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Jim Seida / msnbc.com
Hermes Corcuera, seen here with his wife Amber, in Gig Harbor, Wash., spent six months in Iraq and a year in Korea during his five years of military service. Now he's looking for a new career.
Hermes Corcuera joined the military because he wanted to give back to a country that has given him so much.
But now that he’s done his duty, the 25-year-old Cuban immigrant is finding himself in a position that could be familiar to many soldiers in the coming months and years: Out of the military, and out of a job.
The move to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and potentially cut military spending significantly over the next 10 years is translating into pocketbook worries for many military families.
"For a lot of individuals, it's going to be very difficult, especially if they have families," said Joe Sharpe, director of economics for The American Legion, one of the most prominent veterans services organizations.
A new survey finds that middle-class military families are more likely to be setting stringent savings and spending goals this year, as the military gears up for some major cost-cutting of its own.
The First Command Financial Behaviors Index, which tracks the finances of families with income of $50,000 or more, found that 49 percent of military families were planning to cut back on excessive spending in 2012, compared with 42 percent of nonmilitary families.
In addition, 47 percent of military families said their goals for 2012 included getting out of debt, compared with 38 percent of nonmilitary families. The military families who responded to the monthly survey also were more likely to say they planned to do things like learn to budget responsibly and improve their credit scores.
First Command also found that just one in four of the military families they surveyed think there are enough jobs out there for unemployed veterans.
Corcuera, who immigrated to the United States as a young child, said he is glad to have been in the military.
"It is a very rewarding job,” he said. “I get to serve my country.”
After training as an interrogator and community liaison, Corcuera spent six months in Iraq and a year in Korea. A Specialist E4, he was most recently stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington state.
He said he enjoyed the work.
“It’s another way of saving lives,” he said.
But as the military works to withdraw troops from the Gulf, he said there was not nearly as much need for interrogators and community liaisons. Although he was offered the option to re-enlist, he said the available jobs would have been a step down from his current position, and a foot injury left him ineligible for some of the available positions.
He left the military on Jan. 4, after five years of service.
He is applying for police department jobs, but he said it will likely be months before he hears back. He said many of his colleagues are looking at contract intelligence jobs, but he would rather be a police officer because he likes the idea of working with the community.
“I want a stable career, and for a family that seems like the best option,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said his initial claim for unemployment benefits was declined so he’s sorting out the paperwork for that.
His wife Amber, 31, is hoping she can pick up more personal training work to keep the family afloat until Hermes lands a job. She said the couple, who have two children from Amber’s previous marriage, didn’t have much time to prepare financially for the change.
They are especially nervous about keeping up on their bills because they know a ding in their credit score could affect Hermes’ job prospects.
“We’ve done some things that save us a little bit of money, (but) all in all it’s just a matter of, ‘Hey, I guess we’re broke now,’” Amber said.
The couple said they don’t think they could afford for Hermes to go to school, even with military aid, because they need income to support the family. Amber said they’re struggling to figure out what other options and support systems are out there for veterans.
“As long as you’re in the military, it’s a great career to have. But because it’s a lifestyle rather than just a job, when you’re out, you’re out,” Amber said. “There aren’t a lot of avenues, realistically, for a military person to take.”
Such worries are legitimate, said Sharpe of the American Legion.
Sharpe noted that the unemployment rate for veterans of the most recent Gulf war efforts is already quite high at 13.1 percent. The comparable, non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the general population is 8.3 percent.
Sharpe expects joblessness among veterans to become an even bigger problem now that the military has withdrawn from Iraq and is working to reduce its presence in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the military is being asked to reduce defense spending by $487 billion over 10 years as part of the government’s effort to keep the deficit in check. The tight federal budgets also may mean that there are fewer government jobs available to veterans, Sharpe said.
Sharpe also said military personnel don’t necessarily have the certifications or other training they need to do private sector jobs that are similar to their military training. And although the nation's employment picture is improving, the competition for jobs is fierce.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult,” Sharpe said.
Sharpe is also a reservist at Fort Bragg, N.C., and he said many of the troops he serves with are worried about potential cutbacks. Some are putting off big expenses like a new car and others are planning to use their tax refunds to pay down debt. He said some are even stocking up on items they can get more cheaply at the commissary in preparation for leaving the military.
