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Post War: Jobs for Veterans

Ending the war in Iraq is a blessing for the country and also for the brave warriors that have been dedicating their lives for us. Though, the pleasant homecoming veterans are facing difficulties in finding jobs due to the economy hardship. The life experience that they have to go through is completely different. Rescuing mates in a battlefield, driving military vehicles, utilizing weapons… etc. are not exactly what most of the companies are looking for from their workers. Though there are huge relevancies between battlefield work and commercial work, the veterans are at a disadvantage without proper networking. Most jobs that veterans end up taking on from previous post war experiences are hands on jobs such as construction, mining, manufacturing, and utilities. These jobs have largely decreased in size due to the recession.

This situation makes me think about the social networks that we discussed in class. It is very hard for the veterans to meet people with connections to the commercial business world. Due to the environment constraint, the people that they meet are mostly likely also involved in military. Unlike students who can meet a variety of people through school, social events, and local neighborhood, the soldiers who are overseas only come into contacts with other soldier mates. Even though there might be bridges between the two groups (the soldiers overseas and the people in the States), the numbers of nodes in the soldier sides are much greater than the number of local bridges. The soldiers might have strong connections with people before they went overseas. Being really far away and being away for a long time may sometimes diminish those strong edges to weak links and lose the connection with some nodes.

Asides from having fewer connections, the soldiers may not have the profound learning experience as a college graduate. Would a company look for someone who has studied business in college or someone who has fought for our country?  President Obama has proposed the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits to encourage private sectors to hire more veterans. This puts the business at a choice of whether to hire a person with lower degree and perhaps less related experience with the government’s benefits or a college graduate who might have more technical related experience without the government’s benefits. The companies would have to take in careful considerations of weighing each outcome and chose the one that works the best for them.

Due to the recession, there are a lot more unemployed people out there than before. Having veterans added on the unemployed group is impossible to have perfect matching( having everyone works at a job that he/she is the most good at). But it is very important to take into account that the veterans are capable of doing many things since they have lots of field experience and it is important for the government and the businesses to take care of those who have dedicated their time and life for us.

Sources: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/05/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-commitment-employing-america-s-veterans

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-05/politics/obama.veterans.careers_1_jobless-veterans-unemployed-veterans-private-sector?_s=PM:POLITICS

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