2006年VOA标准英语-Combat Veterans Search for Civilian Careers

By Kane Farabaugh
New York City
20 November 2006
 
watch Job Fair report

Some members of the U.S. military are finding the transition back to the civilian¹ workforce² difficult after a combat deployment³ to Iraq or Afghanistan.  Even though certain laws protect jobs held by National Guardsmen and reservists while serving on active duty, the number of unemployed⁴ veterans is growing -- and many are unable to find jobs despite having valuable skills. VOA's Kane Farabaugh visited the "Salute⁵ our Heroes" job fair for veterans sponsored by the New York Times Group.

 
Lee French was searching for a job in the shipping⁶ industry
Lee French is 24 years old.  He has a degree from Carnegie Mellon University and he is also a military veteran who served in Kuwait during the current war in Iraq.  There he managed a shipping port and supervised an international staff of 60.

Today, he's unemployed, and frustrated⁷.

"I interviewed with a shipping company, and they saw my resume on-line and e-mailed me and asked me to come in. And once I showed up, I guess the guy was surprised that I was so young.  He told me he would call me back, but I haven't heard from him since," said French.

 
Michael Ortiz came back from combat to find out his job was ending
Michael Ortiz has a degree from New York's Hunter College.  He is also a decorated war veteran, serving as a lieutenant⁸ in the U.S. Army National Guard with a transportation unit deployed⁹ to Iraq. He had a job at his alma mater, Hunter College, before he went to the war, and thought he had it when he came back.

That wasn't necessarily the case.

"So I go back to work in January of '06,” he said, “one, to find out that I was given a job, but I wasn't in the same status, and two, to find out that the job itself was ending because it was a grant-funded program, and that grant was unfortunately de-funded."

Michael Ortiz and Lee French are two of the thousands of job seekers who attended the "Salute our Heroes" job fair at New York's Convention Center.  As the war continues, more and more people like Ortiz and French are returning to the United States as combat veterans.  Their stories echo the frustrations¹⁰ many veterans face.  Some employers would rather take practical experience over military qualifications and education.  Others aren't keeping jobs for their deployed employees, or reduce their position upon their return.

 
Solomon Watson
Solomon Watson, chief legal officer for the New York Times Group, says that is part of his group's motivation in hosting job fairs across the country, exclusively for veterans. "In large measure, while we are gaining some revenue and profit from this, we are motivated by helping¹¹ get jobs for people -- servicemen and servicewomen -- who are looking for jobs, by bringing together employers and agencies who are looking for well qualified¹² people."

One of those agencies is the National Aeronautics¹³ and Space Administration, or NASA, where most of the astronaut corps¹⁴ is either veterans or current members of the military. 

Coast Guard Captain Daniel Burbank, an astronaut, said, "There's a lot of technology that veterans get an opportunity to work with and they've got a lot of talents in that area, and it's the same kind of technology -- aerospace¹⁵ technology for example -- that we use on a regular basis at NASA.  Whether it be robotics, or the work with aerial vehicles and those things like that, that has direct application to what NASA does."

  
  
Stella Okigbo, who is from Nigeria, joined the U.S. military to say, “thank you” to the country that gave her citizenship¹⁶.  Now back from Iraq, she has a job waiting for her once she finishes active duty but is here looking for work for her friends in uniform. 

"Some of my fellow soldiers couldn't even make it out here,” she said, “so I decided¹⁷ I'll come out here to look out for things for them get things for them, and to tell them what's out there so that they could make a smooth transition to a civilian job if they don't have one."

Michael Ortiz walks the hall knowing that he has a limited amount of time to find a new job.  And even though his wife hasn't worked in five years, she is also looking for work to help pay the bills that comes with a house and children.

Despite the hardship, Ortiz takes his situation in stride. "There are veterans that are unemployed, there are veterans that are homeless.  That's the group that we seriously got to think about and I think help.  If I'm taking advantage of this, it's because it's here, but I don't think my story is unique at all."

As Lee French stops by the dozens of booths looking for work, he has all but given up hope of finding a job in the shipping industry, despite his military experience. "I'm just looking for an entry level position, something to get my foot in the door at a printed media or production company."

French is part of a growing demographic among veterans.  In 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor¹⁸ reported that Gulf¹⁹ War veterans between the ages of 18-24 years of age had an unemployment rate of 18.7 percent -- compared to 10.4 percent for non-veterans in that age group. The unemployment rate for all veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces was 3.9 percent, lower than the national rate of 4.4 percent.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

3 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

4 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

5 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

9 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

13 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

14 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

15 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

16 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

17 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

18 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

19 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。