“There seems to be a wave of panic going through the military community there at Fort Bragg,” he said.
Related:
We are the median: Living on $50,000, military-style
They served, and now they search for work
Leave a Comment:
What real skills does most military people have other than being able to run a couple of miles and urinate on dead people? They don't have any skills which is why they joined the military in the first place.
What real skills "does" most military people have? Maybe they could teach you Englis perhaps.
Hmm, lets see. The following are some but not all fields available in the military. Each has numerous jobs within.
Photograpy, Education, Music, News and media, world languages, civil engineering, construction, electronics, mechanical and industrial engineering, meteorology and oceanagraphy, food/rest/lodging fields, emergency fire rescue, law enforcement, pilot, flight operations, flight support, healthcare; doctors- nurses- administration- techs-physical therapists-research, finance and accounting, business management, purchasing, logistics, supply, office administration and support, Attorney and legal support, human resources, public affairs, Chaplains of many denominations and support staff, nuclear engineers and techs.
You might give an attempt to think before you spew such ignorant nonsense. Or not and just go through life being a loud mouth fool.
VIETNAM VETERAN:
I cannot understand how any veterans can accept this. We have an all volunteer army now, and these are the people who are willing to fight wars that the rest of us watch on TV. As one who got drafted in the '60's and sent to the Nam, I wouldn't expect the military to want to keep a guy like me who wanted no part of the army but was forced to accept it. However, when men and women are willing to put their lives on the line when others don't want to, you don't turn your back on them in the name of saving a few dollars. We had $787 billion to spend on the bankers, and we could sure as hell spend 10% of that on these troops. If they want to stay in the service they should be allowed to do so and damn the deficit!
Edward C. Stengel, Sp4, U.S. Army, 10/19/67 -5/22/69, 221st Recon Airplane Co., Soc Trang, Vietnam
Eddie..
You got drafted for Vietnam and me for Korea. We are different. These Idiots asked to go. That in itself is stupid. Yes, we spent a lot on bankers but we spent a whole lot more to bomb 72 different countries since WWII. Cut the muilitary! Try living like a peaceful country , democratic ,country for a change , inslead of a war mongering, cooporate dictatorship.
Hey, Bobl, good to hear from you again. I understand what you're saying, but I still think we should let these guys stay in if they want to. You're right about the warmongering corporate dictatorship. The real losers are the troops. See you.
Eddie, Take care, best wishes and keep your powder dry.
So... Tell someone who cares, A Rat's A## about a killer's family....I don't! Poor little baby........You volunteered , I didn't , so , don't whine.
yup- you sat on your azz and let someone else fight your battles for you. Tough man. Pathetic
The Military is a Socialist Welfare Program
Really, it is and always has been. It's often for people that have no place else to go. No, it's not free riding as you have to work and perform duties but it's a safety net for many.
Unfortunately, we're facing very hard times thanks to the Bush Administration for getting us into this mess. We all need to remember what war is and the consequences that it brings us even on the home front. It sucks but it needs cutbacks like all of our government programs.
ANY veteran of a war should be GUARANTEED employment for the rest of their lives, PERIOD.
B.S.!!! Anyone who Volunteered for the military, needs to have their head examined.
I agree with you 100%, LeRoy. Thanks for speaking up for the veterans!!!!!!
If no one volunteered you might be drafted unless of course you were too fat dumb or had some kind of health problem. Then again you might like learning a foreign language that would be the other possibility.
Unfortunately the US "elite" (like the 88 year old Kissinger for example) think that soldiers are animals and for nothing good but only to run wars.
Retiredcoastguard, so Texans wouldn't have to worry about getting drafted!
Idiots can't find a job because beating sheep is not a job skill.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/01/army-investigating-sheep-beating-video-011812w/
I can bet many of you complaining about the military were the same ones waving the flag and calling for blood after 9/11? Im sure you did'nt head down to the local recruting office to enlist. Now that the wars are over the military has become a liability in your eyes.
As far as free housing, education, etc. for military members, let me set some of you straight, nothing in the military is free you earn everything you get. Of course if you've never served you would'nt understand that.
