Hiring Heroes Act
Just A Grunt sends us a link to an Atlanta Journal Constitution article about the new Hiring Heroes Act now winding it’s way through Congress;
Robinson is one of thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan struggling to find work, the reason U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., introduced the Hiring Heroes Act last month.
“Bottom line, we’ve got too many homeless vets and a high percentage of veterans who are unemployed or unemployable,” Bishop said.
The legislation will provide all veterans leaving service with individualized career assessment, matching up military personnel skills with civilian occupations, as part of the Defense Department’s transition assistance program.
The bill will make available an additional two years of vocational rehabilitation — restoring injured or disabled vets to the level of work or skills they had prior to being hurt — and employment services once federal and state financial assistance has been exhausted. The bill will also create a program giving vets paid work experience with civilian employers and contractors.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that Gulf War II veterans unemployment was 11.4% in 2010 – higher than the national unemployment rate which is 9.1%. The article says it’s higher this year;
The legislation comes at a time when the employment rate for returning service members ages 20 to 24 stands at 27 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Of course, a lot of the reason for this disparity is that veterans have to overcome the Hollywood stereotype of veterans on the verge of a violent breakdown. I’ve dealt with that in my own workplace. Some of my workmates have no problem telling me to my face that all veterans are crazy.
From the Chicago Sun Times;
In decades past, there were greater numbers of veterans in the civilian workplace, including in hiring positions, who understood military language, life and the skills gained there, said Tom Tarantino, senior legislative associate with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. But today, with an all-volunteer military and a smaller percentage of Americans in the workplace that have served in the Armed Forces, that understanding often isn’t there, he said.
This sounds like something Paul Reickhoff and his IAVA should get involved in if he can stop perpetuating the myths that come out of Hollywood for a minute.
Category: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Veterans Issues
I get giving preferance to Vets for Federal Jobs, but I’m not really comfortable with any regulation for private jobs, which is really where the jobs are.
Also having the civilian world recognize and acknowledge the skill set of military professionals goes a long way. For the longest time they talked about EMT-M, which would give Medics and Corpsmen the same scope of practice in the civilian world as they had in the Military. Problem. . .no one wants to admit that some medics are more highly trained then some RNs. And then there’s that Liability issue.
I like the idea in principle, I just don’t see it changing deeply ingrained beliefs Hollywood has enforced.
Would this mean that Voc Rehab would be expanded to six years, or would the 48 month cap on education benefits still remain?
The problem I see with this is, the Stolen Valor crowd will just have something else to worm their way into. And the courts will probably let them, if they don’t throw it out entirely, as being “discriminatory”.
After all, if you can brag on being a recipient of the MoH, or DSC, and it’s all ok, shouldn’t one be allowed to get a job with your non-existent awards?