Waiting recently in Richmond, Va.'s airport, my wife and I watched several dozen young men and women in US military uniform walking to and from flights. We both were thinking about our older son, who's set to join the US Navy in March.
My thoughts also turned to another, similar—yet different—group, one from my generation, the 1960s. That group consisted mostly of males, also very young, who made similar airport walks. But they were rarely in uniform and often tried not to be noticed.
Some of those in Richmond earlier this month may have been shipping out for or returning from conflict; most of those in the 1960s almost surely were. Those in Richmond were volunteers; too many of those of my generation were not.
For me, the most striking difference between the last 8-9 years and the 1960s and 1970s has been in how US citizens have treated their returning warriors. Disdain and derision that greeted many returning from Vietnam have been transformed in the years since the US invaded Iraq into pride and support, if not at first then later.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the magazine GI Jobs and a program known as Troop Transition. More to the point for OGJ readers: Few companies have been more visible in hiring veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan than Chesapeake Energy Corp.
Standings
Late last year, Chesapeake ranked 43rd among 100 companies in a list—2013 Top 100 Military Friendly Employers—published by GI Jobs. That magazine offers US veterans advice on preparing for and finding jobs after service.
It is the energy company's third year on the list and its highest ranking. Among other ranked energy companies are Devon Energy Corp., Dominion Resources Inc., MidAmerican Energy, and Shell.
Chesapeake says that in 2012 it hired more than 600 veterans. In an announcement last year, it said that its affiliate Performance Technologies recruited veterans to make up more than 30% of its 2012 new hires and that veterans filled one in five operating jobs in 2012.
In 2011, Chesapeake touted its partnership with Troop Transition, founded in 2006 to train active-duty, soon-to-be-separated members of the US Marine Corps at bases in California, North Carolina, and Virginia.
At the time, Troop Transition said it created "channels to train and place veterans in energy," especially roughnecks and truck drivers. By late 2011, Chesapeake said it had hired more than 10% of Troop Transition's candidates.
Not all is sweetness and light, however. Troop Transition seems to have gone dormant. Its web site is "under construction," its e-mail address does not work. A company spokesperson for Chesapeake told me it "no longer [has] a working relationship with Troop Transition." And "the two TT programs we worked with–Troops2Roughnecks and Vets RPO–are no longer in business."
OGJ connection
Nevertheless, the two programs represent a contrast to the experience of many returning veterans of my generation. Although most returned quietly to family and employment, a few faced hostile antiwar crowds in ugly, highly publicized incidents.
When I joined the OGJ staff in 1982, the magazine employed or would hire at least four veterans of the Vietnam War, and I may be overlooking some. Their experiences varied: At least one was wounded in close combat in a Vietnam rubber plantation; another spent his tour hammering on a typewriter in the middle of a massive Army base; another two served in support, one in the Navy and another in the Air Force.
Each can tell different stories about the animosity he experienced or heard of upon returning. There is no question, however, that OGJ and its readers benefited from the maturity wrought of their experience in that conflict.