Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Toward A Veteran Job Corps

Reading about a homeless Iraq War Vet sleeping under a bridge in Warren, Ohio (Washington Post, December 17), I immediately felt a sense of compassion and outrage. How could we allow this? Our vets, who increasingly hail from working class and poor families, have put their lives on the line for our country. The least we can do is help ease their way back into the civilian economy. It is true that vets have lower poverty rates than non-vets and tend to have similar unemployment rates as non-vets, but given their sacrifice for all of us, the period of readjustment to civilian life, and the possibility of post traumatic stress disorder, we need to provide them with some kind of job security.

In the 1930s, FDR, the last truly great president (Reagan was good, but given the conservative understanding of government, a conservative president really can’t do enough to be great), was wise enough, compassionate enough and creative enough to develop the Civilian Conservation Corps. Roosevelt did so to employ the unemployed as well as to provide a crucial service to the country—the salvation of American land use policy. While we are not faced with 25% unemployment as FDR was, we are coping with the worst recession since the 1930s and economists tell us that the national unemployment rate will hover around 10% for a year or so. Others warn of the possibility of a double dip recession. For this reason, I propose that we develop a Veteran Job Corps (VJC) which would focus on the following projects:

First, our vets could be used to increase the manpower inspecting the hulls of ships entering our waters and the cargo of airplanes landing in our airports for potential terrorist threats. According to a 2009 GAO report, US Customs and Border Control has not been able to scan more than five percent of US-bound cargo containers coming from larger ports. Some of these VJC members would be working in American ports in conjunction with the US Coast Guard and some could be deployed overseas to ensure compliance in foreign ports. At the very least, we would have more people to intercept and scan more ships as they approach American harbors, given the low rate of scanning in large foreign ports. Security analyst Stephen Flynn has been warning about the danger of al Qaeda sealing a biological device in a shipping container since 2000. He argues that the chaos that would result from al Qaeda’s successfully detonating the device would cripple our economy because it would cause us to suspend the shipping of goods into our country.

Second, VJC vets could put the US at the forefront of green energy by aiding in the construction of green energy facilities throughout the United States. Surely our veterans have had so much experience reconstructing the infrastructure of Iraq and Afghanistan that learning a few more technical skills so that they might help put together wind turbines, solar facilities and other green sources will be easy. Moreover, once they have mastered these skills, they could easily transition into working for private sector green energy firms after their term with the VJC had ended.

Third, given the law enforcement duties many of them had to accept in Iraq, our vets would make excellent border patrol agents, using their skills in compassionate ways to handle the problem of illegal immigration.

Fourth, our vets could work throughout the country to aid our recycling efforts.

Fifth, the VJC could construct high speed rail between important destinations (e.g. New York to Cleveland to Chicago).

VJC vets would be provided with some kind of housing, perhaps taking advantage of some of the vacant housing left over from the housing bubble. They would be paid 5-10% more than they were paid in the military. They would also receive the same benefits they received in the military. The pay and the benefits would be an incentive to join the military in the first place, providing a boost to recruiting efforts.

Our military personnel are some of the finest people in our country. Many come from poor families. All risk excruciating injuries, disfigurement and death. None should have to risk unemployment during their transition back to civilian life. The Veteran Job Corps will eliminate that risk, guaranteeing that our nation’s mission to treat our vets with respect and justice is accomplished.