Is Albie making a smart career choice?

[giblets]

More than 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans were unemployed in January, far higher than the national jobless rate

No.

[Barnabas]

Wouldn't Alby forever be a public employee if he were to succeed in joining the Marines?

[Wezil]

I guess it would depend on his intentions. If he intends to stay in the military and make a career of it he'd probably have job stability. If he wants to use it to move into the civilian world it would appear there is a serious problem. From the article:

Senator Patty Murray of Washington state, chair of the Veterans Affairs committee, introduced legislation in April of last year to give veterans extra assistance after veteran unemployment reached double digits.

The proposed legislation would create and expand federal programs to equip and retool veterans for working in the civilian world and expand job assistance for soldiers going through the transition.

[Dinner]

A lot of the reservists I know ended up unemployed when they came back. Employers aren't supposed to fire reservists but there are tons of loopholes with the main one being if there is a general layoff at a company then the employer can include the reservists in the general layoff. Guess who ends up first on the list to get chopped? Also even if they have their job still when they come back there is the problem of a big one year hole in their career experience so they still end up getting knocked off promotion ladders in their real career when they get back.

[Dinner]

Wouldn't Alby forever be a public employee if he were to succeed in joining the Marines?

He'd have too since it's clear no one in the private sector wants to hire him.

Actually, I don't think the Marines want to hire him either since they've turned him down three times.

[Supr49er]

Well, the New York Islanders do need a goalie.

[Agent Sox]

Military is a bad choice right now because of what the world is gearing up for.

[Dinner]

What's that?

[Agent Sox]

Because it's been like 60 years since WW2 so we're kind of due for WW3.

[Al B. Sure!]

Are there different statistics between enlisted and officers? The article makes no distinction.

For example, this:

The proposed legislation would create and expand federal programs to equip and retool veterans for working in the civilian world and expand job assistance for soldiers going through the transition.

Economic Policy Institute Economist Heidi Sheirholz said that most military veterans are young men with less education, and jobs for that group have been especially hard hit during the recession.

Wouldn't really apply to officers.

[Dinner]

Against who? The Chinese? They're more interested in trying to get rich right now but maybe in another 20-40 years when they've gotten rich enough they might try going for expansion. After the Napoleonic Wars it was ~100 years before another major war broke out in Europe.

[giblets]

Why would there be another world war? The dumbasses over in Europe started the last two and it looks like they've sorted things out. Took them long enough.

[Agent Sox]

Well, maybe we won't be fighting another "state".

[Al B. Sure!]

Well, maybe we won't be fighting another "state".

Fighting an ideology? Islamic Marxism a la Glenn Beck?

[Al B. Sure!]

And gribbler, you said something about how I turn every thread into a discussion about myself or something. You're the one making threads about me!