I find it very disheartening that a law has to be passed to help those who served the nation get jobs. Corporate America should be doing their part to help our veterans and Soldiers. Creating a new foundation would be fine ONLY if you hire veterans to staff or run. A vet is often a better advocate for another vet.
New Plan to Help
Vets Find Work After War
By Kelly David Burke
Thousands of American troops are returning home from overseas. Those whose military service is ending will be entering the civilian job market at a time when employment is tough for anyone to find.
By Kelly David Burke
Thousands of American troops are returning home from overseas. Those whose military service is ending will be entering the civilian job market at a time when employment is tough for anyone to find.
"Our troops
are coming home and we need to be ready," Sen. Michael Bennet says. He has
proposed legislation to create a National Veterans Foundation that would
operate much like the National Parks Foundation already does.
"Rather than
creating a new bureaucracy or entity to take the place of existing
organizations supporting veterans, the foundation would better utilize the
public and private resources that already exist at no cost to the
taxpayer," according to the Colo. Democrat.
Bennet says the
need was great even before the decision to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and
reduce the number of troops serving in Afghanistan.
"The
unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans in 2010 was 11.5 percent and for young
veterans, 18 to 24 years old, it even spiked to 21.1 percent." And he
adds, "Recent estimates indicate that veterans comprise about one quarter
of the total adult homeless population."
A new foundation
would not replace the many existing organizations that already offer help to
veterans. Rather, it would create a kind of clearinghouse of information to
make it easier for veterans to find help that already exists.
"Without
this type of collaboration," Bennet says, "in some communities,
veterans can fall through the cracks in the systems that support them."
Bennet says a
working model for the foundation already exists in Colorado Springs, a city
home to five major military installations. Retired Air Force Major Gen. G.
Wesley Clark (not to be confused with retired U.S. Army General Wesley K. Clark
who ran for President in 2004) says the Colorado Springs region is a community
that understands the needs of America's veterans.
"Well I
think it's important to understand up front that in the United States
approximately only 1 percent (of the population) have served in the military.
This community we have probably 25 percent who have served or are still serving
in the military."
The Pikes Peak
Area Council of Governments recently created a web-based Network of Care.
Sallie Clark, who
chairs the PPACG, says the Network of Care gives veterans and their families in
the area the ability, "To look in one place to get whatever service they
need. Whether that's employment, whether that's dealing with mental health
issues, whether that's working through family challenges when they come back
from overseas."
Charlotte Nal,
whose husband David is a 1st Sgt. in the Army, says the site is invaluable for
the area's veterans as well as the families of those still serving.
"I think a
national foundation would be excellent, especially for someone who can't have
access to the site that's accessible here. It could be very important for
them."
Bennet's office
says several Republicans are considering whether to cosponsor his bill to
create the foundation, which would also work to educate the public about the
need to provide service to those who have already served us.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/27/plan-to-help-vets-find-work-after-war/#ixzz1hqGvIICy
