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79–945 2013

LOWERING THE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT FOR 

THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE: ARE WE 

MAKING PROGRESS? 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY (EO) 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013 

Serial No. 113–10 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

( 

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ii 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee 

BILL FLORES, Texas 

JEFF DENHAM, California 

JON RUNYAN, New Jersey 

DAN BENISHEK, Michigan 

TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas 

MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio 

PAUL COOK, California 

JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine, Ranking 

Minority Member 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

MARK TAKANO, California 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

RAUL RUIZ, California 

GLORIA NEGRETE MCLEOD, California 

ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire 

BETO O’ROURKE, Texas 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HELEN W. TOLAR, Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY (EO) 

BILL FLORES, Texas, Chairman 

JON RUNYAN, New Jersey 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

PAUL COOK, California 

BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio 

MARK TAKANO, California, Ranking 

Minority Member 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

ANN M. KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records 

of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed 

hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to 

prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting 

between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process 

is further refined. 

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iii 

C O N T E N T S 

March 14, 2013 

Page 

Lowering The Rate of Unemployment For The National Guard And Reserve: 

Are We Making Progress? ................................................................................... 1 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Hon. Bill Flores, Chairman, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity (EO) ...... 1 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Flores ................................................................ 30 

Hon. Mark Takano, Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Economic 

Opportunity (EO) ................................................................................................. 2 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Takano .............................................................. 30 

WITNESSES 

Ronald G. Young, Director, Family and Employer Program and Policy, U.S. 

Department of Defense ........................................................................................ 3 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Young .................................................................. 31 

Executive Summary of Mr. Young .................................................................. 34 

Terry M. Haston, Adjutant General, Tennessee National Guard ........................ 4 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Haston ................................................................. 35 

Ty Shepard, Director, California National Guard Employment Initiative ......... 6 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Shepard ............................................................... 36 

Theodore (Ted) L. Daywalt, CEO and President, VetJobs ................................... 18 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Daywalt ............................................................... 38 

John Barnes, Managing Partner and CEO, Panther Racing ............................... 19 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Barnes ................................................................. 41 

Al Garver, Executive Director, Enlisted Association of the National Guard 

of the United States ............................................................................................. 22 

Prepared Statement of Mr. Garver ................................................................. 47 

Executive Summary of Mr. Garver ................................................................. 52 

David Baldwin, U.S. Army, Adjutant General, State of California, Prepared 

Statement only ..................................................................................................... 52 

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD 

The Reserve Officers Association ........................................................................... 54 

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Support Letter For Work for Warriors Program (WFW) From: Military Department Office of the Adjutant General, California National Guard, 

(CNG) .................................................................................................................... 58 

Support Letter For Work for Warriors Program (WFW) From: SPC Edwin, 

Lopez ..................................................................................................................... 59 

Los Angeles Times Article ‘National Guard soldiers and airmen face unemployment crisis’ ..................................................................................................... 60 

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LOWERING THE RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT 

FOR THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE: 

ARE WE MAKING PROGRESS? 

Thursday, March 14, 2013 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:59 a.m., in Room 

334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Bill Flores [Chairman of 

the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Flores, Runyan, Coffman, Cook, 

Wenstrup, Takano, and Titus. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN BILL FLORES 

Mr. FLORES. Well, good morning. We will go ahead and get the 

hearing started. I would imagine we will have a few people that 

show up in the next few minutes, but I like to be as prompt as possible. 

Forty to 50 percent. That is the unemployment rate we continue 

to hear of among National Guard and Reserve units when they return from deployment. While some of those needing a job were 

fresh out of high school when they joined the Guard and had never 

held a job before deploying, such levels of unemployment have significant ramifications for not just the servicemember, but also for 

our national defense. 

Today, we will hear from the leaders of the Tennessee and California National Guard, who will discuss the respective situations in 

their States. We will also hear from witnesses who will describe 

their efforts to improve employment opportunities. I am especially 

interested to see how the private sector can promote employment, 

and I am delighted that we will hear of an unusual example from 

the CEO of Panther Racing about his efforts and his company’s efforts to promote the National Guard. 

Before I yield to the Ranking Member, I ask unanimous consent 

to enter a March 12th article on veteran employment from Time 

magazine in the hearing record. Hearing no objection, so ordered. 

[THE ATTACHMENT APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Mr. FLORES. This is a great article that has an interesting perspective on the veteran unemployment situation in this country 

and I encourage all Members to take time to read the article. 

I now recognize distinguished Ranking Member from California’s 

41st Congressional District for any remarks he may have. Mr. 

Takano. 

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[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. FLORES APPEARS IN THE AP- PENDIX]

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARK TAKANO 

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. I would 

like to thank our witnesses for taking the time to testify and answer our questions, and to particularly welcome Major Ty Shepard 

of the California National Guard this morning. 

Welcome, Major. 

Major SHEPARD. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. TAKANO. Six hundred thousand members of the National 

Guard and Reserve have been mobilized since the attacks on our 

country on September 11th. They have served with distinction to 

protect our interests here and overseas. While the unemployment 

numbers for the National Guard and Reserve veterans varies depending on who is doing the counting, it is clear that our Reserve 

forces have an unemployment problem. As a result of the wars in 

Iraq and Afghanistan, our National Guard and Reserve forces have 

been called upon to play an active role in overseas operations. Both 

forces changed from strategic Reserve forces to operational Reserve 

forces. Guardsmen and reservists have spent more and more time 

in theater, often participating in multiple missions abroad. The increase in field rotations has led to many of these servicemembers 

having an irregular employment record, making employers weary 

of hiring these heroes. 

With March Air Reserve Base home to Guard and Reserve units 

located in my district, I am well aware of the vast contributions our 

Reserve forces have made to our national defense, yet I cannot help 

but feel that we are letting down these brave men and women. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate is 

higher for Guard and Reserve veterans than for active duty veterans, and the younger the Guard or Reserve veteran is the more 

unlikely he or she will be available to find a job. These veterans 

need assistance navigating the education, training, and job opportunities available to them so they can reintegrate better into society and lead more productive and fulfilling lives. We owe a great 

deal of gratitude to these veterans, and we should do everything 

we can to assist them. 

I am pleased that this Subcommittee is holding this hearing and 

focusing on our guardsmen and reservists who are too often overlooked. I hope this hearing will help us understand how these 

servicemembers are performing in the job market and learn more 

about the initiatives that are helping veterans succeed. I look forward to the testimony and working with everyone here on improving the employment situation for the Reserve forces. 

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I yield back. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. TAKANO APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Ms. FLORES. I thank the Ranking Member. 

Our first panel is already seated at the table. With us today are 

Mr. Ronald G. Young, who is the Director of Family and Employer 

Programs and Policy for the United States Department of Defense; 

Major General Terry M. Haston, the Adjutant General of the TenVACREP180 with DISTILLER

3 

nessee National Guard; and Major Ty Shepard, Director of the 

California National Guard’s Employment Program. 

On behalf of the Subcommittee, I thank each of you for your 

service. Welcome to each of you. And just a reminder that each of 

you will have 5 minutes to summarize your statement. Let’s begin 

with Mr. Young. 

STATEMENTS OF RONALD G. YOUNG, DIRECTOR, FAMILY AND 

EMPLOYER PROGRAM AND POLICY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

DEFENSE; MG TERRY M. HASTON, ADJUTANT GENERAL, TENNESSEE NATIONAL GUARD; AND MAJ TY SHEPARD, DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA GUARD EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE 

STATEMENT OF RONALD G. YOUNG 

Mr. YOUNG. Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this invitation to participate in this hearing to share what we in Reserve 

Affairs have been doing in support of the Reserve component 

servicemembers, their families, and their employers. My full testimony has been submitted for the record, and in this oral statement 

I would like to highlight three major areas. 

First, I am the Executive Director for Employer Support of the 

Guard and Reserve, ESGR, and we have a network of 4,900 volunteers across the country, committees in every State that work to 

educate employers and servicemembers about their rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. In fiscal year 2012, ESGR engaged with 

over 161,000 employers in various activities and events. We attained nearly 55,000 statements of support from those employers 

supporting their men and women that are employees and serve in 

the military in the Guard and Reserve. We educated nearly 

500,000 of the servicemembers themselves about their duties and 

responsibilities. 

The second area I will cover is about the unemployment rate in 

the Reserve component. I testified here last February and I spoke 

to the status of forces survey that had just been released that 

talked about the overall general unemployment in the Guard and 

Reserve. At that time, it stood at 13.1 percent for the general population, and for our E-1s and E-4s, it stood at 23 percent. The most 

recent status of forces survey went out to 113,000 Reserve component members, had a 26 percent response rate, and the figures we 

are seeing now are 11 percent across the board for the general population of the Guard and Reserve members, and for our junior enlisted, the rate has decreased from 23 percent down to 18. 

The trendline is clearly in the right direction. However, the job 

is not complete. And even at those numbers it is well above what 

the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported for the veterans 

population across the country. I know clearly that there are Reserve component units returning home with rates much higher, as 

you talked about, Mr. Chairman, in your opening statement. 

Since 2011, the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress 

mandated the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which I also 

am responsible for, to include employment assistance and employment information in the Yellow Ribbon reintegration events when 

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the servicemembers return home. We very aggressively started to 

leverage the 4,900 volunteers in the ESGR across the country that 

engage with employers every day to look for opportunities to help 

our Guard and Reserve members get jobs. 

Just over a year ago, I launched a program called Hero2Hired, 

H2H.Jobs. That was a program that consolidated what the Army 

Reserve had been doing under the Employer Partnership of the 

Armed Forces with the armed forces into one program that would 

be applicable across all the seven seals, all the Reserve component. 

Since that time, we have had over 108,000 servicemembers come 

to the Web site. It is a comprehensive career readiness type program. It is not just a Web portal, a high touch or a high tech, but 

we have a high-touch piece to it with the 4,900 volunteers and with 

some employment transition coordinators that I put in the field 

back in August. 

Through our contacts with ESGR, we have partnered with lots 

of different partners across the country. Just to name a few, the 

Society of Human Resource Managers. Many of our employers—let 

me just stick to my script here. The National Chamber of Commerce. We did over 400 partner hero events with them. The 

100,000 Jobs Mission Coalition. The Job Connection Education Program with the Guard. The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network. Panther Racing, who you are going to hear from Mr. Barnes, 

doing outstanding work. 

Sir, in conclusion, to answer the question asked up front, are we 

making progress, I think we are making some progress. We have 

seen a trendline in the right direction. I look forward to your questions. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF RONALD G. YOUNG APPEARS IN

THE APPENDIX]

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Young. 

Major General Haston. 

STATEMENT OF TERRY M. HASTON 

General HASTON. Good morning, sir. Chairman Flores, Ranking 

Member Takano, and distinguished Members of the Committee. I 

am honored to appear before you today on behalf of the 14,000 men 

and women serving in the Tennessee Army and Air National 

Guard. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation 

for the outstanding support of this Subcommittee. 

The Tennessee National Guard has deployed more than 27,000 

soldiers and airmen both at home and abroad since September the 

11th, 2001. Although our deployments have decreased over the past 

year, we still have warriors returning to situations where they are 

unemployed or underemployed. For generations, the men and 

women of the Volunteer State have answered the call to this Nation without hesitation or reservation. Most return home after defending this great Nation and resume civilian careers and lifestyles 

that they have left. They renew their relationships with family and 

friends and reintegrate into their civilian workplace. 

The pressing issue we are talking about today is concern for wellbeing of our soldiers and airmen who may be facing unemployment 

in the civilian sector. When I testified in front of this Committee 

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in February of 2012, Tennessee reported about 20 to 25 percent unemployment, and our National Guard strength was either unemployed or underemployed, with about 3.5 percent of those identified 

as full-time students. One year later, that rate has dropped to 15 

percent, and about 4 percent has been identified as full-time students. This compares to an 8.7 percent unemployment rate for Tennessee in 2012 to a current rate of 7.6 percent as a whole. 

We have committed to multiple programs and strategies to provide the very best opportunities in helping them gain employment. 

The Tennessee National Guard understands the value of collaborative efforts and knows the benefit of long-term employee. We support our programs and are focused on providing careers, not just 

merely jobs, and we are working diligently to assist these patriots 

in finding that career. 

We continue to work with the Tennessee Department of Labor 

and Workforce Development, the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs, and our military departments, ESGR, and Reserve 

programs to conduct employment assistance workshops about once 

each month. These are 3-day events providing one-on-one career 

counseling to address issues such as writing effective resumes and 

how to make a positive impression during an interview. At the conclusion of each major event, employers, including Nissan, FedEx, 

Eastman Chemical, Hospital Corporation of America, AT&T, and a 

host of small businesses are available to interview prospective employees. Since 2010, 31 workshops have been conducted with 24 

hiring events. 

Also in Tennessee, the Military Department is working in concert 

with the Department of Safety in our 108th General Assembly, and 

they have changed the regulation to allow our soldiers who are 

truck drivers to obtain their commercial driver’s license with only 

just a written test and not having to demonstrate their driving 

skills, and this shortens the path to their civilian employment. 

In 2012, the National Guard Bureau’s Job Connection Education 

Program, JCEP, was introduced as a pilot program in Tennessee, 

with a goal of 50 veterans hired by the 1-year mark. Today, only 

7 months later, the program has placed in community businesses 

503 veterans, and another 379 are in the pipeline for opportunities. 

Also, in October 2012, the Tennessee National Guard again joined 

with Tennessee Department of Labor and the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs and Dollar General Corporation to launch 

a program called Paychecks for Patriots. This landmark initiative 

brought together 90 major employers with immediate employment 

opportunities assisting 2,400 military veterans and their spouses 

seeking employment. By December, more than 50 of the previously 

unemployed participants found work through this program. 

In adopting the National Guard Joining Community Forces Initiative, the Tennessee Army National Guard has coupled with community businesses and global corporations to create an Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee, with 19 Federal and State and 

local organizations reaching out to help veterans and their families. 

In an uncertain time for our Nation and our military, the consolidated efforts of these programs is the right path to ensure maximum benefit and opportunities for employment to assist our veterans. 

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Also, a Joining Communities initiative, the National Guard Military and Family Readiness Program and our J9 works in concert 

with the Governor’s Council on Veterans Affairs to support community partnerships. These programs assist employment opportunities 

and veterans through local organizations like Operation Stand 

Down, Humana Military, Centerstone Behavioral health groups, 

and educators like Lipscomb College. 

Hopefully, through these efforts, the Tennessee National Guard 

is defeating the perceived stigma of hiring veterans that could 

hinder their employment. We are working diligently to present our 

highly skilled servicemembers to employers, offering them a motivated, disciplined, drug-free asset with the training and potential 

for leadership within their companies. These programs, along with 

the U.S. Department of Labor Education Workshops in support of 

Veterans Opportunity to Work, the VOW Act, our Yellow Ribbon 

hiring fairs, and our outstanding relationships with the Tennessee 

Department of Labor are all positive steps in reducing the number 

of unemployed Guard members in Tennessee. 

The bottom line is that through these collaborative efforts, these 

programs, we are seeing positive results now. We still have a long 

way to go, and it is imperative that we are able to maintain and 

continue these programs, because we believe that we are making 

a difference in the lives of our soldiers and airmen. 

Sir, I have said many times that these National Guard soldiers 

and airmen are the best Tennessee has to offer. These men and 

women are willing to put their lives on hold and without hesitation 

and without reservation walk away from their families, communities, and their civilian occupation to defend and protect this great 

Nation. We owe them no less than our very best efforts. 

To effectively combat this problem, we have had to know the 

enemy. We have had to look beyond the reported numbers that 

may, in fact, demonstrate a false positive. In our efforts to understand the magnitude of the problem, we consistently strive to determine an accurate number of Guard members who are actively 

seeking employment. To take it one step further, we also have to 

determine if their deployment actually caused them to be unemployed or were they unemployed before deployment in Tennessee. 

We continually encourage unit commanders and leadership to identify these individuals in order to assist them however we can find 

possible. We must know that the true unemployment enemy is before us and what is before us before we can engage it. In Tennessee, we are working diligently to identify and successfully engage that enemy. Sir, thank you for allowing me to be here today, 

and I look forward to your questions. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF TERRY M. HASTON APPEARS IN THE

APPENDIX]

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, General Haston. 

Major Shepard. 

STATEMENT OF TY SHEPARD 

Major SHEPARD. Mr. Chairman, Committee Members, I am honored to appear before you today representing more than 23,000 citizen soldiers, airmen, and civilians of the California Military DeVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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partment. The citizen soldiers and airmen of the National Guard 

live and work in nearly every community in America and provide 

our country with a unique military force that stands ready to serve 

the States and the Nation. 

I believe a program we designed and implemented in California 

called Work for Warriors can be part of the solution. The Work for 

Warriors program is the most effective job placement program of 

its kind. Made up of only six full-time personnel, this program 

places on average two California National Guardsmen into jobs 

every day. In less than a year, Work for Warriors has placed over 

1,000 California National Guardsmen into good jobs. 

Our Adjutant General views employment as a readiness issue. 

The California National Guard Command Team has learned that 

historically high unemployment and underemployment in our 

ranks was negatively affecting morale, training, accountability, soldier and family readiness, and good order and discipline. The Work 

for Warriors program was developed to solve these readiness problems. 

[THE ATTACHMENT APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Major SHEPARD. The program developed after a conversation 

with John Barnes, CEO of Panther Racing, and our Adjutant General, Major General Baldwin. It then began in earnest when the 

speaker, John Perez of the California Assembly, funded the pilot 

program April of last year with a one-time $500,000 grant. Work 

for Warriors uses a direct-placement model rather than relying on 

a Web site or job fairs. By leveraging the chain of command, we 

manage soldiers and airmen through each phase of job placement. 

The list of partner companies, currently at 92, continues to grow. 

We define a partner company as one that gives us a job opening 

with a streamlined process to hire a California National Guard 

member within a week or two, not just a company that clicks on 

the Web site or pledges support. Companies value Work for Warriors because they get quality, motivated, disciplined employees 

that are well trained and drug free through a concise and efficient 

direct-placement process that moves at the speed of business. Work 

for Warriors is remarkably cost-effective and represents significant 

savings to the government when factoring in unemployment and 

compensation costs. Successful veterans employment initiatives 

typically have a total cost of $10,000 per veteran placed. The Work 

for Warriors program is averaging $550 per cost, per placement. 

The program is especially effective for units coming home from 

deployment. We found that many units returning from deployments have unemployment rates well over 50 percent. This high 

rate of unemployment had remained a problem because most Federal programs that assist deployed reservists did not begin until 60 

to 90 days after servicemembers have returned to California. To 

close this gap, my staff contacts units while they are still overseas 

and works with the unit leadership to develop a plan to immediately reintegrate unemployed soldiers and airmen into the civilian workforce. Once the unit is back in the United States, the Work 

for Warriors staff provides the unit with program information at 

their Federal demobilization site, often located in another State, 

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and begins setting up job interviews for the deployed 

servicemembers. 

The results have been dramatic. Placing soldiers and airmen into 

jobs immediately upon their return from overseas allows for a more 

successful reintegration and can reduce behavior health problems, 

substance abuse, and domestic violence. The direct placement 

model that we have developed is transferrable to other States that 

have high unemployment or underemployment in their National 

Guard or Reserve forces. It is also scalable to the size of the problem and can be deactivated or reactivated as needed. 

Again, thank you for your interest in finding a solution to the difficult problem of reducing unemployment and underemployment in 

the Guard and Reserves. The California National Guard looks forward to working with the Committee to be part of the solution and 

getting our soldiers and airmen and veterans back to work. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF TY SHEPARD APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Major Shepard. And thank all three of 

you for your testimony. Again, thank you for your service to our 

Nation’s veterans. I have a couple of questions I would like to start 

with. 

General Haston, you have a very unusual agriculture development unit in the Tennessee Guard. Can you tell us a little bit 

about what they do? 

General HASTON. Yes, sir. The agriculture development teams 

were put together by the former Chief of National Guard Bureau, 

General McKinley, and the former Director of the Army National 

Guard, Clyde Vaughn. And it was a collaborative effort of putting 

together about 20 agricultural experts, everything from bee-keeping 

to animal husbandry to row-crop farming, and to bring these folks 

together with a security element and send them into Afghanistan 

to work with the agricultural community there to show them that 

there is something else besides growing poppies. And we were getting ready to deploy our fourth team, and that team has recently 

been off-ramped and they are not going. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you. 

General HASTON. Yes, sir. 

Mr. FLORES. General Haston and Major Shepard, a question for 

each of you all. What was the unemployment rate for the last several of your units when they arrived back at home? 

General HASTON. Sir, it depends on the type of unit that it is. 

In a lot of our combat arms units, the unemployment rate was 

somewhere between 25 and 30 percent. And it was a little bit lower 

in our combat service support companies. 

Our combat arms units seem to have some younger folks in it. 

And some of these individuals quite simply graduated high school, 

went to basic training, AIT, and then immediately deployed. So 

they had really never had a job before. And so they were not considered unemployed, but if you don’t have a job, you are unemployed. And we blended them right in with our other folks that we 

were helping to get employment. 

Major SHEPARD. For us, sir, we started tracking that immediately when the program started in March. And we targeted, beVACREP180 with DISTILLER

9 

cause we have such a small team, units that had 75 soldiers or airmen or more. Every unit since March of last year, which is, I believe, eight units that we were tracking that had 75 soldiers or airmen or more, had over 50 percent employment. A lot of them were 

close to 60 percent unemployed coming back from theater, which 

was pretty shocking, considering that these soldiers and airmen 

going over there are very well trained, used to working long hours, 

and are trained with the cutting-edge technology that a lot of the 

civilian workforce uses. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you. 

Major General Haston, it seems to me that you have developed 

employment programs either on your own or with the help of nonprofit and private groups. And so my question is this: To what degree did the State workforce employees or specifically the Federalfunded Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialists, or 

DVOPS, and Local Veterans Employment Representatives help 

with your programs? You are having to do a lot of this on your 

own, but yet we have got Federal programs. Give us the relative 

effectiveness of each of those. 

General HASTON. Sir, you know, what we believe is there is 

strength in collaborative efforts. A lot of our airmen and our soldiers that were coming back just could not connect with these organizations. And so what we did was we formed up a staff section in 

my staff called the J9. It was an umbrella that covered everything 

from Yellow Ribbon to chaplain services to funeral honors to anything that can assist a veteran. And so what they have done is they 

have gone out and partnered with these other organizations, these 

Federally funded programs which we had not connected with yet. 

And, miraculously, all of these other folks started coming out, like 

Dollar General Store. And our Tennessee labor workforce discovered through just a connection that I had made in a cabinet meeting that we were doing this. And they immediately came on board, 

and these collaborative efforts just started snowballing, and that is 

how we came up with our event. So we just bring everybody together under one organization. And the more we do, the more people that want to join into it. 

