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Dozens of veterans are geared up to bike 30 miles, Friday. The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride happened in Tampa Bay this past weekend. For veteran Lindsay Wiggins, this isn’t just any bike ride. “I haven’t been able to ride a bike in a really long time,” Wiggins said. “I have balance problems so I can’t ride a normal bike and I have three children so I can’t exactly afford a recumbent.” This will be a chance to put her PTSD, severe anxiety and physical ailments aside. “To be able to go and do something on my own without being supervised feeling almost like a child is amazing,” Wiggins said. She spent years serving her country, just like the other 30 veterans getting outfitted for specialty bikes Thursday. The veterans rode 15 miles near Ballast Point Friday and 15 miles along Fort De Soto Saturday. It’s a time for Tampa Bay veterans to bond. “That teamwork to meet other people and give support and that’s what we do,” veteran Jesus Rios said. The program helps veterans getting back to civilian life. “Make you feel that you’re worth the sacrifice you make,” Rios said.   By Ashley Yore

On the second floor of the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Mo., music is being made weekly. With the sound of a metronome clicking in the background, three veterans slowly strum their guitars while their instructor patiently calls out instructions. “Let’s move up to the fifth position,” Tom Williams says. “Watch your right hand. Everybody together, one more time, same string.” The group gathers at the hospital for a weekly guitar class offered by Guitars for Vets, a national organization offering free guitar instruction to disabled vets. The classes are 10 weeks long and at the end of each, participants are given a free guitar. Started in Milwaukee in 2007 by guitarist Patrick Nettesheim and Vietnam veteran Dan Van Buskirk, Guitars for Vets has more than 60 chapters in 30 states. Some 2,500 vets have graduated, which means 2,500 acoustic guitars and accompanying accessories have been donated. Teaching since he was 16, Nettesheim met Van Buskirk while teaching him. Suffering from PTSD from his time with the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam, Van Buskirk feared he wouldn’t be able to finish. “His Marine spirit was enough to get him to keep trying,” Nettesheim said. “Dan began experiencing relief from his PTSD symptoms. He could self-soothe with his guitar.” The pair took their music to the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee. A friend from Cream City Music in Milwaukee donated two guitars to give away to patients. “They were elated by the guitars,” Nettesheim said. “It became evident rather quickly that we needed to teach them how to play. And that’s how Guitars for Vets was born.” Lessons are given primarily at VA hospitals or community-based outpatient clinics. Instructors like Williams volunteer to teach the classes. “Group sessions, even if everyone sounds awful, it’s still great because everyone is laughing,” Nettesheim said. “It helps open windows of serenity.” ‘A Better Place’ After Chris Longdon was diagnosed with PTSD in 2011, he found such serenity in his guitar. “I found that playing the guitar took me to a better place,” said Longdon, who served with the Marines’ 1st Medical Battalion in Iraq for seven months in 2008. “I tried to deal with all of this on my own, but that didn’t work out so well.” Longdon taught himself the basics of guitar playing, but once he was in the military, he never played. When he was discharged and struggling, he would drink and play his guitar. Eventually he slowed down on the drinking and replaced it with guitar playing. “I realized I could play a lot better when I wasn’t drinking,” he joked. He heard about Guitars for Vets and knew he wanted to get involved. There was no chapter in the state of Missouri, which is where Longdon lives. “I got one started at the VA in Columbia,” he said. “It was the fastest chapter to get up and running, according to the founders.” Longdon said he didn’t know how to play well enough to teach the class. But as a peer specialist at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, he spread the word that a guitar teacher was needed. Guitar instructor Tom Williams came on board. He has been playing since he was 14, when he was a pit orchestra guitarist with the University of Missouri Summer Repertory Theater. He has taught music at both the University of Missouri and Central Methodist University. He also is a guitar professor at the Columbia Academy of Music.  “I’m just so glad to be a part of this,” said Williams, who has several friends who are veterans. Longdon said there has been a great interest in the weekly class. So much so that he has a waiting list of vets. “I think the social aspect is the best,” Longdon said. “There are a lot of folks who always wanted to play but never got around to learning.” Alice MacNaughton is one such vet who always longed to learn. Having served in the Army and later Air Force from 1975-1997, MacNaughton learned of the class while being treated at the Columbia VA. “I really feel like that learning to play helps re-train my brain,” said MacNaughton, who suffered a brain injury while in the military. MacNaughton is the first woman to complete the Guitars for Vets class in Columbia, a fact that clearly delights her when she says it. She said most therapeutic programs offered to vets are