...and young

I have a confession to make, I was in the military when I was younger. There, I said it. Nothing to fear, I'm not going to snap and lose it.  I don't own an arsenal of weapons that I keep loaded next to my bed because I have nightmares. And I don't self-medicate with beer and whiskey to try to calm down. Those are all examples of veteran stereotypes I've heard before.

My experience in the military was not something you'd see in theaters. I was never near combat, rarely handled a weapon, and half the people I worked with were civilians who probably spent their youth protesting against Vietnam. While my experience was not a typical Hollywood blockbuster, I think it was typical of most veterans experiences.

With the Obama administration's personnel changes, hiring veterans in government has become en vogue. So much so, that it isn't uncommon to hear managers complain they ONLY hire veterans (see the comments in this article and in this article).

With managers often convinced they need to only hire veterans, they often hire veterans quicker than they need to.  And when these hiring decisions are based on the damaged veteran stereotype, agencies are not always satisfied with the results.  If the manager is 55 years old and has never been in the military, he/she may have watched too much TV and assume all veterans are homeless and substance abusers.  "We might as well hire this guy!  He's just as bad off as they all are!"  Managers need to remember that the current Pathways hiring authority is a result of abuses of the FCIP program by managers in the recent past.

The problem that hiring managers and the general public suffer from is a lack of understanding about veterans.  It is easier to lump all veterans into the PTSD category than to actually get to know the person and discover that he was actually an Army programmer and has a Master's degree from one of the best engineering schools in the country.  Even when people mean well, they fall into the trap.  In this outstanding Wall Street Journal essay the author details his time in the Marines and his experiences after he returned home.  My favorite part is the moment an older woman started rubbing the author's back like he was a "startled horse in a thunderstorm."  People assume we're all damaged and need pity.  In this GovExec article the author provides a hypothetical meeting between a veteran and a presidential candidate.  She interviews seven people to get their opinion.  Only two of the seven didn't mention a topic related to PTSD, suicide, or mental health.  The problem with the type of article the author attempted is that she assumes all veterans are easily categorized into neat groups.  The truth is that some are conservative, some are liberal, and a lot are apathetic.  And not all of us are about to snap at any moment.

The best veteran-related article I've read is from a guy who doesn't fit any veteran stereotype.  He guest wrote a piece in the Village Voice in 2005.  If you hire people, and you don't know anything about veterans, just remember Mr. McNeil's line in his article: "One of the many wonderful things about the American military is that we usually end up successfully executing plans. Imagine driving from San Diego to Chicago with a map of Coney Island and ending up in the right place anyway."

Happy 4th of July!