So it's pouring rain and miserable out there. This young kid just stops by my place of employment to see if we are hiring. He doesn't have much experience in machine work or welding, but he's willing to work. We've got nothing for him. The kid looked like a baby.

Army Vet 2004-2006 Infantry Iraq.

I offer to take his resume, and he hands me a resume that's kind of wet, as he's out there on FOOT in the pouring rain, looking for a job, in a city that is having a hard time, economically speaking. It appears he graduated from high school, but he does not have much experience in the line of skilled work according to his resume.

I made him some extra copies of his resume, and gave him a UPS plastic type envelope to keep his paperwork dry.

I know nothing about this kid, he could be a loser for all I know, but seeing him out there on foot, in the pouring rain, looking for a job..... Something about this kid got to me...

Does the Army have some kind of program to help place their veterans in jobs when they get out?

Edit: It does appear he's been out of the service for a while and been employed....

He needs some kind of education if he is looking for employment these days..., technical school, college?....GI Bill?

 

This is an ongoing problem.
Our government, and i mean dating back to WW1,has abandoned our veterans in a way that is shocking. As a veteran, I can relate to some of the difficulties that these people have to deal with. It is very sad.

 

He was just so damn young, and he was on foot, in today's weather, (shows me a bit of determination). As I said, I know nothing about him, but obviously he needs a job, direction, guidance, education, something......

 

The GI Bill paid for my college education. Just have to apply.

 

It is an absolute disgrace, a shame upon this country. We ask our young men and women to fight under the most horrible of conditions and then when they finish we abandon them. As much as I am against this war, I do believe that we owe our young people who volunteered to serve this nation more than we give them.

It isn't a question of the G.I. bill, our service people need much more. They need guidance, counseling, and emotional and physical care. Paying their debts and for their education is the easy part. What they really need is help to bring them back to the state of mind and being that they had before the horrors of war.

This kind of thing has happened to our veterans during and after every war, but this war, Iraq and Afganistan, have had an especially hard effect on them.

We need to end this war as soon as possible so that, among other things, we don't destroy the lives of any more of our young, but we also need to take care of those who have served.

 

There is the answer, but vets don't have the same opportunities that they did even 20 years ago.

 

I'm glad that you were kind and helpful to him, Lainey

Interesting coincidence: When I was checking out at the Super Fresh last night, there was a clean-cut younger guy ahead of me; checked out and paid for his small order; then came back and asked the cashier if "they are accepting job applications for the night shift" (it's a 24 hr location). She told him "No, but you might check with our store in _______" (a few miles away). I don't know that he was a vet but certainly could have been.

Yes, it's sad and you have to ask: What are the young men who ARE going to be brought home sometime while in their 20's....what have they been trained to do? We have a young friend of family who is a 1st Lt in Iraq and will (too) soon become a Captain (paying up to 35k re-enlist bonus to guys like him). He's an ROTC engr'g grad from VPI and developing some leadership skills which will assist him if he doesn't go the 20 years; but what are his 'grunts' going to do when they are mustered out?

 

I heard this this morning on PBS Morning Edition entitled Making Veterans More Comfortable on Campus It is nice to see help being provided

The prevalence of PTSD is but one of the obstacles that veterans face. It is so easy to be "patriotic," but not so easy to treat veterans with due respect and assistance.

 

And I heard a story on NPR this week about the Army pressuring the VA to stop helping soldiers at Fort Drum prepare their disability paperwork, because the Fort Drum veterans were getting higher disability awards than others, costing the Army money.

 

The list goes on and on I caught part of another item this morning (NRP) describing the new discovery that almost 50% of soldiers who are knocked unconscious are later diagnosed w/PTSD. But out in the field, they are routinely given a chance to recover and then sent back out.....never a prompt follow-up with medical. I only heard part, so I may be over-simplifying....