geared more for men so she was happy to hear about Guitars for Vets. “It’s such a good program,” she said. “Music is a good thing for my therapy.” ‘Music and Art are Cool’ Kelly Johnson served in the Navy from 1969-1974. During the Vietnam War, he was on a swift boat doing river patrols. He was wounded and spent a month at Bethesda Naval Hospital where he participated in a little art therapy. That was the extent of his artistic endeavors until Guitars for Vets entered his life. He said that various issues led him to the Truman VA hospital in Columbia five years ago. His psychologist there suggested he look into the guitar program. “It’s been a big help to me,” said Johnson, who bought his first guitar at age 16. “I was getting too isolated and didn’t want to do anything anymore.” He said he has found that getting involved with as much as he can has allowed him to develop new friendships. “Being involved gets me out the front door,” Johnson said. “By learning to play the guitar again, it has given me something to do at home to fill that lonely void. Music and art are cool things that help.” At the VA, Johnson also has received training with pottery, sculpting and drawing. He said he was surprised to learn he isn’t “too bad” with watercolor painting. While Nettesheim said he is excited about the growth of Guitars for Vets, he does have one problem. “The hardest part of the job is having to turn people away,” he said. Without the guitars and accessories and even enough instructors, there can’t be classes. Nettesheim said he has personally taught 150-200 veterans through the program, and Van Buskirk instructs, as well. “I always knew I wanted to be a musician or a doctor,” said Nettesheim, laughing. “I chose the path of a pauper and became a musician. But with Guitars for Vets, I’m working in the hospital setting.” For more information on Guitars for Vets, including how to form a chapter, visit www.guitars4vets.org.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Doctors, nurses or pharmacy staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs' hospitals were fired or reprimanded in only a small fraction of thousands of reported cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions since 2010, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press. About 372 VA employees were disciplined for a drug or alcohol-related issue across a network of 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics over the last six years, according to internal figures kept by the facilities that were reported to VA's headquarters. During that time, there were more than 11,000 reported incidents of drug loss or theft at federal hospitals - the vast majority within the VA, according to law enforcement data. Roughly translated, VA employees were disciplined in 3 percent of cases. Nearly one-third of the disciplined employees were dismissed or forced to resign, according to VA data. Others were suspended without pay, admonished or given "last chance" warnings. Disciplined employees had failed a drug test or were suspected of stealing drugs, among other offenses. The VA declined to comment on reasons behind the low disciplinary rate, saying some cases were still being adjudicated. It also would not immediately release the case reports, citing employees' personal information. "We would like there to be no drug diversion anywhere at any time," Michael Valentino, chief consultant at VA's Pharmacy Benefits Management Services, told AP. "No matter how robust our systems are, people will be determined to find ways to get around them." "It's a lesson we can learn to tighten things up if possible," he said. The AP reported last week on government data showing a sharp increase since 2009 in opioid theft and drugs that had simply disappeared at the VA, amid rising opioid abuse in the U.S. Reported incidents of drug losses or theft at federal hospitals jumped from 272 in 2009 to 2,926 in 2015, before dipping to 2,457 last year, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Federal hospitals" include the VA's facilities as well as seven correctional hospitals and roughly 20 hospitals serving Indian tribes. Aggravating the problem is that some VA hospitals have been lax in tracking drug supplies. Congressional auditors said spot checks found four VA hospitals skipped monthly inspections of drug stocks or missed other requirements. Investigators said that signals problems for VA's entire network. A House panel planned a hearing Monday on the issue. Recent audits also found spotty VA compliance with federal drug testing, for instance failing to test 70 percent - or 15,800 - prospective employees over a 12-month period who would serve in sensitive VA positions such as doctor, nurse or police officer. "Until VA employees understand that there will be real consequences for misconduct, they're completely disincentivized from following the rules. We believe that the VA should ramp up drug testing to help weed out those who are abusing the system," said Dan Caldwell, policy director for the conservative Concerned Veterans for America. Addressing the Disabled American Veterans group on Sunday, new VA Secretary David Shulkin, who served as the department's undersecretary of health while the drug problem was growing, listed employee accountability as a top priority. Shulkin said he would work with Congress to pass legislation so that "bad employees are leaving the system." The VA said it had strong policies, such as 72-hour inventory