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First lady tells vets ‘America has your back’
KHON 2 News Honolulu ^ | 11/14/2011 | Andrew Pereira

Posted on 11/15/2011 2:57:22 PM PST by presidio9

First Lady Michelle Obama has a simple message for the country’s jobless veterans – “America has your back.”

Mrs. Obama spoke to a crowd of several hundred people Monday afternoon at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam about the importance of getting vets back into the workforce once their military careers are over.

“For a lot of folks making the transition to civilian life is hard, especially in the midst of a tough economy,” said the first lady.

According to figures by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average unemployment rate last year for vets who joined the military since September of 2001 was 11.5 percent, well above the current national jobless rate, which in October improved slightly to 9 percent.

Mrs. Obama spoke for about twelve minutes after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsored a job fair earlier in the day called Hiring Our Heroes.

About fifty-five employers took part in the job fair, which was expected to attract a crowd of about five hundred.

U.S. Navy veteran Dyan Jackson told Khon2 she’s currently unemployed, but was hoping to land a job with one of the companies at the event.

"It's pretty tough right now I think for everybody, but I keep faith though,” said Jackson. “I hope this will turn out to be a good thing for me.”

The job fair at the sprawling military base was the sixty-eighth held by the Chamber, which is planning one hundred such events nationwide. To date the Hiring Our Heroes campaign has helped more than 3,000 vets and military spouses land jobs, and has connected more than 55,000 veterans with more than 2,500 employers.

Mrs. Obama also touted a separate initiative called Joining Forces, which she and Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife, launched in April. The campaign asks businesses to commit to hiring vets, and so far, has received more than 125,000 pledges.

“What we're doing through Joining Forces is rallying all of America to recognize and honor and support our veterans and military families,” said the first lady.

Obama also highlighted a web site called Veterans Job Bank that currently lists more than half a million job. The web site is powered by the National Resource Directory.


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Hawaii; War on Terror
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1 posted on 11/15/2011 2:57:24 PM PST by presidio9
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To: presidio9

baby got back.


2 posted on 11/15/2011 2:57:46 PM PST by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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To: presidio9

With Obama in the White House, more like, “America has a knife in your back.”


3 posted on 11/15/2011 2:58:24 PM PST by dfwgator (I stand with Herman Cain.)
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To: presidio9

Comforting, we need her to speak for us, no thanks


4 posted on 11/15/2011 3:00:36 PM PST by ronnie raygun (V)
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To: presidio9

Seems they care about vets only when it helps them to advance their socialist agenda.


5 posted on 11/15/2011 3:05:08 PM PST by Thidwick
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To: ronnie raygun

Wait until the Reduction In Force following the budget cuts. Always happens when the war ends. Another lie by the Obamanation.


6 posted on 11/15/2011 3:05:47 PM PST by satan (Plumbing new depths of worthlessness on a daily basis.)
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To: presidio9

What’s up with this big push of the Obozo’s with finding jobs for Vets? What is it that they are up to here. It’s certainly NOT because they support the military - hell, they do not even properly salute the flag in public. Either this is purely political pandering during an election year, or they have plans regarding significant cuts in our military. Or, both.


7 posted on 11/15/2011 3:09:59 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: presidio9
HEADLINE: First lady tells vets ‘We'll America has stab your back’

There. In the interest of truth, I fixed it.

8 posted on 11/15/2011 3:12:48 PM PST by Gritty (Compromise that is not a solution is a waste of time. We either save this country or we do not-Rubio)
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To: presidio9

High unemployment among the young is normal for European style socialism. This is the new normal. The 0bamas only care about the troops as useful props for politics. Period.


9 posted on 11/15/2011 3:13:01 PM PST by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: SoldierDad

Prediction: Obama’s affirmative action plan for veterans (if enacted) will have the same effect that similar plans will have for minorities. It will represent veterans as less attractive hires and create suspicion that veterans who succeeded only did so with government help. It will not create a single new job because it will only be used where a company was going to hire SOMEONE anyway, and decided the financial incentive made sense to “take a chance” on a veteran.


10 posted on 11/15/2011 3:14:44 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: presidio9
“First lady tells vets ‘America has your back’”

Is she referring to gays in the military; or a knife?

11 posted on 11/15/2011 3:16:29 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (I love how the FR spellchecker doesn't recognize the word "Obama")
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To: presidio9

That’s what Sandusky said.


12 posted on 11/15/2011 3:16:31 PM PST by TigerClaws
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To: presidio9

I simply cannot understand people in this country who believe that government creates jobs. Government can help or hinder in private sector job creation(mostly hinder in the past 10+ years), but cannot create jobs. For every single government job there is a net decrease in government revenue. The answer to jobs is for government to get out of the way of the private sector.


13 posted on 11/15/2011 3:18:49 PM PST by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: presidio9
Wasn't she the pos that was caught on tape asking "all of this for a damn flag"?

disrepctful bitch

14 posted on 11/15/2011 3:19:06 PM PST by A Cyrenian (Missouri heading to the SEC.)
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To: presidio9

Does that mean their Votes will be Counted this time?


15 posted on 11/15/2011 3:23:35 PM PST by ballplayer
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To: presidio9

Maybe as a target


16 posted on 11/15/2011 3:34:14 PM PST by clamper1797 (Hoping to have some change left)
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To: presidio9


17 posted on 11/15/2011 3:34:46 PM PST by Iron Munro (Ben Raines For President)
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To: presidio9
Let's play Which Statement Does Not Fit With The Other Two?

1. "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."

2. “all this for a ### flag? Or...

3. “…we're … rallying all of America to recognize and honor and support our veterans and military families...”

.

18 posted on 11/15/2011 3:35:39 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: presidio9

We libs got your back...on the tips of our rusty, jagged knives.


19 posted on 11/15/2011 3:35:50 PM PST by Tzimisce (Never forget that the American Revolution began when the British tried to disarm the colonists.)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

Now that she’s officially proud of her country again, she can start getting those photo ops with the military that she hates so much.

Michelle Obama opened up to Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” in her first television interview since she became first lady.

MARCH 17, 2009

By choosing Fort Bragg for her first official trip outside the capital last Thursday, Michelle Obama signaled that she will use her position as First Lady to promote one of America’s most deserving causes: our military families.

Plainly the families loved it. Just look at the smiles on those children as she read them “The Cat in the Hat.”

So it was just a little disconcerting the next morning to hear the First Lady explain how she came to this issue:

Michelle Obama - “I think I was like most Americans,” she told ABC News. “Pretty oblivious to the life of military families. Sort of taking it for granted.”

Perhaps Mrs. Obama did take these families for granted. Surely, however, it’s extraordinary to suggest that “most Americans” did the same. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123725233352050133.html


20 posted on 11/15/2011 3:37:12 PM PST by anglian
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