Transition

Up to 360,000 men and women leave the military each year and most are looking for work. Since 2009, over 400,000 veterans have found employment in hundreds of corporate and governmental organizations thanks in part to the work of coalitions and initiatives such as the Veteran Jobs Mission, Veterans Employment Initiative, and Hiring Our Heroes. And hundreds of corporate employers have collectively committed to over one million total veteran hires over the next several years.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Veterans and active military in North Carolina will have access to a new benefits guide launching this Independence Day weekend.

The North Carolina Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs produced a resource guide with details about programs available to those who served and their families.

The 140 page booklet has sections on employment, healthcare, education, disability benefits, and much more.

For the better part of the past half century, Vietnam veteran Bob Luckett has been working in the construction industry.

Luckett, 69, started out as a laborer in a masonry company after completing his military service in 1971. It was tough work at first. His boss “was great, but he worked you to death,” he said, and soon Luckett developed an allergy to the lime in mortar.

“My hands were like hamburgers.”

Benny Kinsey retired from the Army in 2010 thinking his experience as a command sergeant major with two bachelor’s degrees and an MBA would make it easy to land a job in the civilian workforce. 

It didn’t. 

“My transition was absolutely horrible,” said Kinsey, 48, who struggled to get interviews – even to stock shelves at a grocery store. “It was to the point that I was having problems paying my bills.”