Jan 1, 2012 - Jason Jones of Byron left the Navy two an a half years ago. The five-year-veteran airman spent six months looking for work in the aviation industry. After numerous rejections, he turned to low-wage retail and food-service jobs, and still no luck."It's degrading. I mean you go to the Navy, to the military, you come out four years later. You're expecting to get something and you wind up having to beg to work for minimum wage at Walmart," he said.
The White House estimates by 2016, more than a million men and women will leave the military and join the civilian workforce.
The Obama administration has launched several initiatives over the past year to make the transition easier.
They've formed a task force to give military members the tools they need to land a civilian career.
Michelle Obama and Jill Biden's 'Joining Forces' initiative asks companies to hire or train 100,000 veterans by the end of 2013. The Department of Labor's gold card initiative gives vets one-on-one job counseling for six months and there's a website that helps vets hone in on a civilian career.
Jason Jones says they need these initiatives and more, because the transition is a lot tougher than it seems.
"You can come out and do the same job on the civilian side," he said. "That's what they always preach to you. And when you get done with that, jobs ain't there." read more>>>
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