I am a Marine Corps and Navy veteran currently serving on active duty. I entered enlisted military service in 1972 (Vietnam era) by joining the U.S. Marines. Boot camp was 13 or so weeks at Parris Island, SC followed by naval aviation jet engine mechanic training in Millington, TN. After four years of almost continuous deployments in 1976, both CONUS and OCONUS, I took a chance and joined the USMC Reserves and started a community college in a 2-year program. Later, I transferred to the University of Florida and earned a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering (ChE) and, was offered (and of course I accepted) a chance to continue on at UF on scholarship to earn a masters in ChE. After graduation from school, I faced a tough job market, spent several months looking for employment, and finally needed to move from the East Coast to the West Coast to accept a job with Intel Corporation as a process control engineer, stayed put for two years before taking a leave of absence and then joined the Navy as an officer in 1986. Twenty-five years later, it's time to re-invent myself and start a new career. About two years ago (2008), I began an educational program in pursuit of a doctoral degree in education. in the third and final year of the program, I am required to identify a project or program for conducting some focused research to bring about something positive, a positive social change effort.
Since I can readily identify with the issue of rising veterans unemployment, I want to focus my study on how to help veterans gain access to , understand, and take advantage of the opportunities made available to veterans, and possibly identify any shortfalls with the programs or problems that prevent veterans from knowing about or accessing the needed help.
I am interested in your ideas on this topic. You can share your own experiences or those of others. Give me pros and cons of current veterans assistance programs and benefits, etc. I would appreciate hearing from you and including your thoughts and ideas in my research effort. i am interested in helping all veterans and I would be willing to share the results of this study to help and promote the hiring of all veterans, young and old, male and female; we're all comrades and our service counted and still counts.
