Vietnam War veteran Col. Duane E. Hardesty is convinced that the Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans who are now flooding back into the workforce bring extraordinary skills, commitment and productivity. 

He believes that transition support for service members injured in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) will yield employable men and women who add great value to the companies that hire them.  And, he's bet his career on it.

For nearly 10 years Hardesty has been the outreach manager of global defense company Northrop Grumman's "Operation IMPACT (Injured Military Pursuing Assisted Career Transition)."  The program provides support and employment to injured veterans and their families and has grown to include collaboration with other companies committed to hiring veterans through a "Network of Champions."

Regarding Operation IMPACT he explains, "We wanted to put into place a program that would help our wounded warriors so they would not end up like veterans who returned from the Vietnam War - injured and lacking a support system to help them transition back into the workforce."

He emphasizes that the Operation IMPACT involves not only the wounded warrior, but their families as well.  In cases where the service member has died or is too severely injured to serve as the primary wage earner for his or her family, the program is made available to one alternate wage earner in the family, such as a spouse or parent.

In fact, the first person hired in the program was the father of a service member who was severely injured in Iraq in June 2003. He quit his job and moved to Washington, D.C., to help his son recover from a bullet wound in the back of the neck that left him paralyzed.  After meeting with an Operation IMPACT team member at a center for veterans, this dedicated father was hired for a position at Northrop Grumman.

Since then the company has hired nearly 100 severely wounded veterans and employs more than 14,000 military veterans among 70,000 total employees. 

Hardesty estimates that that 75 to 80 percent of the wounded vets in the program suffer from some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  "These soldiers have seen things that aren't normal.  They've been under constant stress.  They've come face to face with evil.  If they didn't have some reaction they wouldn't be human," he says.

He points out, "These soldiers have been at war longer than any other generation in the history of America.  Some have been back to the zone for as many as six rotations.  But, he cautions employers not to "rush to judgment" about the employability of these men.  "With a modicum of flexibility and understanding you are likely to find a disciplined and successful team worker."

As an example, he notes, the accommodations for a veteran with PTSD or TBI might be as simple as providing a quiet workspace or BOSE headsets if a private office isn't available or ensuring that he or she is never positioned with their backs to a door.

For companies interested in developing or enhancing a veterans hiring initiative, Hardesty suggests that a toolkit available at the America's Heroes at Work web site can help.

America's Heroes At Work is a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) program that focuses on the employment challenges of returning service members living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The program equips employers and the workforce development system with the information and resources they need to help those affected by TBI and/or PTSD succeed in the workplace—particularly service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The America's Heroes At Work toolkit is designed to assist and educate employers who have made a proactive decision to include transitioning service members, veterans and wounded warriors in their recruitment and hiring programs," notes Hardesty. 

While many of the wounded warriors who graduated from high school and went straight into the military may not have the academic credentials of other Northrop Grumman employees, their real life experiences and dedication translate into marketable skills.  According to Hardesty, what they lack in academics, they make up for in their team building skills and commitment to getting the job done. Additionally, Northrop Grumman offers these job candidates the opportunity to earn a degree through its college-assistance program.

Operation IMPACT has an ombudsman who recruits and places wounded soldiers in each of Northrop Grumman's eight business sectors.  The program also has nurses on staff to track all new hires in the program.  Hardesty says that the candidates sometimes feel more comfortable talking to a medical professional instead of their employer if they are having problems on the job or need assistive technology.

Recently the corporate program has led to the creation of outreach activities to a large network of corporations interested in hiring veterans.  “If we don’t have a match for an injured veteran or family member, we’ll share his or her resume (with approval) with nearly 100 other companies," says Hardesty.  These include such companies as Microsoft, Amazon, Magellan's Health Consortium, Citigroup's consortium of financial institutions and General Motors, among many others.

For more information on Operation IMPACT and the Network of Champions, visit careers.northropgrumman.com/operation_impact.html.