Veterans returning from the war in Iraq might be highly skilled and motivated, but many have a tough time making the transition to the civilian workplace.
November 12, 2006
Jeremy Ross' most recent tour in Baghdad had him leading a team of 26 soldiers providing security for a two-star general. He worked 15-hour days, every day for 13 months. He was in the middle of convoys, dodging bullets and explosives, making sure the general stayed safe.
Ross is home now, living in Neptune, having been honorably discharged from the Army in October. And he can only wonder why someone with his experience can't find a decent-paying job.
"It's an unsettling feeling," Ross, 28, said. "The worst is when people say, "You're out of the military, what are you doing now?" The last thing you want to say is, "Collecting unemployment from the state."
As the nation observes Veterans' Day this weekend, young veterans are having a tough time making the transition to the civilian work force. Their unemployment rate is higher than average, and even when they find a job, they have to cope with what amounts to culture shock.
Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., last week took employers to task for not recruiting veterans more aggressively, calling veterans' high unemployment rate a "disgrace."
"It is unfair to those who have given so much," Holt said at a press conference Thursday. "It is unwise because these men and women have skills they have learned that companies should take advantage of. And it is unpatriotic."
The U.S. Labor Department reported male veterans ages 18 to 24 had a 17.2 percent unemployment rate compared with nonveterans in that age group, who had a 10.4 percent unemployment rate.
Observers said veterans competing for civilian jobs typically are at a disadvantage from the outset. People who enlist in the military essentially take themselves out of the job market for as long as their commitment lasts.
When they get out, they have the same skills as civilian workers, but they don't have the connections that sometimes are needed to land a job. Without that, an employer might see their resume, notice they have no experience in the industry, and discard it with little second thought.
"The military is quite an insular experience," said Chris Michel, founder and chairman of Military.com, a San Francisco-based Web site that offers career services for military personnel.
Veterans who find jobs after leaving the military also face a tough road, even if it is simply conforming to the cultural differences between military and civilian life, experts said.
Veterans often have to change their terminology; few civilian workers use the term "sir" anymore. They are accustomed to a rigid schedule and might be taken aback by the increasingly informal workplace. And they have an uncommonly intense work ethic.
"If the boss sees me working past 4:30 p.m., he'll turn off the computer," said Victor Alvarado, a retired Army infantryman who now works as a veterans specialist for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development in Neptune. "In military life, you keep working until you get the mission done."
Case in point: Brian Walbrecker, 26, of Wall, who enlisted in the Navy in 1999, looking for structure and guidance and to learn a trade.
Walbrecker was assigned to the USS Detroit, which delivered ammunition, bombs, fuel and food to a fleet in the Persian Gulf. And he worked 15 hours a day, fixing anything that broke on the steam ship and standing guard to set off the alarm when fires or floods broke out.
"I loved it," Walbrecker said. "I liked being on the ship, being out on the ocean. Plus, I was young."
After he left the Navy at the end of May, he was offered several low-paying jobs that paid him less than his unemployment benefits, before he took a job with Infern-O-Therm, a Keyport manufacturer, as a machinist.
"The good thing about the civilian workplace is you know what your job is and you just do it," Walbrecker said. "You don't have to wear a uniform and worry about messing it up and getting yelled at.
"But you're doing the same thing over and over, so the excitement of, "What am I going to work on today?' isn't there."
The disconnect between the military and civilian work force remains, even as Holt last week touted a bill he co-sponsored that would create a "Hire a Veteran Week" to raise awareness about the high jobless rate among recent veterans.
Holt pointed to Phacil Inc., a Camden-based technology company with an office in Shrewsbury, as a prime example of a veteran-friendly company.
The company, a government contractor, has about 180 workers, more than a quarter of whom are veterans. Its revenue of about $20 million a year is up 900 percent the past three years.
Rafael Collado, chairman and chief executive officer, said the company aggressively hires veterans, even looking for them on resumes posted on Internet job sites. He said he's miffed that many companies don't hire veterans as aggressively as his own.
Soldiers might not have trades that are a perfect match for Phacil, but they have intangibles that can't be taught, Collado said. "These are the kind of workers I want here," he said. "They understand loyalty, integrity and teamwork."
Ross wishes more employers would fall in line. Ross grew up in Bradley Beach and attended Red Bank Regional High School. He joined the Army in 1999, intent on becoming a military policeman.
He was stationed at posts in Puerto Rico, Oklahoma and Maryland, and improved his skills along the way. He learned to become a sniper, and he graduated from a community college with an associates degree in liberal arts.
Ross served two tours in Iraq. Just after the war began, he helped to control safe zones on the Iraq-Kuwait border. A year later, he went to Baghdad to safeguard the general. The job gave him pride, but it was intense and harrowing, he said.
"Every day, you never know if you are going to live or if you are going to die," he said.
Ross thought the experience would prepare him for a career in law enforcement. But when he returned to New Jersey, he found careers in law enforcement were hard to come by. The jobs he was offered in private security or loss prevention paid $12 to $14 an hour — not enough to get by.
He plans to switch gears and go into financial services, at least for now, hoping the communication skills he developed can pay off.
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