Program helps vets find work

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Nov 3, 2005 | by Tim Simmers, BUSINESS WRITER

ROLANDO LUIS was one of the first U.S. Army airborne infantrymen to parachute out of a plane in Iraq and become a combat soldier on the ground.

Now he's back in the Bay Area from the war, and at first it was tough to get meaningful work to earn enough money to support his wife and new baby.

"My job in the military had nothing to do with anything in civilian life," said the 23-year-old Luis, now living back in his hometown of Antioch. But a new job-assistance pilot program has steered Luis into X-ray technician training that is making his adjustment back home much easier -- especially after "sleeping in the mud" when he first got to Iraq and experiencing the life of an infantryman.

About 60 to 100 veterans, many from the Iraq war, are discharged in the greater Bay Area each month. Some are taking advantage of a state pilot program in Alameda County called the Veterans' Employment-Related Assistance Program (VEAP), a federally funded grant supervised by the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board.

The group, which started in February with a $300,000 grant from the state, helps veterans leaving the service find careers and job leads. The program is for soldiers released in the last four years, and is available to vets all over the Bay Area.

Many veterans find it difficult connecting the skills they acquired in the military with jobs. Some don't have translatable skills from the military and need training and education. VEAP helps with that, too.

Joe Pinder of San Leandro, who was an MP in theAir Force, just received financial help from VEAP to attend a local police academy, and is now training for police work.

"It was a big help for my transition," said Pinder, 29. VEAP helped him extend his unemployment benefits for the six months of the police academy training. The program also paid for his books, uniform and the academy in Pittsburg, which is sponsored by the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office.

"It's a great support network," said Pinder, who was stationed in Wyoming as part of a Homeland Security mission. "It would have been very difficult financially without their help."

Tony DeVenuta, president and chief executive officer of Cyberspace Technologies, is a veteran of the Vietnam War who likes to hire veterans for his information technology and engineering service company in Lafayette.

"We were outcasts coming back from the Vietnam War," said DeVenuta, still disabled with a shoulder injury. "I like to hire vets and try to help make their transition easier."

DeVenuta also likes the fact that veterans can get easy security clearance for military-oriented technology jobs.

DeVenuta just won two government contracts from the U.S. Army and Navy, and is gearing up for some hiring.

There also are apprenticeship jobs available for veterans in fields such as carpentry, plumbing, painting and electrician work.

"We want vets in our program," said Bill Deslaurier, apprenticeship director at the Associated Builders and Contractors Golden Gate Chapter in Pleasanton. "We like their character, leadership skills, discipline and that get-the-job-done style."

Deslaurier's group works through VEAP and has apprenticeship jobs all over the Bay Area.

"We're trying to determine what the needs are for the vets, and to steer them into in-demand, high-paying careers and jobs," said Roy Bertucelli, project coordinator at VEAP. Bertucelli is making a push for jobs in the areas of high technology, biotechnology and health care. Bertucelli hopes to get more funding for the program soon.

Nate Linton, 23, of Fremont just got back from the Iraq war last year. He drove trucks there, and was an operations clerk who shipped equipment and paperwork in the war zone. The VEAP program helped him get into A-1 Trucking School in Hayward, where after four weeks of training Linton will be driving big-rig trucks.

"I was tired of temporary agencies, and (VEAP) got me into this school," Linton said. While he's driving a truck, Linton plans to study to be a radiology technologist in community college.

VEAP also has put together a resource guide for veterans targeting services such as training, schools, rehab, child care, shelter, food and medical care.

For more information, call 1-877-772-2941, check the Web site http://www.acwib.org, or send an e-mail to VEAP@acwib.org. The Solano County Workforce Investment Board also has a VEAP pilot program. The hotline is 707-863-3531.

Tim Simmers can be reached at (650) 348-4361 or tsimmers@sanmateocountytimes.com.