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In today’s world, we use high tech solutions and the power of other people’s opinions, insights and experiences to make decisions. The same way we look to Yelp to help us find where to go to dinner, Rotten Tomatoes to help us decide what movie to see or Trip Advisor on where to vacation and what hotel to stay in. And yet our veterans don’t have access to those same tools when deciding on where to go for healthcare, job opportunities, family assistance or education and training?

After returning home from active duty, our servicemen and women often face a new battle at home. And while the treatments for their injuries are sometimes READ MORE »

OPPORTUNITIES GROW FOR VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESSES

By Lorraine Mirabella, The Baltimore SunJuly 3, 2011

Wading through swamps and running up mountains taught Patrick McCormack more than how to survive punishing conditions without much food or sleep. His grueling Army Ranger training, along with several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, taught the Ellicott City native important business lessons as well.

“It takes a lot of discipline to run your own company,” said McCormack, 29, who owns custom drum maker MapleWorks Drum Co. in Millersville. “You don’t make it through [Ranger] school unless you have the drive and READ MORE »

OPERATION HOMEFRONT LAUNCHES THE “ARMY HOMEFRONT FUND” TO FOCUS ON CARE AND TRANSITION OF WOUNDED SOLDIERS

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2011 –

Also announced formalized linkages with 10 other nonprofits “joining forces” to support the military.

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Operation Homefront (OH) and the U.S. Army Warrior Transition Command (WTC) today announced the creation of the Army Homefront Fund. A Memorandum of Understanding between OH and the WTC recognizes the new READ MORE »

LAWMAKER: FIND 400K JOBS FOR VETS IN TWO YEARS

The chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee announced an ambitious goal Wednesday of finding jobs for 400,000 veterans within two years, a move that would reduce the unemployment rate for veterans of all generations from 7.7 percent today to about 4.5 percent.

To do this, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said he doesn’t want to create new programs or spend additional money. Instead, he wants to concentrate on making sure existing public and private programs are working efficiently.

“Good jobs are out there. We just need to retool our programs so veterans can compete for them,” Miller said. READ MORE »

CLAIM PROCESSING KEEPS INJURED TROOPS WAITING

WASHINGTON — A system designed to get wounded troops out of the military and on disability compensation more quickly has failed recently to meet its efficiency goals, delaying service members’ release sometimes more than a year, documents show.

The lag has caused some of the troops to turn down job offers or postpone college because they don’t know when they will be discharged from the military.

The system is called the Integrated Disability Evaluation System. It started as a pilot in 2007, but has since been rolled out to READ MORE »

APRIL UNEMPLOYMENT DATA IS MIXED NEWS FOR VETS

The employment picture for veterans improved in April — a sign that efforts to encourage employers to hire veterans may be working — but jobs seem to remain elusive for young, male combat veterans.

Overall, the nation’s unemployment rate for April was 9 percent, up from 8.8 percent in March, according to a Friday report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 13.7 million Americans were unemployed, roughly the same number as in March despite the addition of 244,000 jobs in the retail, hospitality, professional and business services, and health care industries. READ MORE »

FEMALE SOLDIERS SAY THEY’RE UP FOR BATTLE

COMBAT OUTPOST RAHMAN KHEYL, Afghanistan — Pfc. Tasha Conger and Pfc. Tanya Redinbaugh hope their service will seem typical someday. For now, they’re part of a tiny minority of female soldiers living at front-line combat positions.

That could change if a national commission gets its way. The commission told Congress last month that if a woman can show she’s qualified, she ought to be allowed to take any military job.

The two women believe the change will come in time. “I don’t know that there will be any hurry,” Redinbaugh said. “It definitely needs to be done right.” Conger and Redinbaugh are READ MORE »

WAR AT HOME: FIGHTING FOR EMPLOYMENT

In the military, Eric Smith led a four-man ICU team, performing procedures that only the most experienced civilian nurses were trained to perform, but more than three years after leaving the Marines he hasn’t even been able to get a job “changing bed pans.”

Smith, 26, is in the same situation as many veterans, whose military training and experience gave them skills that should be in high demand in the civilian job market, but have struggled to find work because they do not have certification in their field.

The former Navy corpsman and member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America READ MORE »

WHY BUSINESSES SHOULD HIRE MORE VETERANS WITH DISABILITIES

Most people would agree that America’s Veterans with disabilities — those who have served and sacrificed for our freedoms — clearly deserve a fair shot at what is at the heart of the American dream, a good job with a good company.

Yet the unemployment statistic for Veterans with severe disabilities is a startling 85 percent.

How can we work together to change this picture and to turn this grim statistic around? How can we bring the collective power of the public and private sectors together to improve the READ MORE »

MCCHRYSTAL TO OVERSEE WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE

Nearly a year after President Barack Obama fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal as his top commander in Afghanistan, the White House has asked him to head a new advisory board to support military families.

The three-person panel will oversee the Joining Forces program, an initiative led by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. The effort will focus on mobilizing communities, businesses and the government to assist the families of those serving their country. READ MORE »