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The Nation's Pulse
The Veterans’ Jobs Crisis
Those willing to give all don’t necessarily get jobs.
Phillip Coleman is frustrated. The 46-year-old served his country as a Marine during the 1980s and was in Beirut after the bombing. Coleman left the Marine Corps in 1987 and ultimately got into telecommunications. He was laid off by Verizon a year ago.
Since then, he has run up against a brick wall of unreturned e-mails and phone calls. “I literally send out a thousand resumes a week,” Coleman says. “I am still sitting here at home, out of work.” Seeking employment in the information technology field, he has the skills to do anything from help desk PC support to network administration. But even companies that say they want to help veterans don’t call back.
Coleman shows up for interviews, only to be told he needs security clearances that weren’t listed in the job posting. “I’m not disabled and I’m not out of shape,” he says. This time last year, he was able to support his family with a full-time job. Now he is a veteran out of work in a dismal economy.
Unfortunately, he is far from alone. The latest Department of Labor statistics show a 12.1 percent unemployment rate for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly 1 million veterans are unemployed, two-thirds of them between the ages of 35 and 64, when their financial commitments are greatest but their federally supported training options are few. According to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, “Overall, nearly one in twelve of our nation’s heroes are out of work.”
As the country winds down two wars in a period of high unemployment, finding opportunities for returning warriors in the civilian workforce is a major challenge. Rep. Jeff Miller, the Florida Republican who chairs the Committee on Veterans Affairs, has identified several of the problems that go beyond the recession’s aftershocks. “As more of our service men and women come home,” he says, “we need to ensure that they receive the homecoming they deserve and not an unemployment check.”
“There are licensing and credentialing issues,” Miller explains, where relevant military experience is not always recognized in the credentialing processes of the civilian labor force. There is also a need for training to ensure that the skills acquired match the demands of the job market. He has been working with his upper chamber counterpart, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), on a bill to address some of these concerns.
“Sometimes civilian employers aren’t sure how a veteran’s skills will translate,” says Vince Proffitt, president of Spartan Medical. “Or the disconnect can be in the way they write their resumes or interview.” Proffitt is a former Air Force intelligence officer and 62 percent of the people working at his advanced medical device distribution firm are veterans.
“The basic attributes of your common everyday soldier would benefit any employer,” Proffitt says. “They are very trainable and learn very quickly. [In the military] they end up moving frequently and doing a completely different job.… Even something as simple as working a 12-hour shift five days a week, that alone is something not fully appreciated in the civilian world.”
Yesterday the Senate passed the veterans’ jobs bill Miller and Murray have been working on. It gives businesses a tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, and a $2,400 tax credit for employing veterans who are unemployed for more than four weeks but less than six months. The bill also creates a $9,600 tax credit for hiring disabled veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months.
Service members would be allowed to begin the federal employment process before they leave the military. The bill expands Montgomery GI benefits for soldiers from past eras and provides comprehensive transition assistance that includes everything from resume-writing help to advanced job training. Murray praised its passage as a “victory”; Miller said in a statement, “Today, America’s veterans won.”
But the battle hasn’t ended. “There are a lot of great rules in place to help veteran-owned small businesses,” says Proffitt. “When those rules aren’t followed, I’m not sure what happens.” He says that some large companies funnel business through veterans, which “is not really the intent of the law.”
Meanwhile, the people who have given a lot wait for something else to give. “I am ready to work and I want to work,” says Coleman. “We want to work.”
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (58) | Leave a comment
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Qwilly| 11.11.11 @ 6:40AM
America is missing one of the greatest resources it has, the Veteran. After all the training and experience our country has invested into them, after service they turn them loose to fin for themselves. What a waste. After combat a veteran wants to Build Up the country they have defended. If not for the civilians that have benefited from the freedoms earned, but surely for other Veterans that may have challenges .
Alan Brooks| 11.11.11 @ 3:08PM
Nothing sacred about 'Defense' (offense). It isn't about freedom- it's about power; might makes right according to who has the bigger guns.
Clint| 11.12.11 @ 10:07AM
"This Veterans Day weekend, Ron Paul supporters are launching another moneybomb. This one is focusing on his support for military veterans, and their support for him.
In an analysis of all donations to all candidates from military veterans, Dr. Paul has received a full 50%. By comparison, Obama has received 28% and all of the other GOP candidates combined have only received 22%."
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here.
Mike Hawk| 11.12.11 @ 5:33PM
F/U A-hole. This day is about Veterans, not Ron Paul's campaign and Paulbots. We Vets thank our brother Ron Paul for his service nonetheless. That said, you can FO.
Clint| 11.13.11 @ 12:47AM
Why Don't Try & Make Me, Gutless Keyboard Coward, Little Micky.
You Can Come To Our Next Valley Forge Patriots Tea Party Meeting & See If You Can Make Me, Gutless Keyboard Coward Little Micky.