These are jobs that are paid for on the backs of taxpayers. The people cant afford it any longer. Its no different then public service personel that the right loves to deride because taxpayers foot the bill. Everyone is going to feel the pinch, the days of heaping it on just one demographic are gone. Lots of people will be unemployed until we put some clamps on unregulated capitalism that allows big business to play one labor market against another. The lack of taxpayers to pay for soldiers and public servants is the result. The chickens are coming home to roost as they say. And its not like people have not been warning of this outcome for years..
Rather than down size, redeploy to the border. That is where the real war is now anyway. Also, for the love of God, I am so sick and tired of the blame Bush comments to explain why we are in the current situation we find ourselves. I am not and was not a Bush supporter, but I am beginning to miss the guy. My life was a lot better then than it is now for all his faults. All you folks want to do is blame Bush for everything instead of coming up with ways to solve our problems. You give me a head ache.
The crash came at the end of Bushes presidency. Its was his policies and deregulation that caused it. Combine that with the right wing fighting everything the current administration tries to do to fix the situation, and that explains why the recovery is slow.
If the shoe fits, wear it.
Hey Freedom, get over it, if you can't move on there won't be freedom for anyone. But then again, maybe that is what you want. Maybe you assume you will be at the top of the heap and you will be free while we are all slaves.
Hey olddog- go to sleep. You bore me.
Wah! This idiot is a whiner and complainer. He gets the GI Bill. It is his own lazy fault if he doesn't use it to make himself more marketable. You don't have to use the GI Bill for college. You can use it to get a Technical degree or go through a technical program.
Only idiots don't use a program that pays for your tuition and fees, gives you $684 a month to help pay for housing, and a $1,000 a semester to pay for books and supplies. All for free. He already did the time and he gets all this without having to pay back any of it and that is not counting the other military benefit programs and military charities that will give him free stuff on top of that also.
If he can't find a job, that means he is lazy and doesn't want a job. He just wants a paycheck.
The US chose the wrong path to go after the WWII. It has pushed hard towards militarism and how there is a huge military complex that doesn't have work anymore for all its employees. Generations of soldiers have been bred and now the pain is big, because the Government cannot keep that direction of militarism anymore. Times change and it will come all upon the economy in the one way or the other.
It's not Obama's fault. This wrong path has been chosen long time ago and supported by all warmongering Congress members.
Other countries like Germany (mainly in Europe) realized early enough that war and militarism is not the way. Now they have become great economical powers and sustain their economies without the need to run wars.
The pain in the US will be big when all these young soldiers will come home and realize that their country has been screwed over for decades by interest groups.
Europe-have become great economic powers. Really? They are damned near all bankrupt.
Of course they didn't need big military budgets,not when the US kept 100.00 troops over there for 60 years. Just so the Russians wouldn't overrun their pussy asses!
Hey Jessica-1170252, Try getting your limbs blown off for a pathetic country that would rather tout the celebretards I'm sure you idolize. Just keep watching jersey shore until the jehadist start killing you and yours here in our country not that you'd notice you weasely load. And for the rest of you slobs, the economy is Obama's failure just like turning bin Laden into fish food is his triumph. We need a second stimulous, I need more ammo for the guns I bought with the first one.
If you can't stick to the problem of the story SHUT UP. When I got out of the Army in 1979 there was a recession too. Somehow it's hard to find a job needing the skillset you learn in Airborne Infantry. The story illustrated the point that ex-military people have an appreciably higher unemployment rate than other people. That's the story. Please settle the political stuff when it's pertinate.
not entirely true because employers many like the discipline associated with military service
When is the last time you folks had to pack your bags in the middle of the night and get on an airplane not knowing where you were going or when you would be back. I agree the gov has to make cutbacks. But don't talk about people that have sacrificed their lives, not being able to watch their kids being born, ect on the sole basis of money. If you enjoy your freedom, support YOUR military. If don't want to stand behind our AF, Army, Marines, Navy, Coast guard, Guard, or reserves...........please fill free to stand in front of them. Just my 2 cents:)
News-flash!!! It's already happening. My husband was among some of the first denied re-enlistment due to overmanning in his job field (his rate). He spent over 13 years in and intended on doing 20+ but was put out with about 4 months to move his family back from overseas, get his affairs in order, find a civilian job, and get the f@ck out. We know so many other people who are getting denied too. My husband attained his bachelors while in service, we traveled to and lived in places we probably never would have went otherwise. The military was a good life and we were sorry to have to leave it. I feel for all the servicemen and women who are about to get shoved back into civilian life because it's so different and so many people just don't understand.
