[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 25 (Monday, March 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2144-S2145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SERVICEMEMBERS RETURNING TO THE WORKFORCE

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to discuss how fortunate we are as a 
nation to have a highly-skilled veteran population able to lend their 
talents to the workforce. I am very pleased to report that many 
employers in the defense industry are actively recruiting this Nation's 
veterans. A recent Washington Post article entitled ``A Few Good 
Recruits'' highlights the benefits of the defense industry hiring 
veterans. Companies hiring veterans get highly skilled workers with a 
deep understanding of the service.
  But the reward of hiring veterans is not to be limited to the defense 
industry. Veterans have skills that make them assets in a variety of 
occupations. Leadership, integrity, and teamwork--all of which the 
military teaches--are universal qualities for every industry. I 
encourage the private sector to consider this in the future when 
hiring. Veterans possess the skills needed in public service and I 
encourage officials at all levels of government to recruit veterans.
  Our veterans bravely defended our freedoms during their service and 
it is a great strength of this Nation that after military service is 
over, our veterans enter the workforce with skills to succeed. It is my 
hope that both public and private sector employers will take full 
advantage of this.
  I ask unanimous consent that the article from Washington Post be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2005]

                          A Few Good Recruits

                          (By Ellen McCarthy)

       Army Capt. Lonnie Moore lost his right leg and--he 
     thought--his career last April when his convoy was ambushed 
     on the road to Ramadi, in central Iraq. The injury led to 
     some dark days in Walter Reed Army Medical Center as Moore, 
     29, began his recuperation and contemplated life outside the 
     military.
       Within months, however, he had received job offers from a 
     munitions company, an information technology firm, and the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs itself. And that's without 
     sending out a resume.
       ``People tend to seek us out,'' Moore said of the veterans, 
     particularly those who have been injured, returning from Iraq 
     and Afghanistan. ``They know we'll be an asset to their 
     companies, and that we're not going to let our injuries stand 
     in the way. . . . Everybody I've known that's gotten out, 
     they're not having a hard time finding jobs.''
       Through broad initiatives and individual requests, 
     corporations have been actively recruiting veterans of the 
     Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, turning military hospitals 
     like Walter Reed into de facto hiring centers.
       Job offers aren't being handed out carte blanche, and 
     companies say talent and fit are still the main priorities. 
     But executives seeking out wounded soldiers claim that many 
     of the skills acquired in the military are applicable in the 
     private sector--particularly within companies that serve the 
     government. A soldier who has led a platoon into war is 
     probably capable of leading a unit at a private company, 
     executives say. With government contracting in the midst of a 
     boom, the security clearances and knowledge that soldiers 
     bring home with them are also highly valued.
       ``They've got to be able to talk the language. And you 
     can't teach a person that language, it's a language you can 
     only learn by being part of that culture,'' said Paul 
     Evancoe, director of military operations at FNH USA Inc., a 
     McLean weapons manufacturer with about 350 employees in the 
     United States and 16 in the Washington area. The company is 
     among those interested in hiring Moore.
       The quest to seek an injured vet was both company-driven 
     and personal, said Evancoe, who received a Purple Heart after 
     being shot in Vietnam. Many FNH employees are veterans, so 
     the company's atmosphere and values largely mirror that of 
     the military, he added.
       ``If you take a guy and immerse him back into that culture 
     . . . it's going to be very positive. It's going to help the 
     healing,'' Evancoe said. ``It's not like I can hire every 
     single guy, but when I have a job, I'm going to search out a 
     veteran.''
       The Labor Department does not have statistics on the job 
     placement rates of veterans disabled in Afghanistan or Iraq. 
     However, the unemployment rate for veterans was lower than 
     that for nonveterans in 2003, the most recent statistics 
     available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That year, 
     veterans had an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, compared 
     with 5.9 percent for nonveterans.
       The same study found that 9 percent of veterans suffered 
     from a service-related disability; their unemployment rate 
     was comparable to that of their non-injured peers.
       Jeannie Lehowicz, a vocational counselor stationed at 
     Walter Reed Army Medical Center, said she has a steady stream 
     of inquiries from executives and recruiters--sometimes dozens 
     a week, and typically more than the 50 to 75 soldiers she is 
     working with at any given time.
       Most of the companies are government contractors around the 
     Capital Beltway, she says, but calls have come in from firms 
     throughout the country. One day it might be a giant defense 
     contractor from Bethesda, and the next a small biomedical 
     firm from Montana, she said.
       ``It's overwhelming. You want to respond and say `Oh here's 
     this guy I've got for you,' but that's not always the case,'' 
     Lehowicz said.
       More than 11,190 service members have been wounded in Iraq 
     and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon statistics. Some have 
     months of rehabilitation left before they'll be released from 
     the hospital, Lehowicz said, and others are more interested 
     in going back to school than getting a job right away. Many 
     are adamant that they will stay in the military despite their 
     disabilities, she added.
       Even if they choose another route, the prospect of having 
     opportunities can be an important buoy for wounded soldiers, 
     Lehowicz and others say.
       Potential opportunities were on display at a career fair 
     held at Walter Reed in December. Thrown together in a matter 
     of weeks, the event's organizers expected a dozen or so 
     companies to participate. But more firms requested space at 
     the event, and by the night of the fair, more than 30 
     companies, including BAE Systems PLC, Science Applications 
     International Corp. and Oracle Corp., had set up booths to 
     pass out brochures and collect names.
       ``The equipment that we work on and maintain for the 
     military is the same as they would have used,'' said Eugene 
     C. Renzi, president of defense systems at ManTech 
     International Corp., a Fairfax government contractor that 
     sent recruiters to the career fair. ``So when they get out of 
     the military, we can put them right to work and utilize the 
     skills they already have.''
       Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said 
     outreach efforts among government contractors is partly 
     driven by executives with military backgrounds. There is a de 
     facto alumni network, he said, and a

