When the military history of this era and these two wars is one day written, a central theme will be the stunning breakthroughs made in military medicine. Improved body armor, better warfighting equipment, rapid air transport to well-equipped medical facilities, and the hit-and-run nature of insurgent warfare have improved survivability rates for our injured. But when combined with the improvements in medical science procedures, and the incredible work being performed by some of the true unsung heroes of these conflicts, Navy Corpsmen, those rates have become historic. The numbers tell the story: During World War II, for every 100 injuries, 38 were fatal. By Vietnam, for every 100 injuries, the figure had been reduced to 28 fatalities. Today in Iraq and Afghanistan, for every 100 injuries . . . 6 are fatal.1
Admiral Matt Nathan, the Commander Officer of the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, has seen many of the 721 Sailors and 9,466 Marines wounded in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) as of this writing.2 He will tell you that people routinely comment to him on the greater number of amputees that these wars are generating. He points out to them that it's not that there are more amputees; it's that previously, these warriors wouldn't have lived to become amputees.
These spectacular breakthroughs are great news for the country. But with enhanced survivability rates comes a national challenge: How do we welcome back and integrate into American society a generation of veterans wrestling with injuries that in any previous conflict would have been fatal?
Further complicating this moral mandate is that not all of these injuries are visible. The RAND Corporation reports that nearly 20 percent of all OIF/OEF warfighters will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI).3
How do we ensure that IEDs and PTSD do not become the Agent Orange of this generation?
The Key to Reintegration
Expert after expert tells us that the single fundamental key to successful reintegration for these wounded veterans is work-a fulfilling job. With meaningful employment comes productivity, independence, and self-reliance.
Research shows that a subset of the returning wounded-warrior population is determined to "get back to the fight" in some capacity. Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Conway has committed to every combat-injured Marine that there will always be room in the Corps for them. Many Marines have taken him up on that offer, such as Master Sergeant Willy Gibson, who lost his leg following an enemy engagement in Al Anbar Province in May 2006. Master Sergeant Gibson, fitted with a prosthetic, redeployed to Iraq in January 2008.
Another subset of our returning veterans find themselves at a place in their lives where they are in position to take advantage of the historically generous new 9/11 G.I. Bill. They'll go to school, pursue higher education, and in the great American tradition, pay their tuition with the sweat and blood they've given.
Barriers to Overcome
But the majority of our warriors indicate that they simply want to return home and get a job. What's the scale of this phenomenon? As of January, 36,364 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines had been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each month, an average of 300 more wounded are added to this total. Against that backdrop, some 140,000 OIF and OEF vets are either unemployed or underemployed. At the close of calendar year 2009, the national unemployment figure hovered around 10 percent. But according to a recent Veterans Administration study, unemployment among those who've left the military in the last three years is 18 percent.4 What are the barriers combining to result in veterans' joblessness reaching almost twice the national average?
Location: Wounded warriors overwhelmingly indicate that they wish to relocate back home. The desire to live close to their existing support systems, i.e. their family and friends, only makes sense. How do we match meaningful employment opportunities with warriors who hail from nearly every region in the country?
Skill Set: Although a typical wounded warrior leaves the service with real skills, their average age is 19.5 years old and 84 percent don't hold college degrees (though they do have a combat military occupational specialty). How do we arm them with the skill set a civilian employer requires?
Access to Medical Facilities: For many, the critical factor in seeking employment will be proximity and access to a military or VA facility for follow-on care and continued medical treatment.
Accommodation of Medical Conditions: Certain physical tasks obviously may not be possible. Many wounded warriors use guide dogs. Others have environmental limitations. How do we ensure employers are equipped with the tools necessary to support wounded vets, with both visible and non-visible injuries, to allow them to succeed in the workplace?
Family Issues: The severely injured may need a spouse to become the family's major breadwinner. Spousal employment opportunities thus may be the primary family consideration.
Understanding Available Benefits: How do we ensure that our personnel are aware of and understand their benefits, and how to best use them for future employment?
Employers' Lack of Understanding of Hiring Rules: Vets with 30 percent or more disability can be hired without competition and brought into government service very quickly. How do we ensure that federal human-resources personnel are aware of this regulation?
The First-line Supervisor's Dilemma: In government hiring, decisions in most federal agencies are generally made by the first-line supervisor. This individual gets few hiring opportunities and is often understandably reluctant to reach out to those other than the most traditionally highly qualified candidates. Often this translates into years of experience in a field, something our overwhelmingly young wounded-warrior population typically doesn't have.
Resume and Job Interview Skills: Given the wounded-warrior demographic, it's likely that their first job was being a Sailor/Soldier/Marine, and thus they may not have any background in writing a quality resume for an employer. How can we help young wounded warriors translate their military training and accomplishments into terms understandable to a company's human-resource personnel?
A Special Group
At the same time, it is the responsibility of Navy leadership to convey and ensure that industry and employers fully understand the pool of unique traits possessed by these potential employees.
