Rather than presenting a solid plan with a pathway to job creations for veterans, President Barack Obama told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno Monday that “we’re going to set up a kind of reverse boot camp,” notes Grumpy Editor.
Although job-searching veterans already possess a specialty from military service, the president proposed still more training plus education and advice for starting a business.
“Our American veterans have the skills America needs,” he proclaimed. “So today, our economy is growing and creating jobs, but it’s still too hard for too many folks to find work, especially our younger veterans, our veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Indeed, with the jobless rate in June for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at 9.5 percent, the president’s rhetoric sounded uplifting. Yet, not many eyebrows were raised by media.
Obama also informed the VFW that he signed a veterans “skills to jobs” act that requires federal agencies to look at relevant military training when approving applicants for federal licenses and certificates.
“We’ve got to put those folks back to work,” he declared.
Not mentioned was a retraining program for veterans announced two months ago. Called the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program, it allows qualifying veterans to receive up to a year of education assistance.
But that won’t do much good for the many veterans in their twenties and early thirties.
To qualify for VRAP, veterans must be between 35 and 60 years old and unemployed.
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