Obama Announcing New Programs for Vet Hiring

President Barack Obama plans to announce a new job-hiring plan that could see thousands of post-9/11 veterans filling first responder positions across the U.S., as well as a conservation program intended to put 20,000 vets to work restoring and protecting the nation's national parks.

A third program would teach troops transitioning back to the civilian world how to start their own businesses, officials said.

"Our country owes [veterans] a debt of gratitude, and we must ensure that veterans who come home from Afghanistan and Iraq get the opportunities they deserve," Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki told reporters during a conference call.

Obama noted in his State of the Union message last month the importance of enlisting the country's veterans to rebuild the country but offered no details. His announcement Friday also comes on the heels of testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday that unemployment among a particular segment of young vets is already high and growing.

Ted Daywalt, chief executive of VetJobs.com, a veteran-oriented online employment bulletin board, said unemployment among vets 18 to 24 is already about 31 percent, much higher than the roughly 7.5 percent of non-veterans in the same age bracket.

But he said it is growing worse among reservists as up to 65 percent of employers now indicate they are reluctant to hire men and women who may be called to deploy.

Shinseki, in his comments to reporters, said returning vets shouldn't have to fight to find a job.

The new veterans' preference is aimed specifically at two federally funded grant programs for police and firefighters. Congress already has appropriated $166 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services program and $320 million for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency program, officials said.

Obama said on Thursday that he would ask for $4 billion for the COPS program and $1 billion for the SAFER program next year.

COPS and SAFER grants are available to state and local communities on a competitive basis, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters. Now, when communities put together their application packages for the money, post-9/11 veteran hiring will be a factor.

Obama is also pitching a Veterans Job Corps conservation program, said Salazar, noting that a great many veterans were among the country's first national parks rangers.

Salazar said Obama is proposing $1 billion for the program, which the administration projects will mean jobs for about 20,000 veterans over the next five years.

"Veterans will restore our great outdoors by providing visitor programs, restoring habitat, protecting cultural resources, eradicating invasive species, and operating facilities," he said. "Additionally, [they] will help make a significant dent in the deferred maintenance of our federal, state and tribal lands, including jobs that will repair and rehabilitate trails, roads, levees, recreation facilities and other assets."

The conservation program will be open to all vets, he said, but "have a particular focus on post-9/11 veterans."

The third part of Obama's latest effort to improve veteran hiring calls for expanding entrepreneurship training for vets and troops heading back into the civilian world. The program is being developed by the Small business Administration in conjunction with the Pentagon and VA, officials said.

An intensive, two-day entrepreneur "boot camp" will be available to troops leaving under the Transition Assistance Program. Afterward, they and other veterans will also be able to take an in-depth, online 8-week program teaching the fundamentals of running a small business.

Obama previously has pushed through tax credits for businesses that hire vets and also issued a challenge for companies to hire or train 100,000 veterans and spouses by the end of 2012.

Officials said 40,000 have been trained or hired so far, while about 1,500 companies actually have pledged to take on or train about 135,000 by year's end.

The administration has also directed the Department of Labor to give one-on-one attention and counseling to job-hunting vets at Labor offices across the country, and has developed and pushed online tools and websites to help vets through the process of finding and landing work.

The record of cooperation between the White house and Congress has been poor. The House holds a Republican majority and the Democratic-led Senate often is frustrated by GOP vetoes. But Salazar told Military.com he expects these programs will pass.

"As a former senator, I think there is great bipartisan support for our veterans," he said. "These are initiatives the president needs to have happen. ... We expect Congress to act, and the president expects Congress to act. These are common-sense initiatives to take care of the post-9/11 veterans who are coming home."