Service members attend Hiring Our Heroes event at the Utica Armory
By: Jennifer Lee
Updated: August 3, 2012
They are veterans who've served our country and now they are back adjusting to civilian life.
A job fair here at home is helping area service men and women do just that.
This is Utica's second Hiring Our Heroes event put on by the U.S Chamber of Commerce.
It may be at a different location today, but the job fair serves the same purpose: to get our military men and women get back to work.
Service men and women from the 105th and 107th Military Police Units returned from deployment and are ready to get back into the workforce.
"They return to a family. They return to a community. They just want to be absorbed back into that community," said Major General Patrick Murphy.
Which is why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hosting various Hiring Our Heroes job fairs across the nation.
Since its launch last year, Hiring Our Heroes has helped more than 10,000 vets and their spouses find employment.
Today, at the Utica Armory, more than thirty employers across Central New York came for the same purpose.
"For a veteran coming back home and this being my first deployment. It's good to hear that jobs are out there especially you hear in the news about the bad economy and no jobs," said veteran Sam Roberts.
24-year-old Sam Roberts says he hopes the skills he learned overseas help him land a job.
Although the Syracuse native plans on going back to school he says finding a job can't hurt either.
But, for Glenn Van Arkel, he says he hopes to find manufacturing work.
"Not just a job but a good one for potential for growth and a future," said Van Arkel.
Serving in the military for ten years, Glenn says he may enlist again. And although he may have more experience than other fellow vets- he says it's still tough.
"We just got back about a month ago. I was hoping the economy would have gotten better. It's about the same as it was when I left, if not, not quite as good," said Van Arkel.
Hiring Our Heroes has held more than 200 hiring fairs across the country. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it is committed to hire 500,000 vets and military spouses by the end of 2014.
