VETERANS RETURN HOME TO A NEW BATTLEFIELD

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Veterans of recent wars confront grim employment landscape
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 30, 2010; 12:25 AM

IN HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. During the seven months that he was stationed in Iraq, Joe Janssen served as an assaultman, a job that involved manning the turret gun in a Humvee and using shoulder-fired rockets and other explosives to support his fellow Marines.

Those skills were invaluable in war. But they are of little use now that he is back home in Hauppauge, N.Y., a Long Island hamlet. He has applied for job after job since leaving active duty well over a year ago, but his efforts have proved futile.

The Marine reservist used his veterans benefits to finish his bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Now he is scouring for a job in law enforcement while he waits for his name to rise to the top of the New York state police hiring list - which is unlikely to be anytime soon, given the state's severe budget problems.

Experts claim the employment challenges confronting veterans violates a recruiting promise that serving in the military makes them more employable after they become civilians. "The (pledge) works fine in peacetime," according to Lawrence Korb, assistant secretary of defense for manpower under Reagan, "But that does not work too well in war. . . . what kind of skills have you learned other than counterinsurgency?"

Other experts claim veterans have programs that assist them in finding work, especially a hiring preference in government jobs, guaranteed interviews with employers and tuition reimbursement, which doesn't completely cover their education.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122904498.html?hpid=topnews

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. Kick! this OP needs more discussion

[w8liftinglady]

2. kick-why the f*ck do you think my kid went back to Afghanistan as a private contractor?

3 tours in 5 years in Iraq,home to a "Grateful Nation" who turned their backs.

"Mechanic" job paying $9.00/hr with no benefits.Gi Bill in a school where no one understood a war vet's experience.(since our media conveniently forgets to mention we are AT war-and has ignored it for YEARS).Impossible for a single guy to live alone while going to school.(and for some reason,a 25 year-old who's been in the middle east his whole adult life,just about,wouldn't want to live with mommy)
NO effort from the community businesses who "support the troops" to offer employment to same troops when they come home.
The guys all trained in different areas,only to give that up and do infantry when they went to
Iraq.Any offers to retrain for a civilian world were bullshit.
end of rant.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. That's a valid rant...

My son took out gigantic loans to get his undergraduate degree. And then got a job with unbelievably long hours, extensive travel and VERY little compensation, so he went back for his masters degree. By the time he gets it, due to expensive wars that create terrorists worldwide, the economy will likely be so bad that he can't find work at all. His educational debt will be MUCH higher by the time he graduates. Tuition is sky-rocketing.

[sendero]

3. The dirty little secret..

... we cannot afford to end the wars because we have nothing else for the troops to do.

Let me elaborate - we COULD put them to work building infrastructure. But there is no easy money for the oligarchs in that, so that is not going to happen.

[w8liftinglady]

4. my thoughts exactly.actually,may be the topic of my next editorial.

[Bandit]

8. Bull Crap

Our soldiers can do exactly what they have done for decades during Peace. They train and they train and they train some more and be on the ready for if there is a time they really are needed.. They do not have to be killing people on the other side of the world. People that have ZERO chance or opportunity to do any harm against this country..Warfare is not even close to being the equivalent of good training. We will always have soldiers to protect this country and they should be held in high regard but no one can convince me there is any need what-so-ever for our military to be doing what it is today...The reason we are blowing stuff up, killing bunches of people, and using up our ammunitions is so Contractors can make a lot of money, much of that coming from foreign labor..Republicans have convinced themselves that war is good for business..Against all Empirical Evidence even..

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. If you think things are bad now, just wait until we get another Bush-clone for president...

If we diverted 1/10th of the defense budget into infrastructure, we could create jobs for all the returning veterans.

[w8liftinglady]

5. Swords to Plowshares has an enormous amount of articles on this

spanning several years.See how the nation cares?(and note how they began speaking out when President Obama was elected.Did the feel pressured to "Keep Quiet " during the previous fascist regime?)
http://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/news?news_type=News%20at%20Swords

[w8liftinglady]

7. and the sad thing is...most of the jobs are part-time

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. you better believe it

[AsahinaKimi]

9. unfortunately

Being a Veteran doesn't mean much to Civilian Employers or Landlords any more. My friend at the VA Hospital has told me this time and time again.