checks and "double lock and key access" to drugs, but acknowledged that required inspections and other protocols weren't being followed consistently. VA cited its own data showing 2,405 cases of drug loss or theft from January 2014 to March 2016. It said nearly 92 percent of controlled substance losses went missing in transit - describing many as lost in the mail, though acknowledging VA drugs also could have disappeared during employee handling right before mailing. Another 1.5 percent of losses were specifically reported as theft by VA staff, while 1.2 percent was reported as "external theft" and 5.9 percent were attributed to unknown or other reasons such as dispensing errors. Keith Berge, a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist who chairs its Medication Diversion Prevention group, said drug theft was serious and patients could be seriously harmed if deprived of medication. Drug addicts are clever and will seek out hospitals where they believe monitoring is weak, he said. "It is not good enough to merely have effective policies and procedures on the books; they must actually be rigorously followed," Berge said. Randall Williamson, health care director at the Government Accountability Office, cited "not a great track record" of accountability at the VA. He said employees who fail to conduct inspections should be held responsible. "The culture has to be changed," he said. "The question is whether the VA will quit making excuses and fix the system." --- BY HOPE YENASSOCIATED PRESS

American Legion Post 5 in Washington, D.C., is working with American University faculty and students on a unique revitalization project. Post 5, chartered in 1919, is battling to keep its membership consistent. “As the commander, I was getting desperate,” said Dr. James Jones. “We’re not getting enough people. What’s going to happen? What are we going to do when we don’t have enough people?” In stepped Brenda V. Smith, professor at American’s Washington College of Law Community and Economic Development Law Clinic, and Angie Chuang, associate professor at the university’s College of Communication. They immediately zeroed in on the post’s treasure trove of history, artifacts and memorabilia that connects with veterans of any era. “We’ve taken a creative approach to issues of membership,” said Smith, who sees this project as a way to better market the post to prospective members and the community. “It’s the essence of the post. The memories and insights that come with military service are displayed with these artifacts. They are really important in documenting the role the organizations played in the civic life of these African-American soldiers. That’s what the project is at the end of the day.” Jones, Smith, Chuang and their students are moving forward on a plan to turn the post into a museum to highlight its history as a way to recruit, retain and engage members. “Let’s get more people by telling them the history,” Jones said. “This history really became important because of the attractiveness of what we have to offer people. This is not only educating us there (at the post) but getting people to recognize The American Legion as a whole. If I were a young veteran, this history is something I would want to be part of.” Post Vice Commander John Hicks agreed. “We talked about it and figured this is a wonderful idea if we can get it to work,” the Korean War veteran said. “A lot of people don’t know the post exists.” Amid the photos, flags, awards, ledgers and newspaper articles, one can also learn about the civil rights movement. “When we think of the civil rights movement, we imagine these organizations growing in the 1950s and 1960s,” Chuang said. “We often overlook the first civil rights organizations that were formed by veterans returning after World War I and II. They returned to cities like D.C. that were still segregated. And they decided to use their empowerment through these organizations to fight to make sure their rights were preserved. It’s a wonderful story that The American Legion can tell through its own members and posts.” Smith and Chuang obtained a $10,000 collaborative faculty research grant for the post project. The money was used to pay for the creation of a website that showcases the post and its history, restoration of historic photos, and transportation to and from the post. Students who participate in the project gain important real life opportunities to use what they learned in law and communications. Additionally, the students are filled with a renewed love of history and a dose of humility. Through their research, law students JimShir Harris and Alex Morgan discovered various artifacts dating back almost a century. Among the findings was a photo of Post 5 namesake James Reese Europe with Red Cross nurses sometime around World War I. Europe was a well-known bandleader and among the first African-Americans in combat. He served as a lieutenant in the 369th Infantry Regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters. Other findings included various photographs, documents and letters, including one from the post to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, inviting him to speak at one of their events in 1924. Jones credits the students. “They have changed our focus from ‘What are we going to do if the post closes?’ to ‘How do we keep alive?’” he said. “That’s what all this is about.” It’s been a rewarding experience for the students. “All of the history of the post is really interesting information,” Harris said. “We do try to have events on behalf of Post 5 to get more people to hear about the history. And once we do that, we always get great feedback. It helps generate membership. We want these events to bring post members together, as well as bring in new members.” Already, the effort has resulted in some new members. Post 5 is starting to recruit through American University and is connecting with student veterans, including some who have joined the post. “The interest is there,” Jones said. “We can’t do it without numbers. We can’t do it without membership. You need the membership to get those things done.” He is appreciative of the effort by university faculty and students. “It’s important for a minority group that has been underrepresented in education,” said Jones, an Air Force veteran who served in the Vietnam War. “And that’s what the museum is about. If we plan to stay alive, people need to see that we are worthy. Our focus is getting more people to come and join us.” Smith sees a convergence in the post’s history. “It is intertwined in stories about arts, civil rights and civic engagement,” she said. “And even about the development of cities.” Once the museum is up and running, Smith said, “the next step would be to bring in new people with new ideas for the post.” She mentioned other potential uses for the post and its archives such as hosting book readings, providing space for other community groups to meet there, and allowing scholars to review and write about the post’s history. “That’s a way we could give the post a life beyond itself.” The timing is critical as yoga studios, farm-to-table restaurants and other modern-day storefronts are surrounding the post building, Chuang noted. “The neighborhood around it is changing so rapidly that the post may be one of the only surviving vestiges of the African-American community that was there,” she said. “It’s all changing.” Once Post 5 has stabilized, Jones sees that as an opportunity to be a good community leader. “We want people to come to be a part of us,” he said. “When we get our feet on the ground and have enough people, we may try some legislative things like they used to do. We’re so busy trying to stay alive that we aren’t able to do those things. We need some boots on the ground to do good things in the community. We simply don’t have it now.”   By Henry Howard

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Next weekend, more than 500 members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., the nation’s largest and oldest war veterans’ organization begin rallying in Washington, D.C., to voice the concerns of veterans directly with the nation’s lawmakers during the 2017 VFW Legislative Conference, Feb. 26 – March 2. The annual conference strengthens the VFW’s advocacy efforts on behalf of America’s veterans, service members and their families, as VFW members meet with elected representatives in the House and Senate to discuss the VFW’s stance on a number of high priority veterans’ issues. The 2017 VFW Legislative Conference culminates on March 1, as VFW National Commander Brian Duffy testifies before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, where he will lay out the VFW’s top legislative priorities for the year. Other highlights will include the presentation of the VFW Congressional Award to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners, and the announcement of the national Voice of Democracy first-place $30,000 scholarship winner. The VFW will again livestream from this year’s conference. Visit www.vfw.org/VFWDC2017 on Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. EST to watch as the legislative conference kicks off with the Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners, followed by the delayed streaming of the VFW national commander’s testimony available on March 1 at 5 p.m. Look for #VFWDC2017 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and be sure to visit www.vfw.org for all the latest legislative conference updates beginning Feb. 26.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has received a $10 million grant for its proposed education center in Washington. The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/2lkzyDk) reported Tuesday that the fund says the grant from the Lilly Endowment is the largest single cash donation in the fund's 37-year history. It has been trying to raise money to build the underground Education Center next to its memorial on the Mall since 2003. The 25,000-square-foot center will display artifacts left at the memorial over the years as well as first-person accounts of veterans and citizens. There'll also be a two-story wall showing the faces of the 58,000 people whose names are etched on the memorial. With the Lilly donation, the fund says it now has $42.5 million of the $130 million it needs to raise. ---

