VETERANS GAINING CONNECTIONS TO JOBS -- More than
600 vets turn out for Career and Benefits Fair
at small community college.
More than 600 vets showed up for this? At a
small community college? I think this is an indication of the
problems new vets are having finding good employment.
For more about jobs for veterans, use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=job+jobs+employment&op=or
Story here...
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego
nian/index.ssf?/base/news/1194146723257960.xml&coll=7
Story below:
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Veterans gaining connections to jobs
Careers - More than 600 soldiers turn out for a
fair to get help with benefits
DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian Staff
OREGON CITY -- Sean Fuqua has a lot of reasons to want a better job. The
21-year-old and his girlfriend are expecting their first baby in December.
His current job unloading trucks at a Salem Wal-Mart doesn't offer any
long-term prospects.
And, in two years, the Oregon National Guard soldier expects to be
deployed to Iraq. So Fuqua came to the Veterans Career and Benefits Fair
at Clackamas Community College on Saturday and found employers that could
launch him on a career.
"A lot of these places have a lot of good opportunities and a lot of good
places for long-term goals," he said.
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Helping National Guard troops connect with
employers and navigate the myriad agencies that have benefits to offer
them were two of the main goals for Saturday's event. More than 600
soldiers, including many who returned from Afghanistan in June, showed up.
National Guard officials from as far as Georgia came to observe and
possibly replicate the results elsewhere.
Connecting soldiers with employers and benefits is difficult work,
complicated by overcoming the bureaucracy of unrelated agencies and
reaching troops at an emotionally sensitive time.
Until 2005, the National Guard gave soldiers arriving home from a war zone
a 15-minute briefing on benefits and employment services. The session
would be held within the first few days after the soldiers' return, said
retired Col. Scott McCrae, director of the Oregon National Guard's
reintegration team.
Suffering from jet lag and eager to spend time with families they hadn't
seen in 18 months or more, troops weren't in a good position to consider
future careers or take notes on agencies that could provide home loans or
counseling services.
"They want to be home and we're cramming briefings down their throat,"
McCrae said.
The National Guard is trying to change that, and Clackamas Community
College and Clackamas County officials said they are intent on helping.
The Oregon National Guard has established a reintegration team consisting
of several veterans and a four-person staff available to answer veterans'
questions and refer them to service providers.
Returning veterans are now given a refrigerator magnet with a phone number
for a 24-hour help line.
Saturday's event was different as much for its location as for the
combination of employers and benefits at the same event. It was held three
months after many of the troops had returned home. And it was held on a
community college campus -- as opposed to the typical military setting.
"We're part of a new movement where the community welcomes them back -- as
opposed to an armory where it's white walls," said Sharon Maggard, the
college's veterans service coordinator.
Veterans of all ages were welcome, and many Vietnam-era vets attended the
job fair.
The idea of stepping back into civilian life was surprising and somewhat
unappealing to some, especially those who worked in the National Guard
full time for several years.
"Sometimes it's not very appealing to work with the general public," said
Amber Carson, 31, of Clatskanie, a National Guard human resources
specialist. "When you've been in the field together. . . . We've lived in
the same tent, we eat at the same time, and we're in each other's lives."
Dylan Rivera: 503-221-8532;
dylanrivera@news.oregonian.com
-------------------------
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