Ms. FLORES. I guess, digging into the weeds a little bit, did the 

State workforce come to you or did you have to go to them? 

General HASTON. Sir, it was kind of a meeting engagement, I 

guess. It was at a cabinet meeting one day and then I was talking 

with our workforce development commissioner, and they had heard 

about what we were doing. And they said, why don’t you come by 

and see. And it just wound up just a happenstance. And in working 

also with our ESGR, they had a connection. So when that trilogy 

tied together, it just worked. 

Ms. FLORES. Okay. Thank you. And I would now like to recognize 

the Ranking Member for any questions that he may have. 

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Major Shepard, what was the unemployment rate of the Cal 

Guard when you began this effort and what is it now? 

Major SHEPARD. When we began the effort, before we began the 

effort in January, the adjutant general did a sensing as far as with 

the units and pulled out. And it looked like we had about a little 

over 4,000 California National Guard members that were unemVACREP180 with DISTILLER

10 

ployed of the 21,000 servicemembers. So that is when he came up 

with a mission statement as far as for me to reduce unemployment 

by 25 percent in 1 year. We have placed over 1,000 soldiers and 

airmen since. So really, we are taking hold as far as to address 

these issues and attack those efforts. 

Mr. TAKANO. So you said 4,000 out of how many? 

Major SHEPARD. Twenty-one thousand servicemembers. 

Mr. TAKANO. So roughly 20 percent unemployment? 

Major SHEPARD. Correct. 

Mr. TAKANO. And the unemployment rate now, expressed in 

terms of percentage? 

Major SHEPARD. It is right around 13, 13 to 14 percent. What we 

plan on doing is in June the adjutant general is—sent out a memo 

that is going to both service components, both Air and Army, and 

it is going to mandate that by servicemember. So each soldier and 

airmen is going to register as far as if they are unemployed or not. 

And that is going to be reoccurring every 6 months. So, one, that 

will give us a larger pool of candidates to work with, even though 

we already have over 2,000. And then we can also address all those 

issues, and we will know by city, by unit, exactly what the unemployment rate is. And then we will re-poll those statistics every 6 

months. 

Mr. TAKANO. Okay. Then why, in your opinion, do you think the 

unemployment rate was so high in the Cal Guard? 

Major SHEPARD. Based on what we have seen, the high optempo 

over the last 10 years, the operational tempo of the war on terror 

and all the deployments has definitely hit the Guard and Reserves 

hard, especially in California. Also, a number of the members that 

are unemployed are young, just entering the workforce, don’t have 

a lot of experience. And also just because the business. Businesses 

need to be effective as far as with their time and who they hire and 

manage, because the economy and businesses have been hit hard. 

So having that person that may potentially be gone two or three 

times, a number of our servicemembers have deployed two to three 

times out of it, doesn’t make them as marketable as far as to them 

and, you know, could potentially be a detriment. So all of those factors definitely play in as far as those causes. 

Mr. TAKANO. Would your program, the Work for Warriors program, be more effective with additional funding? 

Major SHEPARD. Definitely. Right now our case managers that 

are handling our applicants are handling between 500 to 700 

servicemembers. So, again, we place about two people a day. That 

is pretty aggressive. We drill, we have drills, we have got annual 

trainings that we do. So we are not necessarily full-time just doing 

this. If we reduce that number down to, like, 200 to 250, maybe 

even less than that, we would be much more efficient as far as 

placing folks and getting people into jobs. 

Mr. TAKANO. So you have some metrics there. So what is the optimal level of funding? 

Major SHEPARD. I would say, I mean, if we could get for our 

State, and it could be sized, like I said, depending on the size of 

the State and the amount of servicemembers, but if we could essentially double our funding we would probably be 4 times as efficient 

as far as for placing folks. And even with businesses, taking on 

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new businesses and working those job openings, because the good 

thing is, is businesses want to work fast. They want somebody that 

is going to be responsive when they give us job openings. So we 

could take on more businesses and more job openings to start 

working. So both from the business side and the servicemember 

side that increased funding would help. 

Mr. TAKANO. Well, great. Is there a place for Federal funding, 

say, through a pilot program? Would that be helpful? 

Major SHEPARD. Definitely. There are some models that have 

been used as far as taking Federal funds and using that to hire 

folks, as far as my members are, they are State active duty, and 

put those into those positions to be able to place those 

servicemembers. Then again, the cost is $550 a placement. It is 

pretty remarkable, especially when you consider those costs that 

we talked about as far as unemployment, those other subsidies that 

are used to help those servicemembers. 

Mr. TAKANO. And you say unemployment is a readiness issue. 

How will the loss of funding for this program affect the readiness? 

Major SHEPARD. Well, if soldiers and airmen don’t have a job, it 

is really tough to respond to a State disaster, even to get there. 

There are some examples we placed in our testimony, is folks that 

were soldiers and airmen in the California National Guard that are 

literally homeless. So having, obviously, employment increases the 

chances that they will be able to respond to a State disaster or a 

national disaster. And obviously, with the Federal mission, as far 

as deploying overseas, that is one of the first things they look at, 

is to see if the soldier or airman is capable of being deployed, based 

on their family care plan. If they have a solid family care plan, 

then you will be able to be a lot more able to go and deploy and 

serve the Nation overseas as well. 

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, my time is about up. I yield back. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Takano. 

Does any Member wish to question the witnesses? Mr. Runyan? 

Mr. RUNYAN. Thank you, Chairman. 

Thank you all for your testimony. And, General and Major, 

thank for your service. 

My first question is really for Mr. Young and I think it is dealing 

with labor statistics in general. Do we count the people that just 

aren’t looking for work in these statistics? Because I know at the 

national level we don’t, and that statistic tends to get really 

skewed, and it is not representational of truly the unemployment 

out there a lot of the time. 

Mr. YOUNG. Sir, you know, I am from DoD, so I am not an expert 

in Bureau of Labor Statistics and what they count. But for the survey that we conduct through the Defense Manpower Data System, 

it is a self-reporting type of a survey, and the individual 

servicemember can identify whether they are attending school and 

not even looking for work or they are attending school and looking 

for work or they are flat unemployed, not in school. So it allows us 

to differentiate as to who is really looking for work or who is going 

to school and not even seeking employment. 

Mr. RUNYAN. Okay. 

Mr. YOUNG. That is how we know that our percentage came from 

13.1 down to 11. 

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Mr. RUNYAN. Well, I mean, the scary thing, I mean, generally 

labor statistics in general are a lot higher than the number you see 

every day. So that is kind of the thing I don’t think the average 

American thinks about. And I was just curious on how your statistics were compiled. But thanks for that response. 

General, I know, I do it myself, I have a lot of the veterans hiring 

fairs, and it happens all the time. And I know, Major said, there 

are companies that are just happy to be on the list and aren’t really active in it. What was the key component to get people motivated or was it just your sheer brute force, if you will? 

General HASTON. No, sir. There are lots of companies out there 

who have openings that just cannot make the connection. And I 

will give you one example. There was a meeting held in west Tennessee by the Tennessee Truckers Association. And there was a 

gentleman that stood up and said that his company had 80 tractortrailers that were sitting there with no drivers in them because he 

could not get, you know, quality people to come in and do that. And 

it is just finding those opportunities and connecting the people. 

Dollar General Store, who is headquartered in Nashville, has put 

to work thousands of veterans and their spouses just by connecting 

through service organizations across the United States, where they 

was not making the contact between unemployment offices. So it 

is just looking at those opportunities. 

A lot of employers out there see guardsmen and veterans as a 

real asset, because they have characteristics. You know, we drug 

test our folks. So you are getting a drug-free employee, by and 

large. They have good work habits. And they, quite honestly, come 

to work presentable. And so employers, we have found just those 

little simple things like that, that these employers want to make 

careers rather than just give somebody a temporary job. 

Mr. RUNYAN. But, I mean, I raise that question because, I mean, 

the hardest part I think is you have willing employers and you 

have guardsmen and people looking for work. And it is so sporadic 

in bringing those people together. And, I mean, you bring up the 

thing about trucking. And I had many conversations on that on the 

Hill last year. I actually had a conversation with somebody in academia not too long ago talking about even people coming off of active duty, across the board of how much we invest as a country in 

educating our servicemembers. And none of the experiences they 

have actually had in a classroom transfer over into academia. We 

need to figure that type of stuff out, too, because ultimately it is 

an investment in our men and women and you are going to spend 

even more money to reinvest them to educate them in another way. 

And it is just an issue I would like to raise. 

And I yield back, Chairman. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Runyan. 

Ms. Titus. 

Ms. TITUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, gentlemen. I appreciate your being here very much. I just wanted to ask 

you perhaps the difference in the experience you are finding between men and women reservists. I represent Las Vegas. And some 

of the companies there are doing a good job of reaching out and trying to hire veterans. You have got Caesars Palace doing an Enlisting Heroes program. But that is at the back end. I now understand 

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better and appreciate from reading your testimony the problems at 

the front end, the reluctance to hire reservists because now they 

are so often used and for such long times and are called back. And 

that has certainly been the case of the brave Reserve units in Nevada. And with gaming and construction, which are two of our 

main businesses, I can see why that might be a problem. 

You are from California, not Nevada, but I wonder if you see 

similar problems or you might have talked to people in Nevada and 

know if that is happening or not and if there are differences in the 

kind of challenges men and women face. 

Major SHEPARD. We actually just gave some jobs to Nevada, because we had a business call us up asking for some folks to come 

over in Carson City and then over in Vegas. And we referred them 

over to some folks over there in Nevada. So we have got a great 

partnership with you. 

But I think one of the biggest pieces that I realized, and this has 

been documented in some recent Wall Street Journal and New 

York Times articles, is there are a bunch of businesses that are 

looking for veterans, and they just can’t make that connection. And 

basically how do I get ahold of somebody that is going to be able 

to decipher a resume, because some military servicemembers typically write resumes that are with military speech and that doesn’t 

translate well into the civilian world. So how do I read that resume, how can we get that resume written better, and then how 

do we connect? I think that looking at our direct placement model, 

as far as all business has to do is basically call us, tell us what 

they are looking for, what the pay range is, and what the location 

is, and that is it. Even a five-bullet email, or just a phone call to 

us, and we will go find that servicemember, get them the resumes, 

and connect with them. And that is it. Businesses want to hire. 

They like the attributes. It is just a matter of how do I find that 

person and how do I connect with that person. So it is an interesting problem, but the solution is easy if you just create that conduit as far as that initial contact to link them up. 

Ms. TITUS. I appreciate that. But doesn’t really answer my question. 

Would you add to that? Could you? 

General HASTON. Well, ma’am, if you were specifically speaking 

between our female and our male soldiers, we have not seen a significant difference. I know that most recently the females in the 

combat units has been an issue. And quite surprisingly in our units 

we have not had any difference. My senior enlisted leader is sitting 

behind me here. He and I just flew in from El Paso, Texas, where 

we were seeing our 212th Engineer Company. They are getting 

ready to go to Kuwait. Both their commander and their first sergeant are females. And I was talking yesterday with the commander, and I asked her, I said, do you have any problem going 

back to work? And she is a schoolteacher, and this is her second 

deployment. And she said, absolutely not. She said, I have been 

teaching school 18 years and I will step, you know, right back into 

this. 

But our unemployment workshops and events that we have had, 

there are some events that specifically looks out at females. 

Ms. TITUS. Okay. 

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General HASTON. But, by and large, it is balanced footing across 

the board. And we have not seen a significant difference. So I 

would tell you that our female soldiers have not been, you know, 

alienated or anything. And, in fact, they have had some more opportunities than our male soldiers. 

Ms. TITUS. Well, I didn’t think they were having problems at 

your end. I was wondering if different industries or businesses or 

professions that traditionally hire men versus women or women 

versus men cause different kinds of problems. 

General HASTON. Yes, ma’am. Just as I said, the unit that we are 

sending out are construction engineers. In fact, a young lieutenant, 

female lieutenant was in charge of a construction project which 

was a test project for the unit before they go into theater. And I 

was extremely impressed with her capability, as was her evaluators. 

Ms. TITUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Ms. Titus. 

Mr. Coffman. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It seems that we are 

transitioning right now from an operational Reserve, based on a 

very heavy tempo, to a strategic Reserve, because of the fact that 

we are drawing down, we are out of Iraq and we are drawing down 

in Afghanistan right now. So it seems, for instance, when I went 

on active duty out of retirement, back to the Marine Corps in 2005, 

because they were that desperate, because of the fact that in 2005 

there was a stop-loss program for people, you know, that had 

reached their EAS and were ready to leave on active duty, individuals who had left active duty, but I think under 2 years were being 

called back and sent to Iraq and the Marine Corps. Reserve units 

were in a normal rotation cycle with their active duty counterparts. 

And the Marine Corps had reached out to retirees such as myself 

with specific skills sets to see if we would come back, and I agreed 

to come back and did a tour of duty in Iraq. 

And the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, those 

units were not only sent to Iraq, but were sent to Iraq for an extended period of time that was almost indeterminate. Some of the 

units were, I think, doing 14, 15 months in Iraq. And that wasn’t 

counting their workup time before they went. So I think employment was very difficult for them to return back to their private sector or even public sector jobs. 

Now that we are phasing down out of that situation, tell me 

about the differences and challenges. Because I think the huge 

challenge was these multiple deployments. Now that that is phasing down, although you certainly did mention a unit that was deploying out of the Tennessee National Guard to Kuwait, but now 

that it is phasing down, tell me about the difference in the challenges that we have now versus that we did when we had. During 

the surge in Iraq, we, I believe, had 170,000 U.S. military forces 

in Iraq, and we had an additional, I think, 30,000 in Afghanistan. 

Obviously, those numbers are down now, being that we are out of 

Iraq and phasing down in Afghanistan. Tell me about the differences and challenges that we face in terms of the employment 

of our Guard and Reserve personnel. 

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15 

General HASTON. The first thing is between operational and 

going back to a sustained force. I would say that we never need to 

go back to the Guard that we were in the 1990s and 1980s, because 

as a country we put a tremendous investment into those men and 

women and the readiness levels. 

We did have some issues, and I think we had some challenges 

across the force, as you mentioned, sir. We sent some units that 

spent 22, 23 months, counting their train-up and the time that 

they went into theater. And we finally got the issue of boots on the 

ground resolved. And we got a battle rhythm going in this Nation 

between the active forces and the Reserve forces in about 2006, 

2007, that was able to be sustained. 

Thank you for your service going, because I do know that our 

services had to reach down and cherry pick certain skills and stuff 

of retirees and people that was in the Individual Retired Reserve 

and bring them back up. And that plugged some holes which we 

probably couldn’t have otherwise done. 

But our challenges now is, is that our young men and women 

want—I am speaking for Tennessee—want to mobilize and deploy. 

I spoke with a young man day before yesterday when I was asking 

in this unit that was going to Kuwait how many multiple offenders, 

as I call them, that we had. One young man, this was his fifth deployment. And all of these are volunteered. And part of it is about 

patriotism and volunteerism, and then there is a part of it that is 

employment. They like doing that. 

The part that concerns me is the fact that as these deployments 

scale down, I am concerned, and we are already seeing a trend of 

young men and women leaving the National Guard because they 

are seeking employment elsewhere. And it may take them out of 

State, to another location. Now, whether they rejoin a Guard in 

that State is to be seen. But our young men and women in the National Guard and Reserve, that is what they joined for, that is what 

they raised their right hand for, to deploy. So to maintain the 

Guard in an operational status I think is critical, and it is a challenge to our senior leadership to make sure that we have that balance. And I think that as long as we are doing operational events, 

be it in Kosovo or be it in Kuwait or Horn of Africa or wherever 

we are challenged, there needs to be a balance. And we never need 

to be back to the force that we were 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 

where the Army would have a need and call on the Guard and Reserve and then there was just tremendous train-up period. 

Sir, in 2005, you would send a brigade combat team into theater, 

and we were training them 2 to 4 months prior to going, prior to 

deploying. Now it may be 40 to 45 days. And so we have shortened 

that. So that just goes to show that the Guard and Reserve is the 

best quality of soldiers and warriors that we have ever had. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Coffman. 

Mr. Cook. 

Mr. COOK. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

I think a lot of the points that you made are right on target. And 

perhaps part of the problem is the Guard and the Reserve have 

been too successful. You know, the regular components, they want 

you guys and gals. The problem is, is that this is a new pheVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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nomenon, I believe. You know, the multiple deployments. That 

didn’t happen for a long, long time. 

And I think on the other side, you know, people are going to be 

very, very leery about hiring somebody and training them when 

they know there is this uncertainty. So, you know, I know they can, 

you know, whether they are discriminating, but it is almost below 

the radar. I think there is a certain discrimination against people 

because they are in that position. And I wonder if you had any suggestions on perhaps incentives for people to hire individuals in 

terms of maybe tax breaks or something like that, because they are 

a valuable commodity and I think people realize that. But the uncertainty and this mindset of multiple deployments, which is ending, but it has kind of soured the job market, at least from my perspective. Just see if you had any suggestions. 

And the other question I had was whether your stats included 

those people that just said, well, I am going to go back to school 

full-time. And I hope that is counted in that, because that would 

skew the unemployment figures. Thank you. 

General HASTON. Yes, sir. The first question that you asked is 

about the predictability. And what we have done in the Army is 

that we have what is called an Army Force Generation cycle or 

ARFORGEN. And it is predictable in a 5-year cycle for Reserve 

component units. So at the fifth year, the individual, if he is in a 

unit that is in its fifth year of training, could possibly be deployed 

in that fifth year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he will. And 

then that unit rolls over back into year 1 again, so it would be another 5 years before that unit, unless it was a, you know, a specified type of unit that there was a requirement to go. But that is 

the predictability that we are trying to give our soldiers and our 

airmen. 

The second thing is, is you are right on target about the incentives. I have felt that all along. If you are an employer and you are 

employing a guardsman or Reserve, having some type of mandated 

or some type of codified incentive tax break, or whatever, would 

really be, I believe, would be a plus. 

The third thing that you mentioned about soldiers just not wanting a job. We have found that to be true. A young man comes back 

from deployment who is a high school graduate, went to basic 

training, AIT, deployed for a year, and comes back, they can get 

unemployment in Tennessee, 99 weeks. He gets his Post-9/11 G.I. 

Bill. And then he is living at home with mom and dad. That is a 

pretty good deal. That is a real good deal. So some of these young 

folks are taking advantage of that. 

Major SHEPARD. Just a quick comment about the educational. 

That was one of the enemies that we actually identified early on 

that we didn’t think would be an enemy, was the G.I. Bill, as far 

as employment, just like General Haston stated, in that soldiers 

would come back from deployment, you qualify for your 9/11 G.I. 

Bill, and then they fear there are no jobs out there, I don’t know 

what to do, I need to, you know, make ends meet. So they utilize 

the G.I. Bill, which pays for your basic housing allowance and for 

subsistence as a way to essentially put a band-aid on them being 

unemployed. That is one of the things that my team members have 

to attack aggressively at the demobilization site when you talk to 

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soldiers and airmen, is that, hey, you know, save that, you know, 

for real purposeful use for yourself or for your families. There are 

jobs out there. Use that for the intended purpose versus using it 

as a band-aid to kind of counter the unemployment. 

Ms. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Cook. 

I have one last question. It is more of a curiosity question than 

anything. And you may or may not have any metrics on this, and 

it is maybe a gut-feel question. Let’s assume you have got a high 

school student that is your control group in terms of what their employment opportunities are coming out. And then you take a young 

man or woman who has graduated from high school, gone into the 

service, had a deployment, and then has come back and has decided not to use their Post-9/11 benefits immediately. In other 

words, they want to go to find a job. Who is having better success 

at finding employment? Is it the person right out of high school or 

the person who has served and has just returned from service? 

What is your gut feel or your metrics, if you have any, on who is 

more immediately capable of being employed? 

General Young, do you have any feel for that? 

Mr. YOUNG. Sir, I do not. 

Ms. FLORES. Okay. General Haston, any feel? 

General HASTON. No, sir. I think both of those groups have equal 

attributes. And, you know, a young man exercising their 9/11 G.I. 

Bill or whether they just decide to, you know, defer that, give it 

to their children, as we can do now, or a young man that is coming 

straight out of high school, I think it is a pretty balanced fight. 

Ms. FLORES. Okay. Major Shepard, any feel for that? 

Major SHEPARD. I can’t speak specifically to that. But I would 

say, again, some of those detriments, as far as unemployment, that 

some of our servicemembers look at, as far as the G.I. Bill, and 

then even just collecting unemployment. We have talked to members, that you have come back from deployment you can collect employment. Why would I want to go get a job that is $10 an hour 

if I can make more than that on unemployment? You know, to try 

to counter that. So obviously that skews that analogy a little bit. 

Ms. FLORES. Okay. We call that on to the Budget Committee the 

implicit, the high implicit tax rate of moving from more of being 

a supported person to an employed person. 

Thank you for your testimony. General Young, General Haston, 

Major Shepard, thank you for your service. All of you in the audience that have served, thank you for your service to our country. 

We appreciate it. This panel is excused. And now we would invite 

the next panel to come and be seated. 

With us today is Mr. Ted Daywalt of VetJobs.com; Mr. John 

Barnes, the Managing Partner and CEO of Panther Racing; and 

Mr. Al Garver from the Enlisted Association of the National Guard 

of the United States. And after you are seated, we will start with 

Mr. Daywalt. 

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STATEMENTS OF THEODORE (TED) L. DAYWALT, CEO AND 

PRESIDENT VETJOBS; JOHN BARNES, MANAGING PARTNER 

AND CEO PANTHER RACING; AND AL GARVER, EXECUTIVE 

DIRECTOR, ENLISTED ASSOCIATION OF THE NATIONAL 

GUARD OF THE UNITED STATES 

Mr. FLORES. Well, thank you for joining us today, and we appreciate what you do for our veterans. I would like to start with the 

testimony of Mr. Daywalt. 

STATEMENT OF THEODORE (TED) L. DAYWALT 

Mr. DAYWALT. Good morning, Chairman, Members and staff of 

the Subcommittee. I am very pleased that HVAC is again addressing the issue of National Guard and Reserve unemployment. 

The short answer to are we making progress is an emphatic no. 

While some State National Guard groups have had good success, 

nationally, the unemployment rate for the NG&R is rising, and I 

predict that it is going to continue to rise for a number of different 

reasons. 

California is doing a great job, Tennessee is, West Virginia, but 

a lot of the other States are running into problems. Specifically to 

the Army National Guard, at the time the National Guard Bureau 

stopped producing the Current Employment Index this past fall, 

the national unemployment rate for the Army National Guard was 

right at 21 percent, 3 times the national veteran unemployment 

rate. And that isn’t a voluntary survey. That is a national survey 

by bodies. 