You're Scared Of The tea Party & Our Co-Favorite Presidential Candidate Dr.Ron Paul.
Boo !
Peter Ynkov| 11.13.11 @ 12:32PM
Your smarmy and snarky comments are uncalled for. You really expose yourself on the Babbin column. Instead of thanking our vets for their service, you insult and demean them. You are a lowlife. Go play with your campaign blowup doll.
Negro X| 11.14.11 @ 7:43AM
Go suck the farts out of obama's ass you loser.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 11.11.11 @ 7:22AM
I'm not sure what to think of this Bill? But my first reaction to this is, "please don't turn the Military Service Members into another so-called "Victim Class". We're not!! I personally think that any Company that's looking to hire would be "insane" for not putting Veterans at the top of their list in the first place, because Veterans have already proven that their great workers already. And if you don't believe this, then obviously you've never served!! Like the old 1980's Army commercial used to say, "We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day", and that just happens to be the truth. Long workdays here in the States (Garrison) or durning a deployment are the norm, then add in PT in the morning, and the occasional jump out of a perfectly good plane (which I just did on Tuesday, and I landed like crap by the way!!), and in between all that, we still have our "regular" jobs to do. So don't hire us due to your own cluelessness about what a great addition we'd be to your workforce!! Most Folks have never served, so I can understand that!! So hire that College grad who's never made a big decision in their entire life, and spent most of their time in College partying, I'm sure they'll do better job for you anyway. But even worse than that in my opinion, don't hire us for the single purpose of getting a friggin' Tax break!! We're not "Cash for Clunker Vets", you shouldn't need to take a bribe to hire the best workers available, a worker who can walk straight out a door 800 feet above the ground, and thinks that's a "normal" thing to do. Yep, I'm not sure I like this Bill at all!!
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.11.11 @ 8:26AM
All you Vets......... jot down my number and DON'T send resumes. 713-569-3896
I opened and ran one of the largest recruiting firms in the country. I will give you the tools to get back to work. No charge ...it is the least I can do.
RND| 11.11.11 @ 10:16AM
Thanks, Ken. Truly most kind and gracious. Please see my post below on one of the "hurdles" that vets face. But....I, too, am one who cringes when I hear radio ads that make it seem like normal Americans ought to feel sorry for Vets or that Vets are somehow 'victims.'
Thank you for helping others.
jivebomber| 11.11.11 @ 1:11PM
Ken: That was simply outstanding. As a veteran (25 years USAF) I offer my own thanks to you for stepping up to the plate and offering your services.
Ryan| 11.11.11 @ 8:07AM
The tax break is an incentive, not a purpose - it really covers the cost of training and orientation, not salary. It's the least we owe to vets.
Veterans aren't a victim class, they're a class who have earned their keep. Vets should have front-of-the-line status for government funding and services.
There's an idea - all government offices should have a "Vets only" line.
Warrior | 11.11.11 @ 9:20AM
It's called the VA. Speaking as veteran, the problem with all this is exactly what you and Mr. Antle are proposing. Maybe the vets are having a tough time because of:
1. Affirmative action and the governments intervention and social engineering.
2. Governmental agencies which have forced OSHA and environmental standards on our industry which has shipped jobs overseas,
3. Government mandated minimum wage.
4. Unions in which the laziest of workers can be protected through an unproductive and useless professional lifetime.
The problem is government. Conservatives should not be screaming for a new entitled class but the return to limited Constitutional government which will eliminate almost all unemployment.
RND| 11.11.11 @ 11:35AM
Warrior, you nailed it. The real solution to helping Vets is dismatle big government, government agencies, and nuke government "fairness laws" in hiring dictates.
Point number 1. that you made: Affirmative action.
This torpedos the national ship all by itself.
*Also -- bust unions. Ohio's vote failure on Tuesday needs to be a national, coast-t0-coast rallying cry. Bust unions and union/corrupt liberal politican hegemony and jobs will be easier for all -- including Vets.
Question: Has Boeing gotten the goverment a-okay for the factory in South Carolina? Didn't think so.
PolishKnight| 11.15.11 @ 12:34PM
I was thinking that perhaps this is the solution to such liberal mandates. They "work" based upon two paradigms: They buy votes and create new Democrat special interest groups while simultaneously shunting off the costs to the opposition. Consider it similar to conservative states refusing "stimulus" funds: The politicians in blue states were overjoyed with the "free" money while red stater taxpayers carried the burden.
As the old saying goes in school: "Did you bring enough for everybody?"
Add Veterans and white males to the affirmative action pool. There, the whole program is now dead in the water. A redistribution program won't work when EVERYONE is in it.
In the meantime, sadly, the right is doing little to oppose these issues since they're too busy with stating an opposition to abortion (which can't be fixed without a constitutional amendment that will never happen) or gay marriage (while regular marriage is being destroyed by chivalrous politicians favoring new VAWA laws.)
