We're all going to be veterans, we hope

By Maj. Jaron Wharton

Best Defense department of future veterans

It was not too long ago that
commanders held "retention breakfasts." The successes of units that met previously
agreed upon goals were rewarded with t-shirts, coffee mugs, and the like. Conversely, failing to meet targets reflected
poorly on units and their commanders. I
always felt the drive to make numbers was a little odd and was mainly targeted
at achieving a number versus retaining soldiers with the right stuff. Since the Army had to annually recruit a
force almost half the size of the entire Marine Corps, it did make some sense.

This process was largely
abandoned during two conflicts, and with the help of large retention bonuses,
retention challenges were overcome with relative ease.

Enter the post-conflict peace
dividend.

Almost as rapidly as the
Army's troop strength grew from pre-September 11th levels of 480,000 to
570,000, it must now trim down 80,000 troops. This will assuredly exacerbate the veterans' unemployment rate among
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and though it has been shrinking of late,
remains hovering above the national average at 8.9 percent (it was 13.3 percent
in June). The national unemployment rate
remains over eight percent. This has revealed a hidden, strategic risk behind the drawdown as the
Army will continue to pay unemployment insurance and sap the budget.

This dilemma has revealed a
new, full spectrum along which the Army must fight -- akin to the spectrum
ranging from stable peace to general war. On the extreme left is where a soldier decides to get out and on the far
right is where the private sector commits to hire veterans. All across this spectrum is where the Army
can affect the lives of its newest veterans and tamp the burden we tend to
place on the shoulders of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The passing of the Veterans
Opportunity to Work (VOW) to
Hire Heroes Act requires each
service, the VA, and the Department of Labor to take a fresh look at how they
deliver transition services to service members. As a whole, our nation has taken efforts to embrace returning and
transitioning service members and actively seeks to reintegrate them into
society. However, the first step in
ensuring that our veterans are integrated must start earlier -- when they are in
the service. The enduring requirement for
commanders to counsel soldiers within their reenlistment window largely does
not happen and is not incentivized. We
must find a way to encourage commanders at all levels to assist soldiers
exiting service honorably much like we used to focus on retention.

Not only should we open up
bases to prospective hirers; we must collectively change our mindset. Too often units write off those whose
honorable service is either ending or has ended, often manifesting itself in diluted
evaluations for departing officers or emotionally writing off departing
soldiers. This potentially sends
soldiers away disgruntled and contributes to the untold percentage of soldiers
who intend to get out and start college...in mid-April...and without any admissions
or pre-testing requirements fulfilled.

Meeting these challenges will
not only require a dedicated time commitment but creative solutions. Solutions might include tracking unemployment
rates by unit for soldiers' first year upon exit; contracting brigade career
coaches; or forging public-private partnerships between Divisions and state
chambers of commerce. Perhaps a
macro-level solution is not ripe and a pilot program targeting a specific division may better capture best practices.

One thing that all soldiers
have in common is that there will come a day when they will exit the service
and assistance will be needed as much as it is deserved. It would be prudent to promote a shift to a
mindset that "we're all going to be veterans here" sooner than
later. This is the right thing to do, but
also cost effective in the long run.

Major Jaron S. Wharton, a
former White House fellow at the Department of Commerce, is an active-duty
infantry officer in the U.S. Army and served in Afghanistan (2002 and 2010) and
Iraq (2003-06). The views expressed in this article are his own and do not
reflect the official policy or positions of the U.S. government.