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June 6, 2008
WILLISTON - Ronnie Rodriguez joined the Marine Corps in 2003, didn’t go to Iraq or Afghanistan, but sustained a serious spinal injury during his four-year tour of duty as an aviation mechanic.
The 27-year-old and his wife moved their two children to Vermont — her home state — when he got out of the Marines. With the support of a vocational rehabilitation counselor from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Rodriguez set out to find a job.
Rodriguez, it turned out, was just the kind of employee that Pre-Tech Plastics in Williston needed.
“We were advertising for a calibration technician,” said Willy Ehrhardt, applications engineer at Pre-Tech. “The background of aircraft mechanic is sort of a fit. Technical personnel are very hard to find in this area at this time.”
It wasn’t just that Rodriguez had technical skills and aptitude, company officials said. He also had a work ethic.
“Take a chance and hire them,” Rodriguez said he would advise employers considering veterans for jobs. “We’ve already been trained.”
Employers should know, too, that government offers support services to disabled veterans and those transitioning from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, said Hibbard Doe, regional manager for VocRehab Vermont and a retired Naval reservist.
Monday, the fifth Governor’s Summit on the Employment of People with Disabilities will spotlight state and federal efforts to smooth the path from the armed forces to the workforce.
The conference has two audiences — veterans and employers. Doe noted that the Department of Veterans Affairs and VocRehab help injured veterans find new jobs or ease back into their former employment. “We want employers to know who we are and what we do, too.”
Doe said the state’s 12 vocational rehabilitation offices are just beginning to see veterans seeking employment services. “We want to get ahead of the curve on this thing,” he said. “We are anticipating in the years ahead we are going to see a lot more.”
“I think a lot of employers — they have the sentiment that they want to help,” Doe said. Some veterans, however, might be reluctant to seek aid. “They are nervous about the stigma. They don’t want to be perceived as damaged goods.”
Jon Coffin, adult outpatient director at the Howard Center for Human Services and a colonel and staff psychologist in the Vermont Army National Guard, sees the conference as an opportunity to spread the word about the help that’s available.
“We could save some lives here, some families,” Coffin said.
Coffin, who has met nearly every plane bringing Guard members back from tours in the Middle East, will serve as the moderator for panels of veterans at the summit. He said the public — and veterans themselves — need to remember what those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have endured.
“We sent these people to the gates of hell. Many had to go through the gates and fight their way back out,” Coffin said. “Try to imagine a guy in great peril one day and eight days later trying to go back to work. What about guys who aren’t able to bring themselves to do the job they did?
“With an open heart, we are trying to get people to consider what the impacts are and what approaches might be helpful.”
Ehrhardt at Pre-Tech said the Department of Veterans Affairs has supplemented the salary the company pays Rodriguez during his nine-month training period. As for the paperwork connected with making it possible for Rodriguez to get this financial benefit, Ehrhardt said, “It is well worth the minimum amount of effort we have to put forth.”
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