December marks the return of many of our men and women in uniform. When they return, they will begin a new chapter of their lives and will require the support of their communities, the government and business leaders. Former Navy Petty Officer Ronnie Reum has experienced the support of the American business community first hand. The Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer Inc. of Milwaukee is a startup accelerator offering veterans mentorship and financial support. Many similar accelerators exist today because it is easy to see how lessons learnt from military service translate to a business environment. The U.S. Chamber's Hiring Our Heroes program is a nationwide effort to assist veterans and their spouses in finding sustainable employment in our tough economy. The program will close 2011 with one last job fair in Virginia.

According to an article from the Wall Street Journal:

Ted Lasser, executive director of VETransfer, says there are about 40 veterans who currently want to get in. The program, based out of a 15,000-square foot facility, is funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and led by a team of six entrepreneurs. He initially expected it to provide free mentoring and resources to only about a dozen veteran-owned start-ups. But to date the program has managed to make room for about 160, serving about 60 on-site and the rest via the Web.

The unemployment rate for veterans who served in the military at any time since September 2001—so-called Gulf War-era II veterans—is 11.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national unemployment rate currently stands at 8.6%.

Due to structural shifts in the economy, there is "decreasing demand for the kind of blue-collar jobs that many veterans were trained for as part of their duties in the military," says Richard Burkhauser, a professor of economics at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

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