Ron Graham has invested his life serving his country as an Army
sergeant in Iraq. Yet when he returned home, he couldn’t find an
employer willing to invest in him.
His story strikes a familiar chord among veterans returning from the
rigors of war amid a grinding recession. Jobs are scarce, businesses
choosy, soldiers are too often viewed as damaged and their military
training and experience dismissed as irrelevant, Graham told U.S. Sen.
Patty Murray during a forum Friday afternoon in Spokane.
“Ma’am, our company took 85 percent casualties. We’re messed up …
mentally and physically,” he said of the soldiers he helped lead through
the violence of Iraq’s Anbar province.
It has made fitting into the civilian world more difficult, said
Graham, 36, who is in a job skills training program at Spokane Community
College. “Employees don’t want us,” he said. “They ask themselves, ‘Is
it worth the risk of hiring this guy?’ ”
Too often, Graham said, the answer is “Thank you for your service.
Now there’s the door.”
Murray has heard similar tales and said she is troubled by this
sobering statistic: The unemployment rate among young veterans returning
from war is 21 percent.
“It’s crazy. We have to help,” she said.
Murray plans to introduce a bill that she said will bolster training
and reintegration of military personnel into the work force. And she
wants to expand the GI Bill to include assistance for vocational
training rather than just four-year universities.
Her bill may also include seed money for small-business loans to
veterans through the Small Business Administration.
Natoine “Rock” Lively Sr. spent 21 years on a Navy submarine. He left
as a chief petty officer but said finding a management job in the
private sector is daunting. At 41 years old he is selling cars while
continuing to search for a job.
Fitting into the civilian world after spending years in the military
has been tough for generations, he said. “You almost feel like a
foreigner in your own country.”
Robert Lee, an Army staff sergeant, is collecting unemployment and
remains frustrated that his diesel mechanic training in the military is
not considered adequate by many employers.
His job prospects are also hurt by his disclosures that he suffers
from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Indeed, such conditions make employers wary, noted Graham.
“(Companies) worry you might just one day lose it,” he said.
Jerry Mertens, director of services at Haskins Steel Co. in Spokane,
said he was ashamed to hear of employers shying away from
hiring veterans.
“I move their applications to top of the pile,” he said. “We
recognize their service translates into the work ethic we need.”
– Spokesman-Review
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