The evening news is filled with moving stories of service members reuniting with their families. It’s certainly inspiring to view our social media feeds populated with videos of our own families and friends committing to 22 pushups a day for 22 days to raise awareness for the alarming suicide rate of our veterans.

However, as uplifting as these visuals may be, we also know it will take more than emotional news stories or feel-good awareness campaigns to help the 250,000 service members the Department of Defense’s Veteran Program Office estimates will transition back into civilian life each year of the next four years.

Returning home from deployment is often a time of happiness. According to Blue Star Family’s 2015 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, for 28 percent of returning veterans, that triumphant homecoming after active duty can be punctuated with difficulty and stress. And while three-quarters of survey respondents participated in some form of military-sponsored transition assistance program, 44 percent of those participants say they still found themselves inadequately prepared for civilian life.

Veterans and their spouses are among the most talented and skilled members of America’s workforce. The biggest challenge veteran’s face is simply not knowing how to search for jobs or how to translate their skills and experience in a way that civilian employers find attractive. Because of this, Raytheon is partnering with the United Service Organizations (USO), to help those who served our country throughout the process of transitioning from military to civilian life.

Raytheon will provide a $100,000 donation to support the non-profit's Transition 360 Alliance, a collaborative initiative that provides programs and services to transitioning service members and their spouses through workshops, personalized career coaching and virtual counseling.

The program’s early success has been heralded by its participants during exit surveys. In fact, 94 percent of participants in 2015 indicated they would recommend the program to other service members facing transition. But, there’s so much more to be done. We need to maximize reach and impact, while bringing best-in-class expertise to the table.

With the support of Raytheon, the USO plans to serve more than 10 thousand transitioning service members and their spouses through virtual career coaching and in-person transition workshops, and we hope others will help us push these goals even further as we grow and progress in this endeavor. We all owe each and every service member a tremendous debt of gratitude for their service to our country.

We must also not forget those who sacrificed who are still with us, struggling to reintegrate as a civilian after so nobly serving our nation. Initiatives like the USO Transition 360 Alliance strive to make the lives of our returning service members healthier, happier and more productive. It is the responsibility of all Americans to help these heroes accomplish one more mission when they return home – achieving the civilian success they and their families so richly deserve.

Wesley D. Kremer and Alan Reyes

Wesley D. Kremer is a Raytheon Company vice president and president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). Alan Reyes is the USO’s Senior Vice President of Operations, Programs and Entertainment.

 


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