Walter | 11.11.11 @ 9:25AM
That's not a bad idea. Still those being served first would be those in the Government workers line only.
Melvin| 11.11.11 @ 8:17AM
The government is the darn problem. We veterans had a perfectly good program that was called the Vietnam Era GI Bill. Trained, educated and put allot of Veterans to work.
But, government being government shortly before I entered the service went to the Montgomery GI Bill, that wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. It was so cheap and flim flamsy that basically no Veterans could utilize it. If memory serves me right that every dollar the veteran put in, the government paid two dollars.
This was one of those cobbled together bills that offered the Veterans education on the cheap.
For the longest time a veteran couldn't even get the money that he or she put into the programs, the government was saying, "You didn't read the small print."
That later changed but still it was a junk program.
For myself, I was trained to be an Infantryman. After my career was up I was in my forties and the only jobs that I had qualifications for was janitor, grounds-keeper, and law enforcement. There wasn't too much of a demand for middle aged Marines to blow up and destroy things.
Businesses do not like to hire middle aged employees right from the start because their business costs are higher such as health and dental insurance.
The younger the workforce the cheaper the health insurance. I myself is very fortunate that I read the writing on the wall and paid for my own training about three years out. Believe it or not I took a building series at our local community collage and secretarial type stuff, such as keyboarding and learning how to use Word, Excel, and basically become well versed around a computer.
Computers were my hobby anyway, so it dovetailed with my education. One day after crawling around under a house whose crawlspace was half filled with rain water and it was freezing out the boss who was to become the owner asking me if I wanted to come inside and do an inside job. I had a sheet of ice stuck to my coveralls, lets just say he didn't have to ask me twice.
Ten years later I'm the senior employee, working for a great small company and in a climate controlled building.
But the best part is, the support network of retired and active duty Marines here in Jacksonville. I can't even begin to tell you, how helpful and important that has been to me. I work with Army, Navy, Air force, and Marines who have served. So I don't feel so socially naked.
It has got to be so hard on veterans getting out and going back home, and they really don't have anyone to talk to or lean on, because no one can relate to what they're trying to get ac cross.
Even though many of us retire or get out we still look out for each other emotionally or physically. Kicking a co worker in the ass to go to the doctor because they don't look so good, or just having someone to talk to when they have gotten diagnosed with cancer from some crap from overseas.
To me that is the single greatest medicine that a veteran can have. Having brothers or sisters to talk to and lean on when times were tough.
One time I was in the hospital for something, and one of the Navy nurses had something eating on her and it stuck out like a sore thumb and I asked her, "Whats wrong kid," and that is all it took, poor kid was having issues at home being newly married, and basically all I did was listen, and interject positives here and there.
She came back to me later on and thanked me profusely, she felt so much better just getting that ton of emotional brick off her.
To be that is the single greatest treasure in the world is my fellow veterans, because even though you get out or retire, you never leave the band of brothers and sisters it's still in you and you look for them.
Veterans will come to work with ice, and snow on the ground, when others call in that they can't come in to work is because of the weather.
Veterans consistently come to work with less sick days than any other work group. Many times veterans have to be forced to go on vacation.
A bit advice though for those getting ready to get out or retire. Plan ahead at least four years out. Don't count on the government to get you training, do it yourself. Network with other veterans who have gotten out. Many of them own businesses themselves and are looking to hire fellow veterans.
Many veterans know the bureaucracy of the VA and are more than helpful to give information and educate veterans who just got out.
I can't thank enough for Willy Williams kicking me in the ass to get me enrolled in the VA system. If it wasn't for him I would not have found out about the cancerous lesion on my back that just got whacked.
I just can't say enough to have veterans network, network and network with fellow veterans. Even the individual states have programs for Veterans, but the veteran has to get out ans search for them, they won't come to you.
I apologize for being long winded, but my fellow veterans are just as important to me today as when we were active duty.
jothepro| 11.11.11 @ 10:35AM
Bless you Melvin. And Thank You for your service to our great country. I was looking for the like button after reading your post. Keep moving forward.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.11.11 @ 8:31AM
God bless, Melvin. Thank you for your service.... and your good advice to new Vets. See my phone number above.
Frank Drackman| 11.11.11 @ 8:58AM
Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm a Veteran and I suck.
Well not really, and I haven't had trouble workin since I got my DD 214.
But the military has about the same percentage of goof-oofs, lazy effs, drunks, druggies, rapists, as the General Population.
Leavenworth's full of em.
Druggies and Rapists I mean, not Generals.
And remember that Iconic Photo of the Marine after the Battle of Faluja? Unfiltered Camel drooping from his lips,timeless 1000 yard stare, could have been a Marine at Iwo Jima, Que San, Hue, except for the digital pattern cami...
When I saw it, I said, 2:1 that guy's drawing disability in a few years..
