congressional primary tonight. they almost have a senate candidate in minnesota this year. those are just the partisan or the idelogically identifying post-9/11 veterans groups. there s also the big one, iava. the first and largest post 9/11 veterans group. they re totally nonpartisan, aggressively nonpartisan, and they are not just influential in politics. they re actively feared on capitol hill and more broadly in washington, d.c. i don t spend a lot of time in washington, but whenever i do, i m usually talking to people about national security stuff. you talk to people in washington about anything that touches iava s political turf and i swear you can take it from me, you can see people retract physically when they start talking about the paul topics. it s better sometimes to be respected and feared than it is to be liked. particularly in washington. particularly when you have a long-term horizon on the stuff you re advocating for, and for the interest of iraq and afghanistan vetera
the idelogically identifying post-9/11 veterans groups. there s also the big one, iava. the first and largest post 9/11 veterans group. they re totally nonpartisan, aggressively nonpartisan, and they are not just influential in politics. they re actively feared on capitol hill and more broadly in washington, d.c. i don t spend a lot of time in washington, but whenever i do, i m usually talking to people about national security stuff. you talk to people in washington about anything that touches iava s political turf and i swear you can take it from me, you can see people retract physically when they start talking about the politaul topi. it s better sometimes to be respected and feared than it is to be liked. particularly in washington. particularly when you have a long-term horizon on the stuff you re advocating for, and for the interest of iraq and afghanistan veterans, seeing that physical reaction on both sides of the aisle, i have to
continues, like iava, like the u.s. chamber of commerce where hiring is the initiative. we re coming together and now we have a significant platform with the entertainment community. what we have to do is better prepare those transitioning service members, those 1 million, to go to where jobs are, to go to where communities understand the value of a veteran as civic assets, as leaders, and today was an important step in that regard because everyone is coming together under one umbrella called got your 6. and if we live under one mantra, it s, we ve got each other s back, and these are the perfect organizations to come together to do this. i m thrilled you guys have done it. i m excited to learn more about it. if folks at home want to learn more about it and get a sense of what you re do w them? it s www.gotyoursix.org.
president obama announced today and told your story and gay this announcement in the navy yard, how do you think this would have affected you and helped you in your particular situation? i got out totally unprepared, had no idea i got out in 2008, 2011 i just got my resume made up and that s thanks to some non-profits like iava. without their help i wouldn t have been prepared. it would have been nice to kind of get a way of getting out, because i feel more at home in afghanistan than i did coming home and getting out of the military. todd, in terms of both this tax credit for employers, hiring veterans and specifically an additional tax credit for hiring wounded veterans, also this reverse boot camp, training for the job market for people coming home from war, how much
most importantly give them a job. that was the next thing i was going to be asking about. that 11% number wh. what do we need to do about that in your estimation? should we also, every time we give the unemployment rate, give the breakdown of veterans, of minorities, of young people? what is your thought and why are we not focused enough on that number? it s a shame to hear some of our veterans can t find jobs. i think it s an important number. there are over 200,000 iraq and afghanistan veterans unemployed now. iava is laser focused on that number. we want to bring that number down below 200,000. every american can help. you can hire a veteran, help train veterans, support organizations like ours spending them back to school. we are working with companies to try to hire them. understand what you saw with these s.e.a.l.s, that s the type