November 2011

Veterans Day of 2011 has a special meaning for all of us Americans this year, as two months ago on September 11th we observed the 10-year anniversary of “9/11.” Veterans Day of this year will be marked by the closing of U.S. involvement in Operation Iraqi Freedom. More than just a national holiday to take a day off from work, it is a day to think of those currently serving our nation and to honor all who have ever worn the uniform in defense of our country.

By December 31, 2011, virtually all of the 41,000 U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq will be withdrawn from that nation and brought home. At the height of the conflict in 2006, there were up to 170,000 service members deployed to Iraq. Since 2001, over 1 million U.S. service men and women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, with just over 32,000 from Wisconsin.

Now, as thousands of service members return home, there will be an influx of transitioning veterans, who will be looking for jobs, schooling, housing, VA health care, and adjusting to every day life back home.

As they return home, they are our newest veterans of the 21st Century – our “9/11” veterans. They will encounter and are experiencing some of the same challenges of readjustment to civilian life as those who have served before them, but they are also facing some new challenges as well, and may need treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Blast Injury (TBI), and suicide prevention. However, a primary concern in this economy is employment, with struggles to find meaningful and adequate paying jobs.

In Wisconsin about 7.8 percent of civilian workers are currently unemployed. For Wisconsin veterans, the number is around 11.1 percent for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. This is unacceptable.

One of my top priorities is to work towards bringing the unemployment rate to a minimum, to be the same as, if not less than, the percentage for civilian workers. Along with Governor Walker and other partners, the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) is working to help veterans establish a quality life for themselves and their families, by receiving education benefits, job training, and employment assistance.

In our arsenal we have the Post 9/11 GI Bill and the Wisconsin GI Bill of tuition remission for eligible veterans and their dependents. Through our “Mission:  Welcome Home” program of reintegration for returning service members, and through the department’s outreach programs, we actively work to assess and respond to the needs of our newest veterans and help ensure all aspects of services and treatment prepare them for the new ventures they’ll have ahead of them, male and female veterans alike.

Working with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) coordinators and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVERs), the WDVA ensures connections with veterans through job fairs, apprenticeships like the Veterans In Piping program, and vocational rehabilitation.

Women veterans are one of the fastest growing veterans populations right now, with about 28,000 or seven percent of the state’s veterans being women. Just like their male counterparts, they are eager to work as vital contributors in our state and are willing to learn new skills, in complement to their military training, to offer their valuable work ethic and discipline to civilian employers.

As we look ahead, numbers of new veterans – male and female – will grow, as our “9/11” veterans come home from Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, we are witnessing the loss of our older veterans, especially those who served during World War II, our “Greatest Generation.” The WDVA is here to serve all of our veterans.

The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs values and respects the support received by the veterans community, from the local, county, state and federal levels, in order to succeed in ensuring Wisconsin veterans of different age groups, eras, nationalities, branches of service and genders receive the programs, services and benefits they have earned by wearing our nation’s uniforms.

On Veterans Day, November 11th, let’s all take a moment of meaningful time to recognize the contributions of our nation’s military veterans.