AND HE IS, google it, if you don't believe me..
My Uncle Bernie, he was a little slow, made Rick Perry look like friggin Steven Hawkins if you know what I'm sayin..
Fought in the Pacific, Double U Double U 2, and since he loved killin Asians so much, did it again in Korea, and he would have fought in Vietnam if he hadn't lost his trigger finger to a rogue Delta 727...
Ironic really, and he didn't complain about the PTSD, the GI Bill he couldn't use cause he couldn't spell "GI Bill" if you spotted him a G, and I, and a B, you wouldn't even know he didn't like Asians, cause there weren't hardly any Asians in Georgia in the 1960's.. and if he could look down from Heaven and see the VFW he wouldn't go to cause they told holocost jokes is now a Sushi Bar he'd...
probably tell a tasteless Jap Joke..
So suck it up, Nobody's been drafted in almost 40 years, and the Marines tell you right in there abreviation..
U-
S-igned (the)
M-other Effin
C-ontract
Frank,
THKrupp| 11.11.11 @ 10:03AM
I agree with you. Ive worked with and had vets working with me my whole career. Some of them are truely golden. Hard workers etc etc. Some of them are so, so. Some of them excell at working harder to get out of work than actually working. I see the same thing in the non vets. They arent all heros (a word that is bandied about way too much in my opinion) but they arent all bad. A lot of them went into the military for the sole reason of getting financial help with college (like I did). They have been given a lot of responsibility at an earlier age than most kids these day. Although they dont compare with farm kids in that scope. In the end they are pretty much like anyone else. They do tend to be more organized and follow direction to a T. Of course that is good and bad. Employers need people that can take direction well. What companies really want these days are people that have specific credentials and expirience that directly relates to the job position that is being filled. The average ground pounder may have the ability to learn but companies do not have the time or money to train people. They need people that hit the ground running and know exactly what to do their first day. Its a buyers market out there. Vet or not, people without exactly what an employer wants have a tough row to hoe.
Moe Blotz| 11.11.11 @ 3:05PM
Send them to truck driving school, the industry is crying for drivers.
Ret. Marine| 11.12.11 @ 5:13AM
OOOOOOOOOOOOORAH.
Denver Todd| 11.11.11 @ 9:05AM
Mr. Antle:
Your essay reads like a victim of the week article in any local paper. Mr. Coleman is not a victim of anything and you do him no service suggesting such.
Let me seei f I get this right. You are saying that everything that we are saying is wrong to do for the average unemployed American (tax credits, set asides, passing bills of various sorts) is suddenly right to do for veterans? This is garbage.
Wait a sec. Not all vets are unemployed, so not all vets are victims like you suggest. So what are they doing right that the others are not doing? I suggest that the rules that apply for all citizens apply to vets too: keeping job skills updated, stressing interpersonal skills, etc.
I honor vets, but not your way.
Walter | 11.11.11 @ 9:16AM
I am a honorably discharged veteran. I am a licensed RN. I have been applying for a job at the VA in New Orleans. The Veterans Administration couldn't care less that I am a veteran. I don't see anything in this article that incents the Federal Government if it hires Vets. I have faxed my DD214 along with my transcripts to the fax number provided in the job announcement. They can't find it so I don't get my 5 points preference (big deal). What other preferences might the VA be considering when viewing applications? Hummm.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 11.11.11 @ 10:01AM
Try a normal hospital. Why just the VA?
buckeyeman| 11.11.11 @ 11:20AM
You're right, Phil. RN's don't have any trouble finding jobs. Something's fishy with Walter in Nouvelle Orleans.
Ricco| 11.11.11 @ 1:10PM
I would encourage you to voice you gripe here on the VA's VAntage blog site. In fact reply to the article linked below entitled, "I Want to Hire Veterans. Now, Where Are They?” If nothing else, you'll have them on record for their response.
http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/4342/“i-want-to-hire-veterans-now-where-are-they”/
Frank Drackman| 11.11.11 @ 9:34AM
Walter, if your an RN and can't get hired at the VA...how can I put this diplomatically...
It might be that whole "Male Nurse" thang, there's still alot of Homo-fobia out there.
And I know, a man who can wear clogs and pajamas is more of a man than I ever want to be...
Do you have a Swastika tattoo on your forehead?
Actually that would fit right in at the VA.
And I remember at "Doctor Basic Training" some flunky came in and told us about the great VA healthcare benefits we'd be elgible for...
To a room of new Doctors who only scant months before experienced first hand the dirty joke that the VA is...
Everyone just laughed, loud and spontaneously, cause it was funny, in the way a particularly sick and offensive joke is funny..
Like. "Whats Jerry Sandusky's favorite formation??"
OK, one of the VA's in Georgia decided they didn't have to clean there Colonoscopes after the Screening Colonoscopies everyones supposed to get at age 50 so you don't get cancer..
And the good news is nobody got cancer, they caught the HIV-ie instead..
