The Labor Department calculated the unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans to be 9 percent in 2013, a number that represents a drop from the 9.9 percent rate in 2012, but that’s still much higher than the rate among non-veterans—5.9 percent according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ most recent calculations.
A number of businesses and industries have stepped up their efforts to offer assistance in reducing the veteran unemployment rate, including companies such as Uber, Tesla, and Microsoft. The wireless industry is also joining the crusade, seeking to train veterans to take jobs in the field. Warriors4Wireless is a nonprofit helping connect veterans to employment in wireless companies that are always seeking new qualified technicians.
On Veteran’s Day, Warriors4Wireless will host the event “Wireless Warriors Lead the Pack” at GrayWolves Telecom in Carrollton, Texas. It’s designed to highlight a joint program between the business and the nonprofit that’s training vets to start careers in the wireless industry and invite more vets and business leaders to participate.
Lisa Hanlon, CEO of GrayWolves Telecom, told the Carrolton Leader, “Far too many of our veteran-heroes in Texas and across the country are struggling to find work once they leave military service. The goal of the program is to repay part of the debt we owe the brave men and women who have eminently sacrificed for our freedom. Simultaneously, the program will help these veterans acquire skills they need to pursue careers in wireless facility construction and maintenance.”
Kelley Dunne, the Executive Director of Warriors4Wireless, hopes the collaboration between the nonprofit and GrayWolves Telecom can be replicated across the country. “The workforce is the backbone of wireless expansion and economic growth in this country,” Dunne said. “The GrayWolves’ program helps veterans find meaningful careers in an industry that’s growing exponentially.”
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Tag: unemployed veterans
This Business Is Putting the Words ‘Thank You for Your Service’ Into Action
The Vetraplex, a Cottonwood, Arizona-based contracting company, has a unique motto: “Putting the words ‘thank you for your service’ in action.” The company hires and trains veterans to perform such work as painting, welding, and carpentry. The Vetraplex also offers discounts to veterans and active military personnel for its services.
“When we first started this, the six original veterans hired were unemployed, and half of us had been or were homeless,” James Bruno, an Army veteran and the company’s vice president, told Tamara Sone of The Daily Courant. “The first month that we opened as landscaping, construction and handymen, we got so busy we couldn’t keep up.”
The Vetraplex is now offering to sell franchises so that its model of training and employing veterans can be expanded throughout Arizona.
MORE: This Paralyzed Veteran Can Hunt and Fish Again, Thanks to the Generosity of His Community
Giving Homeless Vets a Helping Hand—and a New Uniform
Before he became the Executive Director of Arizona State Parks, Bryan Martyn served in the Air Force and Army as a special operations helicopter pilot. Saddened when he learned about the high rates of homelessness and suicide among veterans, Martyn decided to do something about it. So he initiated a new program in the Arizona State Parks to provide jobs to homeless veterans. He told Kyle Benedict of NAZ Today that his aim was to “give them a uniform, give them a job, give them a place to be and a purpose, pay them a fair wage and provide housing.”
One of the veterans helped by the program is Carlos Garcia, who served as a combat engineer in the Army for 14 years. He now works as a Park Ranger Specialist and lives on Dead Horse Ranch State Park in a FEMA trailer, which he describes as “pretty comfortable.” He works 8 to 5, earning $12 an hour, and enjoys the outdoor work so much that he hopes to move up from this temporary job into a permanent position with the parks department.
Martyn told Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic that he has funding to provide the first group of five veterans a 40-hour-a-week job for nine months, but that he hopes the vets might get on their feet even sooner. We hope so too.
MORE: This Paralyzed Vet Can Hunt and Fish Again, Thanks To the Generosity of His Community