Veteran Job Prospects Brighter, Panetta Says

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

KABUL, Afghanistan  – Veteran unemployment numbers are encouraging, but the need for jobs will increase as the services trim their ranks, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told reporters here today.

The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is down from last year’s high of 12.5 percent to 7.6 percent, below the national rate of 8.3 percent.

Defense budget cuts and a strategic drawdown in Afghanistan, coupled with the recent withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, will mean more veterans leaving service and seeking civilian employment in the coming years, Panetta said.

Panetta cited efforts by President Barack Obama and by Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department officials to champion programs to help veterans find jobs or succeed in school as part of the reason for the improvement in unemployment.

And as more departing troops seek to enter the civilian work force, he added, “it’s very important that we … [help] give them the ability to find a job, education [or] start a business.”

The key to creating jobs for veterans lies not only in government programs, but also in private-sector initiatives, the secretary said.

“I have to commend the private sector, because they really have put together … [a] public campaign” to raise awareness of veteran employment and create hiring incentives for vets, Panetta added.

The U.S economy is showing improvement, which also helps job-seeking veterans, he noted.

The secretary later left Afghanistan to fly to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the last leg of his five-day trip to Central Asia and the Middle East.

South Carolina Guard hosts UAE delegation, establishes relationships

By Capt. Marvin J. Baker
120th Infantry Brigade, Division West Public Affairs

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina National Guard welcomed a military delegation from the United Arab Emirates Feb. 3, to tour the Joint Operations Center, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, and McCrady Training Center and learn more about National Guard operations.

The UAE currently has a strong interest in establishing a reserve component force, and felt the best way to learn was to see first-hand how it succeeds in the United States.

United Arab Emirates Staff Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Kaabi, senior military advisor to the Crown Prince Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed of the UAE was personally directed to travel to the United States and visit a National Guard unit. Because of its outstanding reputation, the South Carolina National Guard was selected to host the delegation.

Al-Kaabi came to the U.S. at Zayed's direction to learn about the National Guard because the National Guard is widely regarded as the best, most experienced, and most capable reserve force in the world.

Al-Kaabi's visit with the South Carolina National Guard came after his meetings with Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, chief, National Guard Bureau, Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt, director of the Air National Guard, and Army Lt. Gen. William E. Ingram Jr., director of the Army National Guard.

These meetings led to visits to the Army and Air National Guard Readiness Centers in Arlington, Va. and at Joint-Base Andrews, Md. respectively, where Al-Kaabi was provided information on the National Guard at the national level.

McKinley recommended the South Carolina National Guard for Al-Kaabi's field trip because of the top quality of South Carolina Army and Air National Guard forces, their deep roots in local communities, and the strong leadership of the adjutant general, Army Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston. The significant experience of the 169th Fighter Wing and its F-16s in the UAE was also a contributing factor.

During the UAE visit, the South Carolina National Guard demonstrated the relevancy of Guard forces. The South Carolina National Guard took this opportunity to build relationships with the UAE delegation, and to support U.S. national interests and security cooperation goals by engaging military-to-military.

“The National Guard is woven into the fabric of our nation. It’s truly citizens who give up their time to protect the country,” Livingston said, during his welcome briefing. “We come from the community and that is the fabric of our country.”

One main point stressed to the delegation is the advantages the National Guard has over the active component. Some of the advantages shared included when not mobilized, the National Guard costs about 1/3 less than the active force; the National Guard brings civilian skills to the table; and when the National Guard goes to war, the sense of community goes with them.

Al-Kaabi and his staff were briefed in areas such as the South Carolina Army National Guard and Air National Guard capabilities, operations, civil support teams, training, schools, and family and service member care.

“This visit to the National Guard Bureau and South Carolina was only the first step in coordination between U.S. and UAE national guard programs. We hope we will have many other opportunities to visit in the future,” said Staff Col. AbdelRahman Ibrahim AlMazmi, Defense, Military, Naval & Air attaché, Embassy of United Arab Emirates in the U.S. and Canada.

“It is our intention to establish a national guard-like entity which would be something similar to the one we visited at the national Guard Bureau and South Carolina, but would also be [better] suited and tailored toward the UAE specifically.”

Gates Visits United Arab Emirates

By John D. Banusiewicz

American Forces Press Service

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Dec. 9, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today to meet with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nubayan.

It’s the latest stop in an overseas trip that has taken the secretary to Oman and Afghanistan, as well as to the deployed aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

“Secretary Gates is happy to be back in Abu Dhabi to meet with our close friend and ally, the crown prince,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said.

It’s the secretary’s fourth meeting with the crown prince since he became secretary, and their second since March, when Gates was last here, Morrell said.

“They will discuss a range of bilateral and regional security issues -- everything from defense cooperation to challenges that we are working together to try to solve,” he added.

Morrell said Gates will update the crown prince on the situation in Afghanistan, where the United Arab Emirates is contributing forces. “He’ll likely discuss the situation in Iraq, as well as Yemen and certainly Iran as well,” he said.

The crown prince is deputy commander of his nation’s armed forces and a leading national security official, a senior Defense Department official told reporters this week.

The official said that as with Gates’ visit to Oman, his visit here has no particular agenda, but simply provides a chance for the secretary to meet a valued ally while he was in the region for his trip to Afghanistan and the USS Abraham Lincoln. It’s also an opportunity, he added, to continue U.S. efforts to encourage more cooperation among nations in the region.

“The idea is taking as the starting point that the region increasingly sees the same challenges: piracy, terrorism, ballistic missile proliferation, [weapons of mass destruction] proliferation,” the official said. “The regional security architecture is oriented around the fact that if you have all these common interests, you should have more avenues for multilateral cooperation, which is historically not something that there has been a lot of in the Gulf.”

Most countries in the region have bilateral relationships on these issues with other nations, the official said. “And so, in integrated air and missile defense, shared early warning, maritime task forces [and] counterterrorism cooperation, the idea is to leverage the fact that we have different forms of bilateral cooperation in all of these issues with most of these countries to gradually, over time, show them the benefits of starting to stitch their efforts together.”

The official said that although inroads are taking place for multilateral cooperation in issues such as piracy and maritime security, the concept is mainly “aspirational” in other areas at this point.

The secretary’s meeting with the crown prince is scheduled to take place this evening.