Frank
Redstateboy| 11.11.11 @ 9:53AM
Excuse Meeeeee!!! I'm F'n! fed-up about hearing how our Veterans are taking it in the shorts (I can say this cause I am a Veteran) Everybody's a "victim" today.. The "First Responders" are victims, the OWS'er's are victims, yadda, yadda, yadda.. Hey! It's Hussein and his Slave Party's policies that are causing Everyone to Suffer!! Why should Veterans be any different.. Yeah! It Sucks! but it's sucking for everyone now.
rd| 11.11.11 @ 11:48AM
Redstateboy, correct. There are teachers who willingly and knowingly go into combat zones, aka our inner cities. Some of the violence they see far exceeds what many military members ever saw or will see. Do we have special programs to aid former Urban/Ghetto/Hood Teachers? How about 5 and 6 year 'veterans' of ER duty in major city who have burnout or trouble sleeping from the trauma of seeing so much trauma?
We could massage the numbers and get about 74% of the adults in the nation into some kind of "victimhood" status.
Real Vets don't want this. Real Vets are appalled when you spend any time at a place like the downtown St. Louis VA. Appalled because you see massive bureaucracy there and the serial abuser, sponge Vets who are welfare queens.
Veterans did good things. But so too have policemen, volunteer firemen, EMTs, volunteer Rescue Squad personnel, Merchant Marines, medical people working Free Clinics, heck, the guys working up in Prudoe Bay, Alaska bringing oil to us here in the lower 48. Right?
The Vets who don't have the terrible stuff life body burns and missing limbs (those guys need our care), but the vets who don't have these issues don't need any perks or privileges.
That's not the ethic we learned while in the ranks.
Timothy L. Pennell| 11.11.11 @ 10:06AM
More posturing. More LIES, from the Prince of Lies. Tax Credits. TARGETED Tax Credits. Maybe even some "Jobs Training" thrown in, for good measure. Smoke and Mirrors from the most Transparent man in the World, with his LIFE locked away in a VAULT, in Hawaii, far from any kind of "Sunlight".
How many Blue States DRAGGED THEIR FEET, when it came to getting Voting Ballots to their people, serving on the Battlefield? And, how many Elections, IN A ROW, has this occurred? Everybody knows when the Elections are. They're every 2 Years. So, how is it that these Blue States, and ONLY the Blue States, fail, time and again, to get it done so that our Fighting Men and Women can have their votes counted?
I wonder where the THING in the white House was, when every vote on Re-supplying our Troops came up? We know he voted against giving aid to BABIES who managed to survive their Abortionist's Knife. I wonder where he stood, when it came to the Democrat's Cannon Fodder? aka Our Military Personnel.
I remember the stories of the RAPIST, and his PIG of a wife, BANNING Military Uniforms in their presence. I remember the PUKE: Barbara Boxer, admonishing a General, for not showing HER the respect that SHE decided SHE deserved.
This is like every other lie, that this Muslim/Marxist/White Hating/Jew Hating/ America Hating/Raised in Muslim Indonesia/Taught in Muslim Schools/Indoctrinated in Muslim Mosques, and Mentored by Communists, Marxists, and TERRORISTS, has told since Day 1.
What good's a coupon for a Free Car, if they're not making them, anymore? What good is a Free Meal ,if it's at a Restaurant that doesn't exist anymore? And, what good is setting up a gimmick Tax Credit for JOBS, in a Land with no jobs?
"But, never mind the man behind the Curtain. I need you to look over here. Look at me, standing with the Military. See how good I look."
RND| 11.11.11 @ 10:56AM
We just need to face up to facts:
One lands a job most often based on who you know, not what your life track record is (on paper). And I'm talking about the kinds of jobs that can support a family and allow that father to plan for things in the future/what provides for a solid middle class life; I am not talking about $8.85/hour stocking Office Depot shelves.
The hurdle that many Vets face (particularly those who serve beyond 5-6 years) is anonymity. Yes, anonymity.
Factor even more so if the Vet is the son of a Veteran. If said Vet moved around every 2, 3, or 4 years growing up as a boy and teen in his father's military home (wherever this home may be), he has no home and no one (I do mean no one) knows him.
What is it? 92% of the time one gets a job based upon who you know/real relationships.
So the problem: The military life does not lend itself to this. It does not lend itself to being "known."
Please: All the above is not to add to the "victim" or somehow "discrimination" status when it comes to who gets the jobs. No real Vet wants a hand out.
It is just cold, hard facts. You get a job based on who you know and who knows you. One gets a job based upon solid, real friendships/contacts/real professional relationships and those who make these kinds of phone, in person, and letter recommendations on one's behalf.
But the typical military assignment lasts no more than 24 months, if that. And during that time your "bosses" and those you lead are constantly rotating. In so much of the military, it is the rare exception to work with the same guy, uninterupted, for more than 14-16 months. And that is no time at all.
