Two years ago, [Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden] launched Joining Forces, a nationwide campaign to rally all Americans to support our veterans and military families. We did this for two simple reasons: because we were both awed by the courage and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day to protect our values and keep us safe. We were also awed by their families, the spouses and children who serve right along with them, enduring deployment after deployment with grace and resolve.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/30/michelle-obama-jill-biden-vets/

The White House has announced that President Obama appointed MilitaryExperts CEO and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Dennis McCarthy as a member of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force.  The commission was created by Congress to study the current structure of the Air Force to determine whether, and how, the structure should be modified to best fulfill mission requirements for the Air Force in a manner consistent with available resources.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/01/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts

… Everyone says they want to hire veterans. Big U.S. firms have pledged through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to hire more than 200,000 over the next five years. Congress has delivered tax credits worth as much as $5,600 to any business willing to hire an unemployed veteran and $9,600 if the vet is disabled.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/after-decade-of-war-troops-still-struggling-to-find-work/2013/03/19/f064a0ba-8810-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html?hpid=z1

With an unemployment rate as high as 50 percent for some National Guard and Reserve units returning from deployment, lawmakers are worried that it’s not just the troops who are suffering — national security is taking a hit as well.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2013/03/military-reserve-unemployment-031413w/

The nation’s biggest banks wrongfully foreclosed on more than 700 military members during the housing crisis and seized homes from roughly two dozen other borrowers who were current on their mortgage payments, findings that eclipse earlier estimates of the improper evictions.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/banks-find-more-wrongful-foreclosures-among-military-members/

Corporations are actively recruiting young veterans from infantry ranks and elsewhere for management or team-leading positions, according to a survey of Fortune 1000 companies to be published in G.I. Jobs Magazine.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/06/military-veterans-top-jobs/1954435/

By Dennis McCarthy

Since 2001, over 800,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves have been called to active duty – some more than once.  Most served overseas, some at bases and stations in the U.S.  Some were called “involuntarily” and some volunteered for active duty assignments.

The one fact that ties all of these men and women together is that, if they were employed at the time the left for military duty, they were covered by a Federal law known as the Uniformed Servicemembers Employment and Re-employment Rights Act or USERRA.  This act provides extremely broad protections for service members, and applies with equal force to employers of all types and in all sectors of the economy.

In my experience as a military commander and senior Defense Department official, the vast majority of U. S. employers complied fully with USERRA.  Many employers have gone well above and beyond the law’s requirements.  But a few employers – whether by ignorance or design – have been shown to violate USERRA.  Doing so subjects them to investigation by the Department of Labor, enforcement action by the Department of Justice, or a private civil lawsuit in Federal Court.

On our news page, we report on a recent case from the state of Washington in which a social services agency connected with the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. In that case a Federal jury awarded a member of the National Guard $485,000 in damages.  The Federal judge in the case then awarded an additional $457,000 in fees and costs.

The size of the verdict makes me think the facts were egregious.  Overall, however, this case demonstrates the strength of the public policy represented by USERRA to protect our men and women in uniform from employment discrimination.  The case also demonstrates the need for employers of all sizes and types to understand their responsibilities under USERRA.

A federal judge Thursday awarded $457,252 in fees and other costs to the attorneys of a Washington National Guard sergeant who earlier this year was awarded $485,000 by a jury that found that she was fired from her job at Catholic Community Services of Western Washington because of a pending deployment to Iraq.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018887090_verdict10m.html

A national legal panel that works to standardize state laws wants to simplify child custody rules for military service members, whose frequent deployments can leave them without clear legal recourse when family disputes erupt.

http://www.thetowntalk.com/viewart/20120719/NEWS01/207190331/U-S-panel-Improve-child-custody-rules-military

There are few leadership training methods as proven as is serving in the miltary. Dawn Halfaker, founder and CEO of Halfaker and Associates, is a shining example.

http://www.inc.com/jj-mccorvey/dawn-halfaker-military-leadership-lessons.html