Five months after Kalama native Joe Ledgett deployed to Iraq
with his National Guard unit, his wife was diagnosed with a brain
tumor. Ledgett returned home for a month to be with her, but said
he soon returned to Iraq because he knew it was the only job he
could find to support his family.
Ledgett, a technical writer with a bachelor’s degree from the
University of Washington, said that when he came back to the U.S.
last year, there was still no job to be found. He said he “applied
for every tech writing job available,” but he couldn’t find work
and supported his family with unemployment checks. In six months of
looking for work, he said he secured only two job interviews.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced a bill
aimed at helping veterans like Ledgett find work. More than 21
percent of veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan can’t find
work, Murray said in a conference call with Ledgett and other
veterans.
“How can these heroes, who have performed under such tremendous
pressure … be struggling so much when they come home?” Murray
asked.
The Veterans Employment Act of 2010 would establish a Veterans
Business Center program with the U.S. Small Business Administration
to train veterans to start their own businesses. It would expand
the Post-9/11 GI bill to pay for apprenticeship programs.
Doctors successfully removed Ledgett’s wife’s tumor. And he
recently found a contract job with Microsoft. But Ledgett, who now
lives in the Seattle area, said Murray’s jobs bill could help
veterans like him find work and train for new jobs faster.
Both Ledgett and Murray said veterans are sometimes hiding or
downplaying the fact that they’ve recently served overseas because
of, as Murray put it, “the stigma of the invisible wounds of
war.”
Ledgett, who was in charge of maintaining security cameras in
Iraq and didn’t experience combat, said work was especially
important for veterans who are struggling emotionally with their
experiences overseas.
“Getting them back to work is critical for their recovery,” he
said.
Veterans who spoke during Tuesday’s teleconference said
employers are leery of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Murray and Ledgett said veterans struggle in telling potential
employers how their military training and leadership can help
businesses. And employers, she said, underestimate veterans.
“What it boils down to is guys like me come back and they submit
their resume. The top of the resume is going to list: ‘Was in Iraq’
or ‘Was in National Guard.’ When I got back if I could have taken
some training, a short community college course or seminar —
anything — I could have put that at the top of my resume as
something more recent and relevant to my career,” Ledgett said.
“And that would have helped me stand out.”
The bill, which is also sponsored by Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and
Mark Begich, D-Alaska, would also create pilot programs to help
veterans gain technical skills and establish a Veterans
Conservation Corps grant program and green energy jobs program for
returning service members.
– Longview Daily News
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