Jon Stewart Uses Humor to Demonstrate the Economic Gap for Returning Veterans
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive – Economic Reintegration for Veterans | ||||
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Watch this 12-minute video to better understand the challenges facing returning veterans as they attempt to transition into the civilian job market.
I say “attempt” because Jon Stewart demonstrates how difficult this can be.
And perhaps what is most interesting (and can be fixed the quickest) is not the question of certification.
It is the time it takes to receive a form that you must request in writing that will then allow you to request form DD 214 that lists what you have done in the military (good for showing to prospective employers). When requesting the form to request the DD 214, returning veterans are told they must wait 10 to 90 days for a response.
Jon Stewart goes through the telephone transfer calls you would experience if you tried to call the VA to get the form to request the DD 214. While an hilarious sequence on the show, it is a very serious impediment to returning veterans.
Is there someone in the military who watches this video and can:
1. Have the first request form automatically given to military personnel as they exit the military.
2. Allow the completed request form to be emailed and then receive the completed DD214 within 10 working days.
Better yet, give veterans a completed DD 214 as part of the discharge process!
(Yes, this might eliminate some civilian jobs with the military. But those people might be better employed doing real work rather than “make work.”)
Simple, right? Then how come this isn’t already being done?
I do hope someone watching this video here or elsewhere on the Internet can do something about this NOW!
UPDATE October 28: I checked with my husband, and he got his DD 214 automatically during his discharge process in 1972 BEFORE the military used computers for these tasks. So why now in the age of computers is the DD 214 not automatically given out at discharge?
I have sent this blog post link to someone I know who is consulting with the VA on the question of more housing for homeless vets. I have asked the consultant to see if there is anyone high up in the chain of command to whom she can share Jon Stewart’s video starting at minute 7:44.
Handing out the DD 214 automatically at discharge (an inexpensive solution) can help vets get jobs. If they can get jobs there will be less homeless vets. And if there are less homeless vets, the VA will have less homeless vets for which to raise funds to provide housing.
Can bureaucracy step aside for once and get this done now!
© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a former military spouse as well as the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including the military fiction MRS. LIEUTENANT: A Sharon Gold Novel.
Click here to visit her Amazon author page at amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller
She also has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
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