News From the Cause
New 'reverse boot camp' to prepare departing troops for civilian life (STARS & STRIPES)
August 05, 2011
WASHINGTON — Military officials will develop a “reverse boot camp,” with the goal of better preparing servicemembers who are leaving the military for civilian jobs or college classes. The program is part of a host of new initiatives announced by President Barack Obama on Friday to reduce unemployment among veterans.
During a speech at the Washington Navy Yard, Obama lamented that too many veterans have struggled to find work upon returning to civilian life. He told of an Army medic who saved a French soldier’s life in Afghanistan but who had to take classes he could have easily taught just to get a job as a first responder when he got back home.
Obama lamented that too many veterans have struggled to find work upon returning to civilian life. He told of an Army medic who saved a French soldier's life in Afghanistan but who had to take classes he could have easily taught just to get a job as a first responder when he got back home.
"That isn't right and it doesn't make any sense," Obama said. "If you can save a life in Afghanistan, you can save a life in an ambulance in Wyoming."
Obama is proposing tax cuts for companies that hire young veterans and a public challenge to civilian companies to hire 100,000 former servicemembers or their spouses by the end of 2013.
According to Department of Labor statistics, the unemployment rate for post-Sept. 11 veterans in July hit 12.4 percent, well above the national rate of 9.1 percent. A senior White House official called the figures unacceptable, and said that “those veterans who have sacrificed for their country ... deserve all the support we can give them.”
Veterans advocates have been critical of the military’s Transition Assistance Program in recent years, saying the effort doesn’t prepare troops enough for challenges they’ll face navigating job interviews, university classrooms and Veterans Affairs facilities.
The new “reverse boot camp” will be an extended transition period for servicemembers leaving the military. Officials said details of the program will be released later this year, based on recommendations from a task force of planners from the Defense Department, the VA, and the White House economic team. Click here to view more
