunity. When employers focus on their skills and leadership instead of stereotypes, everyone wins.”

Under Goldenberg’s leadership, the Endowment has taken an accountability-based approach to funding veterans’ nonprofits rather than trust-based philanthropy. “We don’t give grants based on relationships or narratives,” he tells me. “We invest in measurable outcomes. Every partner must meet strict performance metrics: cost per placement, retention rates, and verified employment quality.”

This has had remarkable results. Cost-per-placement for the Endowment is one-fifteenth of the federal government’s with better outcomes. This, Goldenberg says, proves that “accountability isn’t the enemy of trust—it’s the foundation of it.”

Veterans Have Been Hit Hard By Federal Layoffs And Shutdowns

The massive layoffs across the federal government under the Trump administration have hit veterans especially hard. The government shutdown only exacerbated these issues.

“Layoffs hit veterans disproportionately hard in sectors where they’ve recently gained ground, like government, logistics and tech,” Goldenberg says. “The federal layoffs this year compounds the issue by adding, by our estimate, more than 80,000 veterans to the unemployment ranks.”

That’s a staggering number, but not a surprising one. Many veterans find government work a natural fit, and veterans benefit from preferential hiring for federal jobs. Unfortunately, this has proved a double-edged sword in 2025. Many veterans were laid off recently because they (and other federal workers) had been promoted, which places them into probationary status, making them particularly vulnerable to broad federal layoffs. The irony, of course, is that once veterans and other federal employees realized that promotions made them a target for layoffs, fewer than ever decided to seek promotions in the first place.

With 80,000 newly unemployed veterans on the job market, C.O.D.E.’s mission this Veterans’ Day has a new urgency. “I’m not too worried about federal government job counseling services being on pause,” Goldenberg tells me, “as we’ve proven that they don’t work well. That’s why non-profit sector efforts like ours matter more than ever.”

How C.O.D.E. Is Raising Money For High-Quality Careers For Veterans

There are no other nonprofits in the gaming industry quite like C.O.D.E., which has a clear and focused mission, focusing entirely on veteran job placement. While it’s great to see EA offer its own Battlefield 6 pack supporting veterans, for instance, the “Lead the Way” pack’s website includes this disclaimer: “While proceeds of the Lead the Way Pack are not allocated to charity, our independent donation to the National Ranger Association helps advance their important work for the Ranger community.”

The Endowment’s goal is to place 200,000 veterans into high-quality jobs by 2030. But there are many obstacles to reaching this goal, especially in turbulent economic and political times.

“The biggest threat is complacency,” Goldenberg says. “As veteran unemployment appears “low” on paper, public urgency fades—even though underemployment exceeds 18% by LISEP’s TRU rate. We also face a shrinking pool of philanthropic funding as donor fatigue sets in. Scaling impact to 200,000 placements will require not just more resources, but smarter partnerships and continued proof that our model works better than any other.”

The Endowment doesn’t place veterans directly. Instead, it vets and then funds charities that have a proven track record for placing veterans into high-quality jobs with high retention rates. This is an ongoing process, with charities reporting directly to the Endowment on a regular basis for review. While C.O.D.E. is fairly hands-off when it comes to how these nonprofits operate, they’re very hands-on when it comes to accountability. The nonprofits offer a wide range of services for veterans, from help with resume building to job-matching, interview skills, networking and so forth.

100% of money raised for the Endowment goes directly to charities, with Activision footing the bill for all operating costs (such as salaries).

So how does C.O.D.E. raise money for veterans? Primarily by tapping into the goodwill and generosity of the gaming community.

“Gaming connects massive, passionate communities,” Goldenberg tells me, “and the Call of Duty audience uniquely respects service and sacrifice. Pop culture can mobilize empathy at scale, especially when it’s authentic and data-backed.”

Every year, Call Of Duty releases special C.O.D.E. bundles in the Call of Duty in-game store, at launch and then later during the game’s lifecycle. With C.O.D.E. also working to help UK veterans find employment, Call Of Duty released the C.O.D.E. Endeavor: Tracer Pack this October in partnership with UK veteran-run brand, ThruDark.

These packs include an Operator skin, a weapon blueprint and other cosmetics, and sometimes feature real-life veterans. The C.O.D.E. United Force: Tracer Pack released earlier this year featured U.S. Army veterans, First Sergeant Korey Staley and Medal of Honor recipient Captain Florent “Flo” Groberg.

This year’s C.O.D.E. Legacy: Tracer Pack features U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Danielle Green.

Green, a former Notre Dame basketball player, lost her lower left arm and hand when she was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2004. The new Operator skin features a futuristic prosthetic arm, which was partly based on and partly inspired Green’s real-world Hero RGD prosthetic designed by Open Bionics which was unveiled at this year’s C.O.D.E. Bowl in Las Vegas.

“This Veterans Day is special to me,” Green said, “because I get to give back to my community and give veterans an opportunity to find meaningful jobs by being a part of the Call of Duty Endowment.”

Green received the Pat Tillman Award for Service in 2015 for her continued advocacy on behalf of veterans. She is the first female US Army veteran to be a playable character in Call Of Duty.

This is the C.O.D.E. Legacy: Tracer Pack which launches on November 14th alongside the release of Black Ops 7:

You can read about other ways to help veterans through the Call Of Duty Endowment and dive deeper into its mission to place veterans in quality jobs right here.