As a veteran who herself felt the fear of trying to find a job, Stephanie Stone recognizes how important events like Wednesday’s Hiring Our Heroes career event in Los Angeles can be. “I think these opportunities are wonderful because they are multilayered,” said Stone, the chief deputy director of the Los Angeles Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. “… It’s really creating the environment for success.” Stone, a member of American Legion Post 43 in Hollywood, was one of the featured speakers at Wednesday’s event at Staples Center, which included a workshop for job seekers on résumé building, networking and interview tips, as well as a job fair. A Navy veteran, Stone shared her experience of losing her first post-military job when the recession hit in 2008. As a single parent of two high school age children, and with a mortgage, losing her job left her “scared to say the least.” “I didn’t know what to do next and, more importantly, I didn’t know where I was going to end up. But I did know I was going to succeed, and that was largely because of what the military had given to me,” she said, emphasizing the military’s philosophy of “improvise, adapt and overcome.” She encouraged the job seekers on hand Wednesday to remember that, and to reach out beyond the employers on hand. “Not only are you going to go out there and shake the hands of employers and HR directors, your job is to go out and find 10 battle buddies that you’re going to connect with,” she said. “Your job is to motivate each other, to provide resources and links to these job opportunities that you find here. Your job is to help that person out as much as they’re going to help you out. That is your new mission.” Stone said it’s important to “reach back and pick up the next person that’s struggling to come up.” “We should never think that we are going to these events and nothing will happen because at the least you’ve made those connections. At the most, you’ve connected with an employer who’s going to end up hiring you,” she said. Lt. Col. Derwin Brown, the West region director of the U.S. Army Soldier for Life program, encouraged the 300-plus job seekers to “take full advantage of this opportunity.” Approximately 75 employers were on hand for the event, which included the opportunity for job seekers to receive up to two free tickets to Wednesday night’s game between the L.A. Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks.   By Andy Proffet  

Government data obtained by The Associated Press show that incidents of drug loss or theft at federal hospitals have jumped nearly tenfold since 2009 to 2,457 last year, spurred by widespread opioid abuse in the U.S. Federal authorities report that doctors, nurses or pharmacy staff - mostly in the Department of Veterans Affairs health system - had siphoned away controlled substances, while in other cases, drugs intended for patients simply disappeared. Some notable cases involving alleged VA drug theft: --- ARKANSAS Three VA employees in Little Rock were charged this month with conspiring to steal prescription medications, including opioids, from the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital. A 2016 investigation by the VA inspector general's office alleges that a pharmacy technician used his VA access to a medical supplier's web portal to order and divert 4,000 oxycodone pills, 3,300 hydrocodone pills and other drugs, costing the VA $77,700. The VA employees were also charged with conspiring to distribute those drugs, which had a street value of more than $160,000. --- UTAH An associate chief of pharmacy at the VA medical center in Salt Lake City recently pleaded guilty to acquiring possession of a controlled substance by fraud, according to the inspector general's office. The VA employee was accused of diverting about 25,000 pills, including oxycodone, hydromorphone, Adderall, buprenorphine, Ritalin, and tramadol from the inpatient pharmacy from October 2011 to March 2015. A spokeswoman for the VA facility, Jill Atwood, has said the hospital since added new software, training and made procedural changes to ensure that similar thefts don't happen again. --- NEW YORK A former hospice nurse at the VA medical center in Albany was sentenced last year to more than six years in prison after admitting to stealing pain medication intended for patients. An investigation alleges the VA nurse stole the painkiller oxycodone hydrochloride from syringes to feed his drug addiction and replaced the contents with Haldol, an anti-psychotic medication. At his sentencing hearing, family members of some of the hospice patients gave statements detailing the pain and suffering the nurse inflicted on dying veteran patients. --- RHODE ISLAND A former registered nurse in the intensive care unit of the Providence VA medical center pleaded guilty last year to stealing prescription drugs. Authorities say the nurse admitted that on dozens of occasions over several months in 2015 she used an override feature of an automated medication dispensing system to obtain hundreds of controlled substance pills, such as oxycodone and morphine. The pills weren't prescribed for or provided to patients. The IG's office says the nurse had previously been fired from a private hospital for allegedly diverting controlled substances, but was hired at the VA after making false claims in her application. --- CALIFORNIA A former resident anesthesiologist at the VA medical center in West Los Angeles pleaded guilty in 2015 to theft of public property and possession of a controlled substance while treating a veteran. Authorities say while providing anesthesia care to a veteran in surgery, the doctor passed out in the operating room after taking a sedative and injecting himself with controlled substances including fentanyl. His fully conscious patient lay nearby and said he was initially frightened that the commotion was due to his own medical condition, according to news reports. --- Sources: Justice Department and VA inspector general's office

