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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Brooke Army Medical Center
San Antonio, TX,
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Employment is the dominant concern of most service members reentering civilian life. This is particularly true of our wounded, ill and injured service members returning from the Global War on Terror.
At the Department of Labor, we recognize that obtaining meaningful employment is a key component in their recovery. To that end, I launched the REALifelines (RLL) program in 2004 to help returning wounded and injured service members find meaningful employment upon completion of their military Service.
Today, REALifelines is supported by both federal and state employees who are assigned at many of the major medical treatment facilities and Warrior Transition Units. REALifelines employment specialists conduct employment assessments with wounded and injured service members as they become stabilized at the Medical Treatment Facilities or Warrior Transition Units.
But our care for service members doesn't end there. The Department of Labor follows up with these veterans all the way back to their hometowns and helps them get good jobs. The Department does this through the nation-wide network of over 3200 One Stop Career Centers in America's public workforce system, which is funded by the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor also helps service member's spouses and caregivers get good jobs, and to date, the Department has helped address the employment issues of nearly 7,000 wounded and injured service members and their families.
The Department has a particularly close partnership with the military at Brooke. The Army has equipped our REALifelines representative, Jerome Studivant from the Texas Veterans Commission, with an office inside the Soldier Family Assistance Center. In this way, case managers can simply walk down the hall to connect job-seeking soldiers, and their families, with employment assistance. And I'm pleased to report that since 2006, nearly 100 service members and five spouses at the Brook Army Medical Center have received employment assistance through REALifelines.
So let me thank everyone here today for all you are doing to provide hope and help to our men and women in uniform. They have been there for us. Now it's our turn to be there for them. And it is a great honor to serve them. We will never forget their sacrifices, or those of their families. They make everything our country has achieved possible. God bless them and God bless America.
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