even before the close of world war two president roosevelt was concerned about what the sixteen million servicemen would face when they returned home the original g i bill signed into law on june twenty second one thousand nine hundred four has been one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever passed by congress the result transform the united states socially and economically many things that were done by the veterans administration the veterans administration produced a number of brochures and distributed brochures to the when they were mustering  for people who were for people who came with families where no one had gone to college and no one aspired to go to college having the opportunity available photos given to me and was going away gift when i left my position at the american university this child of an immigrant family rose to be professor emeritus at a prestigious university thanks to the percent of americans had a college degree and only had a high school diploma the g i bill greatly expanded the figure by nineteen forty seven made up half the nation's college student body and by the end of the allow them to do to reach their potential originally the roosevelt administration estimated only seven hundred thousand would take advantage of the g i bill in the end more than eight million one or more   the work study program is an incredibly useful tool for many many veterans who are in school it's for veterans who are in  school at least three quarters time and what it does is it provides the ability for a veteran to work up to twenty hours per week in a part time environment to help out in a v related activity now those v a related activities could be at a local v a hospital could be at a local v a benefits office or a v a vet center for example or even at a v a cemetery but it also could  be a activities at the school themselves what's really interesting about the work study program is not only does it help them with some of their expenses and pays them it also at the end of their time at school gives them a valuable piece that they can put on their resume  if you are or know of a veteran age thirty five to sixty who's out of work there's a new program that you need to know about it's the veterans retraining assistance program the rest and it's only available for a limited time you can pursue training towards a wide variety of high demand occupations and the v a will help pay for it to get the skills you need to land the job you seek not to veterans have already signed up you just apply online taste good but the best part they know that lowers their risk for obesity heart disease diabetes and even some types of cancer now walter and shelley can control how much they eat and maintain a healthy weight talk with your health care team to learn more about eating for the health care defining excellence in the twenty first century remember how good it felt being in shape joe does joe was cleaning out the attic he discovered his old military uniform he thought of the old days how it felt running hills always ready to serve his country joe wants to feel that good he's not alone joe's wife sally also wants to lose weight introducing move a weight self management program for veterans your v a health care team is ready to help you and your family get back to a healthy weight your weight is a balance of what you consume versus what you burn if you're gaining weight you're eating more calories than your body is using there's more than one way to participate in move including individual care group classes or home based programs you participate where you want when you want and how commitment to move for at least six months is critical to success you can do it read other veterans success stories at w w w move to v a talk with your health care team and move towards your healthy weight goals today a health care is defining excellence in the twenty first century so with the initiative of one that one voice what i'd like to do is try to bring these resources together under a one stop shop that will allow veterans to go to one place and get information  education housing and employment one that one voice i think is just one voice one location benefit and destruction of the folks that take care of the g i bill the home loans the disability payments they cover all the benefits that get paid out to the veteran we have less than veterans in the room how many veterans are actually service to save still ok and should be filing for service connection every zero to one hundred percent disabled veteran benefits that come with that for example the state of california has a program that's called the waiver program that allows your dependents to go to any university service connected or more and you're applying for a federal government job and the agency has a vacancy you could get hired not competitively to that federal agenc more and more military service members are finding that they're being released from the military earlier than they thought would happen and some of the highest numbers as far as veterans joblessness right now in this country's ever see the suicide issue is the highest it's ever been we have a much larger number than we expected to have as far as homeless veterans living in a tent in their friend's backyard seems to be normal for them and it's not you know i think a lot of that has to do with how they transition go addresses these issues by allowing the veterans some time to focus on their strengths and to determine what it is that they have to offer is a billion world is different than the military world it's a different mindset they've lost their entire support group they've lost the rules and regulations through which they could move and advance themselves is a coaching based twelve hour program for students meet in four sessions three hours a piece a coach is there as a support and a coach is also thinking of them as people not just their strengths but all the parts that they bring to their game the reason i'm passionate about doing this work is my father was an army colonel he came up for promotion and did not make it to one star general he was not the same man after that for a long time it took him several years to get back on his feet and i