Do you have any military veterans in your work group? Are there any in your company?
As we stopped to pause on Remembrance Day at 11:00, we need to think about not just the veterans from the Great Wars but from the more recent wars.
Every year more than 4,000 men and women leave the military and transition to civilian life. Their average age is 37 and they have a lot to contribute.
Veteran Affairs Canada has a really neat chart that describes some common military roles and lays out their responsibilities.
Did you know that a Combat Engineer is responsible for building and maintaining roads, airfields and bridges? We may think that road work is tough in our hot summers. I bet it is nothing compared to doing it in Afghanistan.
Supply Technicians take care of purchasing, warehousing and inventory control of food, fuel, tank parts, clothing and a host of other items required to keep a large group of people at optimal performance in crappy conditions.
These are big jobs being done far from home with pressures and obstacles that can be daunting.
We would be hard pressed to have employment conditions that are as difficult no matter how fast our company is growing, or how much pressure we feel from the investors.
You can check out the Veterans Affairs Canada for more details and for information on different programs being offered to employers to help connect them with former military folks.
There is a really cool program called Helmets to Hardhats that is supported by construction companies and unions. The program works to remove barriers and increase awareness of the skill sets that are available in this remarkable group of people.
We owe to veterans and to our companies to talk more about this. They have already served us. Now it is our turn to serve them.