Alex Nelson, U.S ARMY Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Retired spoke to us on the subject of "Why would a company take a chance on hiring a retired Military person or current National guard member?"

With over 100,000 veterans in search of employment CSM Nelson and others like him are trying to educate the public employers of the value of the skills carried by veterans to their interview and the immediate application they could have. Good example is the truck driver shortage even though there is a ready pool of drivers if the civilian/legislative world will grant direct conversion to a CDL license instead of mandatory civilian schooling. Same applies for heavy equipment operators.

Closer to home CSM Nelson is striving to organize a virtual town for students to emulate/copy the workings of adult businesses and services in the town of East Bend, NC. For example a lawyers office could take on a student in an apprentice roll for a real world application vis a vis other students in other business roles, needing legal advise.