I would estimate the unemployment rate has now risen to something between 28 and 30 percent, but since there is no longer an 

effort by DoD or NGB to track the rate nationally, we don’t know 

for sure where it is at, but we do know it is high. I understand that 

bureaucracies do not like to confront uncomfortable information, 

but hiding it or denying it does not fix the problem. I find this behavior particularly strange since NG&R now represents over 50 

percent of our total fighting forces. 

At the Veterans of Foreign Wars-sponsored VetJobs we see over 

20,000 veterans a day going to our site. We find that for the most 

part those veterans who have totally separated from the military 

are able to find work. That is why the overall unemployment rate 

has always been lower than the national unemployment rate. 

That is not to say some transitioning military are not having 

problems in this stagnant economy, many are. But if the veteran 

remains active in the NG&R, they are having much greater problems finding work. I give examples in my written testimony, and 

I have covered this at length in previous testimonies. 

The call-up policy implemented in 2007 was flawed and it continues to be flawed, but planners at DoD still do not seem to understand that an employer cannot run their companies with their most 

important asset, the human capital, is being taken away for 12 to 

18 months at a time. I would imagine you would have trouble running your staffs in your offices if they were gone for 12 and 24 

months multiple times. 

The result has been that many employers will not now hire as 

a new employee an active member of the NG&R, and in fact now 

look for ways to remove active duty members from the National 

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Guard and Reserve from their companies, to the point where some 

employers now are offering members of the Guard and Reserve 

who hit the 20- or 40-year mark very large bonuses to quit. 

Like it or not, the component members of the NG&R actually belong to the civilian employers who are loaning the NG&R members 

to DoD, not the other way around. This has placed a significant 

number of NG&R members in the tenuous position of trying to 

serve two masters at the same time. 

To be fair, in the recent wars, DoD was faced with the challenge 

of providing troops to fight the wars, but DoD could not politically 

implement the draft and Congress would not let DoD expand the 

size of the military. The result was DoD used the National Guard 

and Reserve as a backdoor draft. I would have probably done the 

same thing, except I think I would have been much more honest 

with the employers and the component members about what was 

going to happen and found ways to assist both parties, and I don’t 

think I would have denied for 5 years that there was no problem. 

History has shown that every time America reduces its active 

forces, such as after World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, 

when the Clinton administration reduced the military in the 1990s, 

the use of the National Guard and Reserve went up. Now that the 

current administration has reduced the active duty to where the 

NG&R are larger than the active forces, I perceive the use of the 

NG&R is increasing again. 

In my written testimony I have made suggestions to help alleviate the employment problems of the members of NG&R. Having 

studied this issue for 10 years, I found there is no silver bullet and 

it won’t be cheap. Anything that you try to do will cost money. 

My purpose here is to raise awareness of what could be done to 

help alleviate the employment problem for members of the NG&R 

until something can be done about the policy. A more balanced way 

to utilize NG&R needs to be found so that the component members 

can keep a continuum of employment. If one is not found, we will 

have relegated the members of the National Guard and Reserve to 

being third class citizens, expected to fight and defend America, die 

and be wounded, and return to a country whose DoD policies make 

it next to impossible for many of them to find meaningful employment and have a continuum of employment with an employer. 

This is not the fair, nor is it the right thing to do to those who 

defend our freedoms. This concludes my presentation, gentlemen. I 

would be happy to take any questions. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF THEODORE (TED) L. DAYWALT APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Daywalt. 

And I believe before Mr. Barnes testifies that he would like to 

show a short video from Panther Racing. 

[Video shown.] 

Mr. FLORES. Wow. Mr. Barnes, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN BARNES 

Mr. BARNES. Thank you. I raced in front of 400,000 people. Never 

thought about being here today. 

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Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today and discuss our partnership between the 

National Guard and Panther Racing and collaborative effort to address Guard unemployment. I am John Barnes, CEO of Panther 

Racing. I will tell you, we are honored to follow the leadership provided by General Grass, Lieutenant General Ingram, and the 54 

Adjutant Generals who share our passion in solving unemployment 

of National Guard soldiers. 

I will never forget my experience in arriving at Brooke Army 

Hospital in 2008 meeting a wounded warrior wearing a smiley Tshirt with the words, got burns. When I am having a bad day, I 

think of him. He never complained. In a silent way, his courage 

made a huge statement to me in my life: Life goes on. Don’t complain. Finish the mission. And get better. 

The privilege of visiting Brooke and other hospitals and meeting 

our Nation’s heroes and seeing their courage and determination is 

unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. Long rehabilitations can be very lonely. Our support can give them hope. We assist with troop morale daily by providing thousands of National 

Guard soldiers and families with a day at the races. Our infield 

training unit helps educate our soldiers regarding employment and 

other permanent issues relative to Guard life. 

Years ago, at a race in Kentucky, I learned from our hometown 

hero who had been in impact zones with several IED explosions 

about the prevalence of traumatic brain injury. He had been taken 

offline, but he shared stories about his comrades who had suffered 

TBI as well. I asked him what was the level of G-force impact from 

their blast. I was surprised to learn that they were not recorded. 

Racing deals with serious head injuries every day. We utilize 

data recorders and ear accelerometers to measure the impact of a 

driver’s accident, which is then used for treatment and development of better equipment. As the video said, we shared this with 

the Army. Now with modification and repurposes, we have had 

over 4,000 of them been deployed. 

Today we are discussing designs of seats used in an IndyCar that 

potentially could help helicopter pilots who have a high rate of spinal injuries. So why is this important? Because we see the many 

assets in Panther’s toolbox as the Guard’s assets. These synergies 

have provided us with the foundation to build a successful unemployment program. 

We formed partnerships, as it said, with ESGR, the Chamber of 

Commerce, each respective State’s National Guard leadership and 

employment outreach coordinators. Our efforts entailed engaging 

local business leaders at races and in nonracing states where we 

experience Panther Racing Hire Our Guard. We raised $1.1 million 

in private capital last year to do that program. 

When business leaders have a bucket day while experiencing the 

Panther program, we know they are leaving with a greater understanding of the Guard, those business leaders who will advocate 

policies and practices that support our veterans. A guardsman with 

a good job at a company that respects and supports their service 

is a National Guardsman that our nature will retain for a long 

time. 

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21 

So we are a Pied Piper of sorts, taking the most effective parts 

of many existing programs, combining them with our program to 

craft the perfect environment where employers are set shoulder to 

shoulder with National Guard soldiers to hear about their attributes and their value to communities, our State, and of course 

our Nation. 

We have learned that this engagement is simple human psychology. In life, people do not gravitate to things they do not know. 

The decision-makers we meet highly respect the military, but are 

intimidated in how to engage them. 

We use racing to promote Guard unemployment and to build a 

bridge from the unknown to the known, and it really works. Now 

we must encourage others to do so. Panther would like to bring our 

program to the 15 largest sporting events in our country. By combining the star power of major sporting events with the emotional 

impact of our hometown hero stories and the respect employers 

have for military leaders, these will be unique, effective forums for 

finding jobs and growing the base of Guard friendly employers. 

Picture a Guard event at the Super Bowl with the Harbaugh 

brothers speaking to our guests about this issue. Imagine a fantasy 

camp where you can learn from notable stars and coaches in the 

morning and in the afternoon learn about the Guard’s unemployment programs and how they can help them succeed. 

Finally, this issue goes much deeper than unemployment. We 

have learned how the lack of a job can adversely affect these soldiers in many ways. We will not be successful for those who have 

served unless we ensure those who are affected by PTS also have 

their opportunity. Greater awareness, education, and training tailored to contest myths about PTS are needed in the mental health 

community. 

Medal of Honor recipients are taking a leading role in combatting 

suicide and educating employers regarding PTS. Typically, if a 

company has a choice between two candidates, a soldier affected by 

PTS and an unaffected civilian, they normally choose the one with 

less risk versus the one with potentially more reward. Much more 

has to be done in this critical area. 

I am very humbled and honored to be here today. We feel a special calling to ensure those who have served our country have the 

same opportunities for themselves and their families that they 

have fought for us to have. I invite each of you to visit us at Panther Racing, see what we do and experience it, and please help us 

to discover new ways to take our private-public partnership can do 

more with it to honor our guardsmen and their spouses to find 

meaningful employment. 

Thank you so much for this opportunity. I welcome you with your 

questions and comments. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOHN BARNES APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Mr. Barnes. I suspect many of us will 

take you up on your offer. 

Mr. Garver, you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

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STATEMENT OF AL GARVER 

Mr. GARVER. Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the 414,000 enlisted men and women of the National Guard and the 47,000 active 

members of EANGUS, thank you for the opportunity to testify 

today. I would also like to thank this Subcommittee for some landmark achievements, such as the recognition of the Title 32 service 

toward the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and the development of the 

TRICARE Reserve Select program. More than 140,000 guardsmen 

now qualify for those Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, which will surely 

translate into more stable and better-paying jobs, and there are 

nearly 50,000 National Guard members, most with families, that 

are currently covered by TRICARE Reserve Select. 

Since 9/11, there have been 750,000 individual deployments of 

National Guard members and more than 50 percent of those 

guardsmen are now combat veterans, most with multiple deployments. These men and women are no longer the weekend warriors 

of yesteryear, but battle-tested citizen soldiers in an operational 

Reserve, too many of whom are returning home to find their only 

option is the unemployment line. 

It has been estimated by varying sources that 20 to 40 percent 

of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are unemployed. 

These numbers vary greatly from State to State, and we have no 

way to capture an accurate national number. There are many positive efforts under way to affect this elusive unemployment picture 

for National Guard members. ESGR, Employer Support of the 

Guard and Reserve, is still a key player, and they are working directly with EANGUS to give our unemployed members the ability 

to link directly with their H2H database to have job listings in 

their area flow directly into their personal email. The U.S. Chamber has its Hire our Heroes program, and many major companies 

are making commitments to hire veterans, such as Wal-Mart’s recent pledge to bring 100,000 veterans into the workforce. And just 

yesterday, UPS pledged to hire an additional 25,000 veterans. 

Progress is also being made to fast tracking the certification of 

commercial driver’s licenses for guardsmen who have already been 

trained to handled military big rigs. Southwest Truck Driver Training boasts a 92 percent placement rate for these troops and goes 

out of their way to ensure that these men and women are placed 

with military-friendly companies that understand the unique needs 

of guardsmen and reservists. 

If Congress and the commanders of our National Guard and Reserve are serious about tackling these unemployment problems, we 

need to look at all opportunities, including the vocational trades, 

where there are immediate job openings available. 

But I know you asked us here to offer additional solutions, and 

we have some specific primary proposals I will convey verbally and 

several others in our written testimony. One proposal is to encourage small business owners who hire guardsmen or reservists to 

provide a stipend that pays for their TRICARE Reserve Select policy rather than their more expensive group policy. In doing so, the 

troop would be getting some of the best coverage available and the 

business owner could save anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 or 

more per year, per individual. This would become an immediate inVACREP180 with DISTILLER

23 

centive to hire guardsmen and reservists. Best of all, troops are already entitled to purchase these policies so no new program has to 

be developed or paid for by Congress or the States. 

Next, while the sequester has triggered the partial furloughs of 

800,000 DoD civilians, there is one sub group of those civilian employees that justifies an exemption, National Guard military technicians. Currently there are 52,000 full-time military technicians 

wearing their U.S. Army and Air Force uniforms to work every 

day, representing more than half of the National Guard’s full-time 

force. While they are slated to be furloughed along with other DoD 

civilian employees, their unique status should merit an exception. 

What makes them distinct is their title, military technicians. 

Their predecessors were known as civilian technicians, and it was 

Congress that decided they were more military than civilian, authorized them to wear their military uniforms to work every day, 

and awarded them that title along with expectations of filling roles 

and responsibilities beyond that of their former duties. 

As we speak, 7,600 temporary military technicians are expected 

to be laid off as a result of this sequester, and the remaining 

52,000 full-timers will be subject to the 20 percent furlough, effectively making them underemployment. The President, Congress 

and the DoD all agreed to exempt uniformed personnel from the sequester to limit the impact on military readiness. We believe the 

impending furlough of National Guard military technicians violates 

that intent. We encourage you to support HR 1014, introduced by 

Congressman Steven Palazzo, which would exempt these technicians from furlough. 

In closing, we truly believe the vast majority of employers want 

to hire veterans, and that is one of the reasons why the national 

unemployment rate for all veterans is approximately 7 percent, yet 

the National Guard unemployment rate is estimated to be at least 

double that number and some places much higher than that. We 

believe many employers are more likely to hire the veteran who 

has already fulfilled their military obligations rather than a 

guardsman or reservist who may be called back to duty for 12 to 

18 months in a 60-month period. To counter that, we must work 

with the private sector to incentivize and show small, medium, and 

large businesses that hiring these patriots is the best possible 

choice they can make for the success of their company and our Nation. This concludes my remarks. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF AL GARVER APPEARS IN THE AP- PENDIX]

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Garver. We are going to drill into 

the points you made about the impact of sequestration on the military technicians. It is something that I was not aware of. So thank 

you for that. 

I will now begin the questioning. Mr. Barnes, excluding your contract with the National Guard, how much money have you raised 

from the private sector to support your program to promote the National Guard? 

Mr. BARNES. It was about $1.3 million or $1.4 million, I think 

total. The year before that, it was a little bit less. But we continue 

to work daily to try to address that. 

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Mr. FLORES. That is outstanding. 

Mr. Daywalt, can you go into more detail regarding your assertion of members of the Guard and Reserve being laid off before the 

60-day window that is covered by USERRA, and do you have any 

data to back that up? 

Mr. DAYWALT. Yes, sir, we do. We brought this up 5 years ago, 

right after the 2007 policy was put into place. I will give you an 

example of one which was the Iowa National Guard. You go back 

to about Day M minus 160 is when it was announced they were 

being called up; 750 people got laid off. Down to about day 65, 70, 

nobody got laid off after the Day M minus 60. It is because by then 

they generally have their orders in hand. 

Another good example would have been the 877th out of Augusta, Georgia. We hooked them up with the CNN reporters that 

did the program ‘‘Vets Wanted’’; 140 of those people lost their job 

before they deployed. CNN went over to Afghanistan, interviewed 

them, and then came back and followed them for 5 months after 

they got back. It was a 1-hour special. It was really powerful. At 

the end of 5 months, only eight people had gotten a job and all of 

them said on film—everything goes great until I mention I am in 

the National Guard. 

This is a common problem. I know a lot of people tried to deny 

it was going on, but it does. You can talk to anybody out in the 

ESGR or LVERs or DVOPS, you know, people all over the country 

see this. 

I will give you another good example. When the South Carolina 

Guard was called up a third time, on Monday, Tuesday, and 

Wednesday we received about 20 phone calls from people that were 

in the South Carolina National Guard. They had been laid off, and 

it just happened that the past Thursday it was announced their 

brigade was being called up. 

We have got lots of examples like that, sir. It is a reality. I know 

some people try to deny it, and they have bureaucratic reasons for 

that, but I live in Realsville. Every day we are getting phone calls 

in our offices from people that this is happening to, and it is really 

a defensive mechanism by industry because they can’t run their 

companies when your employees are taken away for 12, 18, and 24 

months. Anybody in private business understands that, which is 

why we are seeing another defensive mechanism. 

I have got six examples. I am trying to get it all documented so 

I can present it. But companies are now going to members of the 

National Guard and Reserve who are hitting their 20-year mark 

and offering them large bonuses to quit. Now, as a former CEO of 

large companies—this company here is not quite as large as what 

I used to have—but it is a good business decision. If I have a key 

employee who has been called away twice and it has hurt the company a lot, paying out a $100,000 bonus, in one case we were told 

it was a $300,000 bonus after taxes, that is good business sense because it hurts the company. 

I hear from a lot of CEOs that if they were given a cash stipend, 

much like the way that the British government does it with their 

territorials, when they call up a territorial, which is their equivalent to our National Guard, the government pays the company so 

that the company can hire a contractor to come in and do the work. 

VACREP180 with DISTILLER

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I have seen in Australia, several different countries around the 

world do that, and it is a good way to get the civilian employers 

to support it. Like I said, anything that you are looking at is not 

going to be cheap. I know everybody wants a silver bullet that 

doesn’t cost anything, but that doesn’t exist. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Daywalt. 

Mr. Barnes, in your written statement, you said that you believed that Operation Hire Our Guard could be expanded to other 

sports and entertainment platforms. Have you been able to reach 

out to other sports groups such as the NFL, considering Panther 

Racing’s connections with the 49ers’ coach, Jim Harbaugh? I think 

you kind of gave us an indication of that in the video, but can you 

expand on that? 

Mr. BARNES. Yeah. Actually, we have, and we are continuing to 

do that. We put together a coalition of sports partnerships last year 

and to address some different issues here. You know, give you an 

example. Today after we leave here, our driver and I are going to 

go to Walter Reed, and before us is Joe Montana. He is going to 

go through first. Now, who do you think more attention is going to 

be given, us or Joe Montana? You know, so it is him. 

And so we think that it is proven to us that it really has, you 

know, a lot of validity and a lot of growth that we can do there. 

We can get people there, get their attention, get them on board, get 

the star impact made, and we can make a difference there. We 

have so far. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Barnes. And I have gone over my 

time limit, so without further ado, I am going to turn it over to Mr. 

Takano for his questions. 

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Daywalt, I was interested in your term backdoor draft. You 

know, when I was a little boy, I remember the National Guard 

being the place where people went to avoid situations where they 

would actually be called up, but in our most recent engagement in 

Iraq and Afghanistan, it turned out that it was exactly the place 

that you would go to meet those engagements. 

I am curious, we are looking at the Reserves and the National 

Guard as a way to kind of be cost-effective and save money from 

having to employ active duty troops, but we have got to solve this 

problem. I served on a board of trustees and every once in a while 

I had to approve the leave of logistics personnel for the Air Force 

at our nearby Air Force base and that was just one person out of 

our operation, but I know that our sheriff is now reluctant, I think, 

to hire a large number. And plenty of military folks like to go into 

law enforcement, of course, but he is reluctant because if a large 

number of his force is going to be called up at any moment, that 

leaves him with a staffing issue. 

So am I right, this is a rather unprecedented situation we have 

with National Guards and its relationship to employers, both public 

and private? 

Mr. DAYWALT. Yes, sir, it is an unprecedented situation. It goes 

back to when the Federal reservists were created, the Army in 

1908 and the Navy in 1915. At that time, there were a lot of articles written about who actually owns the asset. Is it the War Department back then or is it the civilian employer? It was never legVACREP180 with DISTILLER

26 

islated, and so it became that 900-pound gorilla that has been sitting in the corner. But it also helps, when you look at the unemployment problems, to separate the Guard from the Reserve from 

those who transition off, because when a Federal reservist comes 

back, they go back to work, you don’t have to worry about them 

until something else happens. A National Guard person comes 

back, then you have an emergency in the State, who is it that gets 

called up? The National Guard. So they are deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq or elsewhere around the world, and when they come 

back you have an emergency, they get called up again, and that is 

one of the reasons why a lot of employers are reluctant to take on 

someone from the National Guard because they know, yeah, they 

may or may not get called up. 

I will give you an example. In Georgia, we had several brigades 

that came back and then we had heavy flooding in Columbus and 

Macon, Georgia, and several companies were called up to help fight 

the flooding, and guess what, two of those companies were people 

who had just come back from Afghanistan. So put yourself as an 

employer, your employee has been gone for 18 months, and he has 

been back almost a month and he comes in, oh, by the way, I am 

going to be gone for the next 3 weeks because of flooding down in 

Macon? How do you react to that as an employer? And how do you 

react as an employer when DoD guaranteed you that you would not 

lose a member of the Guard or Reserve for more than 1 year in 6, 

and then they get called up every other year? 

So that is why they are kind of a little reluctant to hire. It is 

unprecedented. And if you keep treating the NG&R like this, you 

are going to make them a subclass, I call it a third-class citizen. 

Mr. TAKANO. Are we thinking of this as a phase because of the 

particular situation we are in? It is likely to pass given that we are 

going to draw down in both these areas? Or can we anticipate seeing high unemployment rates? 

Mr. DAYWALT. No, sir. I like your term phase, because what is 

happening now, as I pointed out before, every time you draw down 

the active forces, the use of Guard and Reserve go up. You read 

about all these active Army brigades come back from Germany and 

South Korea. What you do not read about is they are being replaced by National Guard and Reserve brigades because of treaty 

obligations. You take AFRICOM. The bulk of the people over there 

are Guard and Reserve. In fact, one of my employee’s husband is 

in the Marine Corps Reserve, he just came back from 18 months 

in Afghanistan, had been back and they said, oh, we need your 

MOS at AFRICOM, over he goes. 

Since we are drawing down even more troops, the use of Guard 

and Reserve is going to go up. This problem is going to be exacerbated even more over the next couple of months or years. 

Mr. TAKANO. You are talking about years, but how can we talk 

in terms of 10 years, 15 years? Are we likely to see this stabilize 

downward? 

Mr. DAYWALT. Sir, I don’t see it stabilizing unless you change the 

call-up policy or increase the size of the active duty, because you 

will still have obligations, still things you have to do, and if you 

don’t have the active duty, the people to do it, you are going to grab 

VACREP180 with DISTILLER

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your bodies from wherever you can, and under the current political 

situation that is the National Guard and Reserve. 

Mr. TAKANO. All right. Thank you so much. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Takano. 

Mr. Coffman. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Thank you, Chairman. 

For anybody on the panel. I just want a point of clarification that 

in current law is it focused on reemployment rights for the Guard 

and Reserve as opposed to what happens in terms of pre-deployment? In other words, if I got your testimony right, that maybe a 

loophole in the current law is to say, okay, I know you are going 

to be mobilized, so I am going to go ahead and lay you off now so 

to relieve myself of the responsibility as an employer for having 

you gone and then having to reemploy you when you come back. 

Is that correct? Anybody? 

Mr. GARVER. Yes, that is our understanding, that the existing 

laws are most heavily written to favor the returning member, and 

if they found this escape clause to prevent that, it violates the intent but not the law itself. 

Mr. DAYWALT. He is correct. 

Mr. COFFMAN. So how would you rewrite that then? 

Mr. DAYWALT. We have looked at that several times with the delegation from Georgia. And something you need to understand, if 

you extended USERRA to when someone goes into the military reserve or the National Guard, nobody will ever hire them because 

they know that they are going to get called up. That is why I say 

you got a problem with your call-up policy and you need to ameliorate or at least to compensate the employers for losing their—if I 

came to you, sir, and said, okay, we are going to take away your 

entire staff for 18 months, how effective could you be here in the 

Congress? 

That actually happened with a company in Houston. There were 

22 of their CNC machinists were in the Houston brigade when it 

got called up and he went out of business. 

Mr. COFFMAN. First of all, I don’t want to answer that question 

with my staff present. 

Mr. DAYWALT. I could also use the example of Tattnall County 

down in Georgia when one of our brigades was called up. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Right. 