Newswise — CHARLOTTE, N.C. -  Veterans returning from active duty often face serious challenges as they reintegrate to civilian roles. This task can be even more demanding when the service member has suffered a traumatic injury. Supporting veterans and their families through this process is the focus of the 2017 UNC Charlotte Veterans' Health Conference. The conference will emphasize biopsychosocial issues related to reintegration, including physical health challenges faced by this population and access to and use of services among veterans, service members and their families, including potential strategies for supporting reintegration to their life roles in the community. “While asking ‘Have You Ever Served in the Military?’ is an important start, it must be accompanied by an in-depth understanding of what it means to have served and what the accompanying health risks are for that individual based on when and where they served,” said Maj. Gen. Margaret Wilmoth, deputy surgeon general for mobilization, readiness and Army Reserve affairs, and a keynote speaker at the event. “Joining Forces for Veteran Health and Reintegration” will be 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28, in UNC Charlotte’s Popp Martin Student Union. Other keynote speakers include:James Prosser, assistant secretary for veterans affairs, N.C. Department of Military and Veterans AffairsRichard Tedeschi, a professor in the UNC Charlotte Department of Psychology whose research focuses on posttraumatic growth in survivors of various traumas, including combat "​In the aftermath of a traumatic experience some people may find posttraumatic growth, and this is true for veterans as well, said Tedeschi. “This growth may involve a greater sense of personal strength, appreciation of life, relating to others, new possibilities in life or spiritual change. A combination of a program based on posttraumatic growth principles, in a setting that fosters reflection and within a safe interpersonal environment, may have the best opportunity for promoting optimal reintegration for veterans." The Feb. 28 conference, which is free and open to the public (registration information on the web), will feature a research poster session and opportunities for audience interaction and questions with the presenters. Attendees also will have the opportunity to visit a vendor fair that will feature community service providers. “North Carolina is home to more than 800,000 veterans and the third largest military force in the United States,” said Prosser. “Meeting the needs of service members, veterans and families requires interagency cooperation and collaboration.” In March, the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry will publish a special issue on veteran reintegration featuring research by UNC Charlotte Academy for Veteran and Military Health Director Christine Elnitsky. Advance copies of the publication are available.    

Abstract Veterans experience higher levels of unemployment than the general population. When you include those who have left the workforce, Veterans have a 52% unemployment rate compared to a 40% unemployment rate for the general population (US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan 2017). My intent for this article is to give unemployed, underemployed and Veterans in career transitions techniques, which will improve the probability of finding, securing, and retaining gainful employment for the Veteran population. THE CAREER TRANSITION PROCESS I have been retired since 2004 and the challenges of finding employment for transitioning service members, and Veterans who are changing jobs, have not changed. We still have issues with Veterans not speaking the language of the civilian industry into which they want to transition. We have civilians with mythical preconceptions of what and who Veterans are, and most of all we have an unrealistic expectation of what the whole process is really like. I will try to lay it out for my Brothers and Sisters who are facing employment challenges. Establishing Realistic Expectations Let’s get something straight, unless you were in a decision making position at a military organization who purchased heavily from the defense contracting community, there is no one outside the gate drooling, waiting on you to come strolling out and hire you. Equally important is they do not have that $60-$80K job about which your battle-buddies told you. If that opportunity exists, you are not being hired for what you know, rather, WHO you can provide the company access to. Once your access becomes dated, your employment is at risk. Companies care about your service, they care about your sacrifices, but if you do not have the technical skills they are looking for, none of your military soft skills will get you hired into anything but entry-level positions (those skill sets will get you promoted faster though). For instance, if a Marine infantryman leaves after six years of active service, let us say she made Staff Sergeant. She has a boatload of leadership experience and considerable skills in critical thinking and problem solving, but those skills will not get her hired into a management position at a manufacturing facility, which uses CNC or other automated tools to produce the items.   