Helping Veterans Put a Career Together

The unemployment rate for veterans who left the military during the past three years is 18 percent, nearly twice the national average. The average for all veterans is about 11.6 percent. Even those numbers, however, may not reflect the situation as the economy worsened. According to the Kansas City Star, veterans face the double whammy of a recession economy and training that doesn't easily translate into education.

Six months ago, members of the 81st Combat Team of the Washington National Guard were patrolling in such places as Mosul, Balad and Ramadi in Iraq. Now, after returning home in August, roughly 40 percent of the 2,400 Guardsmen from Washington State are still looking for work.

"It's just heartbreaking," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "They volunteer, serve our country honorably and come back and can't find a job." Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, is working on legislation that would provide additional employment training and support for unemployed veterans and establish a program to help veterans start their own businesses.

Meantime, the Pentagon during the third quarter reimbursed the Labor Department nearly $186 million for veterans' unemployment benefits, an increase of more than 70 percent from a year ago. Every year, 220,000 service members exit the military. About 10 percent of them are retirees and about 10 percent of them are officers. An additional 80,000 to 90,000 National Guard members or Reservists leave the military.

Veterans who have received specialized training do have the option, however, to translate those skills into college credits. The trick is finding the right college to assist in the process, one that is "military friendly" and participates in the scholarship programs in the new GI Bill. Veterans that worked as military police usually qualify for criminal justice degree programs or for training at a police academy. But for all the veterans with technical training developing a civilian resume is much more difficult.

The American Council on Education (ACE) has published a comprehensive guide to facilitate the transfer of military training into college credits. The first volume was issued in 1946, when hundreds of thousands of GIs faced the same problem returning veterans face today. Today the online guide has replaced the paper volume.

In addition, there are dozens of private schools that offer both campus and online college degrees in programs that have been accredited by the appropriate education commission. The University of Phoenix has an entire Military Department within the school administration that handles tuition discounts and credit transfers for veterans. They are the biggest school, but far from the only school that offers such services.

Strayer University has detailed information about converting military training into credit, and notes that for many GIs specialized training can fit into undergraduate programs in business, in public administration and in health informatics which they offer as examples. There are dozens of schools that welcome veterans and work to accommodate them by developing liaison relationships with the VA. Many of them are on this site. Veterans who are discouraged by the educational maze should check the ACE catalogue for their training background and then connect with some of these schools and see if there's a degree that matches your career interest.