Mr. DAYWALT. Everybody, all the jailers happened to be in the 

National Guard. They had to shut down the jail. 

Mr. COFFMAN. Well, I think we have to prepare for a worse case 

scenario that we are going to be back in the situation we have been 

in. I think now, I think the call-ups are less about units, more 

about individuals, sort of the IMA individual of augmentee, IA or 

however you classify it based on the respective service. So it is still 

going to be an issue. But I am concerned about the notion. And I 

realize the downside if we are talking about the law, would be, 

would you hire these people, but I still think it is problematic to 

have such a gaping loophole in the law as to the intent to say, well, 

I am okay to lay you off, knowing prior, I know you are going to 

be in receipt of orders, so I am going to lay you off now and that 

way I have no requirement to rehire you under the law. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

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Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Coffman. 

Does anyone have any other question? I am going to start with 

one question and we will see if we can have another round of questions, if that is all right. 

Mr. Garver, you gave a suggestion regarding TRICARE Reserve, 

and I think you are suggesting that employers pay the premium. 

Can you expand on that for me? 

Mr. GARVER. I can. I can give a personal example with myself. 

I am a serving reservist, an E9 in the Air Force Reserve, and we 

have a staff of eight. We are a small business, EANGUS is, and 

we budget $7,200 per employee just to cover their individual health 

care costs. My cost is $195 a month, and so as a benefit to 

EANGUS, I just simply purchase my own TRICARE Reserve Select 

and opt not to take that health care cost, because it is a big cost 

savings, to our organization. That is why I am aware of this. 

Each State, however, has different requirements based on their 

insurance commission of whether or not an employer can offer multiple insurance. There are some States with some restrictions 

about, you know, if you buy a group policy, that is all you can buy. 

What we would like to figure out, if there is a way that employers 

can directly pay the TRICARE Reserve Select on an auto payment 

basis so it relieves that pressure from the troop, because we also 

have a lot of troops that if they miss a payment, they get kicked 

out of the system. But I am here to tell you if you are paying $7,200 on an indi- vidual and you are paying as much as $15,000 on family coverage, 

if you offer that, the savings could be significant, and it would be 

a benefit because, again, the system already exists so you don’t 

have to create anything new other than somehow incentivize the 

small business to utilize that. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Garver. 

I will now recognize Mr. Takano for any final questions and closing comments. 

Mr. TAKANO. I would like to just follow up on that question, Mr. 

Chairman. Are you suggesting that somehow we incentivize small 

businesses by actually covering the cost of that health insurance? 

Mr. GARVER. No, not by the Congress covering it, or not by the 

United States covering the cost of that, the small business paying 

the premium. But it would be cheaper for them to pay the premium 

on TRICARE Reserve Select than what they currently offer their 

employees. 

Mr. TAKANO. So instead of their group plan, they would be able 

to pay the health care for that ex-servicemember, and that is generally a lower premium? 

Mr. GARVER. Yes. It is only, I believe, $60 for an individual and 

$195 and change for a family. 

Mr. TAKANO. Oh, wow. 

Mr. GARVER. I have a wife and five children that are all covered 

for $195 a month. 

Mr. TAKANO. Okay. Thank you. 

Mr. FLORES. Thank you, Mr. Takano. I would like to make one 

final observation regarding employment among those serving in the 

Guard and Reserves, and for that matter any veteran. We have 

heard today about the employment programs that are being run by 

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State Guard organizations, and I applaud you and them for trying 

to take care of their people. That is what good leaders do. 

But I must ask a rhetorical question for now, and that question 

is this: With literally billions of dollars going to the Department of 

Labor, including $261 million requested for fiscal year 2013 for 

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, the question is, why 

must Guard units dedicate scarce resources to help their 

servicemembers find a job? And we will be digging into that as this 

Subcommittee proceeds with its business this year. 

In closing, I would like to thank each of you for your time here 

today. 

Mr. Daywalt, thank you for being here. 

Mr. Barnes, thank you. Thank you for your service to our veterans. 

And, Mr. Garver, thank you as well. 

I want to also wish Mr. Barnes a successful and safe IndyCar 

season and victory in the Indy 500 in May. 

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material in the record of today’s hearing. Hearing no objection, so ordered. 

[THE ATTACHMENTS APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX]

Mr. FLORES. We are adjourned. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:35 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Bill Flores 

Good morning. 40 to 50 percent. That’s the unemployment rate we continue to 

hear of among some National Guard and Reserve units when they return from deployment. While some of those needing a job were fresh out of high school when 

they joined the Guard and never held a job before deploying, such levels of unemployment have significant ramifications for not just the servicemember, but also for 

our national defense. 

Today, we will hear from leaders of the Tennessee and California National Guard 

who will discuss the situations in their states. We also will hear from other witnesses who will describe their efforts to improve employment opportunities. I am especially interested in how the private sector can promote employment and I am delighted that we will hear of an unusual example from the CEO of Panther Racing 

about his efforts to promote the National Guard. 

Before I yield to the Ranking Member, I ask unanimous consent to enter a March 

12 article on veteran employment from Time magazine in the hearing record. 

Hearing no objection . . . . so ordered. 

This is a great article that has an interesting perspective on the veteran unemployment situation in this country and I encourage all Members to take time to read 

the article. 

I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member from California’s 41st Congressional District for any remarks he may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Mark Takano 

Thank you Mr. Chairman. 

Good morning. I would like to thank our witnesses for taking the time to testify 

and answer our questions and to particularly welcome Major Ty Shepard of the 

California National Guard this morning. 

Six hundred thousand members of the National Guard and Reserve have been 

mobilized since the attacks on our country on September 11. They have served with 

distinction to protect our interests here and overseas. While the unemployment 

numbers for National Guard and Reserve veterans varies depending on who is doing 

the counting, it is clear that our Reserve forces have an unemployment problem. 

As a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our National Guard and Reserve 

forces have been called upon to play an active role in overseas operations. Both 

forces changed from strategic reserve forces to operational reserve forces. Guardsmen and Reservists have spent more and more time in theater, often participating 

in multiple missions abroad. The increase in field rotations has led to many of these 

servicemembers having an irregular employment record, making employers wary of 

hiring these heroes. 

With March Air Reserve Base – home to Guard and Reserve units – located in 

my district, I am well aware of the vast contributions our Reserve forces have made 

to our national defense. Yet, I can’t help but feel that we are letting down these 

brave men and women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate is higher for Guard and Reserve veterans than for active duty veterans, 

and the younger the Guard or Reserve veteran is, the more unlikely he or she will 

be to find a job. These veterans need assistance with navigating the education, 

training and job opportunities available to them so they can reintegrate better into 

society and lead more productive and fulfilling lives. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these veterans and we should everything we can to assist them. 

I am pleased that this Subcommittee is holding this hearing and focusing on our 

Guardsmen and Reservists who are too often overlooked. I hope this hearing will 

help us understand how these servicemembers are performing in the job market and 

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learn more about the initiatives that are helping veterans succeed. I look forward 

to the testimony and working with everyone on improving the employment situation 

for the Reserve forces. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Ronald G. Young 

TESTIMONY 

Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, and Members of the Committee, 

thank you for your invitation to participate in this hearing. I have been invited in 

my capacity as the Executive Director of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). However, ESGR represents only one of three of my assignments as 

the Director, Family and Employer Programs and Policy (FEPP) in the Office of the 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. FEPP aligns programs of support 

for our Guard and Reserve Service members under one organization to more effectively and efficiently assist our Service members via ESGR, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) and Individual & Family Support Policy (IFSP). I welcome this opportunity to provide you an overview of the support ESGR, in partnership with YRRP, is providing to our Reserve Component Service members. My testimony will cover the following three areas: 

- The efforts of ESGR to help educate both members of the National 

Guard and Reserve and employers about the rights afforded to Service 

members under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment 

Rights Act (USERRA). 

- Latest statistics on the rate of unemployment among Reserve Component Service members. 

- Initiatives taken by the Department of Defense to reduce unemployment 

rates among members of the National Guard and Reserve. 

The efforts of ESGR to help educate both members of the National Guard 

and Reserve and employers about the rights afforded to Service members 

under USERRA: ESGR’s core mission is to facilitate and promote a cooperative 

culture of employer support for National Guard and Reserve service by developing 

and advocating mutually beneficial initiatives; recognizing outstanding employer 

support; increasing awareness of applicable laws and policies; resolving potential 

conflicts between employers and their Service members; and acting as the employers’ principal advocate within DoD. For more than 40 years, ESGR has been the Department of Defense lead for Service members and their civilian employers with respect to USERRA education. In FY 12, ESGR executed its core mission by 

leveraging a network of more than 4,900 volunteers nationwide, achieving significant results across multiple areas: 

- Through our Employer Outreach, ESGR volunteers educated 161,440 employers 

regarding their rights and responsibilities in accordance with USERRA. ESGR also 

attained 54,889 Statements of Support. Employers signing a Statement of Support 

pledge support for their employees serving in the Guard and Reserve, while also focusing on opportunities to employ Guardsmen, Reservists, and veterans. 

- Through our Military Outreach efforts, ESGR volunteers educated 482,916 Service members regarding their rights and responsibilities under USERRA. In turn, 

Service members recognized supportive employers with 3,236 nominations for the 

2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award and acknowledged 

12,073 supervisors with a Patriot Award. 

- ESGR’s Ombudsman Services are supported by over 650 USERRA volunteer experts spread across the country and a National Customer Service Center operated 

from my headquarters at the Mark Center in Alexandria. Together, they fielded 

21,521 USERRA inquiries and facilitated 2,793 USERRA cases. ESGR ombudsmen 

provided free, neutral mediation to resolve 77.6% of all cases, within an average of 

8.86 calendar days. 

For additional detail please see the following table pulled from ESGR’s FY 12 

‘‘Year In Review’’: 

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Outreach Mission: Employer 

FY Statements of Support 

Employers Influ- enced Employers Direct Mail* 

FY 10 58,817 164,218 541,026 

FY 11 45,140 153,062 15,138 

FY 12 54,889 161,440 220,631 

Outreach Mission: Service Members 

FY Patriot Awards Freedom Award 

Nominees 

Service Members 

Briefed Service Members Direct Mail* 

FY10 22,236 2,470 495,774 880,042 

FY11 16,560 4,049 473,891 89,573 

FY12 12,073 3,236 482,916 62,640 

Ombudsmen Mission 

FY USERRA-Related 

Contacts** Cases Assigned Cases Resolved % Resolved † Average # of Days to Mediate (Resolve) ‡ 

FY 10 34,612 3,202 2,703/84.4% 10.27 

FY 11 29,727 2,884 2,302/79.8% 8.77 

FY 12 21,521 2,793 2,168/77.6% 8.86 

Resources 

FY Volunteer Hours Media Impressions 

FY 10 245,369 972.3M 

FY 11 236,725 976.6M 

FY 12 230,083 999.3M 

* Only targeted mailings in FY 11 and FY 12 

** Inquiries generated from phone calls, emails or voicemail request specifically related to USERRA 

† Cases Resolved include all cases brought to resolution and administrative closures 

‡ Days reported as calendar days 

Furthermore, ESGR serves as a member of the USERRA Employment Protection 

Group established by the Presidential Memorandum dated July 19, 2012, in direct 

support to the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Services (DCPAS) for USERRA 

expertise. The USERRA Employment Protection Group is comprised of key Federal 

agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor 

(DOL), Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Department of Defense (DoD) and others. 

The Presidential Memorandum calls on agencies across the Federal government to 

intensify their efforts to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunity for veterans 

and Service members in Federal employment; in particular, the adherence to 

USERRA that provides critical protections to those who have served our country, 

including veterans and National Guard and Reserve members. 

ESGR directly trained 590 Federal government personnel across 12 different Federal agencies; increasing their knowledge, awareness and compliance with USERRA. 

ESGR ombudsman volunteers provide assistance to National Guard and Reserve 

members with USERRA conflicts to help reduce, resolve and prevent employer and/ 

or employee misunderstandings and problems. To ensure robust compliance and 

timely responses to USERRA matters within the Federal government, all Federal 

USERRA cases are handled and managed at Headquarters, ESGR Customer Service 

Center. In FY 12, ESGR mediated 235 Federal government USERRA cases on behalf of Service members. 

Latest statistics on the rate of unemployment among Reserve Component 

Service members: The Status of Forces-Reserve survey from June 2012 reported 

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an unemployment rate of 11% across the Reserve Components, down from 13.1% in 

the January 2011 survey. At the same time, the junior enlisted Reserve Component 

Service members self-reported their unemployment rate at 18%, down from 23%. Let 

me assure you that the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (OASD RA) views civilian employment as a critical piece of a Reserve Component Service member’s readiness, and even though the trend appears to be headed 

in the right direction, we still see the high rate of unemployment as a threat to the 

readiness of our force. 

Initiatives taken by the Department of Defense to reduce unemployment 

rates among members of the National Guard and Reserve: To address unemployment among members of the National Guard and Reserve, it is important to 

note that this is a unique population, as these Service members are not retiring or 

separating from service. These Service members are still serving, and their future 

employers must help facilitate their continued participation in our military. . Our 

goal is to ensure these Service members receive employment assistance responsive 

to their needs. 

Under OASD RA, resources coalesce through the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration 

Program (YRRP) and ESGR to address the unique employment needs of Reserve 

Component Service members. The Employment Initiative Program (EIP) is YRRP’s 

umbrella program for addressing Guard and Reserve employment issues, which 

leverages ESGR’s nationwide network of more than 4,900 volunteers. DoD also 

teamed with the VA, DOL–VETS and the Small Business Administration to make 

resources and valuable training available to Service members. Additionally, ESGR 

and YRRP continue to cultivate a relationship with the White House’ Joining Forces 

initiative. 

Since the launch of employment initiatives in January 2011, ESGR State Committees across the country have helped Service members and their spouses via employment assistance workshops, job fairs, employment summits, and many other local 

community programs, teaching resume writing, conducting mock interviews and 

providing career counseling. In working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program, Hero2Hired and ESGR have supported more than 400 hiring fairs across the country, engaging more than 143,000 attendees and resulting 

in more than 14,000 veterans, Service members, military spouses and wounded warriors gaining employment. 

In December 2011, OASD RA launched ‘‘Hero2Hired’’, better known as H2H. As 

the marquee element of EIP, H2H is a comprehensive, multi-faceted employment assistance program developed for Reserve Component Service members. Using lessons 

learned from its piloted use with wounded warriors and the Army Reserve, H2H 

was created to address the gap in employment assistance services and support for 

Reserve Component Service members. 

H2H is a comprehensive employment assistance program with a powerful job 

search capability (www.H2H.jobs) and online community that is 100% free for veterans, Service members, and employers. It contains all the tools a job seeker needs 

to find a job: job listings, career exploration tools, education and training resources, 

advice and tips, hiring events, virtual career fairs, mobile phone app, and networking opportunities. The goal of H2H is to simplify the job search while reducing 

the number of unemployed Reserve Component Service members. H2H.jobs also allows military-friendly companies to access the talented men and women who are 

still serving in the military, post job openings, search for candidates and invite them 

to apply to a specific job opportunity, and participate in hiring events – all free of 

charge. In late 2012, Reserve Affairs fielded 56 Employment Transition Coordinators (ETCs) across the Nation, in conjunction with a full-spectrum case management 

system, enabling our career counselors to provide tailored and personalized support 

to each and every Service member that seeks career assistance. Since October, ETCs 

have facilitated the job placement of more than 600 Service members through the 

H2H program and provided career assistance to thousands more. 

As all jobs are local, H2H is a local solution and is well positioned to successfully 

assist unemployed Reserve Component Service members with job placement, and 

thereby potentially reducing DoD unemployment costs related to demobilizing Reserve Component members. H2H also assists underemployed Service members by 

providing access to jobs that match their skill levels and areas of expertise. Using 

our ETCs, career web platform, mobile applications, social media integration, career 

fairs, and a national marketing and management effort, H2H is well-positioned as 

an effective tool to assist our Service members with reintegration and transition. 

H2H also reduces stress and financial hardships faced by unemployed Reserve Component Service members and their families. Since the program’s launch, more than 

108,600 job seekers registered with H2H.jobs, gaining access to over 14,900 emVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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ployer partners and 3.7 million job postings. In conjunction with our strategic partners, H2H assisted in the placement of over 100,000 Service members into jobs. 

Clearly, progress has been made in educating employers and Service members on 

USERRA while also seeing positive results via a declining unemployment rate 

among National Guard and Reserve Service members, down from 13.1% to 11%. 

However, it is imperative that ESGR and YRRP continue educating employers and 

Service members on USERRA and maintain focus on employment initiatives in 

order to achieve lasting results. This is especially important in light of the limited 

resources and leaner forces forecast for the future. The Nation will continue to rely 

upon a strong National Guard and Reserve forces to execute the national defense 

strategy and provide humanitarian aid at home and abroad. 

In closing, thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of everyone that 

comprises the Family and Employer Programs and Policy Team and most of all, 

ESGR’s more than 4,900 volunteers located in all 50 States, Washington, D.C., 

Guam-CNMI, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. And, thank you for your continued support to our Reserve Component Service members. I look forward to your 

questions. 

Executive Summary 

Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, and members of the committee, 

thank you for your invitation to participate in this hearing to share what we in Reserve Affairs have been doing in support of Reserve Component Service members, 

their families and their employers. My full testimony, submitted for the record, covers three major areas: 

First, the efforts of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve 

(ESGR) office and our 4,900 volunteers nationwide to help educate both 

members of the National Guard and Reserve and employers about the 

rights afforded to Service members under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). In FY 12, ESGR engaged with 

161,440 employers in various events and activities. ESGR volunteers also obtained 

54,889 Statements of Support from employers across the country. ESGR received 

21,521 USERRA inquiries, while resolving 77.6% of the 2,793 USERRA cases. Additionally, ESGR educated 482,916 Service members regarding their rights and responsibilities under USERRA. In response to the Presidential Memorandum July 

19, 2012, calling on all Federal agencies to intensify their efforts in support of veterans and USERRA compliance, ESGR specifically trained 590 Federal government 

personnel across 12 Federal agencies; increasing their knowledge, awareness and 

compliance with USERRA. 

Second, the latest statistics on the rate of unemployment among Reserve 

Component Service members. The Status of Forces-Reserve survey from June 

2012 reported an unemployment rate of 11% across the Reserve Components, down 

from 13.1% in the January 2011 survey. At the same time, the junior enlisted Reserve Component Service members self-reported their unemployment rate at 18%, 

down from 23%. 

Let me assure you that the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (OASD RA) views civilian employment as a critical piece of a Reserve 

Component Service member’s readiness, and see the continuing high rate of unemployment as a threat to the readiness of our force. I look forward to sharing with 

you the ways in which we are addressing this problem. 

Finally, my testimony covers the initiatives taken by the Department of 

Defense to reduce unemployment rates among members of the National 

Guard and Reserve. It is important to note that this is a unique population, as 

these Service members are not retiring or separating from service. They are still 

continuing to serve and their future employers must help facilitate their continued 

participation in our military. Our goal is to ensure Reserve Component members 

have access to specialized employment assistance responsive to their needs. ESGR 

and Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) have partnered under the umbrella of the Employment Initiative Program (EIP) in addressing the employment 

needs of the Reserve Components. 

In 2011, Congress mandated the addition of employment opportunities and assistance for Service members and their families to as part of YRRP. In response, OASD 

RA launched EIP with the assistance of ESGR’s extensive nationwide volunteer network. In December 2011, EIP unveiled Hero2Hired (H2H), a comprehensive career 

readiness program supported by both high-tech and high-touch elements to address 

the unique needs of Reserve Component Service members. Since the program’s 

launch, more than 108,600 job seekers registered with H2H.jobs, gaining access to 

over 14,900 employer partners and 3.7 million job postings. In conjunction with our 

strategic partners, H2H and ESGR assisted in the placement of over 100,000 ServVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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ice members into jobs and supported more than 400 job fairs nationwide. The National Guard and Reserve unemployment is now reported at 11% and the trend is 

clearly in the right direction. 

As evidenced by these data, progress has been made in educating employers and 

service members on USERRA while also achieving positive results via a decrease 

in the unemployment rate of National Guard and Reserve Service members. However, it is imperative that ESGR and YRRP continue these efforts in order to 

achieve lasting results. 

In closing, thank you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of everyone that 

comprises the Family and Employer Programs and Policy Team and most of all, 

ESGR’s more than 4,900 volunteers located in all 50 States, Washington, D.C., 

Guam-CNMI, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and thank you for your continued support of the Reserve Components. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Major General Terry M. Haston 

Opening Remarks 

Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, and distinguished Members of the 

Subcommittee; I am honored to appear before you today on behalf of the more than 

14,000 men and women serving in the Tennessee Army and Air National Guard. 

I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation for the outstanding 

support of this Subcommittee. 

The Tennessee National Guard has deployed more than 27,000 brave Soldiers and 

Airmen both at home and abroad since September 11, 2001. Although our deployments have decreased over the past year, we still have warriors returning to situations where they are un-employed or under employed. 

Tennessee National Guard Unemployment Statistics 

For generations the men and women of the Volunteer State have answered the 

call of this nation without hesitation or reservation. Most return home after defending this great nation and resume the civilian lifestyle they left. They renew their 

relationships with family and friends and re-integrate into their civilian workplace. 

The pressing issue we are talking about today is our concern for the well-being of 

our Soldiers and Airmen who may be facing unemployment in the civilian sector. 

When I testified in front of this committee in February of 2012, Tennessee reported about 20–25 percent of our National Guard strength was either unemployed 

or under employed, with about 3.5 percent of those identified as full-time students. 

One year later, that rate has dropped to 15%, with about 4% identified as fulltime 

students. This compares to an 8.7 percent unemployment rate for Tennessee in 2012 

to a current rate of 7.6% as a whole. We have committed to multiple programs and 

strategies to provide the very best opportunities in helping them gain employment. 

Tennessee National Guard Initiatives and Transition Assistance 

The Tennessee National Guard understands the value in collaborative efforts and 

knows the benefit of a long term employee. Our support programs are focused on 

providing careers, not merely jobs, and we are working diligently to assist these patriots in finding that career. We continue to work with the Tennessee Department 

of Labor and Workforce Development, Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and our 

Military Department’s Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Program to conduct Employment Assistance Workshops about once each month. These are 3-day 

events providing one-on-one career counseling to address issues such as writing an 

effective resume and how to make a positive impression during an interview. At the 

conclusion of each event major employers including Nissan, FEDEX, Eastman 

Chemical, Hospital Corporation of America, AT&T and a multitude of small local 

businesses being available to interview prospective employees. Since August of 2010, 

31 workshops have been conducted with 24 hiring events. 

Also, in Tennessee, the Military Department, working in concert with the Department of Safety and the 108th General Assembly, has changed the regulations to 

allow Soldiers who are military truck drivers to obtain their CDL with only a written test and not having to demonstrate their driving skills, shortening their path 

to civilian employment. 

