From
serving
our
country to
serving tables
If the title was not enough to catch your attention, the story probably will. First, I will start by saying a little bit about myself. My name is Carlos Santiago, I am 28 years old and I am a U.S. Army Veteran. I have been living in Chicago for about two years and my journey began in August 2010 when I moved to Illinois (Waukegan to be
“Despite the efforts from the government and the willingness from the veterans to get hired, the economy is making these efforts very frustrating.”
exact) with nothing but 2 boxes of clothes, a T.V. and a Playstation 3. Honestly, I couldn’t get a job anywhere; factors like economy, weather and most important, lack of experience from my behalf in any field. My military job was combat-oriented (infantry) so virtually, it doesn’t translate to a lot of fields in the civilian world. Lets make things clear, I am and WILL be proud of being an infantryman, the Queen of Battle, but getting a job after you are out of the military its pretty hard having that background. Honestly, the only three jobs that I could do were un-armed security guard, policeman or a server. Let me tell you a little bit about my own experience: I started school and I was really happy, knowing that I was going to finish school in two years or less, really motivated me, and the same cycle began again. My good friend and translator, Google, helped me to get the information and the steps that I needed to do, in order to join the Chicago Police. Everybody was wondering why I didn’t join the police and you must be asking the same question. Honestly, the process of the interview, background check (I know, I know) and other paperwork takes time, it takes time just to know if you passed the process to join. I know that it is a good option, but it would force me to leave school for about six months or so. According to my calculations, I was supposed to be at the academy training right now. On the other hand, due to the crazy schedule that the police have, I would have never made it back to school for at least 2 years. That’s the situation with most of our returning veterans, most of them are unemployed, with kids and married. Despite the efforts from the government and the willingness from the veterans to get hired, the economy is making these
efforts very frustrating. There have been a lot of efforts from the government and the private business to hire a vet; for example, the government gives a tax exemption of to the business owner if they hire a vet. Federal tax benefits for hiring veterans are available to business owners in any state. These benefits were expanded as part of the 2009 Recovery Act. The federal benefits are primarily available under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Program. Employers can secure a federal credit of up to $4,800 for hiring: A veteran who is a member of a family that has received Food Stamps for at least three consecutive months in the 12 months prior to the date of hire; OR A veteran with a service-connected disability hired within one year of having been discharged, or released from active duty and who has been unemployed for any six of the last 12 months; OR A veteran hired in 2009 or 2010 hired within five years of having been discharged, or released from active duty who received unemployment compensation for at least four weeks within a year of being hired. Organizations like National Able are doing a lot for our heroes. They talk to organizations looking for hiring a veteran, if the company hires the vet, National Able pays the employers half of the veteran’s wage for up to six months, in a nutshell, and as stated in their website, National Able Network is the provider of one of the most innovative military-to-civilian employment program models for veterans. We have successfully transitioned hundreds of most-in-need veterans into sustainable employment annually. National Able Network’s core programs offered to veterans include the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, the Veterans Navigation Assistance Program (VNAP), the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG), Retail Management Employment Program, and Job Readiness Training Program. Roughly 8.9 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed, according
to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s higher than the overall figure for jobless veterans (6.9 percent) and the rate for nonveterans (8.3 percent to be exact). However things have been improving. This time last year, the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans unemployment figure was 12.4 percent. Although there are various events to hire the veterans in various cities, they are still unemployed, luckily there are events like the one from Chase bank, Hiring Our Heroes, which have brought hopes and jobs to veterans in the Chicago area during the last few months. When all the above mentioned things were happening, I had no choice but to get a server job. And there I was, doing my resumé to get a server gig and going to every restaurant filling applications and dropping a resumé as well. Let me tell you a funny story, I had an interview in -X- restaurant and I was nailing every question. When I told her my military background and everything that I have to offer, the manager asked me how my English was and how she was worried that people will not be able to understand me (yes, I am hispanic.) From all that, all the explanation and she only noticed my beautiful accent. I have never felt so belittled by someone, honestly, and my accent and I told her “ if you are able to understand me after 20 minutes of talking, so can anyone else.” With that my accent and I just stood up and left the restaurant. By that time I was starting to be worried, my savings account was running dry. I think that the problem is that in being in a combat-oriented field, as we do not have a lot to offer (besides discipline and the other core values of the military) to future employers but how to do combat maneuvers. That’s the vets that really need our help. In my humble opinion, there should be a program for military personnel leaving the ranks of combat oriented careers to civilian ones. A program that they can a least leave with an associates degree in something more than how to handle weapons. A program that lets employers know the amount of training that we have to go through to just earn our uniforms, this will teach naive employers how
well we work under pressure, how we don’t break when we are needed the most. These kinds of programs are being implemented by various companies of the private sector; hiring and training the veterans to do the jobs. These kinds of initiatives should be made standard in all of the 50 states.
This reminds me; I had a manager in -ZRestaurant and I got fired, or outsourced, just to make it sound more tasteful, a few weeks after getting hired. What really impressed me was the lame excuse of the manager and I’ll quote him “...we need people that can work under stress and you can’t.” Honestly, I did not know that me making three drinks at the same time will drive me to a mental psychosis. As the time went by I worked in a restaurant for a year and another one for a few months. Nothing against the professional field or to anyone who is a server, but one day, talking to an old lady she looks at me in the eyes and said how sad it was seeing the things that I have to deal with; I had a table and something went wrong and they snapped at me. Overall, people look down on servers and they think that we are going nowhere with our lives or we are people that they can walk all over just because they tip us. That was my epiphany, how from serving this glorious country and having the respect of doing it in times of war, I am being yelled at, cleaning other people’s things, noticing how people try to make you their personal butler. Putting it in one sentence, being walked over by someone with a big smile on their face. However losing hope is the last thing that you should do in your life, especially in this great country. As of right now, the First Lady of the United States announced that 2,000 businesses around the country have hired or trained more than 125,000 military veterans and spouses in the past year, exceeding a White House goal of 100,000 by the end of next year. She also mentioned that the same companies have committed to hire or train an additional 250,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014. That includes hiring or training 50,000 military spouses within
“As of right now, the First Lady of the United States announced that 2,000 businesses have hired or trained more wmilitary veterans and spouses”
three years. The Obama family has also stated that companies always mentioned that their best employees are veterans. “They’re doing this because it’s the smart thing to do for their bottom lines, these companies know that if you can prepare a helicopter engine in Mayport, if you can coordinate thousands of pounds of supplies and deliver them to villages across Afghanistan, then clearly you have what it takes for a manufacturing or a logistics job right here in the U.S.” Luckily now things have somewhat improved, here is an update on the situation, The White House said the hiring push has helped to reduce unemployment among veterans from 8.6 percent in July 2011 to 6.9 percent and Labor Department statistics show the unemployment rate for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is at 8.9 percent, above the national rate of 8.3 percent. This not only shows a great increase in the initiative, but also in the hopes of the veterans being able to provide food for the table and a roof for their families.
As of my life; I am not a server anymore and I am really focused on my studies, building a better portfolio and improving my techniques as a designer and as a human being. There are more veterans out there going through the same or even worse situations than I was and this story is to let you know the sacrifice and struggles that veterans go through when trying to adapt once again to the civilian life. Yes, there are programs and help to pay for school, but while you go to school you need a job in order to cover the Nikon D300s, the software needed to do some freelancing and of course a computer. That is besides the notebooks, books and pens. Until you finish school and get a degree there are bills to pay and families to support. When the need for paying bills comes up, any kind of job is appreciated, its just funny how from serving my country, I ended up serving tables...for now.