Civilians Supporting Warriors

Civilians Supporting Warriors

Civilians Supporting Warriors is a group of University of North Texas students striving to support veterans in the transition of military experience into civilian workforce skills. Managed by the Wounded Warrior Project, Warriors to Work provides registered veterans with a toolkit to connect with employers who value the experience and skills veterans bring into the workplace.

What is the Wounded Warrior Project?

The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) focuses on veterans who have served and suffered a physical or mental illness, injury, or wound during military service on or after September 11, 2001. The program’s mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors through their mental health counseling, career counseling, advocacy programs, and to provide opportunities to be as successful as a civilian as they were in the military (Wounded Warrior Project, 2024). This organization has helped over 240,000 veterans and family members, with that number continuing to grow each month¹.

What are the facts on veteran unemployment?

Based on the WWP Annual Warrior Survey in 2022, 6.8% of WWP warriors with disabilities were unemployed compared to 1.9% unemployment among the general population of post-9/11 veterans (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2022). Of those 6.8% unemployed:

In 2022, 64.2% of WWP warriors indicated they did not have enough money to make ends meet. A PennState Research Study showed that nearly 61% of veterans are underemployed².

How your funds are used:

The Warriors to Work program helps to bridge the gap between veterans and employers by providing resources for each to incorporate veteran skills and knowledge into the civilian workforce. These programs mirror the holistic Total Force Fitness program for overall wellness. WWP Warriors have the benefit of the following tools:

Understanding Wounded Warriors:

Not everybody has family or friends that are veterans, but we all are aware that a veteran transitioning to civilian life has its difficulties. The wounded warriors can come back home after serving our country with both, seen and unseen, scars. Usually, the unseen scars are the worst because people around them may not be aware of the issues.

Wounded warriors, despite advances in new technology, face numerous physical, emotional, and psychological challenges. There is this automatic assumption that veterans have all these benefits just because they serve our country, but it is much more difficult than that. Each year they become even more complex. It takes persistence to have knowledge on what’s available, what’s needed for the process, and to see it through. (Transitioning From Military to Civilian Life: DAV’s Support, 2024) Over the years there have been many support systems and advocacy for the needs of these wounded warriors which require financial support.

In a conversation with US Army Sgt Jade Carbajal and USAF SrA Larissa Naples, they shared the following:

“Leaving the stability and standardization of the military can be scary. Not only do you have to navigate finding a job or going to school, you also have to coordinate housing, insurance, and getting your household goods to wherever you’re heading. Add in even more complexity if you have kids and a spouse. Doing as much of it as you can prior to your ETS can make a huge difference in how prepared you are for civilian life. This preparation should start years before you get out. The best advice we can give is to prepare early by using as many paths for success as possible so when the day arrives for separation, you are less stressed about finding the next steps. Programs like Warriors to Work are excellent at providing service members with their next steps.”

Photo courtesy SrA Naples

From a family member of a veteran:

“As of 2021, there were an estimated 5.1 million veterans who served post-9/11³; my brother is one of them. He joined the Marine Corps when he was nineteen years old and completed his five-year contract but remained on the base in North Carolina working as an aviation mechanic. He had no college degree, but only the training received from the Corps. When he decided to leave the base in 2021 to return to civilian life, he was left with little to no knowledge of how to do so. He spent months searching for employment that matched his work experience in the service, but was left feeling discouraged when potential employers denied his applications that held little college experience. Eventually, he took a job at a local grocery store just to make ends meet. Although, with this income, he was stuck living paycheck-to-paycheck, racking up debt trying to live in this economy.

Even to this day, he suffers with finding adequate employment that would translate his military skills to civilian life. The Warriors to Work program, and this organization as a whole, helps individuals like my brother receive the resources and care veterans need to effectively reintegrate back to the normalcy of civilian life.”

How employers can support Warriors:

Warriors to Work trains and equips employers how to attract and retain veterans in the civilian workplace. To do so, the program created a guide that provides resources to assist employers in better understanding disabilities, writing clearer job descriptions, and even includes tips for the interview process with a veteran. Additionally, information regarding commonly reported service-related injuries and special accommodations to consider are included to help educate employers and lead to a more advantageous workforce⁴. Download a guide for employers and register today. Employer Guide

*all cause disability compared to all veterans and general population⁵

We appreciate the time you have taken to read more about the Wounded Warrior Project and what it means to support veterans in our community. If you are not able to donate, we encourage you to find other ways to support their cause through volunteer opportunities and sharing this link with others in your community. For more information on the Warriors to Work program organized by the Wounded Warrior Project, visit: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/programs/warriors-to-work

Sources:

Wounded Warrior Project. (2022). 2022 Annual Warrior Survey, Longitudinal: Wave 2.

Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life: DAV’s Support. (2024, January 25). DAV.

¹ Retrieved from Wounded Warrior Project Frequently Asked Questions | WWP.

² Retrieved from Mitigating Veteran Underemployment.

³ Retrieved from Profile of Post 9/11 Veterans.

⁴ Retrieved from WWP Employer Resource Guide.

⁵ Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/VETS/files/VETS-FY2022-Annual-Report-to-Congress.pdf

6 Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/vets/latest-numbers