I recently met a veteran from Iraq; he had two master’s degrees and was only able to get a job from the federal government because the United States shuffled his paperwork to the top of the line as a result of his service to the United States military. His story is unusual. According to this Op-Ed piece by United States Senator Patty Murray for the Seattle Times, there are as many as one million veterans who are still unable to find jobs.

Senator Murray’s contention is that the lack of employment for veterans is a problem that should be addressed immediately; not only have our veterans served our country with too many sacrifices to count, our veterans often represent a more skilled workforce capable of being trained in many different arenas.

As Chair of the Veteran’s Affairs Committee, Patty Murray introduced the Hiring Heroes Act, which has provisions requiring job retraining for recent vets, tax incentives for businesses who hire vets, and help for older vets. The Hiring Heroes Act passed the United States Senate unanimously earlier this week.

If we as Americans are going to truthfully honor our veterans, no matter what we think of the wars they served in, we need to help them make positive transitions back into American life and the the workforce here.

As someone who lived abroad for several reasons for different reasons, I can attest to the fact that re-positioning yourself in the work force after living abroad is hard. It’s even harder for many veterans who had no prior work experience before heading off to fight in wars.

According to a news piece that I saw on PBS, many veterans have difficulty finding jobs because employers aren’t familiar with their skill sets or are concerned that the returning soldiers who fought for our country have PTSD.

This is absolutely unacceptable. This is not a good way to treat the men and women who were willing to fight for our country. As Patty Murray observed in her Op-Ed piece in the Seattle Times, the private sector needs to do more to ensure that they are not turning away qualified veterans for positions. Service in the United States Armed Forces demonstrates a solid work ethic and an ability to work under difficult circumstances.

An honorable discharge should be sufficient to ensure either employment or specific job re-training tailored to the veteran’s particular skill set.