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Young Veterans Have A Better Shot At Getting Jobs, Thanks To One Small Town

Posted 10/21/08 8:00 am EST by in BRAVE, election 2008


Young Veterans

Methuen, Massachusetts, is a city of approximately 44,600 people, located on the border of New Hampshire, about half an hour north of Boston. As we pulled into our hotel on the main commercial strip of town, I wondered how any law passed in this small city could possibly affect young veterans in the country as a whole. One forgets that many country-changing laws begin in towns even smaller than this.

Alexander and Benjamin McCann returned home to Methuen after serving in Iraq, expecting the transition to civilian life to be somewhat smooth, especially in respect to finding jobs. Alex, who drove Humvees in Iraq, and Benjamin, who served as a Combat Lifesaver (providing emergency medical assistance), assumed they had the skills to land a decent job. (Learn about veterans' issues and sign the petition for BRAVE, the Bill of Rights for American Veterans, here.)

"I figured, 'Oh, I'm a former Marine, a veteran. [I'll] just write it on an application, all my credentials, everything I'm qualified to do. ...There's got to be something out there,' " Benjamin recalled. "So far, it's been nothing but dead ends."

(Watch Alexander and Benjamin's story after the jump.)
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Meet The Troops From Our BRAVE Video -- And Sign The Petition Today!

Posted 10/20/08 1:30 pm EST by in BRAVE


By Andrew Millard

Whoever becomes the next president of the United States will have many issues to think about when he's officially sworn in on January 20. One of his top priorities, we believe, should be how to improve the care for the thousands of young veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last week, MTV introduced the BRAVE petition which outlines five important points the next administration needs to enact for our returning heroes. Ensuring proper health care, education, housing, compensation and employment shouldn't be asking too much when these courageous men and women have put their lives on the line for us.

My job was to produce a video piece explaining what the BRAVE petition was. That meant I needed to find five veterans who would appear on camera to explain each of the calls to action. This should've been the most challenging part of the assignment. However, with the help of the Wounded Warrior Project and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), not only did I quickly find five enthusiastic participants, but I got a firsthand understanding of how important these young vets thought this petition was. Here's a little insight into who they are:


Our first shoot was with Jose Adams, a former Marine sergeant, who now walks with a limp after his legs were riddled with shrapnel while serving a second tour of duty in Iraq. When he returned home to his native NYC in 2006, he didn't have a place to live and was forced to live on the street for three weeks. The "Prevent Homelessness Among Veterans" part of the BRAVE petition was obviously very close to his heart and an issue he's currently fighting for with his employer, Black Veterans for Social Justice.

Justin LaPree was another former Marine who, at first meeting, seemed like a normal, happy-go-lucky 20-something who works at a bank. But Justin did two tours in Iraq and suffered battle scars that no bandage could ever cover. Justin suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an affliction he was diagnosed with after serving seven months in Fallujah. An interesting point he raised while we were shooting was that PTSD is generally not talked about while you're in the military because it can be perceived as a sign of weakness. That's another thing that, according to him, needs to be addressed along with veteran PTSD care.
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