Excerpt
JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And we return to the subject of veterans on this day honoring them - now, the problems many face in finding a job back home.
NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman updates a story he filed earlier this year. It's part of his regular reporting on Making Sense of financial news.
EDMOND SHEFFIELD, U.S. military veteran: If I owned a business and somebody took a bullet for me, I could at least give that person a job at my corporation.
PAUL SOLMAN (Newshour): Edmond Sheffield worked as a military policeman while in the service. He got out in 2010.
ERIK VADALMA, U.S. military veteran: I applied to maybe 100 jobs.
PAUL SOLMAN: Erik Vadalma served in Baghdad, left the Air Force in 2008 -- all he could find, a part-time gig at Ikea.
ERIK VADALMA: I didn't have enough money to make ends meet.
PAUL SOLMAN: Debra Bain did a six-year hitch.
DEBRA BAIN, U.S. military veteran: You feel like you have lost who you are as a person, your value.
PAUL SOLMAN: Just three of more than two million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Over 12 percent were jobless last month, compared to 9 percent for the total population. For vets aged 18-34, the rate was 16.6 percent.
The problem took center stage in Washington this week. On Monday, President Obama outlined a plan that offers veterans personalized career counseling and new Web resources to assist them in their job hunt.
Personally I find this hard to believe. As a retired Vietnam Vet my experience in finding a civilian job is just the opposite of what is happening here, the "stigma" context.
The Vietnam era, and prior eras, Vets did not have a problem find jobs, even when jobs were scarce. Employers knew that Vets are well trained and disciplined. Training that included leadership and management skills. Also, we already knew to show up to work on time and put in a full day. In fact, we are trained to show up for work BEFORE the work-day starts (Muster at 07:00 = 07:00 NOT 07:01) that's why you showed up EARLY so you can be ready.
So, why the difference with today's Vets? They should be NEAR the top of preferred-employee lists, even in these hard times.
"President Obama outlined a plan that offers veterans personalized career counseling and new WEB resources to assist them in their job hunt."
WHAT?! NEW plan?
When I retired from the Navy, the last 4mths they offered a free (Navy financed) collage course on finding jobs; which included local resources for upgrading skills, like community collages and local employment agency training. The opening statement was the recognition that we (Vets) have been out of the job-hunting market for quite awhile and we needed to refresh our skills.
Personally, the Navy WAS my first job, so I had no experience in job-hunting.
So, are the services no longer doing that for today's Vets?
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