New war vets likely to face job hurdles.
By on Feb 7th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
New war vets likely to face job hurdles.
A new Department of Veterans Affairs report finds that “recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years due partly to employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills.” For example, “18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year.”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Business
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Glenn Beck
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Sports
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Tea Party
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
And it is going to get worse, much worse.
Buck Fush
February 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pmAnd when our vets do come home the PTSD problem will be huge. And of course they will come on the Dems shift! Another good reason to keep the troops there as long as possible. Good copout, BushCo.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:16 pmAnd aren’t the vets lucky? They might come home to an economy that is in the tank.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:18 pmWhen once you start upon a path of deceit
February 7th, 2008 at 7:19 pmYou will find all other matters in defeat
Those returning soldiers who are physically fit will probably be able to work for Blackwater. PSTS and minor mental problems shouldn’t be a barrier when Blackwater is hired to control the insurection that surely will occur when Bush cancels the election in November, all in the name of fighting terrorism.
Now the fiber optic cabels that were cut make sense, the only connection the troops over there have goes through the military. If they knew what’s in store for them if they ever make it home I wonder if the number of fraggings would increase.
We are the terrorists at home and abroad to this administration. How many pesos can I get for a dollar?
February 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pmPTSD is a serious problem of this war that will probably be with this society for the next 50 years.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pmEmployers will always have to consider if a potential employee will “go postal” on the job.
This is so sad, it makes me want to cry.
We sent these young people to this illegal and immoral war, we encourage them to do unspeakable things, we extend their tours, we neglect proper psychological counseling, we have exhausted their numbers and reduced our standards for recruitment, and it never occurred to the higher-ups that this could happen.
The poor souls who will be tormented by PTSD for the rest of their lives are sad to think about, and need all the help we can provide. But the thought that those who do not have PTSD, and will suffer from the “association” is equally sad.
Finally, Bush has cut their health care funding.
guess what – that’s what everyone’s experiencing. no disrespect intended, i’m sure many of those vets signed up due to lousy job prospects in the first place. would-be postergirl jessica lynch signed up when she couldn’t land a job at the local wal-mart.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:28 pmYou know? I liked Rambo I because it described the return at home of a vet trying to find one of his last army buddies, who had died “thanks” to the “”benefits”" of the Agent Orange at Vietnam. But the sheriff, only sees John Rambo as a punk and a wannabe troublemaker, jailing and the deputies end beating him, all because he has long hair and is jobless. All ends as everybody knows, a shooting havoc at the sheriff headquarters.
And, one of the things that Rambo says to his colonel it’s very telling, something in the line of “I was in charge of equipment costing millions of dollars at Vietnam, and here nobody wants to give me even a janitorial job”.
Well, the Republicans are now acting like the Sheriff and his deputies with the troops.
In the future, when a desperate, crazed and homeless vet enters a McDonalds and starts yet another killing spree, Republicans would want to kill him, because “is people, not weapons that kill”. Not a word of how they disenfranchised the vet, how they converted him in a killing machine when was good for their petty revenges and grabbing the oil of other countries, and how they left him panhandling in the street, with a serious PTSD, because it would have been to costly help him to rebuild his broken life.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:59 pm1) many of today’s vets had suboptimal schooling and market place skills to begin with….remember when they lowered the standards to get in, so that they would have warm bodies to turn to cold?
2)and remember that most of our unskilled (but formerly high paying procuction line jobs have gone overseas..thanks to NAFTA and “fair trade”…which is a misnomer anyway. that is why Michigan and the rest of steel belt is suffering disproportionately.
3) PTSD etc. no doubt play a role too, but the above are probaly more proximal causes.
Rescind NAFTA and start putting some tariffs & regulations back in place…including the media fairness doctrine. Obama has a plan…look on his website.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:00 pmWhat a sorry response of TP ers to this thread!
February 7th, 2008 at 8:22 pmAs a Viet Vet, this smacks me of the same crap we had.
Don’t worry–the compassionate conservatives will take care of them.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:25 pmIt’s a pity but the jobs that they have fought for are all somewhere else now.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pmMy point is that the response to this thread has just eleven people.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:30 pmThat’s not news as my son just back for Iraq and can’t find a job. Yes Americans did give lip service with the Bush/Cheney saying Support our Troops means nothing. With little to no medical treatment and no job, it shows those brave troops the American people and the White House are more concerned about Iraq then our troops.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:05 pmIt’s truly sad what has happened to our veterans under the regime of King Chimp and the Big Dick.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:12 pmleftcoast makes a very solid point.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:12 pmYeah, leftcoast & dbadass, I was just thinking the exact same thing before I came across your comments.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:23 pmComment by leftcoast — February 7, 2008 @ 8:22 pm
Sorry, I’m just now checking TP. It is sad that DeLay got way more response than this thread. We can’t stick our heads in the sand on this issue.
Supporting the troops means actually supporting them — helping them get back on their feet, getting them an education, getting them healthcare for life, etc.
We owe them BIG TIME for this disgraceful war.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:13 pmAnd in about 20 years or so, some nutjob right-wing talk show bloviator will deny these people are homeless, too.
Here’s an idea — why don’t we help our returning troops BEFORE their mental and physical war wounds erode them away?
February 7th, 2008 at 11:28 pmIt is their fault anyway. Just look at Malmedy.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:46 pmB-but the ads at the movies said that I could get a good job after serving in the sandbox for the commander in chief. Y’ know, citizen soldiers and all.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:01 amCue the French Horns.
Supporting the troops means actually supporting them — helping them get back on their feet, getting them an education, getting them healthcare for life, etc.
We owe them BIG TIME for this disgraceful war.
Comment by Zooey — February 7, 2008 @ 11:13 pm
What have I been saying since I started posting at TP?
I have been arguing with trolls like Exley and Tracy since day one over the way veterans have been treated. And since news has benn proving me correct, not one troll ( yes Exley I now consider you a cowardly, chimpy-humping, intellectually dishonest troll ) has admitted they were wrong and avoid veteran threads.
The wusses.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:59 amWhat a sorry response of TP ers to this thread!
As a Viet Vet, this smacks me of the same crap we had.
Comment by leftcoast — February 7, 2008 @ 8:22 pm
No kidding.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:02 amAmerica’s foreign policy: the gift that keeps on giving. I can’t help but think of other examples of how the US has treated its veterams, such as the Bonus Army massacre after WWI, and Viet Nam. One poster above mentions that recruiting standards were reduced, taking in less-than-the-best, but I know of highly qualified professionals who have been called up to serve in Iraq. Put them through the Iraq meat grinder two, three, and four times, and it’s a wonder they can even function when they come home.
Conservatives treat our troops like they treat everything else; as an expendable and disposable commodity. To be used up and thrown away.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:48 amWhat a sorry response of TP ers to this thread!
As a Viet Vet, this smacks me of the same crap we had.
Comment by leftcoast
This is nothing new as leftcoast points out…….somethings have not changed.
see the movie….”born on the 4th of July”
Americans love war though so teach your children how to stay out of the service or this is thier future.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:33 amWhat a sorry response of TP ers to this thread!
As a Viet Vet, this smacks me of the same crap we had.
Comment by leftcoast
besides the tp’ers here are more interested in a lively exchange with mantastic than showing outrage over issues like this or torture….
February 8th, 2008 at 10:36 amA sad, cynical german quote…”After the war is over, the wounded soldier is just a one-legged beggar.”
February 8th, 2008 at 2:51 pm