FORBES Job Relief for Batle Weary

Justin Callahan Erik Shaw Related Quotes AXP 45.83 + 0.62 BAC 43.06 + 0.12 DIS 33.09 + 0.20 MCK 60.91 - 0.23 RTN 66.30 + 0.08 undefined undefined

Justin Callahan doesn't remember much about the landmine explosion that crippled him. He recalls only the echo of a large blast, and a shower of dirt raining down on top of him.

The young soldier, then a 22-year-old sergeant in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, was on a routine patrol in Afghanistan. It was a January morning in 2004. Callahan was in charge of an eight-man squad, conducting area clearance and counter mine operations, walking along a dirt road, about 10 yards behind a Humvee.

That's when a small, Soviet-made landmine exploded.

Callahan remembers feeling a frigid sensation sweep through him. "My body was numb and cold," he says. "It felt like I was submerged in ice."

Callahan was rushed to a field hospital, where his left leg was amputated, below the knee. He was then flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he underwent seven surgeries and extensive physical therapy. It was there in Washington, D.C., at a chance meeting in a hotel lobby, that Callahan met John Bardis, CEO of MedAssets (nasdaq: MDAS - news - people ).

The two men started chatting, talking about Callahan's experience as a soldier. Bardis offered Callahan a job that day at his company as a corporate events manager. But the CEO wanted to do more. Inspired by Callahan's story, he recognized that there were many young, disabled veterans, like this wounded sergeant, that had returned home and now needed to find jobs.

So Bardis approached the Health Careers Foundation, a nonprofit health care organization established in 1990. The idea was to create an organization that would directly assist disabled and wounded vets find steady paychecks. On June 1, 2007, Hire Heroes USA was launched, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that connects disabled veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom with career opportunities across the country.

Given the prospect of a recession and the fact that significant numbers of our troops could soon be returning home, the need for programs that help veterans find employment has never be greater. Survival rates are higher in this current war, thanks to advances in body armor and medical technology. But that means there are that many more veterans living with often serious war wounds. An estimated one in four soldiers has a service-connected disability when returning home from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Hire Heroes U.S.A. Common types of injuries include traumatic brain injuries, amputations, and blindness.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for all veterans with a service-related disability is 4.4%. But this figure, the latest available, comes from August 2005, and Hire Heroes U.S.A. contends that it grossly undercounts the true unemployment rate among wounded vets, which it says is 15.8%.

To help these returning men and women, the government has created specific career counseling services and initiatives, but the nonprofit sector has also stepped up and introduced programs designed to help these former members of the military discover new careers in the civilian workforce.

A 2007 report by the Veterans Affairs Department found that 18% of veterans--not just those with disabilities--who had looked for jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed; 25% of veterans who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year. The study concluded that there were a number of reasons for why the country's service members might be having a harder time finding work. After serving in the military for a few years, the report argued, it's unlikely that soldiers have developed the opportunities to access quality careers through networks and mentors. Moreover many employers are unaware of the skills these veterans possess.

More broadly, the government report also found that prospective employers continue to associate veterans with negative stereotypes. They assume vets are inflexible, rigid, lack higher education or are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"A lot of vets get labeled as war mongering killers that can't readapt," says Erik Shaw, who served in Iraq between March 2005 and March 2006 with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Carson, Colo. "That is so far from the truth. Most just want the chance to start a career like everybody else."

Even positive stereotypes can have negative connotations, says Dan Caulfield, a Marine and founder of Hire A Hero, a nonprofit that claims to have helped 10,000 veterans find jobs in the past year.

"Good at 'following orders' means they have no initiative," Caulfield says. "When they say 'disciplined' they mean mindless."

In just the past 12 months, 180,000 veterans have registered on Hire A Hero. "That tells you there is a problem here," Caulfield says. Part of the allure may be the site's social networking attributes. Besides message boards, Hire A Hero's Web site allows vets to blog.

To help out disabled veterans, the government offers a number of programs. The Department of Veterans Affairs runs the federally funded job training program called the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program, which provides assistance to veterans with service-connected disabilities seeking employment. The Department of Labor is also involved, running the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program, where specialists develop job and training opportunities for veterans, with emphasis on those veterans dealing with disabilities.

Hire Heroes U.S.A. says it usually takes two to three weeks to submit interested candidates' résumés to organizations. After applying online, the veteran is contacted by a representative that discusses his or her background and skills. The nonprofit then works to match the veteran with participating companies. There are now more than 3,500 wounded and disabled veterans registered on the site, and about 100 new members sign on every month. More than 200 companies have partnered with the program by making a commitment to donate funds and/or hire veterans, including firms like American Express (nyse: AXP - news - people ), McKesson (nyse: MCK - news - people ) and Raytheon (nyse: RTN - news - people ).

The nonprofit has so far placed 20 disabled veterans with jobs since the project started up last summer. Granted, that's still a small number of success stories, but the nonprofit is quick to point out that it is only eight months old and that its mission is a broad one: It doesn't just want to help a soldier secure a job but instead looks to create a real career path for that veteran. There are more than 250 of its users now in the interview process with various companies around the nation.

One veteran who used the site successfully was Shane Stadtmiller. The 30-year-old fought in Iraq for a year, as an Army Reserve captain. Wounded in the spring of 2005, after a suicide bomber drove a white pick-up truck packed with explosives into his convoy, Stadtmiller came home with lasting effects from his head injuries and started looking for work.

He bought $2,000 worth of suits and began interviewing. A job would be easy to come by, he figured. But Stadtmiller found it hard to convince prospective employers to give him a chance.

"The people I interviewed with, they couldn't relate to what I had been doing," he says. "Everybody says they are vet friendly," Stadtmiller says. "But the truth is, nobody wants to hire you. They think you're uneducated and aggressive."

Stadtmiller became frustrated, even considering at one point re-enlisting in order to pay the bills. He had a wife and two young children to support. But he had decided instead to register online with Hire Heroes U.S.A. Callahan noticed his résumé, read it over and gave him a call to see what kinds of jobs he was looking for.

This past fall, the nonprofit secured him a job, working as a project manager at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Another program designed to help disabled veterans is the Wounded Warrior Warriors to Work program. The new program, which kicked off just a couple months ago, is run by 26-year-old Ryan Kules, a former Army captain who lost an arm and a leg while serving in Iraq.

At the program's Web site, veterans can search job postings from firms like The Walt Disney Co. (nyse: DIS - news - people ) and Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ), which are looking to hire veterans for specific job assignments. There is also a feature that allows users to build résumés. For more personalized help, users can also contact the staff directly, if they want to fine-tune their interview skills and discuss career prospects.

The staff running Warriors to Work right now includes just Kules, along with about a dozen volunteers from around the country. But Kules says he prefers that the program actually remains small at this point so that they can continue to provide more meaningful, one-on-one assistance. Kules is now personally counseling 25 disabled vets. Since the program started up in November, he has helped five find full-time jobs.

The program, sponsored by railroad operator CSX (nyse: CSX - news - people ), is free to all veterans using the site. "They already paid their dues on the battlefield," Kules says.

Callahan, now 26 years old, says there is no better way to thank veterans than to offer them paying jobs.

"Everybody wants to thank a vet," he says. "Well, the best way to do that is to let them get back to work, to contribute to a team and support their families."