[[Page S2145]]

     collective memory of the way disabled veterans were treated 
     after previous conflicts, particularly Vietnam.
       ``Who runs the country now? It's the Vietnam era and they 
     vowed never again, and so you got all the corporations, every 
     nonprofit, all the associations and lobby arms doing 
     everything they can,'' for this generation of soldiers, Davis 
     said.
       Contractors like ManTech have another incentive to recruit 
     former soldiers, regardless of disability: Many have security 
     clearances that are in short supply in the workforce, but 
     necessary in order to do an increasing number of 
     government projects.
       ``If you have a security clearance, you are miles ahead of 
     a person applying to a company without a security 
     clearance,'' said Edward F. Lawton, head of the Washington 
     area chapter of the American Military Retirees Association. 
     ``And even if you're missing a limb, that doesn't mean you're 
     incapable of supporting the military through a company.''
       But it may mean that jobs are more readily available for 
     soldiers with technical skills and for those willing to work 
     in the Washington area, where many government contractors are 
     based.
       That proved to be the case for Brian Garvey, an Army 
     Captain who met his future employer at the Walter Reed career 
     fair.
       The platoon leader and father of two young girls was 
     deployed to Iraq last March and for months worked at the 
     Baghdad airport, processing human resources files for 
     soldiers stationed throughout that country.
       On Sept. 18, Garvey's unit was assigned a different task--
     to show a contractor a damaged fence on a highway bridge 
     between the airport and the heavily guarded Green Zone. After 
     assessing the damage, Garvey had just given the signal for 
     his soldiers to return to their vehicles when a suicide 
     bomber drove a car onto the bridge and detonated an 
     explosive--killing two of the crew and wounding 13.
       Three days later Garvey was at Walter Reed, recovering from 
     a series of surgeries to repair his hand and remove dozens of 
     pieces of shrapnel from his skin.
       ``I would say a lot of the time was spent thinking `What am 
     I going to do? What is the best avenue for my family,''' 
     Garvey recalled of his four-month stay at the hospital. ``Up 
     to this point I had been somewhat selfish. It was what I 
     wanted to do. My wife and kids had been making the 
     sacrifices.''
       Garvey had already been thinking about looking for a 
     private-sector job when he stopped by the career fair, hoping 
     to pick up a few business cards and some ideas. Like most of 
     the 150 soldiers crammed into the hall, Garvey was without a 
     resume or firm career goals.
       He grabbed brochures from such big contractors as Northrop 
     Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co., but spent the longest time 
     talking to a representative from Alliant Techsystems Inc. 
     (ATK), a Minnesota company that makes weapon systems and 
     munitions. He filled out a card with his basic information 
     and three days later got an e-mail from ATK, asking for a 
     phone interview.
       A day-long interview at the company's Elkton, Md., site 
     followed; just before Christmas, Garvey was offered a job. 
     Soon he'll become a program manager at ATK, acting as a 
     liaison between the company's engineers and its primary 
     client--the U.S. military.
       ``Mentally it does me a lot of good, knowing that I'm not 
     out there searching frantically for a job,'' said Garvey, who 
     is now back at Fort Hood, waiting for his unit to rotate back 
     from Iraq in March before he will be discharged. ``It gives 
     me a sense of security. I know what my future has to offer.''
       That sense of the future is what a lot of recently wounded 
     soldiers are looking for, said Lehowicz, the VA vocational 
     counselor. When they first return from the battlefield, many 
     focus solely on getting better to return to their unit, she 
     said, but over time they often start thinking about other 
     options.
       Moore, the Army Captain, says thoughts of his future now 
     absorb much of his day at Walter Reed. Some days he thinks he 
     would like to stay in the military, to resume life with his 
     friends and become an example for other amputees. But some of 
     the job offers have topped $70,000 and he worries this 
     opportunity may not come around again.
       ``Veterans are getting good jobs right now,'' said Moore, 
     who will likely remain in the hospital through March. He 
     recently had a second interview with FNH USA, where he is up 
     for a position as deputy director of military operations.
       ``I'm not sure if I stay in [the Army] for another five 
     years, if the jobs will still be here.''

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