JCEP 

In July of 2012, the National Guard Bureau’s Job Connection Education Program 

(JCEP) was introduced as a pilot program in Tennessee with a goal of 50 veterans 

hired by the one year mark. To date, only 7 months later, the program has placed 

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in community businesses 503 veterans, with another 379 in the pipeline prepared 

for an opportunity. 

Paychecks for Patriots 

Also in October of 2012, the Tennessee National Guard again joined with the Tennessee Department of Labor, Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs and Dollar 

General Corporation to launch ‘‘Paychecks for Patriots’’. This landmark initiative 

brought together 90 major employers, with immediate employment opportunities, 

assisting 2,400 military veterans and spouses seeking employment. By December, 

more than 50 previously unemployed participants found work through this ongoing 

program. 

National Guard Joining Community Forces Initiative 

In adopting the National Guard Joining Community Forces Initiative, the Tennessee Army National Guard has coupled with community businesses and global 

corporations to create an Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee, with 19 federal, state, and local organizations reaching out to help veterans and their families. 

In an uncertain time for our nation and our military, the consolidated efforts of 

these programs is the right path to ensure maximum benefits and opportunities for 

employment for our veterans. 

Also a Joining Communities Forces initiative, the National Guard Military and 

Family Readiness Program, our J9, works in concert with the Governor’s Council 

on Veterans Affairs, to support the Community Partnership Program that assesses 

employment opportunities for veterans through local organizations like Operation 

Stand Down Nashville, Humana Military, Centerstone Behavioral health groups, 

and educators like Lipscomb University. 

Hopefully, through these many efforts the Tennessee National Guard is defeating 

the perceived stigma of hiring veterans that could hinder their employment. We are 

working diligently to present our highly skilled service members to employers, offering them a motivated, disciplined, drug-free asset with the training and potential 

for leadership within their company. 

These programs, along with the US Department of Labor’s Education Workshops 

in support of the VOW Act, our Yellow Ribbon hiring fairs, and our outstanding relationship with the Tennessee Department of Labor are all positive steps in reducing the number of unemployed Guard members in Tennessee. The bottom line is 

that through the collaborative efforts of all these programs, we are seeing positive 

results. We still have a long way to go, and it is imperative that we are able to 

maintain and continue these programs that are making a difference in the lives of 

our Soldiers and Airmen. 

Closing Remarks 

I’ve often heard it said that these National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are the 

best America has to offer. These men and women are willing to put their lives on 

hold, and without hesitation . . . without reservation, walk away from family, community, and their civilian occupation to defend and protect this great nation. We 

owe them no less than our very best efforts. 

To effectively combat this problem, we had to know the enemy. We had to look 

beyond the reported numbers that may, in fact, demonstrate a ‘‘false positive’’. In 

our efforts to understand the magnitude of the problem, we constantly strive to determine an accurate number of Guard members who are actively seeking employment. 

To take it one step further, we also have to determine if their deployment caused 

them to be unemployed, or were they unemployed before deployment. In Tennessee, 

we continually encourage unit commanders and leadership to identify these individuals in order to assist them however we can. We must know what the true ‘‘unemployment enemy’’ is before we can engage it. In Tennessee, we are working diligently to identify and successfully engage that enemy. 

Thank you for allowing me to address this subcommittee, and I stand ready to 

answer any questions you may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Major Ty Shepard 

Early in my tenure as The Adjutant General (TAG) of California I became aware 

of a problem that was reducing the readiness of our force. Historically high unemployment and underemployment in our ranks was negatively affecting morale, training, accountability, Soldier and family resiliency, and good order and discipline. The 

Work for Warriors (WFW) program was developed to solve this readiness problem. 

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With a one-time grant from the Speaker of the California Assembly, we stood up 

WFW as a pilot program in July 2012 with the goal to reduce unemployment in the 

California National Guard (CNG) by 25% in one year. 

The WFW team is made up of one Program Manager, two Applicant Coordinators, 

one Information Technology Specialist, and one Business Coordinator. In addition, 

the Department augmented the WFW program with an existing State Active Duty 

position to lead the effort. 

WFW directly places unemployed CNG members into jobs. Private sector businesses contact the WFW Business Coordinator with job openings. The Applicant Coordinators use the WFW database to identify unemployed CNG candidates that 

meet the specific job requirements. The WFW staff then guides the unemployed 

CNG member all the way through the hiring process (resume preparation, interview 

prep, and employment acceptance). The attached enclosure includes the many businesses and business partners we are working with to place Guard members into the 

civilian workforce. 

The WFW program is especially effective in reducing the high unemployment 

rates of CNG units returning from deployments overseas. We’ve found that many 

units returning from deployments have unemployment rates well over 50%. This 

high rate of unemployment had remained a problem because federal programs that 

assist deployed reservists do not begin until 180 days after the service member returns to California. To close this gap, the WFW staff contacts the units while they 

are still overseas and works with unit leadership to develop a plan to immediately 

reintegrate unemployed Soldiers and Airmen into the civilian workforce. Once the 

unit is back in the United States, the WFW staff provides the unit with program 

information at their federal demobilization site, often located in another state, and 

begins setting up job interviews for deployed service members. The results have 

been dramatic. Placing Soldiers and Airmen in jobs immediately upon their return 

from overseas allows for a more successful reintegration and can reduce behavioral 

health problems, substance abuse, and domestic violence. 

The success of the program is based on our use of the chain of command. Our 

staff uses the existing CNG chain of command to ensure unemployed service members are made aware of the WFW program, and encouraged by their first-line leaders to participate. WFW is also using social media and web services to get information to service members. Leveraging this no-cost method of communication has allowed the WFW team to push information quickly to mobile devices and computers 

and place members into jobs as quickly as 24 hours from receiving a job opening. 

The WFW program is the most effective direct job placement program of its kind 

in the nation; on average the program places two guardsmen every day. The program is remarkably cost effective compared to federal standards and represents significant savings to the government when factoring in unemployment compensation 

costs. Successful federal veterans’ employment initiatives typically have a total cost 

of over $10,000 per veteran placed. The WFW program is averaging a $550 cost per 

placement. 

The following WFW program information incorporates data from the program’s inception on March 29, 2012 through the 2012 calendar year: 

• Number of Service members Directly Asking for Employment Support: 2,171 

• Number of Resumes Completed: 875 

• Number of Resumes Submitted for Interviews: 975 

• Number of Service members Placed into Jobs: 965 

• Number of Companies Providing Jobs to Fill: 92 

The WFW program has helped hundreds of California’s Guard members find employment so they can support their families and contribute to their communities. 

This direct placement model is transferable to other states that have high unemployment and/or underemployment in their National Guard force. It is also directly 

transferable to the Reserves. 

We will remain committed to this important program until it is no longer needed. 

We are already working with the National Guard Bureau and other states to share 

the program and the best-business-practices we have developed. I look forward to 

working with the Committee to be part of the solution in getting our Soldiers, Airmen, and Veterans back to work. 

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38 

Prepared Statement of Theodore (Ted) L. Daywalt 

Introduction 

Good morning, Chairman, members and staff of the Subcommittee on Economic 

Opportunity of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (HVAC). 

I am very pleased the HVAC is again addressing the issue of National Guard and 

Reserve (NG&R) unemployment. 

VetJobs (www.vetjobs.com) has a unique vantage point on these discussions as by 

the nature of our business over the last fourteen years, VetJobs deals with members 

of the NG&R and their family members on a daily basis who are pursuing employment. In fact, VetJobs assists all veterans, including Officer and Enlisted, Active 

Duty, Transitioning Military, National Guard and Reservists, Veterans and Retirees, of the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Merchant Marine, National 

Guard, Navy, NOAA and Public Health Service, DOD civilians and their family 

members. VetJobs has been fortunate in being successful in assisting them in finding employment for fourteen years. Currently VetJobs’ traffic is averaging well over 

20,000 visitors a day! 

My observations are as a former drilling Navy Reservist and as a businessman 

managing the leading military related internet employment site that interacts with 

municipal, state and federal agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and 

businesses seeking to hire transitioning military, veterans, National Guard, Reservists and their family members. 

I want to emphasize that I am very supportive of an operational NG&R. In the 

later years of my time as a drilling Navy Reservist in the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program we stressed making our Reserve Intelligence units operational, 

which proved very beneficial during the first Gulf War and subsequent engagements. Having an operational NG&R makes the United States stronger on the national stage, particularly in lieu of how the active duty forces are being dangerously 

reduced. But the use of the NG&R needs to be done in such a way as to still let 

the component member maintain a continuum of civilian employment since being 

in the NG&R does not provide a full time income source on which to support themselves and their families. 

In order to solve a problem one must effectively analyze, define and identify the 

problem and its causes. If one does not understand the sources of the problem, wellmeaning solutions that are attempted will not work, or worse, will not address the 

problem at all and/or create worse problems. 

It is interesting to note the unemployment rate for ALL veterans as reported by 

the Bureau of Labor Statistics has always been lower than the nonveterans and 

lower than the national unemployment. See http://vetjobs.com/media/2012/08/ 

29/veteran-unemployment-rate-lower-than-nonveteran 

The Current Population Survey (CPS) overall veteran unemployment rate for all 

veterans in February fell to 6.9% from 7.8% in January, a decrease of .9%. This is 

significantly less than the national unemployment rate. There were 772,000 unemployed veterans in February, down 72,000 from the 844,000 unemployed veterans 

in January, a large part of those unemployed are in the NG&R. 

Working on a solution to the NG&R unemployment problem is important. I am 

convinced that there are those at DOD and the National Guard Bureau (NGB) who 

are very much aware of the problem, but for various bureaucratic and political reasons have been trying to pretend the issue does not exist and have been kicking the 

can down the road for someone else to deal with in the future. That might be good 

for a bureaucrat’s career or movement for a military person to a next star, but for 

the members of the NG&R who have families to support, they should be given better treatment. The component members are being made to suffer from bureaucratic 

policies, and that is not a fair thing to do to the very people who have been fighting, 

dying and being wounded for our country and freedoms. 

The rise in the young veteran unemployment rate which constitutes a large portion of the NG&R is a direct result of the DOD call up policy for the NG&R implemented on January 11, 2007. From previous testimony, it has been proven that the 

call up policy caused employers to not want to hire members of the NG&R which 

has led to the high unemployment rate particularly in young veterans. 

The call up policy implemented in 2007 was flawed and continues to be flawed. 

What planners at DOD do not seem to understand is employers cannot run their 

companies with their most important asset, their human capital, being taken away 

for 12 to 24 months at a time. As demonstrated by previous testimony and data 

from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the result has been that 

upwards of 65% of employers will not now hire as a new employee an active member 

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of the NG&R, and in fact look for ways to remove active members of the NG&R 

from their companies. 

What the policy has done is created a class of veterans who fight for our country, 

defending our freedoms and free market economy then when they return to the 

country, the policies of DOD make it impossible for them to get a civilian job. They 

have been made third class citizens! This is terribly wrong. 

From a business point of view, one must understand that companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to run an efficient and profitable operation, 

but they cannot do so if they cannot count on the availability of their employees. 

While for a business person this is common sense, those at DOD making the decisions on how to utilize the NG&R seem to have missed what corporate America is 

saying about extended call-ups. They will not support having their employees gone 

for long periods of time. 

The result is the exceptionally high unemployment rate of young veterans. The 

unemployment rate of 18 to 24 year old veterans peaked in November, 2011, when 

it reached 37.9% unemployment, comprising 95,000. DOD did not release that many 

18 to 24 year old active military personnel. The only way to reach a number like 

95,000 is by understanding the bulk of those veterans were in the NG&R. 

At VetJobs we find that if a veteran has totally separated from the military, retired, or is a wounded warrior, they are for the most part finding employment. This 

is not to say some are not having difficulties in this rough economy, which is the 

worst since the Great Depression. One can always find an exception. But if a veteran remains active in the NG&R, VetJobs observes they are having a much more 

difficult time finding meaningful employment due to the constant call ups, deployment schedules and the resistance by civilian employers to hiring active members 

of the NG&R. 

VetJobs notes that members of the NG&R have had to compete against veterans 

who have be downsized from the active duty forces with the recent drawdown of 

nearly 140,000 active duty personnel. As an employer, if you are given the choice 

between a veteran that is totally separated from the military versus a veteran that 

is active with the NG&R and may get recalled, you will not logically hire the NG&R 

component member. 

VetJobs was the first organization five years ago to report on the now well-documented phenomenon of NG&R members losing their jobs after DOD announces the 

call up of a brigade or reserve unit to active duty. One must remember that employer support for the NG&R is necessary to make the system work. 

It is interesting to note that as a general rule, no component member loses their 

job in the 60 days prior to mobilization day. That is because employers have figured 

out that if they lay off a member of the NG&R under the guise of the recession before the component member has orders in hand, the employer is not subject to the 

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). 

It should be noted that there have been press reports of federal government agencies being leading violators of USERRA. In fact, two of the worst USERRA violators 

over the last ten years have been the civilian side of DOD and the US Department 

of Labor. In the CBS 60 Minutes program regarding USERAA aired on November 

2, 2008, Leslie Stahl confronted then Deputy Undersecretary Tom Hall regarding 

the fact that DOD, an agency who is responsible for mediating and enforcing 

USERRA, is one of the worst violators of USERRA. Hall’s only response to questions 

was ‘‘We have things we need to work on.’’ To view the program, visit http:// 

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/30/60minutes/main4558315—page3.shtml. It is 

sad that two of the worst violators of USERRA are the very federal agencies responsible for enforcing the USERRA law. That is akin to a police department leading 

the numbers in rapes, murders and bank robberies. 

Anecdotal information indicates that the National Guard is singled out more than 

their Federal Reserve counterparts. A big part of the reason for the National Guard 

being singled out by employers is they are activated not only for the wars and overseas deployments, but also for state emergencies, causing them to be called away 

from their civilian employment much more than their Federal Reserve counterparts. 

For example, when the Georgia National Guard returned in August 2010 from 

their fifth call up since 9/11, that fall there were heavy rains in Georgia and extensive flooding took place in Macon and Columbus, Georgia, in September and October. The Governor of Georgia activated two Georgia National Guard companies to 

assist with the flooding. Unfortunately, many of those called up had recently come 

back from Afghanistan. The result was some were terminated in their civilian jobs 

or had their civilian employment threatened. Many USERRA complaints ensued. 

Moves by employers to not hire members of the NG&R are defensive actions by 

employers who cannot run their business when their employees are taken away for 

12 to 24 months. It is a good business move. 

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VetJobs has noted a new defensive move by employers is to approach employees 

who are at the 20 year mark in their NG or Reserve career and offer the employee 

a large bonus to quit the NG or Reserve and not stay for 30 or more years. Again 

this is a good defensive move by employers against the way that DOD has been 

using the NG&R. 

Like it or not, the component members of the NG&R actually belong to the civilian employers who are loaning the NG or Reserve member to DOD, not the other 

way around. The high pace of activity over the last twelve years has put a tremendous strain on the NG&R system and the relations of those military participants 

with their civilian employers. This has placed a significant number of NG&R members in the tenuous position of trying to serve two masters at the same time. 

I want to reinforce that I have found corporate America to be very supportive of 

the military. Corporate America understands the importance of having a strong 

military to protect our freedoms and our free market economy. Without a strong 

military, our freedoms and free market economy would be at risk. However, employers cannot go broke supporting the NG&R which is what USERRA does due to the 

onerous legal and fiscal requirements levied by USERRA on employers. 

Due to not being able to find a job many members of the NG&R have volunteered 

for additional deployments. They volunteer because they have financial obligations 

and/or families they need to support. With these pressing obligations, if the only 

way to earn money is to go back to war or another deployment, then they volunteer 

to go back 

The inability of many NG&R component members to find work may explain why 

there has been an exponential increase in veterans applying for unemployment benefits since 2008. This again correlates to the implementation of the current call up 

policy which went into effect in 2007. 

Unlike active duty component military members, when NG&R return from war 

or a deployment, they are demobilized and thus do not have a ready source of income unless they can find or have a civilian job. Given the bias against hiring 

NG&R members due to the call up policy and high operation tempo, NG&R members have problems maintaining a continuum of service with a civilian employer. 

This leads to financial difficulties and a host of family and personal problems for 

the NG&R participant. 

Complicating the issue, when NG&R members demobilize they do not have the 

ready access to DOD resources like active duty members to deal with employment 

search, mental illness issues, physical healthcare and family counseling. I have regularly heard from members of the NG&R who were turned away from ACAP offices 

because they were in the National Guard. This is wrong. 

So the bottom line is no, we are not making progress in lowering the unemployment rate of the National Guard and Reserve! 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Having studied this issue for over a decade, I have found there is no silver bullet 

that will solve the NG&R unemployment problem. The problem is too large both in 

the number of people affected and in terms of the geographic dispersal of participants. The NG&R unemployment issue is both a local and a national problem. Various levels of response will be required to help solve this problem. 

As discussed above, the root cause of the NG&R unemployment is the current call 

up policy. Until the policy is changed, any effort at remediation will be bandages 

at best, not a solution. The decision to change the call up policy is a Secretary of 

Defense or a Presidential responsibility. The alternative to such a move would be 

for the Congress to legislate a change. 

While there is no silver bullet, a combination of policy changes and utilizing existing public sector resources will go a long way towards assisting those members of 

the NG&R who need employment assistance, but again such moves are bandages, 

not a permanent solution to the problem. 

I recognize that some of solutions are not politically possible or financially feasible 

given the current political and economic climate, but all possible solutions need to 

be considered. Three obvious solutions, 1) bringing back a draft, 2) expanding the 

active duty forces by 500,000 and 3) reducing the use of the NG&R are not considered in my recommendations as politically they would be non-starters. 

My purpose here is to raise awareness of what could help alleviate the unemployment of members of the NG&R until something can be done about the policy. 

When looking at potential assistance, private sector solutions would be preferable 

to public sector solutions. The private sector is always more efficient and it helps 

if the people assisting military veterans find work have worked in the private sector 

themselves vice just having worked in a government bureaucracy. To this end, what 

follows are suggestions are submitted for the Committee’s consideration. 

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1. Make it easier for NG&R members to purchase franchises through providing 

low interest or no interest funding 

2. Certifications and licenses for military experience 

3. Much like England, compensate employers when an NG&R member is activated so the employer can hire a contractor until the component member returns. 

4. Employ NG&R in federal agencies like the administration promised would happen back in 2009. 

5. Provide meaningful employment mentoring 

6. Encourage state level programs 

7. Provide real tax breaks to employers that are not encumbered by DOL 

8. Provide meaningful and effective transition assistance programs to the NG&R 

9. Re-implement a Current Employment Index (CEI) for the NG&R to be tracked 

by DOD and/or NGB. The National Guard CEI published by NGB was halted last 

fall for political reasons. If we are to fix the problem, we need to know the extent 

of the problem. Not reporting or pretending the problem does not exist does not contribute towards a solution. 

CONCLUSION 

The bottom line to be derived from the above information concerning NG&R unemployment is overall employers want to hire veterans. In my 14 years of working 

with employers wanting to hire veterans I have found the American business community to be extremely pro-military. 

Business people understand that without a strong military, their businesses could 

not exist as a foreign power would want to take the business and the assets. The 

United States had to learn this the hard way in the 1930’s when we disarmed post 

World War I. Those who will not learn from history or will not protect what they 

have are subject to losing what they have. As the Latin phrase ‘‘si vis pacum, 

parabellum’’ so aptly put it: ‘‘To have peace, prepare for war!’’ 

I for one am in favor of an operational NG&R especially in light of the way our 

active duty forces are being gutted. Having the NG&R forces be operational versus 

strategic strengthens the United States on the national stage. 

But a more balanced way to utilize the NG&R needs to be found so that the component members can keep a continuum of employment. 

This concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time. 

f 

Prepared Statement of John Barnes 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to 

be here today to discuss the partnership between the National Guard and Panther 

Racing, and our collaborative effort to address veteran unemployment. I am John 

Barnes, managing partner and CEO of Panther Racing, a championship-winning 

race team in the IndyCar Series. 

We are more than an IndyCar Series team with 28 race victories and three championship titles. As someone who has been in racing for over 40 years, I can confirm 

that for a majority of my career each race season was measured by results on the 

track; however, since Panther partnered with the National Guard in 2008, that has 

changed. Today, because of our partnership with the National Guard, we are a military service and marketing company that uses our participation in open-wheel racing as a vehicle to expand and execute all of the Guard’s recruiting and retention 

efforts. 

Because of the interaction between our team and all of the soldiers and airmen 

that attend our events, it has focused our entire organization on making sure we 

use all of our assets for the betterment of those who serve. Each day the Panther 

team wakes up with one goal: help the National Guard achieve its mission. What 

we achieve on these initiatives on a daily basis is how we measure success at Panther Racing. 

In the next five years, a tsunami is coming as many leave the active duty ranks 

and return to civilian society. Joblessness is set to worsen as the war in Afghanistan 

winds down and more than 1.5 million service members are projected to leave the 

military by 2016. The Guard will be asked to do more. If these men and women 

are not employed, they will leave the Guard and it will be come more difficult to 

recruit. 

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We must continue to allow use of non-traditional high-power methods like the 

Panther/National Guard relationship to gain access to business leaders to succeed 

in this effort to bring new employers into the fold. In addition, we need to continuously educate and emphasize business leaders on the overall value of the National 

Guard, it’s unique mission, and how critical employers and Guard employment are 

for both recruiting and retention. The Guard will be relied upon even more in the 

coming years. 

When an employer is not supportive of our Soldiers, then all too often our troops 

have to choose between their civilian job and military service, and all too often they 

chose their full-time job. When this happens we all lose. Military readiness suffers 

as well. Our nation loses military experience and our investment in soldiers. Our 

taxpayers lose, as more of their money has to be spent to recruit and train replacements. 

Mission Points: Fighting Veteran Unemployment 

Early in our relationship with the National Guard, we learned of the unemployment challenges facing Veterans, and to a greater extent, the Guard. While knowing 

that we were in no way an expert in this field, we thought our sports marketing 

platform could play an integral role in the development of a national effort to address Veteran unemployment. With support from Guard leadership, we agreed as 

a team that fighting this unemployment crisis would become, in addition to recruiting and retention, an added pillar to our mission. 

In 2009, LTG Clyde Vaughn and his staff asked me if we could include up to six 

ESGR members and employers to our race events. After learning more about the 

mission of that organization and the important role they were going to need to fill, 

I was very eager to assist. ESGR has gone from an organization supporting 

USERRA to being a fulltime employment organization connecting returning Guardsmen with employers with their highly successful Heroes 2 Hire program. Shortly 

after listening to the state ESGR staff and recognizing the importance of engaging 

directly with prospective employers, we invited employers to race sites and began 

educating them on the unemployment challenges the Guard and their spouses face. 

