# AbilityOne Day highlights benefits of federal employment program

/ Published Oct. 18, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio, 
“I didn’t think this could ever happen to me.”

Scott Owens was a rising star in his platoon within the Army’s historic 101st Airborne Division. Selected as his unit’s Radio Telephone Operator, he was tasked with relaying critical messages to his fellow Soldiers on the battlefield. 

He fulfilled those duties during two combat tours to Iraq during some of the conflict’s deadliest periods. And it was in the performance of those duties that he sustained his life-changing injuries during a firefight south of Baghdad.  

Owens recalled his story during a presentation inside the Defense Supply Center Columbus auditorium Oct. 5 as part of the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime’s day of recognition for the AbilityOne federal program.   

AbilityOne connects a national network of more than 600 nonprofit agencies that employ more than 40,000 disabled people. It’s the largest single provider of jobs for people who are blind or have other significant disabilities in the United States.

 “I felt like I was in a movie,” he said. “Mortar rounds started exploding all around me, and I was inside the ‘kill zone’. The only reason I’m still alive is because I fell down behind a stone wall.”

Owens was knocked unconscious by the blasts and has no memory of the weeks that followed the incident. He was alive, but something inside his brain didn’t feel right. He suffered from memory loss and frequent confusion, but despite his injuries he was able to finish his military commitment. 

After two years of struggling to find work outside the military and suffering from frequent headaches, Owens visited a Veterans Affairs hospital where doctors discovered he had a traumatic brain injury and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

He was admitted into the AbilityOne program and eventually found employment with ServiceSource, a nonprofit disability resource organization. ServiceSource allows the AbilityOne program to deliver nearly $3 billion in products and services to the Federal government.

“Locally, the agency has committed more than $12 million through the program in the most recent fiscal year,” DLA Land and Maritime’s Acting Commander, James McClaugherty said. 

“Contracting with AbilityOne results in more meaningful and purposeful solutions than just about any other type of contracting that we do.”

After sending out nearly a thousand resumes following his military service, Owens says the call from ServiceSource was the only interview he was offered during more than two-and-a-half years of attempts. 

“Disability is not the same as inability,” Owens said. “Currently there are about 3,000 veterans with stories similar to mine who are able to be good citizens and providers for their families thanks to this program.”

As part of the AbilityOne program’s Speakers Bureau, Owens travels the country sharing his story and offering encouragement to others who face similar difficulties finding meaningful employment. 

His mission today takes place far from the battlefields of Iraq, only now he is relaying critical messages to those with disabilities and a desire to contribute to the federal workforce.