Cold chain hiring has a problem most other logistics jobs do not. The work happens at 38 degrees, or at zero, or at minus 20. The product spoils if a reefer unit drops out of range for an hour. A bad handoff at a dock door can cost a full trailer of vaccine or seafood. So you are not just hiring people who can move freight. You need people who stay calm when a temperature alarm goes off at 2 a.m. and who follow a process without being told twice.

That is a hard combination to find on a job board. Most applicants for refrigerated logistics roles have warehouse experience but no real feel for what happens when the cold breaks. Veterans are a different pool. Military supply, refrigeration, and HVAC-R fields train people to run temperature-sensitive operations under pressure, log everything, and own the outcome. The trick is knowing how to read a military background and where to find these people before someone else does.

This guide is for hiring managers and recruiters at cold storage operators, refrigerated carriers, food and pharma distributors, and temperature-controlled 3PLs. It maps the military fields that fit cold chain work, shows you how to read those resumes, and points to where the candidates are. If you also hire general logistics talent, start with our broader guide to hiring veterans for logistics and supply chain roles and treat this as the cold-chain-specific layer on top of it.

Why are veterans a strong fit for cold chain logistics?

The military runs one of the largest cold chains in the world. Blood, vaccines, frozen rations, and medical supplies all move through temperature-controlled systems across the globe. Service members who work in supply, refrigeration, and ground support do not treat a temperature log as paperwork. They treat it as the difference between a usable product and a loss.

Three habits from military service line up almost perfectly with refrigerated logistics. First, process discipline. A reefer monitoring routine is just a checklist done the same way every shift, and the military builds that into people early. Second, calm under failure. When a compressor fails or a generator dies, you need someone who works the problem instead of freezing up. Third, accountability for the load. Military supply culture drills in the idea that you sign for what you have and you answer for it.

The veteran labor pool is also a buyer's market done right. The all-veteran unemployment rate was 3.5% in 2025, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is lower than the non-veteran rate, so you are not fishing in a pool of people who could not find work. You are competing for skilled operators who other employers also want. Speed and a clear pitch matter.

Which military backgrounds map to cold chain roles?

You do not need a candidate whose old job said "cold chain." You need the underlying skills. Several military fields produce them. Here are the ones to look for, by branch.

Army supply and logistics (92-series)

The Army 92 career field is supply and logistics. A 92A Automated Logistical Specialist runs inventory, receiving, and stock control. A 92Y Unit Supply Specialist manages property, accountability, and turn-in. These soldiers track high-value, sensitive items and answer for every line on the books. That maps straight to a cold storage inventory or receiving lead. See how this background translates in our inventory and warehouse hiring guide.

Army and Marine refrigeration and HVAC-R

The Army 91-series covers mechanical maintenance. The 91C Utilities Equipment Repairer works on refrigeration units, air conditioning, and environmental control systems. The Marine Corps has utilities and refrigeration mechanics who do the same. These are your reefer and racking technicians. They can diagnose a failing compressor, read pressures, and keep a temperature-controlled facility inside spec. If your operation runs its own refrigeration plant, this background is gold. Our HVAC and electrical hiring guide covers how to read these resumes in depth.

Navy logistics and refrigeration ratings

The Navy moves a cold chain across an ocean. Logistics Specialists handle supply and material on ships and shore. Machinist's Mates and engineering ratings maintain refrigeration and cooling plants aboard ship, where a failure has nowhere to go. A sailor who kept a ship's reefer plant running through a deployment will not be rattled by a dock-level unit. As a Navy guy myself, I can tell you shipboard supply leaves no room for sloppy records or excuses.

Air Force ground support, fuels, and logistics

Air Force logistics and material management airmen run supply chains for aircraft parts and sensitive cargo. Ground support and fuels specialists work with pressurized and temperature-sensitive systems and strict safety procedures. That safety-first habit transfers well to pharma and food cold chains, where compliance is not optional.

For the transport side of cold chain, military drivers fit refrigerated carrier roles. The Army 88M Motor Transport Operator and similar fields in other branches move loads on tight schedules across long distances. Many already hold or qualify quickly for a CDL. Our trucking fleet hiring guide goes deeper on driver sourcing.

