|
click above for details
click for details
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
|
Printer-Friendly Version
SIGN OF THE TIMES: ECONOMY'S RETREAT
TRAPPING
JOBLESS VETERANS -- "It's tough. It's a really
tough
situation. I'm ready to work and I feel like I'm
able to, there's just nothing out there."
All "Sign of the Times" articles are here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/signofthetimes.htm
Story here...
http://www.chicagot
ribune.com/news/local/chi-jobless-ve
ts-sw-zone-11mar11,0,6721779.story
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Economy's retreat
trapping jobless vets
Demand exhausts
rehabilitation efforts as recession thwarts steps to self-reliance
By Joel Hood
TRIBUNE REPORTER
Combat left Stephen Krol battered and broken, but it wasn't until the Iraq
War veteran returned home that he officially hit bottom.
He was approaching 40 and nursing a broken hip and a slipped disk in his
back. With bills piling up and little money coming in, Krol became
homeless and his once structured life seemed in free-fall. With nowhere
else to turn, he entered a state program that helps veterans get back on
their feet.
A year later, Krol is healthy and determined. But despite holding an
engineering degree, he has found his return to civilian life stymied by an
American job market in ruins.
It's the same for many other recently returned veterans or those waiting
to leave rehabilitation centers, hospitals or homeless veterans shelters,
like those in Manteno and Wheaton. Jobs enable veterans to take that last
important step toward independence, but it's harder than ever to find
work.
"You get guys who are healthy and sober and ready to move out, the only
thing that's missing is a job," said Robert Adams, president of the
Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans in Wheaton.
For veterans who have overcome substance abuse or bouts of depression and
anger, not to find the stability that comes with work can be devastating,
experts say. Without jobs, veterans can't move on and the centers they
call home don't have room to bring in others desperate for help.
"It's tough. It's a really tough situation," said Krol, who lived in
Hickory Hills before entering the Manteno center. "I'm ready to work and I
feel like I'm able to, there's just nothing out there."
"You can't even find work at Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's; they ain't
hiring," said Michael Selvage, 59, who served as an Army cook during the
Vietnam War. "All I want is a roof over my head and a little money in my
pocket. I know I'll never be a millionaire."
click for more information -- a disabled veteran
owned business
Since retiring from active duty, Selvage has run a limousine service,
driven a school bus and worked as a handyman. When he became unemployed
more than a year ago, he entered the Wheaton shelter. He was given a bed
and clean clothes, and he took part in counseling sessions and sat down
with a social worker to map long-term goals. That was eight months ago.
For at least half that time Selvage has been seeking work.
Selvage's hopes, for now, rest with officials at the Hines VA Hospital in
DuPage County, which has a long-running job placement program specifically
geared toward veterans who've overcome physical or mental difficulties
relating to their time in service. The compensated work therapy program
has found jobs for hundreds of Chicago-area veterans over the years, but
times are tough, said program director Ken Weber. Only 20 veterans have
found jobs through the program since October, he said, while the need
mounts as thousands of veterans return from service in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
 At
the state-run center in Manteno, under a pilot program launched in
February 2008, veterans like Krol who've successfully completed the
rehabilitation curriculum spend time using the computers to look for work.
It's a task that's particularly hard on Krol, who has a degree in
electrical engineering from Bradley University but entered the Army at 38
to pursue a different career.
"I became a medic in the Army because I wanted to go into nursing," Krol
said. "But I was injured, and when I came back I wasn't able to find the
work that I wanted.
"It's difficult because you become used to living a certain lifestyle. I'd
still like to obtain a professional life. But right now I have to look at
anything."
Leon Dukes understands the importance of work for recovering veterans.
After an honorable discharge from the Army in 1980, he bounced from job to
job. Money was tight and he said some of the lingering effects of combat
made it difficult to stay in relationships and keep a position for long.
The hole deepened when he began to abuse alcohol and drugs.
Now 52, Dukes used the program at Hines to land a job in the lobby at a
condo management company in Chicago. He's been employed since October, and
though he works only two days a week, the pay and his veteran's assistance
are enough to rent a small place in Riverdale.
"I'm sober, I'm dealing with my [post traumatic stress disorder] and
depression, but I'm a better person because I have this job," said Dukes,
who also volunteers at Hines. "I see so many other veterans, friends of
mine, who are struggling to get by. They can't find jobs and so it makes
it tough to improve their situation."
And boost self-esteem, he said. "I think for many veterans who've already
sacrificed for their country that it's hard for them to reconcile that
they now can't even find entry-level work," Weber said. "For those who've
found work, we've seen it make a huge difference."
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------
-------------------------
Please post your comments below on Google
Friend Connect. You must sign in. For larger view and work
area, click blue "expand" button in upper right corner of comment box.
-------------------------
Don't forget to read all of today's VA
News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home
Page) |
Military
Medical Malpractice
Legal
Network
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
|
