Posted on 04/06/2008 5:13:30 PM PDT by SmithL
When U.S. soldiers returned from the Vietnam War, many never got the welcome they felt they deserved. Instead of parades, many got sneers and lectures. Since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars began, Americans have responded much better to veterans returning from U.S. missions abroad. We throw parades. We wrap our arms around them.
Then we forget about them as they try to enter the civilian workforce, typically with less success than counterparts who have never enlisted.
A recent survey for the Department of Veterans Affairs found that 18 percent of vets just back from tours of duty are out of work - and a quarter of those with jobs earn less than $21,840 per year. In the first two years after leaving military service, the official unemployment rate for veterans was 9.5 percent - more than double the 4.3 percent rate for a group of demographically similar nonvets.
Ken Crawford, who tries to place veterans with jobs for the San Francisco veterans group Swords to Ploughshares, told me it is "very rare" that he places a vet in a job that pays health benefits, much less offers a 401(k) plan. Men and women whom this country recently trusted to command others and represent America abroad now are flipping burgers and delivering pizza.
"A veteran should not go from saying, 'Sir, yes, sir,' to, 'Do you want fries with that?' or 'Would you like to supersize that order?' " Crawford added.
The problem isn't simple. Crawford believes that the military often does not develop skill sets that translate easily into the civilian job market, although the VA survey reported that many veterans have developed valuable technological skills.
There can be emotional issues .... Some vets have trouble adjusting from the military regimen to workplace sensibilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
they "felt"? -- two extra words in this sentence.
I think the biggest tragedy of the Vietnam War, another liberal misadventure of interventionism, is how poorly the veterans were treated and continue to be treated. I detest the Iraq war/police action, but I love the look on a liberal’s face when their “Bush’s lies that got us into Iraq” is countered with “Like LBJ’s Gulf of Tonkin lie that got us into Vietnam?” Hypocracy knows no friend like a liberal.
BTTT!
Wrong. We NEVER "felt" we deserved anything
However, what we expected and were never afforded same, was to simply be allowed to reintegrate into society without being scorned, impugned, denigrated, and ostracized, simply for having served our country.
I know I speak for many Nam Vets, in that when I went back to school (and graduated college with honors) that after sending out 25 resumes and not getting so much as ONE response, much less an interview, I realized that it might have something to do with my having included my service in Vietnam.
Subsequently, after removing what I had perceived as a positive accomplishment, I sent out another 20 resumes and not only had 8 interviews, but 5 good job offers.
Coincidence? Perhaps, but I think not.
I agree, let us not forget our brave men and women who have served and given selflessly and anyone who is in a position to help them, please do not hesitate to do so. You will be getting the creme de la creme and an employee you will be proud to have on your team and in your company.
Fixed it... and build a wall around San Franfrisky and declare it a "defense-free zone." Ya want it, come and take it -- it's yours. (Just don't let ANYTHING come across that wall!)
In San Franfrisky? Why am I not surprised? What about the rest of country?
(And let it be said, although relatively ignorant on the issue I suspect the vets still should be getting more than they are receiving. Maybe if we gave away less to illegals...)
When the left is not bashing the soldier, they like to victimize him. Got it.
I would bet that this is based on what the VA calls a “means test.”
http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/FAQs/GMTFAQ.asp
One thing one must understand, means verification/tests at the VA is voluntary and serves the purpose of giving veterans benefits, such as employment, or employment services in job searches, subsidised health care etc. Those with better paying jobs are not even going to bother going through a means test. If you are taking a means test, it is in your interest to “low ball” your income. The information is skewed inherently. If I were to stand in the unemployment line and collect data on average incomes, would that be representative of the other 95% of the population in the US?
“But Crawford suspects that corporate HR types note the veterans’ box checked off on an online application and see damaged goods. Service in the military is seen as a negative, not a plus. Businesses also are afraid that a newly returned vet might be called back into service.”
__________________________________________________________________________
Oliver North mentioned this in one of his editorials. The “psycho vet” image has gained unfortunate traction with the ignorant. If you were an HR person whose only knowledge came from the MSM you wouldn’t want to take the chance on what you saw as a walking time bomb.
Then there’s the whole “stop-loss” thing. I don’t know how long the obligation is after active-duty service nowadays but all these years of hearing about reservists being yanked back for long periods must be taking a toll.
Again, if all you know is from the MSM and Hollywood, well?
Which is a damn shame. I know there are ex-corporals and ex-sargeants who have successfully handled executive responsibilities and pressures that those out-of-work Bear Stearns people can’t imagine. I recall reading about the amazing number of our Captains of Industry who were once 2nd lieutenants.
Bump and ping
God, are you really that ignorant.
I got hired on, in Boulder, in 1971, because I was a vet, my short hair tipped them off. Man, I was grateful, the vibes were quite strange, GIs were really scorned.
Incidentally, I later worked for a contractor who had worked at APO San Francisco, you know, they were the ones busting up the boxes of cookies sent to the GIs by their families. The creep was proud! I walked off the job, left him high and dry.
Marine Bump!
Care to expand? Was Vietnam not a huge misadventure due to the cuffing of our military hands thanks to people like McNamara? Was the Gulf of Tonkin incident not pure BS? And was the treatment of returning soldiers and Marines as “babykillers” not one of the darkest moments in modern US history? I’m not sure exactly where you disagree here.
Damn that makes me angry. You showed great restraint by not kicking his ass.
I am, and will always be proud to be a Vietnam veteran, and have never been spat upon or ever been called a "babykiller". Even many liberals have expressed nothing but praise and thanks to me on that score.
Nothing that you've alluded to indicates that involvement in Vietnam was wrong. We were there to provide Liberty to the people in the South. The political failure that doomed that effort doesn't mean that the effort wasn't noble. Nobility is it's own reward.
Once deployed there American forces were fully militarily capable of carrying out whatever order was given them, including pivoting north at any time to move on, and unfailingly take Hanoi.
That the war seemed to end in political failure however, is not the end of the story either.
Many Vietnamese officials said that they wanted us back as allies. This is happening in ways that neither country could have anticipated. Saigon is a virtually wide open capitalistic city with much of its success spreading throughout the country. Even Hanoi is bustling with economic activity that would have been unknown to Vietnam had its - and our history there not been.
Certainly there are still problems with human rights therein, particularly in the north, which has always been at odds with attitudes in the south. Communism is still the official stamp of government, but Vietnam can never go back to the totalitarian past that it's known.
And this holds out the promise of a not insignificant military alliance vis-a-vis China with whom Vietnam has always had a particularly testy relationship. Many US Naval vessels have made, and continue to make frequent port calls there, both North and South. Such alliance could prove critical in military loggerheads with China.
I know these things form having been there with combat armor during the war, and from having gone back with my daughter in 2000.
I am convinced that Vietnam will eventually drop communism...IF we win the War On Terror, on which our whole future is contingent. For if we don't, nothing more will matter anymore.
FR Vietnam Veterans (and some family members) Ping
However, what we expected and were never afforded same, was to simply be allowed to reintegrate into society without being scorned, impugned, denigrated, and ostracized, simply for having served our country.
Amen brother. You nailed it.
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