How do you read a military resume for cold chain skills?

A military resume will not say "managed reefer units." It will say something like "maintained 100% accountability of Class VIII medical supplies." Your job is to translate. The good news is the candidate pool on platforms like BMR already does that translation for you. But you still need to know what you are reading.

Look for three signals. Temperature or environmental control of any kind. Accountability for sensitive or high-value material. And maintenance or operation of mechanical cooling systems. When you see those, you have a cold chain fit even if the words "cold chain" never appear.

One process note. If you screen applicants through an applicant tracking system, remember the system racks and stacks candidates by keyword match. It does not filter veterans out, but a strong veteran can sink to the bottom of the list if their resume uses military terms instead of your job posting's words. Write your posting in plain language. Use "temperature-controlled," "inventory accountability," and "refrigeration maintenance" so the match surfaces the right people.

How is cold chain hiring different from general logistics hiring?

General warehouse and supply chain hiring is mostly about throughput. Can the person move the volume, hit the pick rate, and keep the dock flowing. Cold chain adds a second test on top of that. The product is alive or perishable or temperature-locked, and a lapse ruins it. So the bar for the person is higher in three specific ways.

They need to respect the process even when it slows them down. Pulling a pallet and leaving a freezer door open to save two minutes is fine for dry goods and a disaster for frozen seafood. They need to react fast to an alarm. A temperature excursion is a clock, not a ticket to file later. And they need clean records, because in food and pharma the temperature log is the proof that the product is still good. A weak hire who is fine in a dry warehouse can quietly cost you a trailer of product in cold storage.

This is the core reason military supply and refrigeration backgrounds pull ahead here. The military does not treat a cold log as busywork. It treats it as the evidence chain for a usable product. That mindset is hard to teach and easy to spot once you know what you are reading. If you also staff dry warehousing, our 3PL and warehousing hiring guide covers the throughput side, and the cold chain layer sits on top of it.

What about safety, compliance, and certifications?

Cold chain work carries real compliance weight, especially in food and pharma. Refrigerant handling is regulated. Forklift and powered equipment operation needs certification. Food safety and pharma distribution carry their own standards and audits. You want hires who treat rules as the job, not as a hassle.

Veterans tend to land well here. Military maintenance and supply fields run on inspections, certifications, and documented procedures. A 91C refrigeration mechanic already worked under strict handling and safety rules. A supply soldier already lived through audits and accountability checks. They walk in expecting structure, which is exactly what an audited cold chain needs.

One practical move. Hire for the mindset and the core skill, then close any certification gap during onboarding. A reefer technician with a refrigeration background and a clean safety record is a faster path to a certified hire than a certified candidate with no feel for temperature-controlled work. The habits are the hard part. The paperwork is the easy part.

Where do you find cold chain veteran candidates?

Cold chain talent does not all live on the big job boards. Veterans transitioning out of supply and refrigeration fields are often still in uniform when they start looking. The earlier you reach them, the better your odds and the lower your cost.

SkillBridge is worth a hard look for cold chain operators. It lets a service member work at your facility during their last months of service while the military still pays them. You get a months-long tryout at low cost. If the fit is good, you make an offer when they separate. There is no obligation to hire, and there is no salary cost to you during the internship. For a refrigeration tech or an inventory lead, that tryout removes most of the hiring risk.

The Department of Labor's veteran hiring resources also give you free access to local veteran employment staff and posting tools. Use them alongside a direct candidate search. None of this is legal advice on hiring rules, so check your own compliance team on incentives and reporting. But the sourcing tools cost nothing and the talent is real.

How does BMR help you hire cold chain veterans?

BMR is a platform built around veteran candidates. More than 1,000 new candidate profiles are added every month, and over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. For a cold chain operator, that means a steady, growing pool of people who already translated their military supply and refrigeration experience into plain civilian terms you can search.

Instead of waiting on the right person to find your job posting, you search the pool for the skills you need. A 92A with cold storage inventory experience. A 91C reefer technician. A Navy LS who ran shipboard supply. You see the match without decoding the military terms yourself, because the candidate already did that work.