Take Lieutenant Jay Redman. A Navy SEAL deployed to the Al Anbar Province, he took machine-gun fire through the side of his head that exited through the front. He miraculously survived, but essentially lost half his face, including his nose and right eye. While being treated at Bethesda for these horribly disfiguring injuries, he wrote the following note in magic marker, and taped it to his hospital room door:
ATTENTION TO ALL WHO ENTER HERE. IF YOU ARE COMING INTO THIS ROOM WITH SORROW OR TO FEEL SORRY FOR MY WOUNDS, GO ELSEWHERE. THE WOUNDS I RECEIVED I GOT DOING A JOB I LOVE, DOING IT FOR PEOPLE I LOVE, SUPPORTING THE FREEDOM OF A COUNTRY I DEEPLY LOVE. I AM INCREDIBLY TOUGH AND WILL MAKE A FULL RECOVERY. WHAT IS FULL? THAT IS THE UTMOST PHYSICALLY MY BODY HAS THE ABILITY TO RECOVER. THEN I WILL PUSH THAT ABOUT 20% FURTHER THROUGH SHEER MENTAL TENACITY. THE ROOM YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER IS A ROOM OF FUN, OPTIMISM, AND INTENSE RAPID RE-GROWTH. IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THAT, GO ELSEWHERE.
-THE MANAGEMENT
Lieutenant Redman has since been released, and is still undergoing reconstructive surgery . . . but he's back at work. His sign-now framed and signed by the Commander-in-Chief-still hangs on the wall at Bethesda.
There are lots of Lieutenant Redmans within the wounded-warrior population. Employers should not look on their employment as charity, a set-aside program, a feel-good hire, or a patriotic pro bono case. Wounded warriors are, by definition, tenacious and resilient. They are leaders and doers. At a very young age, they have proven, unmistakably, that they are capable of accomplishing what has been set before them. They have been entrusted with millions of dollars' worth of taxpayer-financed equipment. They have qualified on and utilized state-of-the art technology. They have shown a work ethic exceeding any possibly presented in the normal work force. They have demonstrated the ability to make life-and-death decisions, in the most challenging environments possible, on behalf of their co-workers. Yes, there may be some physical accommodation required. But don't hire them to feel good. Hire them because these are the young Americans you want to entrust your company, your corporation, your firm, your business to for the next 20 years. Hire them because it's a commerce-savvy decision. Hire them because it's good for your bottom line. Hire them because it's good for your shareholders. Hire them because it's good business.
Private Sector and Public Sector
Many companies have already established wounded-warrior hiring programs. Corporate entities such as Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Google, Sears, and Wal-Mart have been leaders in this effort. Monster.com, the popular job site, incorporated Military.com, which allows posters to tag themselves as veterans, and has a "Military Skills Translator" function that converts military specialties into civilian occupations. Groups like Warriors in Welding, Heroes at Work, RealLifeLines, Hire Heroes USA, Troops to Teachers, and Wall Street Warfighters are making critical strides in linking wounded vets to career options. The dots must be connected to this loose national network of employers. The task ahead is to harness the collective power and broad range of opportunities available for our personnel, and make it all accessible. How do we tap into the unprecedented good will for our uniformed men and women, and allow the supply of jobs open to them, to meet the demand of work they seek?
And if we're going to ask the private sector to step forward in this regard, shouldn't the government lead? By keeping these warfighters in the defense sector, the taxpayer derives the continued benefits of their experience, as well as a return on the national commitment invested in these warriors' training and security background investigation. A prototype model might be the wounded-warrior program being run at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
As the systems command with the largest civilian work force, NAVSEA felt a responsibility to make opportunities available to our wounded warriors. Commanding Officer Vice Admiral Kevin McCoy reasons that no one understands the NAVSEA customer, the warfighter, better than warfighters themselves. Says McCoy, "In my opinion, we have the best blue-collar jobs in America-jobs you can raise a family on. The entry requirement to be an electrician, pipe-fitter, welder, or technician is a high school degree and lots of enthusiasm. We will give you everything else. We have stable careers working on some of our nation's most important military platforms."
It's important to note that the NAVSEA opportunities are not limited to coastal shipyards. Next year the command will make some 800 apprentice-level hires, including positions at their Idaho and Indiana facilities. Following January's Wounded Warrior Hiring Conference hosted by NAVSEA and the author's office, plans are under way to link NAVSEA's counterparts in the Air Force and Army, and form a database of available entry-level career opportunities that will span every region of the country.
Moving Forward
In the weeks and months ahead, we'll work to align the Department of the Navy's wounded-warrior hiring strategy, integrate education, training, and employment efforts, and coordinate the nationwide network of private-sector efforts.
How will we know when we're successful? Even in a challenging economic environment, our pool of wounded possess a broad range of capabilities despite their injuries, and we'll know we have succeeded when we can credibly and responsibly offer up the following words to every returning wounded warrior: "Welcome back. Thank you. And if you want a job, we've got work for you."
1. Linda Bilmes, "Soldiers Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: The Long-term Costs of Providing Veterans Medical Care and Disability Benefits," Faculty Research Working Papers Series (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2007), RWP07-001.
2. Defense Manpower Data Center, 2 January 2010, http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm, accessed 2 January 2010.
3. T. Tanielian and L.H. Jaycox, eds., Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery (Santa Monica: RAND, 2008).
4. Iraq/Afghanistan wounded statistics are from Defense Manpower Data Center, http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm, accessed 2 January 2010. Veteran unemployment statistics are from SECNAV ALNAV Message, February 2010; for the overall national unemployment stats, see Labor Force Statistics, 2009 (U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009), http://www.bls.gov/cps/, accessed 2 January 2010. The Veterans Administration study cited is Employment Histories Report, Final Compilation Report (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, March 2008), http://www1.va.gov/vetdata/docs/Employment History 080324.pdf , accessed 2 January 2010.