Vets finding it difficult returning to 9 to 5 America...

excerpt: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13319120/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Martha Brant
Newsweek

Updated: 10:54 a.m. PT June 14, 2006
June 14, 2006 - Ron Dickey wanted to make the Army his career. When he joined the service at 19 he traded Rienzi, Miss.—a town with fewer than 500 residents—for a world of opportunities.


Many former soldiers are finding it difficult to return to 9-to-5 America. The number of disabled vets from all wars deemed "unemployable" by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs tripled from 71,000 to 220,000 between 1996 and 2005. Unemployable vets receive about $2,393 a month, with the total cost of the program now $3.1 billion a year (up from $857 million in 1996). That staggering price tag doesn't include the bulk of recent vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who will enter the system over the next few decades.

Many of those now receiving benefits aren't able to work because of their disabilities, and a majority are over age 60. But some vets, like Ron Dickey, could and would work under the right circumstances. And, while it is easier than ever for disabled vets to go online and get information about receiving unemployment benefits, the options for those who want to get a job are more complicated.

That fought imposed by people who shed croc tears over their "sacrifice" to their nation.