Often in that 24 month assignment, you can have three bosses and dozens of people working around you.
Here today, gone tomorrow. That is the military world.
As long as 14-16 months might sound, that is quite often not enough time to really KNOW someone. So both of you may be a bit hesitant to give a full throttle, 100% endorsement when it comes to job assistance/recommendation letter 4, 5, or 6 years later when one of the two of you is no longer in the service -- and desperately needs good work.
Understand?
The nomad life of the military means you've got really no roots in life. Anybody that you intensely knew 16, 12, 10 years ago is long, long gone. He or she might as well be on the other side of the planet. (And they may very well be; your paths do not cross. The last time they crossed was 16, 12, or 10 years ago)
Maybe Facebook changes this some? (but Facebook still seems very girly to me) Maybe these social network tools allow for easier hunting down of former "friends" who might help with obtaining real work.
Last: As we all know, real men don't write annual Christmas cards to "keep up." We just don't. So you, over just in a very few years, lose contact.
Even if you do make contact in some way 9 years after being in a unit together, the men one worked with while on active duty military are all in the same boat. Skill sets are military related, half a life devoted to military things. So even if you keep up with some, it is not like they are the top level employees or section managers at the places you wish to hire on.
Sometimes they are still so "junior" in that firm that their word still counts for naught when it comes to a solid recommendation.
And this, ALL of this, is perfectly normal. If is one of life's big tradeoffs that you just cannot know when entering the military at 19 or 21 or when entering as a junior officer.
Would I trade my military years for greater ease in today's very, very poor job market? (where a man my age has far, far less real opportunity) Honest answer: Probably. I probably would have only chosen to serve the initial 5 years and then punched out.
My request: Despite the issues a Vet might have in finding a job, please, let's not add Vets as one more "victim class" that needs massive, poorly run taxpayer supported crutches in fake, bureaucratic programs that just employ more government (on the take) slugs, turds.
Oops. We already have a lot of this in the present-day VA, its programs, and massive budget. (Watch the empire that Shinseki is trying to build....)
This, too, sinks the nation. Even VA program are just part of the gargantuan leviathan that will tax and burden our citizenry and nationhood into oblivion.
On the whole: Vets can face very real job hurdles. One cannot minimize this. There are a number of others not even yet touched on in the posts preceeding mine. BUT: The good Vets do like they always did in the tough times: They adapt, dig deep, endure, show strength, and overcome.
Frank Drackman| 11.11.11 @ 11:58AM
"Annonymity"?!?!?!?
as a Military Brat I LOVED moving every 2 years, heck sometimes less... You can't imagine how many enemies a smart-mouthed Officers kid could make in 2 years..
Trouble is, the bullies moved every 2 years too...
and like Prison, the secret was to beat up somebody on the first day at your new school, just make sure you can kick her ass...
Seriously, I got out of Portsmouth Virginia one step ahead of the Lynch Mob...
which wasn't really a Lynch Mob, rather an angry group of N-words who didn't find MY Lynching joke funny...
And it was my fault, with moving from Nebraska to Montana to Germany to South Dakota to North Dakota, to the OTHER base in North Dakota I knew about as many Black Peoples as I did Eskimos...
thats not true, I actually knew a few Eskimos..
Frank
Whitey O'Carr| 11.13.11 @ 10:17AM
You where stupid enough to use the "N" word on someone? I would not cry for your death if the mob got ahold of yer ass!
RND| 11.11.11 @ 11:17AM
Let me, please, do a shout out (that's what the young kids call it) for a restaurant chain called Applebee's.
The are offering free entree meals to Vets today.
I ate at one last year and plan to do the same this evening. I had never, prior to last year, done this. So I was touched by the gesture.
I know that it is probably a good, wise customer strategy thing emphasized by the top executives for Applebee's, but it is indeed a nice compliment to those who served.
I think a lot of Vets would join me in saying that this is one more "Only in the USA" thing. Most places we served outside the country (to include our European NATO partners) have no such national restaurant chains honoring their Vets with free meals -- ever.
Applebee's is not the only restaurant chain offering this in the U.S. today, I believe. They just happen to be the only one local to me.
Mike Hawk| 11.12.11 @ 5:10PM
I wish they would give a rain-check or something. We have a big parade and open house at our VFW Post afterward. Good food and beverage. We aren't going to go to a feedbag after that to pig out. Nice gesture by several chains though.
BackToBasics| 11.11.11 @ 12:31PM
I do no think vets get poor treatment because the Left doesn't like war but because they do not like it that most vets are patriotic and that a strong military represents a strong America and that maintaining a strong military takes dollars away from their welfare state.
The Left loves any small war that gets their poll numbers up. It often works too since poll numbers don't have time to drop much in a short war.
