"Why Young Vets Have Trouble Finding Work"

Making the Sale: How to Deal with Unemployment Among Veterans

Aug. 18, 2011 - There are few things more awkward than walking the streets of East Harlem in my Army dress blue uniform. The gold pant stripes and the medals on my coat draw an interesting array of reactions. Some offer suspicious stares. Some preach to me their conspiracy-theory wisdom behind the current wars. About once a week, someone asks where the closest cross-town M60 stop is, thinking I'm a bus driver.

There are over 2 million Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans in the U.S. today; that number will likely double in the next few years as we wring ourselves of foreign obligations. While the numbers of homeless veterans, wounded veterans, and veterans without healthcare in this country are all disconcerting, the statistic that continues to anger me the most is that among young American veterans — those defined as younger than age 30 — approximately 24% are unemployed, over double the rate for the general population.

What infuriates me even more is the charitable pitch this nation uses to try to solve this complex problem. It's a common story: the mass media confirms the staggering veteran unemployment rate. Talking heads cry foul because we service members have "sacrificed so much" and we "deserve better". Of course, the viewers sigh and shake their heads with sympathy like watching a commercial for the Christian Children's Fund — we all feel sorry for the kids, but in a tough economic environment, most are in little position to affect the situation.


At one point in America's history, an able-bodied young man walking these streets without a uniform — or at least a military posture — was the anomaly in town. I like to think it was a time when someone like me felt a little less alone in a corporate jungle like Manhattan. Perhaps it's naive to yearn for such empathy, but then again, it may be exactly what our nation needs in these troubled times.

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The national security pitch is straightforward. George Washington said it best, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." This isn't just theory to me. I see it every day as I travel the country talking about my experiences in Afghanistan and West Point. No matter how many "Army Strong" advertisements they see each day, there is no sight more influential in a student's decision to enlist than the waiting-line at a veterans' homeless shelter, or the Army Combat Uniform pattern backpacks lingering in the unemployment office. Veteran unemployment is a force divider. It compels our brightest and toughest youth out of military service and into careers they sense can support a family over the long-term. read more>>>

No Revenues = Still No Sacrifice = That's Called That 'Support' For The Troops!!
Now a decade plus, added to the previous decades since Korea, especially ours Vietnam!!

Already known through decades of our brothers and sisters living those false patriotic? meme's and cheap phony symbols of including their 'purple heart bandages'!