Many Guard returnees jobless [View All]

Fecking Bush ....

PORTLAND — About 40 percent of the 700 Oregon National Guardsmen who just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Some didn't have jobs before they were deployed; other members of the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, which arrived home last week lost their jobs while they were on active duty.

Their numbers are far bleaker than Oregon's overall unemployment rate, which stands at about 6.4 percent.


The high unemployment rate among Guard soldiers "certainly was a surprise to me,'' said Ron Cannon, the Labor Department's director of Veterans Employment and Training in Portland.

The problem has prompted the Labor Department to offer Oregon a first-ever training program for returning soldiers. And it moved Gov. Ted Kulongoski to publicly call on Oregon employers to "give ‘em a job.''

Returning soldiers are going to have a tough enough time readjusting to civilian life after their extended tours overseas, the governor said at a news conference.

"They don't need to be worrying about whether they're going to be able to find a job or not,'' Kulongoski said. "The employers of the state can do this. All they have to do is step up to it, make it a priority, hire a vet.''

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http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/03/31/news/oregon/thusta01.txt