Let's hire our heroes, not make them hide their service

MORE than one out of four young veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan War won't be enjoying a three-day Memorial Day holiday this weekend. That's because they don't have a job to take a break from in the first place: 27 percent are unemployed, a rate far higher than the 16.6 percent for a similar age group among nonveterans.

It's hard to accept that so many of the young men and women who conquered unimaginable challenges in the mountains of Asia and the deserts of the Middle East are unable to connect with the current labor market. But those are the facts.

I served as a medic in Vietnam, and write about veterans' issues at TheVeteransSite.com. So it's especially painful for me to know that some veterans have decided they will no longer write down their dates of service on a résumé or job application — because, as Washington's Sen. Patty Murray recently said, "they fear the stigma that they believe employers attach to the invisible wounds of war."

Unemployment isn't an invisible wound; it's all too visible to the veteran who can't find work and has no steady income. The most important thing in life for a veteran returning to society after a deployment to a war zone is to have a job — a job that pays a just and living wage.

That's why Murray, who heads the U.S. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, deserves enormous credit for introducing the "Hiring Heroes Act." The bipartisan bill would mandate, for the first time, job training for all servicemen and women before they leave the military. And it extends vocational rehabilitation and employment services to those who have exhausted state and federal benefits.

The state of Washington also recognizes the employment crisis facing our veterans. Gov. Chris Gregoire recently signed a bill that allows private businesses to give hiring preference to veterans. The next step is for private businesses to pick up the challenge and begin to do the actual hiring.

Positive action at the federal and state level — and in the private sector — is needed to undo some negative aspects of the updated GI Bill passed last year. Congress cut back on benefits for veterans who are part-time students and made other cuts to reduce the legislation's $2 billion price tag.

With unemployment for young veterans at 27 percent, is this really the place for Uncle Sam to save money? Educational opportunity is absolutely necessary for veterans to get the skill sets that will make them attractive hires, and not every veteran is able to leave the work force to enroll in school full-time

Memorial Day is intended to honor those who lost their lives while serving in our nation's military. It has become, over the years, a way to mark the first weekend of summer vacation season: time to break out the barbecue and head for the beaches.

Enjoying the outdoors is one of the perks of living in a free country, where you can travel as you please and use your free time as you see fit. It is no exaggeration to observe that we would have no such freedoms if not for the men and women who have sacrificed for our country. Some never came back from their service; others have returned but often find hidden — and not-so-hidden — obstacles to education and employment.

Kudos to Sen. Murray, Gov. Gregoire, and their colleagues for taking steps to remove those obstacles. It will take more than legislation, however, to bring down the scandalously high unemployment rate for young veterans. All of us should do all we can to hire and help veterans. They had our back while they were in uniform. Now it's time for us to have their backs.