There are other reasons why they don't like the military but whaterver their reasons their loathing of military personnel is beyond shame. The loathing shows itself in the lack of help and positive press the vets get compared to favorite groups.
rn| 11.11.11 @ 1:01PM
Mr. Antle writes, "Service members would be allowed to begin the federal employment process before they leave the military."
The military already does this.
It allows servicemembers who will be getting out a six-month window (prior to last duty day) to take advantage of a wide array of civilian employment and education opportunities.
Even when in a more remote place, all kinds of internet links, aids, counselors, free tutorials.
And supervisors are required - required - to let the troop go for this focused time to prepare to get out.
The Army called this something like ACAP (Army Career and Alumni Program) USAF and USN have similar. It may all be part of the same mammoth government contract.
It's spotty. But it's huge. On most posts and bases and even the larger ones overseas. Computer centers. Databases. Glossy publications. Long lists of veteran friendly employers. Sometimes special speakers from the civilian work world.
It is ideal? No. The one's I encountered were so-so at best, tending subpar. It wasn't ideal and it was supbar, BECAUSE it was just one more poorly run government program.
It had all the (lack of) qualities of any other government program.
But it is 1000% better than what the military had in place just 20 years ago.
It can also be a bit of a crock. A soldier on three-year entlistment (one he or she hits the actual first unit) gets to devote much of the last half-year to just getting out? I'm oversimplifying, but there are "troops" who are real pros at how to milk these getovers. Meanwhile, as a supervisor, that's a troop you don't have for all the tasks you shoulder. Sometimes you can have two or three soldiers in your section simultaneously off on these mandatory (can't touch 'em, can't give that soldier ANY duties during this time) and this cripples your section's mission.
Mr. Antle, the military actually already goes way beyond -- way beyond - what is necessary to offer a cushion to troops 'landing' back in civilian life. Free education while on active duty for one. That's huge. In class or online from anywhere in the world.
Troops love to tell their supervisor, "Too bad, Sarge, I can't do that! Gotta go to class!" You can hear these very words spoken at Kandahar or Bagram Air Base...today in fact.
A lot of this just makes the active duty military a big welfare program -- even while the troop is still on active duty.
We don't need more programs. The sappy, pandering, suckup politicians that roll out more of these bills and programs need to be shot.
Vern Crisler | 11.11.11 @ 1:07PM
I hate to say it, but military experience is not necessarily the best experience for finding jobs. The problem is that when you are part of the military you are essentially a government worker. The skills you learn are what the government wants you to learn, not necessarily those that a free economy would demand. If you're in the military, stay in long enough to get your retirement. If you're out, you need to think about going to college and getting training in those professions where there's adequate demand. This is the best time to go back to school, because the jobs are very scarce in this Obama economy.
Qwilly| 11.11.11 @ 1:42PM
In the mean time today, we have enemies in the perimeter, that are waiting to destroy what we have defended. Get healthy, get organized , get connected and get ready..........
albert constantine jr.| 11.11.11 @ 2:48PM
It also bears mentioning that anyone who serves more than 180 days of active duty is entitled to VA benefits, in some circumstances even when they receive discharges other than honorable. Many of the criminals, drug addidcts and others who never served outside of their first training command and sucked up precious resources during their brief periods of belonging to the military are now doing the same at the VA, forcing thse who served honorably to wait in longer lines, etc.
JustJim| 11.11.11 @ 3:57PM
One thing that the military services need to improve on is tying their military training directly to more universal civilian certifications. An Army medic or Navy Corpsman should be examined for and granted a civilian EMT certification. The Air Force has the Community College of the Air Force which is accredited by the College Board and provides transferrable credit for almost all of their training. The other services need to do more for their own troops.
Studs Dupa| 11.11.11 @ 7:21PM
Charles Rangel (a Purple Heart recipient) had stated that volunteers for the US Armed Forces are usually of the lower end of the economic strata and educational level. This means they are stupid and poor. Many Amerikans think that anyone who had served in the United States military are stupid and poor, which may hamper veterans ability to obtain a job.
Some potential employers may have been drafted in the military, and are resentful of that experience so they do not value that experience.
Those that have been raised in the seventies and early eighties had a hostile attitude to the military. If these people are part of the hiring process, they may have a hostile attitude to veterans if they still hold those views.
POST American| 11.11.11 @ 9:45PM
-----They RULE through 'Cry SIS' creation.
They REALLY do. . .
rn| 11.12.11 @ 10:49AM
Odd that as I post this on a Saturday morning there are fewer than 40 posts for this ASO headline topic article - yesterday, Veterans Day.
So few Veterans reading American Spectator?
So few with thoughts, comments, or strongly held opinions on this? So few with suggestions that might help? (free market suggestions that do not increase the tax burden, increase taxation)
Mike Hawk| 11.12.11 @ 5:18PM
Not so. A lot of us were out at Parades and activities and didn't come here or any other websites for that reason. I was out 8 AM and back in till after 8 PM.