The goal was to inspire and motivate these employers to hire more military personnel transferring to the private sector. 

In the first year of this partnership our goals were very modest: ESGR was to 

invite 4–6 potential employers to race events The following year our program expanded and the goal was increased to 25 business leaders of greater quality from 

the local community. By the third year, we hosted over 50 employers and ESGR 

staff. 

We evaluated our efforts with ESGR at the end of our 2011 season. It had success 

and we had learned a lot about how to make these important connections and raise 

awareness about this issue. Yet, we sought to have an even greater impact on the 

crisis of unemployment among our Guard. We asked our partners and National 

Guard leaders: How can we be of further assistance? 

Panther Launches ‘‘Operation: Hire Our Guard’’ 

Late in 2011, with the vision of Dave McIntyre of TriWest Healthcare and a collaboration with multiple entities including the National Guard, Panther launched 

‘‘Operation: Hire Our Guard’’. We greatly expanded our efforts and our partner involvement to include leaders such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Hiring Our 

Heroes initiative), the White House (Joining Forces program) and ESGR to raise 

awareness of the National Guard overall and to emphasize the need for employers 

to hire veterans. We tried to become a ‘‘Pied Piper’’ of sorts taking the most effective 

parts of many existing programs and combining them with the shock and awe that 

our industry brought forth to make a perfect storm where high-level employers are 

set shoulder to shoulder with National Guardsmen. 

There are many facets to Operation: Hire Our Guard, all of which are focused on 

combating Veteran unemployment, but the initiative also meets our original goals 

of raising awareness about the National Guard and assisting in recruiting and retaining its force. We also utilized this effort to expand our nationwide reach, and 

through Operation: Hire Our Guard our team has been successful in reaching many 

states that do not host an IndyCar event. 

The issue goes much deeper than unemployment, as we’ve learned how the lack 

of a job can adversely affect these soldiers in many other ways. I learned the cruel 

effects from unemployment on mental health and suicide from Dave McIntyre, General Chiarelli and Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix and others. All have played 

a leading role in combatting suicide and are champions of our jobs effort. 

We engage the potential employer during our education program regarding PTS. 

We have learned from experts that an estimated 20% of returning soldiers are afVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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fected. Typically, if a Human Resource office has a choice between two candidates 

for employment (a soldier affected by PTS and a unaffected civilian) they normally 

chose the candidate with less risk versus more reward. We help employers better 

understand and address the effects of PTS in a very straightforward manner during 

our program. 

There are other issues employers consider when deciding not to hire a Guardsman, such as deployment disrupting his/her employment. Our mission is to address 

how the Guardsman needs an employment opportunity, and how the company can 

gain a valuable team member with remarkable skills and leadership ability. Educating employers about the National Guard and the skill set the soldiers could potentially provide to their workforce is critical. At all of our Operation: Hire Our 

Guard events we deploy all our assets to entice participation and make it a memorable event for the employers and the attending Veterans. My job is to follow up 

with these business leaders, which we do within the two weeks after the event. We 

provide excitement from the IndyCar experiences and use the access this effort affords me to stay connected and ensures these business leaders are working to employ Guardsmen. 

Panther Racing’s initiative is centered on three pillars: 

• Employment Programs at IndyCar events: 

o Panther Racing collaborates with the U.S. Chamber, the ESGR and each 

respective state’s National Guard Leadership and Employment Outreach coordinator to bring local business leaders to each race to have them experience the Operation: Hire Our Guard program. The goal is raising awareness of the unemployment 

crisis, highlighting the benefits of hiring Veterans, making the necessary connections between local business and military leadership and getting businesses engaged 

in hiring fairs in their state to help Veterans and military spouses find meaningful 

employment. Panther Racing provides access to IndyCar activities throughout race 

weekend, and the race-day program sometimes includes up to 150 National Guard 

soldiers, potential speakers from the National Guard, U.S. Chamber, the White 

House, local employers, senior military officers and – whenever possible – Medal of 

Honor recipients. This schedule has been very successful as it allows interested employers to directly interface with the States Employer Outreach officers while there. • Employer Outreach Programs in States without an IndyCar event: 

o In an effort to extend beyond states that host IndyCar events, and to 

reach areas of the country where the unemployment crisis is severe, Panther took 

its employment program on the road. Following a similar structure as the at-track 

programs, Panther hosts a single-day event so business leaders can attend and be 

home the same night. The event includes a behind-the-scenes look at military training and a ride in our IndyCar two-seater. Once that is complete attendees experience the same program highlighting the message regarding the unemployment crisis 

and how employers in attendance can address the problem. This is all done to complement the ESGR program. • Motivating Employers Toward Hiring Fairs and Hero-2–Hired: 

o Our call to action for employers is simple: Engage in a U.S. Chamber hiring fair and the Hero-2–Hired program. These two programs are amongst the most 

effective in combating the unemployment crisis. Some of the best hiring fairs have 

been organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes but we encourage them to support agencies with which you are familiar, such as the Veterans 

Administration, American Legion and a host of others working to find veterans 

good-paying jobs in their local communities. Over 400 such job fairs were executed 

from March 2011 through March 2013 and, to date, more than 15,000 Veterans have 

been hired. Employers must prove they have actual positions available to be filled 

prior to participating. Attendance is free to all veterans and their families and they 

can apply, interview, and accept a position at the hiring fair. For veterans unable 

to attend, a recruiter can provide resumes to employers on-site or online. We also 

fully support the programs that Heroes 2 Hired provides. They have great on-line 

programs where Veterans can find employment. Another great program that they 

provide is the State Transition Coordinator, and the results of this program are 

quickly proving it to be one of the most effective in existence. 

Mission Points: Hometown Hero Program 

One of the programs that we are very proud to have started is our Hometown 

Hero program, where each state’s National Guard selects a notable warrior to be 

honored. This soldier is recognized throughout the weekend and sits next to our 

driver during the IndyCar autograph session. They sign their own ‘‘Hero Card’’ with 

thousands of fans standing in line to personally meet one of our Nation’s heroes. 

In 2013, the program will be expanded to include a neighboring state of the race 

location. Thus far, we have presented Hometown Hero awards to 78 recipients since 

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2008, including SGT Donnie Hunter of California, SPC Christina Gonzales of Nevada, SSG Eloy Aguirre of Texas, SSG Eugene Patton of Colorado and both Staff 

Sergeant Jennifer M. Bartkus and Sergeant Justin Giesendaffer of Arizona. 

We honor our Hometown Hero before each race during our Operation: Hire Our 

Guard employment program. An award is presented to the Guardsman by a high 

ranking National Guard Officer and – when they’re available to attend an IndyCar 

event – a Medal of Honor Recipient. Then they are the first introduced on the PreRace stage in front of all of the fans while their service record is read. During the 

five years we’ve had the Hometown Hero program it has become one of the hallmarks of race weekend and has been developed into a retention tool by the National 

Guard. 

Employer Outreach Summary 

Panther’s initial missions with the National Guard was to help recruit and retain 

its force and provide access for hundreds of soldiers at each event. But high unemployment has increased the challenge for all of us, and Panther Racing has a responsibility to help and a platform and place to make a difference. 

We ask our military to do more every day—often with fewer resources than the 

previous year. When Panther’s budget from DOD was cut last year by millions – 

like most DOD programs – we did not cut our employment program. Instead, we 

expanded our program and pledged to do more. Our team raised more than $1.1 million from private sources like TriWest and Lincoln Education to assist Operation: 

Hire Our Guard and to ensure, despite cutbacks, we were still doing everything in 

our power to be a positive partner for the National Guard. 

Last year our events provided Veterans exposure to approximately 9,300 job opportunities and based on a conservative approach, potentially over 4,300 Guardsmen have been employed as a result of our program. While our employment program is a small dent in the 65,000 estimated unemployed Guardsmen, our efforts 

will increase in 2013 as our partnerships and programs grow. 

Recommendations to combat unemployment: 

1. Educate ‘‘centers of influence’’ on the overall value of the National Guard. 

2. Utilize unique forums to get employers out of the office to hear the unemployment message. 

3. Continue to use non-traditional high-power methods like the Panther/National 

Guard employment effort to gain access to business leaders. We attract business 

leaders to our events because of the sport and use Hollywood style media presentations to educate and excite them to become involved in the Guard community and 

engage in hiring. 

4. Panther has used sports to promote Guard employment and it works—now, encourage others to do it. Every major sporting event in our country such as the Super 

Bowl, the World Series, the Masters etc. should have something similar to Panther’s 

‘‘Operation: Hire Our Guard.’’ By combining the star power of pinnacle sporting 

events with the emotional impact of ‘‘Hometown Heroes’’ stories and the respect employers have for military leaders, these can be unique, effective forums for finding 

jobs. 

5. Engage and educate potential employers, and especially Human Resources professionals, about PTS. Greater awareness, education, and training tailored to debunking myths about PTS are needed with leadership from the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs. 

6. Promote the utilization of the Dollar General ‘‘model’’ which partners with local 

ESGRs Transition Assistance Coordinators and others to help soldiers and airmen 

in advance of a hiring fair prepare (resume writing, presentation, dress, verbal communicate, and follow-up efforts etc.). We have learned that ‘‘cold call’’ job fairs are 

not as effective as those with training in advance for employers and troops. 

7. Educate business leaders about the need to have some form of ‘‘translation’’ or 

‘‘job skills conversion’’ and utilize such an application on their employment web 

pages. H2H has an outstanding MOS converter and should be utilized widely. 

Overview of Our Relationship with National Guard—A Marketing Platform 

Our relationship with the National Guard began with the primary mission of assisting in recruiting, retention, marketing and branding. What is unique for Panther 

is that our primary partner does not exist due to a product or a service, but something much more valuable: Its ability to ensure the safety and security of our Nation, States and all of its communities through the efforts of Citizen Soldiers. 

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To effectively market, the Guard needs targeted, but flexible, methods. We want 

our next generation of warriors to be intelligent, competitive and athletic. The National Guard and other entities have found sports marketing to be one of the leading 

tools available to connect with this target audience. 

Today’s young men and women live so much differently than when we were 

young. Each day they are confronted with thousands and thousands of different social mediums competing for their attention. The same is true with their 

‘‘influencers’’ such as parents, grandparents, teachers, and coaches. The day of relying upon traditional methods such as dominant mediums in recruiting and retention 

are long gone. The Marines, for example, say they must make over 10,000 touches 

to attain 67 accessions. 

As you know, the National Guard is unique in many ways, including its mission. 

As a good friend of mine frequently says about the Guard, ’’It’s the Greatest Story 

Never Told.’’ Because of legal prohibitions, it is prohibited from traditional advertising on over-the-air broadcast television, so the efforts to attract and retain the 

true ‘‘citizen solider’’ all the more challenging. However, Panther is allowed to advertise and it helps the Guard get its message to the targeted audience. 

Mission Points: Marketing 

To fully understand the National Guard, our team immersed itself into all aspects 

of the National Guard’s unique dual mission and their essential relationship with 

our Nation and their community. Once we had an understanding of its mission and 

goals, Panther was able to develop targeted marking and branding efforts to help 

the Guard focus on its specific market from which to recruit its future warriors. Our 

industry is measured in milliseconds and always has to squeeze the last penny out 

of every dollar, so Panther prides itself in delivering the maximum impact from 

every asset. 

Since 2009 we have had over 14.5 billion calculated impressions upon viewers 

with a media value of over $142.1 million. These impressions were made through 

a diverse group of outlets, including: traditional television and radio commercials 

via race-day broadcasts; a ‘‘FanZone’’ activation area where over 225,000 fans attend 

annually; track jumbotron announcements; race program ads; print and radio appearances; social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with produced video pieces; at-track signage; and a specifically logoed National Guard 

IndyCar 2-seater. 

We provide tickets, credentials, food and recognition to thousands of National 

Guard soldiers and their families each year—a great retention tool. The FanZone 

is a great opportunity to recruit and network at each race event. Every visitor 

leaves behind his or her contact info plus completes a questionnaire regarding interest in the Guard for follow up. Our Infield Training Unit (ITU) is used by the state 

to educate our soldiers regarding employment and other pertinent issues relative to 

life in the Guard. 

After being introduced to the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program in 2008, 

Panther has helped raise over $850,000 in scholarships for the graduating Cadets. 

Our team hosts select Youth ChalleNGe Cadets at each IndyCar race event where 

there is a ChalleNGe program in the state, congratulating them on their life-changing accomplishments and educate them on career opportunities in motorsports. 

We also work to lift up those who have sacrificed so much. I will never forget my 

experience after arriving at the Brooke Army Hospital in 2008; I met a wounded 

warrior who was wearing a black and yellow smiley tee shirt with the words ‘‘Got 

Burns’’. When I’m having a bad day, I think of that soldier. He never complained 

about his injury. But he did in a silent way display to all that saw him that day 

a huge statement: ‘‘Life goes on. Don’t complain. Finish the mission. Move on.’’ I 

think of that day a lot. Panther continues to take the No. 4 racecar and the team’s 

drivers to visit wounded and injured service members at the VA Polytrauma Centers in Tampa, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Palo Alto, California; and as I mentioned, the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas. 

The privilege of visiting these facilities, meeting our Nation’s heroes (and their 

families) and seeing their courage and determination is unlike anything I have experienced in my lifetime. I don’t say this to bring recognition to our organization, 

or myself, but instead to encourage others to do the same. The long rehabilitation 

that faces these brave men and women is very lonely. They need our support. They 

need to be assured that they will not be forgotten. I also guarantee you it will 

change your lives forever. 

Mission Points: Synergies 

Our partnership with the Guard has turned out to be so much more than marketing, recruiting and retention. While visiting with our Hometown Hero of KenVACREP180 with DISTILLER

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tucky in 2008, I learned of the serious injuries impacting our soldiers while they 

performed their duties, including the prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). 

I asked how a specific soldier was hurt and learned he had been a Buffalo driver 

responsible for finding IED’s in front of a convoy. After being virtually blown up several times, he was finally taken off his job. I ask him what the G-force impact was 

from these blasts and was very surprised to find out that the impact was not recorded in any way. 

As a result, I took the Adjutant General of the Kentucky National Guard to the 

IndyCar series research trailer at the track, where he was shown the devices that 

we had used since 1997 to accurately measure the impact to our drivers. Like the 

military, we often deal with serious head injuries in racing. We utilize a state-ofthe-art ear-sensor technology to measure the G-force impact to a driver’s head in 

the event of an accident. These sensors record specific detail on the impact to the 

driver, which has been instrumental in on-site treatment, in long-term care and the 

development of better equipment to protect our athletes. The General was very surprised to find that IndyCar had successfully been measuring this for such a long 

time. I learned about the millions of dollars that had been invested, unsuccessfully, 

to develop sensor technology to help protect our troops. After that event, every time 

we raced and an Adjutant General attended, we showed them this technology and 

other devices that had been designed by our sport. 

After hearing about this, our partner Dave McIntyre of TriWest Healthcare spoke 

to the Vice Chief of the Army, General Peter Chiarelli, about our concussion recording devices. Two days later we were asked to the Pentagon to show him what had 

been used in our industry. After reviewing it and commenting on the simplicity of 

the devices, General Chiarelli asked if I were there to sell him this technology. I 

made it very clear that Panther would donate any asset that could help our troops 

at no cost. Under his direction, we made various visits to Army medical facilities 

around the country to provide experts from our field to discuss the benefits of the 

collection of this data. 

Eventually, a form of the technology that was given to the Army was modified, 

with the help of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF), and is now repurposed as the Integrated Blast Effects Sensor 

Suite (I–BESS). The Army deployed 4,000 of these new body-worn sensors in Afghanistan to measure and help understand how intense impacts such as explosions 

and vehicle accidents affect the human body. Each unit contains four sensors that 

communicate with one another along with an armored vehicle based system that 

has additional sensors for more data acquisition. 

The data collected goes to the Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury 

in Combat Program—where medical professionals and engineers will have access to 

the database to help better protect our soldiers. Most importantly, the I–BESS system detects TBI in soldiers who have experienced an adverse event and helps our 

neurosurgeons treat the patient. 

We are humbled to have played a small role in helping our combat troops with 

TBI. Just to be a small part of the public/private partnership here will always keep 

us engaged in any way possible to help our National Guard soldiers. 

Panther has continued to work on additional synergies and is currently discussing 

designs of the seats used in our IndyCar, which could potentially help helicopter pilots who have high rates of spinal injuries due to landings. This seat technology has 

helped reduce spinal injuries by over 80% in our industry. 

Conclusion 

Mr. Chairman, it has been an honor to be here today. I respect the trust that has 

been placed in each member of this subcommittee to care for our Nation’s most sacred population. My goal was to share some of the successes that that our team has 

deployed to address unemployment in the National Guard. 

We feel a special calling to help ensure those who have served in uniform have 

the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. We know we bring significant assets to the effort, and we want to use them most efficiently. 

When a business leader has a ‘‘bucket list’’ day while experiencing the Panther 

program, we know they’re leaving with a greater understanding of the Guard. It’s 

those business leaders who will be a supportive employer, and will advocate policies 

and practices that support our Veterans. A Guardsman with a good job, at a company that respects and supports his/her service, is a National Guardsman we retain 

for a long time. 

Our success has always been measured by victories on the track. But that was 

when we were just a racing team. Today, we are a military service and marketing 

company working to help the National Guard meet its goals for recruiting, retention, branding and now employment. 

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I would trade any race win in exchange for one more job for a member of the 

Guard. Ensuring the Guard’s success is our mission and Operation: Hire Our Guard 

is a huge part of that effort. I spend every day thinking how our team can do better. 

The attributes these men and women bring to employers – intelligence, leadership, 

selflessness and dedication – can lift any company in the same way they have always lifted our Nation. 

What troubles me most is that I cannot see a day in my future when there will 

be a ticker-tape parade to celebrate what all of the Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have done for our Nation. What I hope I will see is the day when all these 

great Veterans have meaningful employment. Our nation owes them no less, because they have sacrificed so much to protect our freedoms. 

I invite each of you to visit Panther Racing and experience what we do, and, more 

importantly, to discover new ways that we can do better and improve our efforts 

on behalf of our magnificent military forces and their families. Thank you for this 

opportunity, and I welcome your questions and comments. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the 

United States (Al Garver) 

The Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS) 

was formally organized in 1972 with the goal of increasing the voice of enlisted persons in the National Guard. As such, EANGUS is a non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to the principles of providing an adequate national defense, while 

promoting the status, welfare, and professionalism of the enlisted men and women 

of the National Guard. EANGUS is the only military service association that represents the interests of solely the enlisted soldiers and airmen of the Army and Air 

National Guard. 

With an active membership of 47,000 members and a constituency of over 414,000 

soldiers, airmen, their families, and retirees; EANGUS engages Capitol Hill on behalf of courageous guard members across this nation. 

President: 

CSM John F. Helbert, ARNG 703–519–3846 

Staff Contacts: 

Executive Director 

Al Garver 703–519–3846 x40 

Chief of Staff 

Bryan Birch 703–519–3846 x23 

Dir. of Government Affairs 

Seth Waugh 703–519–3846 x28 

DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL GRANTS OR CONTRACTS 

The Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS) 

is a member supported organization. EANGUS has not received any grants, subgrants, contracts, or subcontracts from the federal government in the past three 

years. All activities and services of the association is accomplished free of any direct 

federal funding. 

Chairman Flores, Ranking Member Takano, distinguished members of the subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, on behalf of the 414, 000 enlisted men and 

women of the National Guard and the 47,000 active members of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States (EANGUS), thank you for the 

opportunity to testify today. 

I’d like to inform this committee, in the interest of full disclosure, that while my 

civilian job is Executive Director of EANGUS, I am a still-serving citizen-soldier myself, with 30 years of service and counting—-8 years active duty Air Force, 17 years 

in the Air National Guard, and now five years in the Air Force Reserve, currently 

with the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, and my service includes an 8-month tour 

in Iraq. 

I’d like to begin by thanking the members of this subcommittee for your support 

over the past several years, and for your concern with the well-being of our citizensoldiers that serve in our 50 states, 3 territories, and District of Columbia. Much 

has been done recently to give these soldiers and airmen the resources they need 

to improve their quality of life. We are especially thankful for recognizing their Title 

32 service and making it count toward their Post 9–11 G.I. Bill benefits. More than 

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140,000 Guardsmen now qualify for those benefits, and their increased education 

levels will surely translate into more secure and better-paying jobs in the private 

sector. We are also thankful for the medical benefits offered under the Tricare Reserve Select Insurance program. There are nearly 50,000 National Guard members, 

most with families, that are currently covered by this benefit. I happen to be one 

of them. I pay a premium of $195 per month, which covers myself, my wife, and 

five dependent children. I’ll circle back to the significance of those numbers in a few 

moments. 

Since 9/11 more than 600,000 soldiers and airmen of the National Guard have 

been mobilized and deployed overseas; when you account for both Guard and Reservists - the number balloons to more than 1 million individuals. Over 50% of the 

members of the National Guard are now combat veterans – these men and women 

are no longer ‘‘weekend warriors’’ – but battle tested citizen-soldiers, many of whom 

are returning home to find their only option is the unemployment line. 

It has been estimated by some that 20 percent of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are unemployed. However, if you look at some anomalies in those 

figures the actual percentage may be slightly less, due to the fact that many of the 

younger returning members in the 18–24 year old range, were in high school or college prior to deploying and did not have jobs waiting for them or are continuing 

their education. However; even if you take into account a percentage of returning 

veterans who are resuming or beginning their educational journey, the number of 

unemployed National Guardsmen is still significantly higher than the national average. 

We truly believe the vast majority of employers want to hire veterans, and that 

is one reason why the national unemployment rate for all veterans is 7.0%, yet the 

National Guard unemployment is estimated to be at least double that number. 

What is the difference between hiring veterans and hiring those in the National 

Guard? Both veterans and Guardsmen have the same or similar leadership skills, 

are hard workers, team players, dependable, and are highly trainable. Additionally, 

they have earned all of those skills and more under some of the most difficult situations known to man - during combat - when making a mistake doesn’t mean you 

miss a sale, but you lose a life. If the skill sets are the generally the same, then 

why do we have vastly different unemployment percentages between the two 

groups? 

One major reason we believe that National Guard unemployment is significantly 

higher than general veteran unemployment is the current operations tempo of the 

National Guard. Prior to 9/11, employer support of the National Guard and Reserves was extremely high. Since 9/11, that support has become stressed with the 

increased call-ups of the National Guard for both natural disasters and overseas operations. The men and women of the National Guard have been called up multiple 

times, some more than others depending on their skill set. Traditionally, it has been 

DoD policy to mobilize Guard and Reserve units no more than one out of every five 

to six years, but there are some cases, since 9–11, where Guard and Reserve units 

have been mobilized for 48 months in a 60 month time period. However, the average 

mobilization is more along the lines of 12–18 months in a 60 month period. 