feel certain that if we had had our program that he would have gotten on his feet a lot sooner my son is an active duty marine i joined a group called the blue star moms and sitting in the back of the roman listening about what the issues were for returning veterans i began to hear that they had particular issues that were pitted over and over again and that was this process of transition how did they translate themselves from being focused efficient service men and women to being civilians directing themselves go all of our attendees get our attention as coaches to help bring the best out of them that they feel confident of what they want to do and how they're going to set about creating their own destiny and help me find myself and to help you when you feel yourself failing by being a part of reset go you're going to be able to transition if you're a veteran or know about trying to could benefit by the reset go program please have them contact us on our website program is free to all who have served from recent return to it any point in their career my family didn't know if i was dead or alive for five years they had seen what consumed my life more than anything else was trying to get entertain more drugs to feed my ever increasing drug dependency at three o'clock in the morning i walked down this street actually i think i was born the bison somewhere up in here and i remember violent than any other thing that i if you have to know how to establish bounds without seeming to challenge some because there is someone that's just the fact that they're challenged then you've got to kill them or they have to try to kill you i mean it's ridiculous you never know what you're going to run into i've seen people killed for the last swallow of wine the last three or four posts of a cigarette for order it is to stay alive i had gotten out of being incarcerated for a violation and then i'm down to skid row now i see homeless and you see homeless all the time but you never really see homeless that are so bad  that they have rags tied up this particular person had rags tied on their feet and i remember seeing them saying to myself so i feel sorry for acting he walked down and he looked down at me and snarled and just jammed his hand his pocket and pulled out the dollar and change that's all he had and shoved it at me and said here man i feel sorry for you and something about that got me what could he see in me that made him feel sorry for me out of all these people to feel sorry for and something about that just did not settle well with me from that very moment i didn't want another drink i didn't want any drugs i don't want any from that moment i can actually truthfully say that and i took that dollar in change and i got on a bus and came to the west los angeles v a medical center and my life has changed  right now i'm presently attending two schools i'm attending santa monica college for one portion of my computer information and i'm a junior at cal state l a also in computer information  i work for the department of veterans affairs as a computer assistant ok i'll take care of that for i am able to at my job help people computer problems i know every software i know everything about how to repair the computers when someone has a need i'm able to feel that need with computer knowledge yes at the end of the day i'm able to go home i'm able to turn the key and i can go sit down and be safe free comfortable clean and open a refrigerator that's filled with food who thought  really learning and furthering themselves getting things done but also conveying to the visitors all these opportunities and it's opened my eyes and i thought oh how wonderful of we could tap into that and combine the instructors not only do the students get to meet these individuals they've got to interact on a professional and a personal level some questions and find out how they got to the places they are in their companies the for interactions between companies and even in between levels of management and employees within those companies it's really nice to have the sponsorship from b s and people like that that are out here helping us so that we can do this and not only are we helping preserve the island we're also learning as we're doing it's great preparation especially the management part and they want us to do all the talking to all the patrons and they want us to really get involved get firsthand experience and we get that feel the experience of we don't have to just sit in the classroom all the time it's actual work and we get to work on stuff like that that others will be able to see and we get to say we did that i made that i've been in this business over forty years and we need people that are  hiring them because they bring the special passion they bring a lot of experience so they're ready to work and we've heard a number of them over the years and they make great great employees great people to be part of my company grow in their understanding and it's just a lot of fun that really enjoy getting the chance to let them become the managers it's you know starting from week one when they're asking questions in there and never quite sure themselves to know this other programming to do that in out here the experience is just very until just very focused it's a remarkable resource to be working on working with the national park service experts coming to coming on an island just to be able to kind of say you know i helped build and you know refurbish some some of out the trash just you know incredible it's just a great opportunity it was for me at least learning all of this and working with the have been a great source for me the grace experience for me on a personal level was when the last day when i think of the last fall and i was able to step back and see our project completed up to the time that we had and it was a heart warming experience because i could say to myself and others that i played a part in the story a national landmark that most people may never have the chance something that strikes up a passion for the better and as you become a full fledged manager or maybe some business owners you'll remember that and you want to for that same opportunity to meet you that that you're bringing