Mike Hawk| 11.12.11 @ 5:24PM
.. I was NOT back till after 8 PM At the parade we were celebrated with numerous "Thank You for your service." compliments. It was a great day.
Qwilly| 11.12.11 @ 12:40PM
The business of America is business.. Sales training, connections, time, professional strategic support for the mission of teaching how opportunity knocks through businesss....for everyone even Veterans
Wayne| 11.12.11 @ 3:17PM
I was drafted in 1970. When I got out of the army in 1972, I went to the State of Illinois employment office in downtown Chicago. There were no computers and internet sites to browse back then. After I waited a couple of hours in line the clerk asked me what I majored in. I said Math. He slammed his big book of jobs shut. "You should have majored in something else", he said.
I learned a couple of lessons that day. Government does not help the average man, it is just a patronage system. I don't need the government and after a long successful career, I thank that clerk for his incompetence.
Gosh of course veterans have trouble finding jobs. It goes with a bad economy. But lets not start making veterans another victim class and play into the hands of the democrats.
ASTANVET| 11.13.11 @ 6:45PM
In WWII 9 Million vets came back and didn't need a "Jobs Bill"... I joined the Army, and have served my country since 1985, done a few tours in Afghanistan, not for a "Jobs bill" or anything that my benevolent benefactors want to "provide" for the unwashed masses... i Joined, served and continue to serve due to my love of country. I don't want veteran's preference, veterans jobs bill, or anything else. I do have to admit my hypocrisy and say I did use the Montgomery GI Bill - and obtained an education... But my point is - This is everything that is wrong with our contemporary political system... look for constituents, buy their votes with some piece of garbage legislation - brings me back to Ben Franklin "no man's life, liberty or property is safe while congress is in session"... if only they would just stop helping we'd be just fine.
RND| 11.14.11 @ 1:36AM
Someone needs to check this out. Apparently, according to a now very elderly relative, the government has been meddling intensively in "benevolent" jobs programs for veterans for a long time.
My relative shared with me this weekend that veterans returning to the US from overseas WW II duty were often given points or status that allowed them to bump employees off. In other words, a government driven system that assessed points/score that permitted a vet to suplant an employee.
I asked if this was just done for the wounded or for POWs. "No," was the reply. It was done for most veterans.
Odd. Can we do some fact checking on this.
Government needs to be OUT OF the business of trying to help this segment or that segment of our society - period.
I am a veteran and in a long line of them in my family, so I'll say it as clearly as I can. There are many folk in our society who sacrifice. Many who do superb and thankless duty. Two areas come instantly to mind right now because I am dealing with them: Oncology ward nurses -- the nurses that are often the only ones there to aid and comfort as a person dies a lonely, premature death. Also those working in our seniors' homes. Alzheimer patients' homes. THAT IS HARD WORK.
Veterans don't need to be pandered over or pampered.
Point for the author: Get it in your head; there is already excessive redundancy in too many existing US military jobs assistance programs. They are legion already. They frankly need to be rolled back because they overlap and compete.
All veterans need to do is read and follow the solid tips in books like "What Color is My Parachute." (What/ Now in its 14th or 15th edition) This book is excellent.
This book is typically FREE to all soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines at the on base jobs centers. Yes, free because the taxpayers have paid for this as well.
The on base libraries have plenty of free, useful books, materials as well (paid for by you the US taxpayer)
zhangweili | 11.14.11 @ 3:02AM
Point for the author: Get it in your head; there is already excessive redundancy in too many existing US military jobs assistance programs. They are legion already. They frankly need to be rolled back because they overlap and compete.
All veterans need to do is read and follow the solid tips in books like "What Color is My Parachute." (What/ Now in its 14th or 15th edition) This book is excellent.
This book is typically FREE to all soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines at the on base jobs centers. Yes, free because the taxpayers have paid for this as well.
The on base libraries have plenty of free, useful books, materials as well (paid for by you the US taxpayer)
weddingdresses | 11.14.11 @ 3:02AM
I am a veteran and in a long line of them in my family, so I'll say it as clearly as I can. There are many folk in our society who sacrifice. Many who do superb and thankless duty. Two areas come instantly to mind right now because I am dealing with them: Oncology ward nurses -- the nurses that are often the only ones there to aid and comfort as a person dies a lonely, premature death. Also those working in our seniors' homes. Alzheimer patients' homes. THAT IS HARD WORK.
POST American| 11.15.11 @ 1:16AM
"---The KOREAN WAR, and NOT
WWII, is FAST emerging, (as far as
the Globalist 21st century WORLD
TREASON OP), as, by far, the most
significant conflict of the past century----"
-----------------------UH--------------------------
----ANYTIME for that attention 'deficit'
correction viz a viz the cosmically
relevant 60th Anniversary of the yet unfolding
-----------------KOREAN WAR--------------------
--------ANYTIME. . .