Training program brings vet experience to life
Undergraduate | Jan 18, 2019 | admin
By Patrick Verel
Note: This excerpt was originally published in the Fordham Newsroom and was re-published here on GabelliConnect.
Never judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes, the maxim goes. But what if walking that route involves contemplating the unthinkable?
In the United States, where just 0.2 percent of the population serves in the armed forces—compared to six percent during World War II—the threads that bind veterans and civilians together have weakened, as their lives rarely intertwine.
A new initiative spearheaded by the Veteran’s Administration aims to bridge the divide through a training program that pairs business leaders and veterans together for a full day of lectures, workshops, role-playing, and performances.
On Wednesday, December 12, about 70 people attended the Veteran Cultural Competence Training Program at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus.
Joseph Geraci, PhD, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army and founder and director of military relations for the Resilience Center for Veterans & Families at Columbia University, said the trainings, which have been taking place under the auspices of the James J. Peters Veteran Affairs Medical Center, where he is on staff, are based around a simple premise: If an employer can put themselves in the shoes of a veteran, they can help them make the leap to civilian life.