Not all Veterans are created equal. In today’s vernacular when companies hear the term “Veteran” the mental image they pick up is a transitioning member of the armed forces, generally a combat hardened Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine. To them it is a label. They forget the true definition of Veteran; we have Veterans from the Viet Nam era in the workforce, those of the Cold War, and those from the modern era. While they share similar experiences, those of the modern era have a much different outlook than those from the preceding eras. Each era of Veteran faces their own set of employment challenges. The Job Search Process Finding your why. Your first step should be to find out not only what you do well, but also WHY you want to do it. It cannot be for the money, making money is a consequence of labor. Sooner or later you are going to wake up one morning and think to yourself “They don’t pay me enough to put up with this bullsh!t.” That is when you know you have lost your “Why.” Knowing your “Why” helps you identify the industry and geography you want to work in. Networking. Now start networking in the industry and in the location. You have a network, people who you have worked for, with and have worked for you in the past, your old leaders who have left the military, people with whom you go to church, people in your hobby groups, all are good places to start building your network.   When you get the chance to speak with your connections, it is bad form to ask for a job. If you do not know the person well, or the company he or she works for, you are fishing in the dark and this puts your relationship at risk. If the company does not have a position, your contact will reply in the negative. This puts the conversation at a disadvantage. If there is a position, but your contact does not think you are a fit, they must state either you are not a fit (awkward), or they must lie and say there is no position. With either response the result is the same, the conversation goes south and it could damage your relationship. Instead, get insights, information and introductions relevant to your job search. What certificates do companies in your industry hold in high regard, do you really need a degree? What do I need to do to be competitive in this market? They will notice you are looking for your next opportunity. If the company has a position and you are a fit, your contact will let you know. Find your job opportunities. Do not limit your online searches to the major job boards. 80% or more of positions either do not make the job boards or are filled by the time they appear online. A better technique is to go to the company website and look for their internal careers portal. If a company has a position listed there, you are more likely to be applying to an existing position. Targeting your resume. Target your resume. As soon as you find a position, print it out, go through it and determine what the employer is really asking for. What pain is the company experiencing that this position will make go away? Then using civilian terminology write your resume to the keywords for those areas.   Your application (including resume) will go into an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), which looks for keywords to rank order the applications. The more keyword hits, the higher the resume is to the top of the stack. You could be the redeeming quality for the company, but if you do not have the keywords, the hiring manager will never see your resume. Most companies has policies that limit any new hire to ones who have applied through the ATS. This is where your networking comes into play. If you find the position through networking your connection can alert the hiring manager to your application, even provide the hiring manager with a copy of your resume. The hiring manager can them go into the ATS and pull your application, regardless of where it is in the stack. This is why networking is always more effective in your job search than simply applying to an online or newspaper add. Interviewing. Interviewing for a position is much different in today’s market. If the company selects you for consideration for a position they may call you to set up another telephone interview, sometimes you may have multiple phone interviews before the company calls you in for an in-person interview. This initial in-person interview could be with a panel of individuals from different areas of the company. At this point, you have shown you have the technical skills necessary, now the company is looking for cultural fit. You will normally have one panel interview, after which the HR representative will set up an interview with the hiring manager. This process is much like a sports tournament. The goal is not to win the tournament, but to not allow the company to eliminate your from consideration before the final round. Be prepared during the interview, research the company, and check everything you can think of, to include stock market performance for a publically traded company. Read the news releases to see if there are insights you can use in the interview. Also, be prepared for after interview conduct. Executives sometimes ask gatekeepers what their initial impression was. If you are short, blunt, and impersonal with the gatekeeper, you may not receive a promising referral. Instead, you need to smile, say please and thank you. Leave a thank you note for the interviewer with the gatekeeper. Showing your appreciation can be the discriminator if you and another candidate are both good fits for the position. Some Final Thoughts Finding a job is a full time job. Make sure you put the effort into finding the job of your dreams you will put into performing the job.   By Mark J. Colomb