This policy is having a negative impact on the employment prospects of National 

Guard and Reserve members. Employers are having a hard time dealing with the 

loss of their employees during 6–12 month deployments every few years. Given the 

opportunity to choose between two potential employees—a veteran and a current 

member of the National Guard—which one would you pick if you were a small business owner? Both applicants have similar backgrounds and skill sets, but one is 

likely to be absent on military duty one weekend a month and two weeks a year 

at a minimum . . . in addition to a long deployment looming in the near future. It 

may not be the politically correct or even the right thing to say, but you can 

empathize with the challenge this poses to small business owners. All things being 

equal, many employers would likely pick the veteran who has already fulfilled their 

military obligations and is not likely to be called back to duty. 

The previous example applies more to small and medium-size businesses rather 

than large companies such as Wal-Mart who just announced their commitment to 

hire 100,000 veterans over the next five years. There are many things that Congress 

and industry can do immediately to help increase National Guard employment. 

Allow Small Business Owners to pay for TRS premiums for their Guard-Reserve 

Employees 

One proposal that might improve the prospects of a Guardsman or Reservist to 

gain an advantage with small business owners, would be to encourage the businesses to provide a stipend that pays for their Tricare Reserve Select policy and 

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raise awareness that this is an option available. In doing so, the troops would be 

getting some of the best coverage available, and the business owner would reap a 

significant cost-savings by not having to pay for the current health-care policy they 

offer. This might save a small business owner anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 or 

more per year, and would be an immediate incentive to hiring Guardsmen and Reservists. Best of all, the troops are already entitled to purchase these policies, so 

no new program has to be developed or paid for by Congress or the individual 

states. 

National Guard Federal Hiring Preference Points 

Currently, veterans receive hiring preference points from federal agencies, and 

this hiring preference is not limited to veterans alone. It is also granted to the 

spouses of an unemployable veteran, the unmarried widow or widower of a veteran, 

or the mother of a deceased or disabled veteran. However, many National Guard 

members do not have the requisite Title 10 experience to be recognized as veterans. 

Many serve their country faithfully in homeland defense and disaster relief missions 

here in the CONUS, yet are not eligible to receive any federal hiring preference 

points. 

The men and women of the National Guard posses both civilian and military 

skills that make them fantastic candidates for many positions, but they are applying 

for those jobs with one hand tied behind their backs. With the increased ops tempo 

of the National Guard and Reserves for the foreseeable future, the high unemployment rate amongst their ranks is likely to continue, and it would be beneficial if 

federal agencies addressed this fact by awarding separate preference points to serving members of the National Guard and Reserve. By not recognizing their service 

and assigning veterans preference points, the federal government is, in effect, discriminating against some National Guardsmen; as if they are not equal to troops 

who have served on 180-days or more of Title 10 service. No employer should discriminate against the hiring of members of the Guard, especially the federal government. 

Making the Transition Assistance Program (TAPS) and Transition Goals Plans 

Success (Transition GPS) work for the average member of the Guard and Reserve 

The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) provides pre-separation services and 

counseling on a number of transition-related topics to those members of the Armed 

Forces that are separating from service. TAPS not only provides assistance on general topics such as healthcare and financial planning, but it also has many specific 

career centric focuses as well. Separating military members can also take advantage 

of a three-day employment workshop or a veteran’s benefits brief organized by the 

VA. However, TAP services are provided only at military installations, which often 

times are not readily accessible National Guardsmen, especially for members of the 

Guard and Reserves from rural portions of the country. 

The TAP program was recently revamped as part of the Veterans Opportunity to 

Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 and is now called Transition Goals Plans 

Success (Transition GPS). Due to the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, TAP is now mandatory for nearly all separating military personnel. This mandatory five-day seminar 

is supposed to give transitioning service members an individualized assessment of 

what various civilian career paths are good matches to their military skill set. 

However, for members of the National Guard, this mandatory participation only 

applies when Guardsmen come off active duty following a mobilization. This means 

that thousands of Guard members will not attend the Transition GPS program 

when they transition out of the Guard, because the existing DoD model is designed 

and programmed around exiting active duty, not part time duty. Realistically, it will 

be very difficult to get a rurally located National Guardsman to travel hours away 

to attend a five-day TAP program before he/she leaves the Guard because there are 

not adequate financial resources for that. Conversely, it would be cost-prohibitive to 

send a mobile TAP team to rural armories for a handful of people. 

The Transition GPS program seems to be an effective way to help those separating from active-duty. However, despite its good intentions, it is not effective for 

many traditional members of the National Guard and Reserves. So what else can 

be, or is being done, to help those serving in the National Guard and Reserves? 

There are many great programs being pursued by private industry and non-profit 

organizations. Programs like VetJobs.com and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program. 

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US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program 

Since its launch in March 2011, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program has been working to help veterans, transitioning service 

members, Guard and Reservists, and military spouses find meaningful employment. 

To do so, Hiring Our Heroes has leveraged the U.S Chamber’s network of 1,600 

state and local chambers of commerce and collaborated with other strategic public, 

private, and nonprofit partners to help create a movement across America. 

In less than two years, Hiring Our Heroes has hosted more than 420 hiring fairs 

in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 14,100 veterans and military spouses have been hired as a direct result of these fairs, many of whom are 

or have served in the Guard and Reserve. Businesses across America have also 

stepped up to participate in their Hiring 500,000 Heroes campaign launched a year 

ago. The goal is the engage both small and large businesses to commit to hire half 

a million veterans and military spouses by the end of 2014. Thus far, the campaign 

has secured 212,000 commitments and confirmed 93,000 hires. 

One example is Micahel Zetts, who served in the U.S. Army and the Minnesota 

National Guard from 2003 – 2010. After his second deployment to Iraq, Michael was 

ready to transition into a new career. He used his GI Bill to go to school for his 

associate’s degree, believing that the degree would better prepare him for the job 

market. After school, however, he found himself walking from job fair after job fair 

for almost a year without any offers or leads. Michael told Hiring Our Heroes: ‘‘I 

had been to other career fairs before [and] it seemed like being a veteran was a hindrance. I had that experience plus two associate degrees. People were either looking 

for something fresh or someone with a lot of experience. I fell in between. At Hiring 

Our Heroes, I felt like people were really talking to me. Afterwards, I was pursued 

by a few opportunities.’’ After attending a March 2012 Hiring Our Heroes career fair 

in Columbus, Ohio, Michael accepted an offer from Advanced Language Access, Inc. 

and has offered to help Hiring Our Heroes at upcoming job fairs in Columbus, so 

that he can help others like him find veteran-friendly companies that understand 

the skills a veteran can bring to their company. 

While hiring fairs remain a top priority of the Hiring Our Heroes program, it is 

evolving to address the systemic employment issues facing veterans, members of the 

National Guard and Reserves, and military spouses. Hiring our Heroes is developing 

several online tools that will serve as valuable resources for the talented men and 

women who have served our country. 

Although the past 10+ years of deployments and increased ops tempo of our National Guard citizen soldiers have strained the relationship between many employers and military employees, there are still many other companies that remain 

Guard and Reserve friendly. Programs like Hiring Our Heroes are acting as a 

bridge between Guard friendly employers and the unemployed men and women currently serving in the National Guard. With another million men and women expected to leave the military in the next five years, we must all continue to raise 

awareness of this issue as we work every day to hire our heroes. 

Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve and Hero 2 Hired Program 

The DoD established the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) 

agency 40 years ago with the mission of maintaining employer support for Guard 

and Reserve service. ESGR advocates for pro-Guard and Reserve initiatives, recognizes outstanding employer support of the Guard and Reserve, helps to mediate conflicts and potential conflicts between service members and employers, and to bring 

increased awareness for Guard and Reserve laws and legislation such as USERRA. 

The core of ESGR’s mission is to show that Guard and Reservists can, do, and will 

bring their military skills of integrity, global perspective, and proven leadership to 

a civilian workplace. EANGUS is proud to be a partner of ESGR and we are encouraged by the fact that they are represented here today at this committee hearing. 

One ESGR program that we would like to highlight, is their Hero 2 Hired (H2H) 

program. Launched in December 2011, H2H is a comprehensive employment program that helps to highlight the unique skills and job needs of Reserve Component 

members. The H2H program is helping to reduce the number of unemployed National Guard and Reserve members by simplifying their job search while also allowing military-friendly company’s access to Guard and Reserve job seekers. 

H2H currently has over 108,000 registered job seeker profiles, nearly 15,000 employers registered, and as of March 3, 2013 there are an estimated 3.7 million job 

openings available on the H2H website. Between October 2012 and February 2013, 

H2H was able to assist 5,512 veterans, Guard and Reservists, and military family 

and spouses in finding employment. 

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Southwest Truck Driver Training 

Job fairs and career web pages are tremendous ways to get Guard and Reservists 

in touch with military-friendly employers. But there are also many military-friendly 

employers who go out of their way to help our military job seekers. Once such company is Southwest Truck Driver Training (SWTDT) school in Tucson, Arizona. 

Southwest started in 1999 as a true small business, with a beginning staff of a 

handful of family members and friends – it now has built its reputation throughout 

Arizona, Nevada, and the local communities in which it operates. 

Southwest has a 92% placement rate for their graduates and goes out of their way 

to ensure that Guard and Reservist students are placed with military-friendly companies that understand their unique needs, monthly drill and training schedules, 

and possibility of immediate call-ups. If Congress and the commanders of our National Guard and Reservists are serious about tackling unemployment problems, we 

need to look at all opportunities, including the vocational trades, where there are 

immediate job openings and gainful employment can be obtained. According to the 

U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 300,000 new truck drivers will be needed each year for the next 10 years 

to meet America’s demands. 

During the 112th Congress, the Military Commercial Driver’s License Act of 2012 

was signed into law. The Military CDL Act gave active duty military personnel, 

military reservists, members of the National Guard, and others more flexibility in 

obtaining a Commercial Driver’s License, in an attempt to help them pursue job opportunities immediately after leaving the service. The legislation allowed them to 

obtain a CDL in either the state where they serve or where they received their military training, regardless of whether it is their state of permanent residence. The 

legislation was endorsed by the American Trucking Association, Owner-Operator 

and Independent Drivers Association, and many Military Service Organizations including EANGUS. 

The Military CDL Act was a great first step, but military truck drivers need some 

additional skills and training to be able to effectively operate a tractor trailer. Currently the DoD does not have a training program that trains service members to 

operate civilian tractor trailers. Companies like Southwest are able to assist military truck drivers gain those additional skills, to include driving ten-speed manual 

transmission trucks, how to properly enter information into mandated log books, 

and other service standards. This type of training costs between five and six thousand dollars and qualify military job seekers to find nearly immediate employment 

with a salary of 40–80 thousand dollars a year. However, the vocational trades are 

often times marginalized by chains of command, which is counterproductive to putting unemployed service members in touch with companies who are offering gainful 

employment. 

Veterans use CDLs and vocational trades everyday to work while attending postsecondary schooling. Many services members use the industry as a short term tool 

to makes ends meet while they are completing their education, but a large percentage also continue in the career field. It is not an industry for everyone, but it is 

a respectable option for service-members unemployment woes. 

Consider Exemptions for Military Technicians 

In closing, I’d like to discuss something that can be done immediately to save the 

jobs of 7,600 National Guard troops, and stop another 52,000 from becoming ‘‘underemployed.’’ While all military components are dutifully scrambling to absorb $47 billion in cuts throughout the Department of Defense, including the furloughs of 

800,000 military civilians, there is one sub-group that justifies an exemption: National Guard Military Technicians. 

Currently, there are 52,000 of these military technicians wearing their U.S. Army 

and Air Force uniforms to work every day, and they represent more than half of 

the National Guard’s full time force. While they are slated to be furloughed along 

with the other DoD civilian employees, their unique status should merit an exception. Unlike regular civilian employees, military technicians are required to be a 

member of the National Guard, attend weekend drills and annual training with 

their National Guard unit, maintain all fitness and readiness standards of their active-duty counterparts, and can be involuntarily ordered to active duty at any time. 

National Guard military technicians are the primary maintainers of National Guard 

ground equipment, airframes, equipment upgrades, and administrators of training 

at the unit level. 

These uniquely hybrid positions have been developed over decades as the most 

cost-efficient and stable maintenance work-force in the DoD. What makes them distinct from other DoD civilians is their title: Military Technicians. Their predecessors 

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were known as Civilian Technicians, and it was Congress that decided they were 

more military than civilian, authorized them to wear their uniforms to work every 

day, and awarded them that title, along with expectations of fulfilling roles and responsibilities beyond that of their former duties. 

The President, Congress, and the DoD all agreed to exempt uniformed personnel 

from the sequester to limit the impact on military readiness. We believe the furlough of National Guard Military Technicians violates that intent. While they are 

technically civilian employees, they are decidedly uniformed personnel. Allowing 

half of the National Guard’s full-time members to be furloughed will result in an 

immediate reduction in the National Guard’s operational readiness across all state 

and federal missions. This will greatly impact the Guard’s ability to respond to domestic emergencies, homeland defense, and natural disasters. 

We encourage this committee, through any possible avenues, to make provision 

in the Continuing Resolution to exempt National Guard Military Technicians from 

the impending furloughs of all DoD civilians. 

Executive Summary 

Since 9/11 more than 600,000 soldiers and airmen of the National Guard have 

been mobilized and deployed overseas; when you account for both Guard and Reservists - the number balloons to more than 1 million individuals. Over 50% of the 

members of the National Guard are now combat veterans – these men and women 

are no longer ‘‘weekend warriors’’ – but battle tested citizen-soldiers, many of whom 

are returning home to find their only option is the unemployment line. 

It has been estimated by some that 20 percent of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are unemployed. However, if you look at some anomalies in those 

figures the actual percentage may be slightly less, due to the fact that many of the 

younger returning members in the 18–24 year old range, were in high school or college prior to deploying and did not have jobs waiting for them or are continuing 

their education. However; even if you take into account a percentage of returning 

veterans who are resuming or beginning their educational journey, the number of 

unemployed National Guardsmen is still significantly higher than the national average. 

The Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States’ (EANGUS) 

testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs, subcommittee for Economic Opportunity comprises of the following suggestions on ways 

to improve the unemployment rate amongst those serving in the National Guard 

and Reserves: 

- Educate and encourage Small Business Owners to pay for Tricare Reserve Select 

premiums for their Guard & Reserve employees. 

- Investigate allowing for the issuance of Federal Hiring Preference Points for National Guard and Reserve service. 

- Making the Transition Assistance Program (TAPS) and Transition Goals Plans 

Success (Transition GPS) work for the average member of the National Guard and 

Reserves. 

- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s efforts to help veterans through 

their Hiring Our Heroes program. 

- The Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) agency’s Hero 2 Hired 

program 

- How Southwest Truck Driver Training has been able to achieve a 92% placement rate for their National Guard and Reserve graduates. 

- Working to prevent over 50,000 National Guard Military Technicians from being 

furloughed or laid off, adding them to the percentage of unemployed and underemployed members of the National Guard. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Major General David Baldwin 

Early in my tenure as The Adjutant General (TAG) of California I became aware 

of a problem that was reducing the readiness of our force. Historically high unemployment and underemployment in our ranks was negatively affecting morale, training, accountability, Soldier and family resiliency, and good order and discipline. The 

Work for Warriors (WFW) program was developed to solve this readiness problem. 

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With a one-time grant from the Speaker of the California Assembly, we stood up 

WFW as a pilot program in July 2012 with the goal to reduce unemployment in the 

California National Guard (CNG) by 25% in one year. 

The WFW team is made up of one Program Manager, two Applicant Coordinators, 

one Information Technology Specialist, and one Business Coordinator. In addition, 

the Department augmented the WFW program with an existing State Active Duty 

position to lead the effort. 

WFW directly places unemployed CNG members into jobs. Private sector businesses contact the WFW Business Coordinator with job openings. The Applicant Coordinators use the WFW database to identify unemployed CNG candidates that 

meet the specific job requirements. The WFW staff then guides the unemployed 

CNG member all the way through the hiring process (resume preparation, interview 

prep, and employment acceptance). The attached enclosure includes the many businesses and business partners we are working with to place Guard members into the 

civilian workforce. 

The WFW program is especially effective in reducing the high unemployment 

rates of CNG units returning from deployments overseas. We’ve found that many 

units returning from deployments have unemployment rates well over 50%. This 

high rate of unemployment had remained a problem because federal programs that 

assist deployed reservists do not begin until 180 days after the service member returns to California. To close this gap, the WFW staff contacts the units while they 

are still overseas and works with unit leadership to develop a plan to immediately 

reintegrate unemployed Soldiers and Airmen into the civilian workforce. Once the 

unit is back in the United States, the WFW staff provides the unit with program 

information at their federal demobilization site, often located in another state, and 

begins setting up job interviews for deployed service members. The results have 

been dramatic. Placing Soldiers and Airmen in jobs immediately upon their return 

from overseas allows for a more successful reintegration and can reduce behavioral 

health problems, substance abuse, and domestic violence. 

The success of the program is based on our use of the chain of command. Our 

staff uses the existing CNG chain of command to ensure unemployed service members are made aware of the WFW program, and encouraged by their first-line leaders to participate. WFW is also using social media and web services to get information to service members. Leveraging this no-cost method of communication has allowed the WFW team to push information quickly to mobile devices and computers 

and place members into jobs as quickly as 24 hours from receiving a job opening. 

The WFW program is the most effective direct job placement program of its kind 

in the nation; on average the program places two guardsmen every day. The program is remarkably cost effective compared to federal standards and represents significant savings to the government when factoring in unemployment compensation 

costs. Successful federal veterans’ employment initiatives typically have a total cost 

of over $10,000 per veteran placed. The WFW program is averaging a $550 cost per 

placement. 

The following WFW program information incorporates data from the program’s inception on March 29, 2012 through the 2012 calendar year: 

• Number of Service members Directly Asking for Employment Support: 2,171 

• Number of Resumes Completed: 875 

• Number of Resumes Submitted for Interviews: 975 

• Number of Service members Placed into Jobs: 965 

• Number of Companies Providing Jobs to Fill: 92 

The WFW program has helped hundreds of California’s Guard members find employment so they can support their families and contribute to their communities. 

This direct placement model is transferable to other states that have high unemployment and/or underemployment in their National Guard force. It is also directly 

transferable to the Reserves. 

We will remain committed to this important program until it is no longer needed. 

We are already working with the National Guard Bureau and other states to share 

the program and the best-business-practices we have developed. I look forward to 

working with the Committee to be part of the solution in getting our Soldiers, Airmen, and Veterans back to work. 

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54 

Statement For The Record 

The Reserve Officers Association 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Improvements to increase employment supported by ROA and REA follow: 

Education: 

• Exempt earned benefit from GI Bill from being consider income in need based 

aid calculations 

• Develop a standard nation-wide payment system for private schools 

• Re-examine qualification basis for yellow ribbon program, rather than first come 

first serve. 

• Increase MGIB–Selected Reserve (MGIB–SR) to 47 percent of MGIB–Active. 

• Enact Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act 

(USERRA) and Service members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protections for mobilized Guard-Reserve students to adjust interest rates on federal student loans 

of mobilized Reservists when the market rate drops below 6 percent. 

Employer Support: 

• Continue to enact tax credits for health care and differential pay expenses for 

deployed Reserve Component employees. 

• Provide tax credits to offset costs for temporary replacements of deployed Reserve Component employees. 

• Support tax credits to employers who hire service members who supported contingency operations. 

Employee Support: 

• Permit delays or exemptions while mobilized of regularly scheduled mandatory 

continuing education and licensing /certification/promotion exams. 

• Continue to support a law center dedicated to USERRA/SCRA problems of deployed Active and Reserve service members. 

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)/ 

Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (SCRA): 

• Improve SCRA to protect deployed members from creditors that willfully violate 

SCRA. 

• Fix USERRA/SCRA to protect health care coverage of returning service members and family for continuation of prior group or individual insurance. 

• Broad the types of insurance that the service member is entitled to reinstate 

after returning from military service, such as protections for professionals, dental, and disability coverage. 

• Enact USERRA protections for employees who require regularly scheduled mandatory continuing education and licensing/certification and make necessary 

changes to USERRA to strengthen employment and reemployment protections. 

• Amend SCRA to add a provision that the expiration dates of any license or certification issued by any state or federal agency (including driver’s, nurses’, contractor’s licenses, etc.) shall be extended to a period of 90 days after release 

from active duty. 

• Include protections on leases and contracts impacting mobilized small business 

owners, including the ability to terminate or suspend a contract or lease for 

services or goods. 

• Exempt Reserve Component members from federal law enforcement retirement 

application age restrictions when deployment interferes in completing the application to buy back retirement eligibility. 

• Encourage Federal agencies to abide by USERRA/SCRA standards. 

• Ensure USERRA isn’t superseded by binding arbitrations agreements between 

employers and Reserve Component members. 

• Make the states employers waive 11th Amendment immunity with respect to 

USERRA claims, as a condition of receipt of federal assistance. 

• Make the award of attorney fees mandatory rather than discretionary. 

Veterans Affairs: 

• Extend veterans preference to those Reserve Component members who is currently serving, or has completed 20 years of service in good standing. 

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• Permit any member who has served under honorable conditions and has received a DD–214 to qualify for veteran status. • Support the issuance of a DD–214R to Reserve Component members to accumulate periods of active duty. 

INTRODUCTION 

On behalf of our members, the Reserve Officers and the Reserve Enlisted Associations thank the committee for the opportunity to submit testimony on veteran and 

National Guard and Reserve employment issues, and whether they have improved. 

ROA and REA applaud the ongoing efforts by Congress and this committee to address employment problems faced by so many veterans and service members. 

As contingency operations continue with increased mobilizations and deployments, 

many of these outstanding citizen soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast 

Guardsmen have put their civilian careers on hold while they serve their country 

in harm’s way. As we have learned, they share the same risks and their counterparts in the Active Components on the battlefield, but don’t have a guarantee of a 

job when they return home. Just recently we passed the 867,000 mark for the number of Reserve and Guard service members who have been activated since post-9/ 

11. More than 285,000 have been mobilized two or more times. The United States 

is creating a new generation of combat veterans that come from its Reserve Components (RC). It is important, therefore, that we don’t squander this valuable resource 

of experience, nor ignore the benefits that they are entitled to because of their selfless service to their country. 

The unemployment rates of veterans and Guard and Reserve have been higher 

than the national average for veterans overall. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics 

reports that in January of this year 36 percent of veterans between 18 to 24 years 

of age were unemployed. This group of returning veterans is made up almost entirely of Reserve and Guard members. 

While non-affiliated veterans have a better employment rate than the national average at 6.9 percent, stealth discrimination continues to make employment and even 

reemployment harder for returning Reserve and Guard members, because they are 

veterans who continue to serve. 

