Less than one percent of Americans have been on active duty, therefore, the brave service men and women who volunteer their services and put their lives on the front lines to protect our United States of America deserve all the recognition in the world. These men and women have served and protected us, yet America does not how to properly provide our service men and women after deployment. Despite numerous administrations, initiatives, programs and organizations that have tried to help with the transition and reintegration of Veterans into civilian life, we have continuously failed.

So many Veterans feel isolated, invisible, and misunderstood because society cannot relate to a Veteran who has trained, fought, and risked it all. The reality Veterans face cannot be understand; the transition from uniformed duty to civilian status is a complete life change both mentally and physically. There is a change in careers, responsibilities, jobs, homes, communities, lifestyle, health care, and training and it does not get easier considering the Department of Veterans Affairs suddenly disappears after deployment.

In 2015 we have so many different job opportunities, yet so many unemployed Veterans. Where is the disconnect?

In Katie Drummond’s article, Veterans Make Valuable Employees So Why Aren’t More Getting Hiredshe says “In 2011, the jobless rate among post-2001 Veterans averaged 12.1 percent. And that figure is arguably much higher, with one war Veterans group recently reporting that 17 percent of their members were unemployed — a full 8 percent higher than the national average. With more soldiers coming home this year, and the Pentagon preparing to thin out the ranks by 2017, the problem threatens to get even worse”.

In 2014 the unemployment of Veterans had decreased from 6.6% to 5.3%. As reported in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics .

• Among the 573,000 unemployed veterans in 2014, 59 percent were age 45 and over. Thirty- seven percent were ages 25 to 44, and 4 percent were age 18 to 24.
• Veterans with a service-connected disability had an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent in August 2014, the same rate as for veterans with no disability.
• Nearly 1 in 3 employed veterans with a service-connected disability worked in the public sector in August 2014, compared with nearly 1 in 5 veterans with no disability.
• In 2014, the unemployment rate of veterans varied by state, ranging from 1.4 percent in North Dakota to 8.5 percent in Maryland.

Slight improvement in unemployment rates for Veterans are wonderful, but many businesses are still turned off from hiring Veterans, even though hiring Veterans provides versatility and the Obama administration and U.S. Congress provide tax credits and other benefits to the businesses that do hire Veterans.

Veterans are “accustomed to uniform policies and structure [and] can adapt to dynamic workplace situations. Vets tend to boast leadership and teamwork skills that outpace those of their civilian counterparts, and they’re often more loyal as well” as stated by Drummond. But, businesses are concerned that the skills acquired during their time in service will not transfer over to the workplace, or the newly hired Veteran will redeploy, or he/ she is mentally unstable.

It is found in Nami’s Mental Illness statistics that after exposure to combat followed by deployment, there is an increased risk of Post Traumatic Stress, substance abuse, depression, or social impairment. Alcohol dependency, PTSD, and depression has increased by 58% from 63,767 in 2006 to 100,580 in 2007. 32,010 of Veterans have received proper psychosocial diagnoses and/ or mental health diagnosis. That being said, many have a preconceived notion that all Veterans have a mental health problem; this is FALSE.

In Washington Post’s poll their respondents said that readjusting to civilian life has been difficult from finding a decent job to inadequate assistance and this can affect one's mentality. “Sixty-six percent of the Veterans polled believed they have the education and skills to be competitive in today’s job market; 81 percent thought their skills would translate well to the civilian job market; and 62 percent thought employers would see military service as an advantage. These high expectations contrast with what many post-9/11 Veterans are experiencing: Whereas the jobless rate for all U.S. Veterans was just 6.9 percent in October 2013 — slightly lower than for the overall population — the unemployment rate for Veterans who have served since 9/11 stood at 10 percent”.

Outside of these setbacks, Obama’s “Joining Forces” campaign challenging businesses to hire or train Veterans, is the first step to helping our Veterans live a sustainable life. It is not enough to only train, employment is what our brave service men and women need. Since this campaign started over 380,000 Veterans and military spouses have been trained o hired, but this number needs to continue to increase. The administration has since announced the Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force — "setting a goal that by the end of 2015, all 50 states will have taken legislative or executive action to help veterans get the credentials they need to successfully join the civilian labor market."

Other powerful websites and programs that help Veterans are Vow To Hire Heroes, VetJobs.com

, HireVets.com, RecruitMilitary.com and Mission Continues

. One very impactful non- profit organization is Mission Complete

that focuses on reintegrating and employing Veterans.

Although businesses say there are too many initiates and resources providing Veterans to hire, many are not being hired. Businesses like the above stated are here to further connect the links between our Veterans and jobs so that these disconnects will not continue. These businesses truly promote the value of a Veteran to the civilian workforce and this needs to occur world wide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/i-mi...