A very important holiday, Memorial Day, where we salute those who have died in the defense of our country is on May 30. It began in 1865 with the decorating of soldier's graves. It officially began in Waterloo, New York on May 5, 1866 and has continued each year thereafter.
It is an important holiday for us in San Diego because we are the largest military base in the nation with nearly 200,000 active duty and retired military personnel. The brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been shouldered by our regions warriors carrying the battle to the enemy. One unit, the 3rd Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton has had dozens of its troops killed and wounded, more than any other unit in battle. We certainly know how and why to honor our nations warriors by visiting cemetery's, and flying our flags at half mast and if you really want to participate you can pause at 3 p.m. on May 30 and remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
Thankfully thousands of our men and women return home from their combat tours to their families and neighborhoods and try to settle into a normal life style again. What does all this mean to us in Carlsbad? At some point in the year ahead more than 8,000 men and women will leave the service at Camp Pendleton and try to return to civilian life, get a job, marry and raise their kids. That is not as easy as it sounds.
The transition back to civilian life may be one of the toughest tasks they face. If 8,000 are entering the job market it just adds numbers to the unemployment rolls but in the case of the former military the unemployment rate is not 9.5% like many places it is more than 3l%. That's right three times the rate. Now let's get back to my earlier question what does this mean to Carlsbad? It means that the largest business association in the city needed to come up with a plan to help these great Americans survive their next fight…getting a job.
The Chamber has worked with the leadership at Camp Pendleton for many months to establish a new program targeted at the discharged veteran and their dependent spouse called the Military Mentoring Initiative (MMI). A job shadowing program geared to offer insight and training in a variety of job types to prepare these new civilians to become competitive in the job market.
The ability to compete with the thousands of other job seekers is an essential ingredient to their success. The idea here is to get military personnel temporarily released from their military duties and allow them to report for duty across the region in civilian companies and organizations to shadow a wide variety of jobs to see what interests them and then give them valuable insight into the working of that job. While the military prepares a resume for them the shadowing company will rewrite and refine the resume to make the veteran or their spouse more competitive when they officially apply later for work. There is a 90 day window prior to their release from active duty to shadow as many civilian jobs as they can before being discharged.
Two great companies have donated money to MMI to allow a full-time employee to be hired to be the liaison between the military veteran and the civilian company offering the shadowing opportunity. Two companies, Tri-City Medical Center and NRG West have tested the program and gave it an A+. There is no commitment from participating companies to offer jobs to the participants, only shadowing and the veterans are paid their normal pay while participating in the program and they also are covered for accidents and injuries by the military as they are still on active duty.
In the next few weeks the official announcement kicking off the program will be made so if you or your company are interested in the Military Mentoring Initiative and helping our veterans prepare to get a job, watch for the official word and process coming soon.
Here are a couple of quotes to help remind us of why we observe Memorial Day.
–The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. James Garfield
–These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea. Schuyler Colfax
–We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. Francis Walker
It is an important holiday for us in San Diego because we are the largest military base in the nation with nearly 200,000 active duty and retired military personnel. The brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been shouldered by our regions warriors carrying the battle to the enemy. One unit, the 3rd Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton has had dozens of its troops killed and wounded, more than any other unit in battle. We certainly know how and why to honor our nations warriors by visiting cemetery's, and flying our flags at half mast and if you really want to participate you can pause at 3 p.m. on May 30 and remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
Thankfully thousands of our men and women return home from their combat tours to their families and neighborhoods and try to settle into a normal life style again. What does all this mean to us in Carlsbad? At some point in the year ahead more than 8,000 men and women will leave the service at Camp Pendleton and try to return to civilian life, get a job, marry and raise their kids. That is not as easy as it sounds.
The transition back to civilian life may be one of the toughest tasks they face. If 8,000 are entering the job market it just adds numbers to the unemployment rolls but in the case of the former military the unemployment rate is not 9.5% like many places it is more than 3l%. That's right three times the rate. Now let's get back to my earlier question what does this mean to Carlsbad? It means that the largest business association in the city needed to come up with a plan to help these great Americans survive their next fight…getting a job.
The Chamber has worked with the leadership at Camp Pendleton for many months to establish a new program targeted at the discharged veteran and their dependent spouse called the Military Mentoring Initiative (MMI). A job shadowing program geared to offer insight and training in a variety of job types to prepare these new civilians to become competitive in the job market.
The ability to compete with the thousands of other job seekers is an essential ingredient to their success. The idea here is to get military personnel temporarily released from their military duties and allow them to report for duty across the region in civilian companies and organizations to shadow a wide variety of jobs to see what interests them and then give them valuable insight into the working of that job. While the military prepares a resume for them the shadowing company will rewrite and refine the resume to make the veteran or their spouse more competitive when they officially apply later for work. There is a 90 day window prior to their release from active duty to shadow as many civilian jobs as they can before being discharged.
Two great companies have donated money to MMI to allow a full-time employee to be hired to be the liaison between the military veteran and the civilian company offering the shadowing opportunity. Two companies, Tri-City Medical Center and NRG West have tested the program and gave it an A+. There is no commitment from participating companies to offer jobs to the participants, only shadowing and the veterans are paid their normal pay while participating in the program and they also are covered for accidents and injuries by the military as they are still on active duty.
In the next few weeks the official announcement kicking off the program will be made so if you or your company are interested in the Military Mentoring Initiative and helping our veterans prepare to get a job, watch for the official word and process coming soon.
Here are a couple of quotes to help remind us of why we observe Memorial Day.
–The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree. James Garfield
–These martyrs of patriotism gave their lives for an idea. Schuyler Colfax
–We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. Francis Walker