EMPLOYMENT 

Employment Protections 

Veterans and service members are provided protections through the National 

Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), the Uniformed 

Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), and the 

Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act (SCRA). 

Notwithstanding the protections afforded veterans and service members, and antidiscrimination laws it is not unusual for members to lose their jobs due to time 

spent away while deployed. Sometimes this is by employers who go out of business, 

but more because it costs employers money, time, and effort to reintroduce the employee to the company. The National Guard Bureau reports that throughout its 54 

regions, the overall unemployment rate for Guard members is 21 percent. 

In February of this year the unemployment rate for veterans between 18 to 24 

years of age was 36 percent, nearly five times the national rate. The unemployment 

rate for the 25 to 29 year old veterans in February was 9.5% down from January’s 

is 14.8%. These higher numbers reflect the high percentage of Guard and Reserve 

in each group. 

Higher unemployment rates for younger Reserve and Guard members provide silent testimony to the stealth discrimination that remains. Faced with an operational 

Reserve model, many employers anticipate that Reserve Component members will 

continue to be called up once every five years. Smaller businesses can ill-afford to 

lose key people and remain productive. They may congratulate an applicant on his 

or her military service, and then simply fail to follow-up. 

While the USERRA and SCRA laws can be strengthened, working to better educate employers needs to be part of any employment campaign. 

Small Business hiring of Reserve and Guard members 

Deployment of Reserve and Guard members has the hardest impact on small businesses. Such businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and are expected to do the majority of the hiring in the near future. The Small Business Administration defines a small business (depending on the industry) as a business 

with fewer than 500 employees. A micro-business is defined as having fewer than 

10 employees. 

ROA supports initiatives to provide small business owners with protections for 

their businesses while a Reserve Component employee is on deployment. Employer 

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care plans should be developed in a way that will assist with mitigation strategies 

for dealing with the civilian workload during the absence of the service member employee and lay out how the employer and employee would remain in contact 

throughout the deployment. 

Employer Incentives 

Partnerships: The Army Reserve under Lieutenant General Jack Stultz initiated 

the Employer Partnership Program with civilian employers that is an initiative designed to formalize the relationship between the Reserve and the private sector, 

sharing common goals of strengthening the community, supporting RC service members and families, and maintaining a strong economy. Over 1,000 companies are 

currently in various preliminary stages of implementing partnership programs. This 

sets a model for businesses to hire veterans. The program has its own website 

http://www.employerpartnership.org/ and provides job search, a resume builder, 

professional staff support, a list of employer partners and career resources. 

This program grew into the Army’s Heroes 2 Hire program, which has now been 

taken DoD-wide. 

Periodic and Predictable: Employers need increased notification time in order 

to better support their personnel. The military services and components should provide greater notice of deployments to RC members, so that they, as well as their 

families and their employers, can better prepare. Collaboration between industry 

and the military needs to occur as the military considers deployment cycle models 

so that the nation’s defense needs are met but its industrial base is not compromised. 

Employer care plans should be developed that will assist with mitigation strategies for dealing with the civilian workload during the absence of the service member 

employee and lay out how the employer and employee would remain in contact 

throughout the deployment. 

CNGR: The Commission on the National Guard and Reserve suggested key recommendations included expansion of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) committee to be able to work new employment as well as reemployment opportunities, the creation of an employer advisory council, and regular surveys to determine employer interests and concerns over reemployment of Guard and 

Reserve members. Unfortunately, the budget recommendation is to reduce ESGR’s 

budget. 

TRICARE as an employee/employer benefit: An employer incentive is when 

an employee brings importable health care such as TRICARE, reducing the costs for 

the employer. Guard and Reserve members as well as military retirees should be 

permitted to tout the availability of TRICARE as an employee asset, and permit employers to provide alternative benefits in lieu of health care. 

Another option is to fully or partially offsetting employer costs for health care 

payments for Guard and Reserve members who are employed, especially when companies continue civilian health insurance for service members and or their families 

during a deployment. DoD should provide employers – especially small businesses 

– with incentives such as cash stipends to help offset the cost of health care for Reservists up to the amount DoD is paying for TRICARE, with the understanding that 

the stipend is tied to reemployment guarantees upon the serving members return. 

Other incentives: Incentives of various types would serve to mitigate burdens 

and encourage business to both hire and retain Reservists and veterans. A variety 

of tax credits could be enacted providing such credit at the beginning of a period 

of mobilization or perhaps even a direct subsidy for costs related to a mobilization 

such as the hiring and training of new employees. Employers felt strongly that, especially for small businesses, incentives that arrive at the end of the tax year do 

not mitigate the costs incurred during the deployment period. Also cross-licensing/ 

credentialing would ease the burden of having to acquire new licenses/credentials 

in the private sector after having gained them during their military service, and 

vice versa. 

While not under this committee’s jurisdiction we hope that the House 

Veterans’ Affairs Committee can support specific tax incentives to hire returning veterans and Guard and Reserve members. 

EDUCATION 

Montgomery GI Bill 

The Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserve should be updated to provide better education support. It pales in comparison to the Post 9/11 GI 

Bill. The monthly education stipend of $356 for MGIB for Selected Reserve 

is just 11.5 percent of the monthly tuition and allowance of $156 for the GI 

Bill. 

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To assist in recruiting efforts for the Marine Corps Reserve and the other uniformed services, ROA and REA urge Congress to reduce the obligation period to 

qualify for Montgomery ‘‘GI’’ Bill-Selected Reserve (MGIB–SR) (Section 1606) from 

six years in the Selected Reserve to four years in the Selected Reserve plus four 

years in the Individual Ready Reserve, thereby remaining a mobilization asset for 

eight years. 

Because of funding constraints, no Reserve Component member will be guaranteed a full career without some period in a non-pay status. BRAC realignments are 

also restructuring the RC force and reducing available paid billets. Whether attached to a volunteer unit or as an individual mobilization augmentee, this status 

represents periods of drilling without pay. MGIB–SR eligibility should extend for 10 

years beyond separation or transfer from a paid billet. 

SERVICE MEMBERS LAW CENTER 

In the summer of 2009 ROA established the Service Members Law Center (SMLC) 

as a source of excellence in the areas of employment and consumer law for active, 

Guard and reserve personnel. It has been contacted by both active and Reserve veterans ever since, average over 500 phone calls and e-mails monthly. 

The Law Center’s goals include the following: 

• Advise Active and Reserve members who have been subject to legal problems 

that relate to their military service. 

• Continue to publish a series of legal review, informing laymen as well as lawyers about employment law. 

• Develop a network of legal scholars, law school clinics and private practitioners 

interested in legal issues of direct importance to service members. 

• Advance world-class continuing legal education on issues relating to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the 

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). 

• Broaden the existing database of USERRA and SCRA research. 

• In conjunction with bar associations, develop standards that will help to ensure 

that lawyers to whom service members are referred for legal services have the 

requisite expertise to represent them effectively. 

Recruiting and retaining members of the armed services depends in part on assuring current and future National Guard and Reserves warriors that laws and regulations are in place to protect them effectively from discriminatory practices. 

The Law Center is functioning at a modest but effective level. ROA is pursuing 

efforts to obtain private or public funding and to identify public and private entities 

willing to sustain this effort in order to expand this service to fuller capacity. This 

is especially needed following potential cuts to ESGR. 

As part of the SMLC and under director Captain Sam Wright, JAGC, USN (Ret.) 

the Law Center maintains the ‘‘Law Review’’ data base and indices contain over 700 

articles on USERRA and SCRA issues (available at www.roa.org/law—review—archive). 

The Law Center’s services include: 

• Counseling: Review cases, and advise individuals and their lawyers as to lawfulness of actions taken against deployed active and reserve component members. 

• Referral: Provide names of attorneys within a region that have successfully 

taken up USERRA, SCRA and other military-related issues. 

• Promote: Publish articles encouraging law firms and lawyers to represent service members in USERRA, SCRA and other military-related cases. 

• Advise: File amicus curiae, ‘‘friend of the court’’ briefs on service member protection cases. 

• Educate: Quarterly seminars to educate attorneys a better understanding of 

USERRA, SCRA and other military-related issues. 

The Service Members Law Center is available at www.roa.org/Servicemembers— 

Law—Center. 

CONCLUSION 

ROA and REA appreciate the opportunity to submit testimony. ROA and REA 

look forward to working with the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on Economic Opportunity , so that we can present solutions to these and other issues, and 

offer our support, and hope in the future of an opportunity to discuss these issues 

in person. 

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ROA and REA encourage this Committee to utilize the Service Members Law 

Center as valuable assets, and to share its law reviews with your constituents and 

other Congressional members. 

f 

Submissions For The Record 

Support Letter For Work for Warriors Program (WFW) From: Military Department Office of the Adjutant General, California National Guard, 

(CNG) 

Work for Warriors Program Information Paper 

The Work for Warriors Program (WFW) was established in 2012 with funding appropriated in the Department’s 2012–13 state budget. The mission of the WFW program is to reduce unemployment in the California National Guard (CNG) by 25%. 

State funding provides for the following personnel: one Program Manager, two Applicant Coordinators, one Information Technology Specialist, and one Business Coordinator. In addition, the Department augmented the WFW program with an existing 

State Active Duty position. 

WFW directly places unemployed CNG members into jobs. Businesses contact the 

WFW Business Coordinator and provides details on job openings. The Applicant Coordinators identify unemployed CNG candidates that meet the specific job requirements. The WFW staff then guides the unemployed CNG member all the way 

through the hiring process (resume preparation, interview, and employment acceptance). 

The WFW program also focuses on reducing the high unemployment rates of CNG 

units returning from deployments overseas. CNG units returning from deployments 

have recently reported having 50% civilian unemployment rates. Federal programs 

that assist deployed reservists do not begin until 180 days after the service member 

returns to California. To close this gap, the WFW staff contacts the units while they 

are still overseas and prepares them for reintegration into the civilian workforce. 

Once the unit is back in the United States, the WFW staff provides the unit with 

program information at their federal demobilization site, often located in another 

state, and begins setting up job interviews for deployed service members. This process has been extremely successful in placing Soldiers and Airmen in jobs immediately upon their return, thereby reducing the high unemployment rates of our returning CNG units. 

With regard to the program’s outreach efforts, our staff uses the existing CNG 

chain of command to ensure unemployed service members are made aware of the 

WFW program. The Department is also using social media and web services to get 

information to service members. Leveraging this no-cost method of communication 

has allowed the WFW team to push information quickly to mobile devices and computers and place members into jobs as quickly as 24 hours from receiving a job 

opening. 

The WFW program has shown to be very effective in placing unemployed CNG 

members. The program is remarkably cost effective compared to federal standards 

and represents significant savings to the government when factoring in unemployment compensation costs. Successful federal veterans’ employment initiatives typically have a total cost of over $10,000 per veteran placed. The Department’s WFW 

program has a total cost of $500 per placement. 

The following WFW program information incorporates data from the program’s inception on March 29, 2012 through the 2012 calendar year: 

• Number of Servicemembers Directly Asking for Employment Support: 2,171 

• Number of Resumes Completed: 875 

• Number of Resumes Submitted for Interviews: 975 

• Number of Servicemembers Placed into Jobs: 965 

• Number of Companies Providing Jobs to Fill: 92 

The WFW program has helped hundreds of California’s Guard members find employment so they can support their families and contribute to their communities. 

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59 

Support Letter For Work for Warriors Program (WFW) From: SPC Edwin, 

Lopez 

To whom it may concern, 

My name is SPC Edwin, Lopez. I am a member of the U.S. Army National Guard. 

I have been with the work for warriors program for the last few months and it has 

been one of the most helpful programs I could of asked for. I’ve been under SFC 

Reyes who has been assisting me since I joined. I was let go from my job which 

I spent 2 years working for last year. It has been a struggle since then to find a 

steady job. I eventually lost my car, apartment, and any sense of independence. I 

don’t have much family here in California so I found myself jumping from couch to 

couch while actively looking for work. I eventually became homeless. It became even 

harder looking for working when my number 1 priority was finding a safe place to 

sleep and food to eat. I then reached out to my father retired SGM Lopez and uncle 

who referred me to the program. SFC Reyes contacted me and from then on out he 

showed a genuine concern for my future and well being that I wasn’t used to. He 

contacted me every day to make sure I was ok while actively searching for a solution. When I didn’t have family here and my unit wasn’t providing the true help 

I needed SFC Reyes and his team were there for me. Eventually SFC Reyes suggested joining California Conservation Core. After going through a plan we agreed 

it was a great option. From there SFC Reyes provided his personal transportation 

to gather what things I had and drove me to the Joint command building to provide 

a night of stay til I left for S. Lake Tahoe the next morning which is where my center is. Within that night I met Major Shepard and many members of the team. I 

really felt like family because of how good they treated me. They didn’t judge me 

for being in the position I was in and had many positive words and ideas for me. 

They even drove me to the local Wal-Mart and gave me money to buy hygiene essentials and things I would need to get through until I started getting paid the next 

month at CCC. The whole team was just a large group of people who really did 

wanna help get me out of my current situations. SFC Reyes, Major Shepard, and 

their team did more then just ‘‘their job’’. Within a few months I went from homeless without a dollar in my pocket to an active member of the CCC. I am currently 

housed in Tahoe eating 3 meals a day working and earning certifications that will 

improve my work experience and resume. All of my recent success is in very large 

part of SFC Reyes and the Work for Warriors program. Even now SFC Reyes stills 

contacts me and refers jobs and offerings to me. I cannot thank SFC Reyes and his 

team for all the help they have provided and still continue to provide for me! I must 

say that the Work for Warriors program is the most helpful program I have seen 

in the army. I would refer it to any soldier in need and know that they will be taken 

care of. Once again THANK YOU SFC Reyes, Major Shepard, and every single 

member of your team! I don’t know where I would be without you guys! You are 

much appreciated! 

Sincerely, 

SPC Edwin, Lopez 

To Whom It May Concern: 

I recently received assistance from the Work for Warriors Program to obtain a 

new Career with Cintas Corporation. SFC Reyes and 1LT Mitchell were extremely 

helpful in providing leads and giving advice to get through automated screeners in 

order to get interviews in a tough job market. Since being hired on at Cintas a 

month ago I am already moving up within the company. It took time, but the program was instrumental in me finding my new career. 

Sincerely, 

SSG Oldridge, Robert D. 

I began my search about three months ago upon returning from Afghanistan. I 

utilized a number of online web postings and head hunter sites without a lot of success. At one of our yellow ribbon events I was introduced to Work for Warriors and 

after talking with some of the representatives of the program I decided to check out 

their website. 

I contacted Work for Warriors by calling the Team phone number list on the site 

and within a few hours I had the application for a job that I found the their website 

as well as a list of documents needed to apply. I filled these out and returned them 

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to Work for Warriors who liaised with the hiring manager directly to put in my application. This was a huge part of the process because now I had an organization 

that the hiring manager was familiar with recommending me to a position. I was 

contacted for an interview a day later. 

The Work for Warriors team prepared me for the interview and told me what I 

needed to bring, wear to the interview and even roll played how the interview would 

go. I went into the interview feeling very confident and prepared. About three hours 

after the interview, I received a call saying they wanted to offer me the position. 

Work for Warriors works and works well. The liaison between the companies and 

the Service Member really sets the program apart from just applying to online job 

search engines. 

-James Wolf, 1LT, MI 

Approximately two months ago I was contacted by a member of the ‘‘Work for 

Warriors’’ program regarding a fellow soldier seeking employment. I was listed as 

one of his character references. As it turns out, the member of the program was Sal 

Reyes, someone that I have known for quite some time. After giving him the requested information regarding the soldier, we ‘‘caught up’’ on old times. It was then 

that he informed me of what he does and the ‘‘Work for Warriors’’ program. I stated 

that I was unaware of the program, and had been out of work since terminal leave 

(from deployment) ended in February of 2012. He asked for my information and 

copy of my resume. He came back with several employment opportunities throughout the state of California. I was insistent on staying in San Diego and in the Aviation field. Sal Reyes was persistent and contacted a local employment agency that 

I had previously used during the summer of 2012 but met with no success. I was 

skeptical, and I was wrong. I am currently going through the employment process 

with a large government contractor headquartered here in San Diego and expect to 

begin 13 March 2012. Work for Warriors works and I am very grateful! -SFC Helms 

f 

Los Angeles Times Article ‘National Guard soldiers and airmen face 

unemployment crisis’ 

NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN FACE UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS

NO LONGER ’WEEKEND WARRIORS,’ AN ESTIMATED 20% OF RETURNING GUARD MEMBERS IN THE U.S. ARE JOBLESS. SOME EMPLOYERS ARE RELUCTANT TO HIRE THEM

BECAUSE, UNLIKE OTHER VETERANS, THEY CAN BE CALLED UP AGAIN. 

November 23, 2012 — By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times 

For 1st Lt. Ernest Rodriguez, weekly chats with his young daughter via phone 

or Skype are the highlight of duty in Afghanistan. 

The father from Sacramento desperately wants to come home to 7-year-old 

Samantha. But instead, he has signed up for another year in the war zone. He 

needs the money and he knows that returning National Guard troops face high unemployment. 

More than half of those in his unit had no work when they got back to California 

in August. Across the country, an estimated 20% of returning National Guard soldiers and airmen are without jobs, former National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Craig 

R. McKinley told Congress earlier this year. That is twice the rate for all military 

veterans who have served since September 2001. 

The Obama administration has helped reduce the unemployment rate for all recent veterans, from 15% nearly two years ago to 10% last month, by developing online tools to help returning troops find jobs, working with employers to increase recruitment and retention, and signing into law tax credits for hiring veterans. 

But the rate remains stubbornly high for National Guard members and military 

reservists. Some employers are reluctant to hire them because, unlike other veterans joining the civilian workforce, they can be called up again. 

‘‘A person cannot run a company with their most valued asset, their human capital, being taken away for 12 to 18 months at a time,’’ said Ted Daywalt, president 

of vetjobs.com, one of the largest Internet job sites for veterans. 

No longer just ‘‘weekend warriors,’’ the nation’s more than 1 million National 

Guard and reserve members have been transformed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into frontline forces. Even as the wars wind down, the troops are being 

tapped for peacekeeping duties in Africa, Europe and elsewhere. Those in the Guard 

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also have state obligations and can be called to respond to brush fires and other 

emergencies. 

Federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants because of their military service. But such discrimination can be hard to prove. 

Rodriguez, who is 40 and has a college degree, said he submitted hundreds of resumes after he was laid off in 2008 by a Sacramento housing developer. 

‘‘As soon as they found out I was in the Guard,’’ he said, ‘‘I got hardly any sort 

of response from anybody.’’ 

Rodriguez shares custody of Samantha with her mother. By the time he received 

orders to deploy with the 756th Transportation Company, he had exhausted his unemployment benefits and was worried about putting food on the table. So when a 

position opened up in another unit in Afghanistan, he grabbed the opportunity. 

‘‘I didn’t want to be in the ranks of the deadbeat dads,’’ he said. 

Other service members have returned from deployments to find their former employers out of business or their positions axed. The law generally requires employers 

to take them back, but not if they would have been let go even if they hadn’t been 

called up. 

Veteran unemployment is highest among the young. Like their active-duty counterparts, many in the Guard enlist out of high school and have little or no work 

experience before they deploy. The demands on the military have been so high, some 

have not needed to look for civilian jobs in years. 

When Sgt. 1st Class Edward Duen ̃ as got back from Iraq in 2009, many openings 

existed for Guard and reserve members to step in for departing active-duty soldiers. 

The 38-year-old father of two said he quickly found work in Washington state preparing other soldiers to deploy until he, too, was mobilized to go to Afghanistan with 

the 756th. 

But he says there are fewer opportunities like that now. He has broadened his 

search to include law enforcement and security jobs. ‘‘I get call-backs, but it’s very 

competitive,’’ he said. 

His post-deployment leave pay ended in October. He receives unemployment benefits. But even with his wife’s earnings from a store on base, their income has been 

cut by half. 

Although the job market is improving, advocates for veterans fear their employment difficulties will get worse as the U.S. completes its drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon estimates as many as 1 million service members will enter 

the civilian workforce in the next five years. 

Guard leadership says unemployment is becoming a force readiness issue. ‘‘Soldiers can’t show up if they don’t have a car, if they don’t have gas,’’ said Maj. Ty 

Shepard, who heads a state program that aims to slash unemployment in the California National Guard. 

1st Lt. Dalia Sanchez, who commands the 756th, also worries about the toll it can 

take on her soldiers’ financial stability, family relations and mental health. 

‘‘I think it exacerbates any reintegration issues they already have,’’ said Sanchez, 

a social worker in her civilian career. ‘‘It can make depression worse, anxiety worse, 

sleep problems worse.’’ 

Sgt. 1st Class Timothy King, a military police member from Whittier who deployed with the 756th, said his marriage collapsed because he was away for three 

of the last six years. But he needed the deployments because he couldn’t find civilian work. Now he is in divorce proceedings and racking up credit card debt while 

caring for two young children and applying for jobs as a police officer. 

‘‘After being on deployment where your adrenaline is high every single day . . . it’s 

just hard to sit on your butt all the time and not do anything,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t 

feel like much of a man anymore.’’ 

Hoping to head off a crisis, the National Guard in California and other states is 

taking a more aggressive approach to unemployment. 

Under a pilot program launched in late January, members of Shepard’s Work for 

Warriors program reached out to the 756th to help troops start looking for work two 

months before they returned to the United States. They created a database with the 

service histories and educational qualifications of all those in need of employment. 

And they looked for jobs that would be a good fit. 

Trucking and security firms had many openings. But soldiers applying for the 

slots often struggled to translate military skills into terms a civilian employer could 

understand, Shepard said. Work for Warriors staff helped them purge their resumes 

of military jargon and focus on skills that would be useful in the workplace: leadership, discipline, responsibility. 

Others had skills they could not use because they lacked civilian credentials, such 

as commercial driver’s licenses. A new state law will allow troops qualified to drive 

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large military vehicles to obtain the licenses without taking a road test. The California Trucking Assn. has provided vehicles for service members to take the test. 

Work for Warriors also lined up training and certification opportunities for Guard 

members interested in security jobs and will soon begin offering the training itself. 

At the same time, Shepard’s office has been working to address any concerns employers have about hiring Guard members. They can even get a soldier excused from 

training if necessary. 

To date, they have helped find work for more than 300 of the 1,789 members who 

contacted them, he said. 

Nearly four months after the return of the 756th, unemployment among the 159 

current members stands at 17%. That is slightly higher than for the California National Guard as a whole and five points higher than the state unemployment rate. 

The figures don’t include the many Guard members who are using their GI Bill 

benefits to go to school. Guard leaders had high praise for the program, which includes a small living stipend. But they worry that too many are using the benefit 

for subsistence rather than to upgrade their educational qualifications. 

Unless the economy picks up substantially, Shepard said, they too may soon be 

joining the ranks of the unemployed. 

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com 

Æ 

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