Yes, these very men and women who we justly salute as our nation's champions, in theory, are too often treated like chumps, in reality. Take, especially, veterans of the U.S. battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. They're finding it far harder than veterans of earlier wars to make the shift back into civilian life, very much including the finding of a job. Veterans who’ve left military service during the past 10 years have an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, according to recent numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's way above the overall jobless rate of 9.1 percent.
Disheartening enough by itself, this unemployment report fits all too well with a recent Pew Research Center survey. The survey says that a good many veterans feel that their military years made them better people, enriching their character, maturity and self-confidence. But more than 40 percent of these men and women who served in the past decade said the transition back to civilian life was arduous. And that's almost twice the rate of veterans who served before them.
You might want to check out this article, Veterans’ unemployment outpaces civilian rate, in the Oct. 16, 2011, Washington Post.
Earlier this year in Olympia, the Legislature approved several measures of keen interest and importance both for veterans and active-duty servicemen and servicewomen, and for their loved ones:
- Electronic voting for overseas Washingtonians (House Bill 1000)
- Meeting professional licensing requirements (House Bill 1418)
- Preferences in Employment (House Bill 1432)
- Helping people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (House Bill 1614)
- Establishing an “Honor and Remember Flag” (House Joint Memorial 4004)
- Ballots for Military Voters and Other Overseas Voters (Senate Bill 5171)
- Meeting professional licensing requirements (Senate Bill 5307)
- A raffle to help veterans (Senate Bill 5806)
Veterans and other interested folks are always encouraged to review information and resources at the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. The office is located at 1102 Quince St. S.E. in Olympia. The mailing address is P.O. Box 41150/Olympia WA 98504, and the phone numbers are 360-725-2200, 1-800-562-0132 (toll free), and TDD 360-725-2199 (for hearing-impaired folks).