Oh, and it just kills me to drive past the base where we live now and know that I can't go on anymore....and no more commissary *@(&#*&!(#$^!!!!
Mark i joined in 79 . I remember Jimmy well , today is welcome back carter all over again.
This article is an embarrassment and makes me sick. I'm sick of financially irresponsible military families giving us a bad name. There are more than enough funds and programs available in the military that there should be far less debt than the civilian sector. This just makes us all look like a bunch of uneducated idiots that simply leach off the government unable to support ourselves. I tell you, I'm far more financially stable now than I would be had I not joined the military.
As a retiree I agree, I remember the days when a Unit commander had to authorize a soldier to marry, bring family to servicemember's location and such.
What cutbacks?
Five years in the Army and he is still a Specialist, people must understand that they miitary is an means to where they need to go. Take advantange of the education opportunties. Don't live a Champagne lifestyle on a beer budget, do sservice members feel that they are immune to budget cuts. What need is there for a huge military when the threats actually do not exist. A part of the military during the Reagan days, i saw the military build up and the modernization, the money spent on huge programs. Under Bush 41 agreement was made for the US Military to mandated to downsize under Clinton could not avoid this (Graham-Rudman). What many in the military is going through is no different then what thousands have gone through after the ending of every conflict from Civil War through Viet Nam. Remember the speech that Ike made befoe leaving the White House, watch it sometime and you'll see that he ws right then and now.
Five years in the Army and he is still a Specialist, people must understand that they military is an means to where they need to go. Take advantage of the education opportunities. Don't live a Champagne lifestyle on a beer budget, do service members feel that they are immune to budget cuts. What need is there for a huge military when the threats actually do not exist. A part of the military during the Reagan days, i saw the military build up and the modernization, the money spent on huge programs. Under Bush 41 agreement was made for the US Military to mandated to downsize under Clinton could not avoid this (Graham-Rudman). What many in the military is going through is no different then what thousands have gone through after the ending of every conflict from Civil War through Viet Nam. Remember the speech that Ike made before leaving the White House, watch it and think about our nations current economic situation and how we got there.
I believe bush, cheny, rumsfeld and the ceo's of the military industrial complex should have been given flak jackets and rifles and sent to the front lines of the wars they illlegaly created to make billions off the dead bodies of American soldiers that were killed in their quest for oil and money. Now where are the dead soldiers, they are buried and rotting underground while the monsters that created the wars are alive and living the grand life, go burn in hell, all of them.
These families are always crying about the risk their partners are taking going to war and want them home. Now, that these people are coming back they are crying because they are losing their income.
They are facing a stiff job market? Welcome to the real world of the middle class out here.
The funny thing is some of you don't realize that the cuts to the military are one of the things we are going to have to do to try and stabilize America...next will be welfare...you have to know this will be getting cut(s), and then next I can guarantee you that taxes are going to rise for everyone...because if you don't take these drastic steps we are going to be the next (Greece, USSR....or any other country who went belly up) America really needs to realize that we have 'X' dollars and that is all we have. We cannot continue to borrow and print money, soon the dollar will not be the world's tender for trade and then we're really screwed....buckle down everyone...this is just the start.
I am sorry but this situation is part of real life. Welcome to reality and go to school.
Just because you served in the wars ... there are no guarantees of a job.
Thank you for your service... but the jobs were sent out of our country by the ri$h f_cks.
Good luck... try borrowing $$$ and go back to college. I am sick of the $$$$ being wasted on wars. We are NOT the World's Police.
I went on Bragg recently and it doesn't even look like the same base it was 10 or 15 years ago. I understand upgrading and building better facilities but it looks like they are replacing every single building!! That's just crazy!