Joshua Oliver was in charge of ensuring military outposts in Afghanistan got the fuel supplies they needed from November 2011 to March 2012.
The 32-year-old U.S. Army petroleum supply specialist’s eyes twinkle as he tells how he went on all but four or five of the more than 400 petrol “missions” he helped plan. Roadside bombs, small-arms fire and ambushes were a constant threat.
“It had its challenges,” Oliver said as he attended the and “Hiring of Heroes” job fair at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Thursday. RecruitMilitary said 388 veterans participated.
Soon Oliver will face the challenge that many other veterans have confronted as they return from overseas deployment. He must find work in a difficult job market.
The of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is 10.9 percent, well above the general unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate is even higher for younger vets.
In the service for 14 years — as a Marine and then in the Army — Oliver said he was glad to be back in the United States after three deployments in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
“After each deployment, you are happy to get back in one piece,” said Oliver, who leaves the Army in November.
He would like to find a job in the oil industry doing what he did in the Army — working with petroleum logistics, dealing with anything from storage in the field to transportation of the oil.
Another veteran with high tales of military life is Sterling native Larry Williamson, 55, who spent 25 years in the Navy as a submariner, most of that submerged under the world’s oceans.
Like Oliver, Williamson has that certain twinkle and pride in having an “exciting and interesting” life aboard five nuclear submarines where he was a communications expert. He won’t go into detail about what he did. But he gives a hint when speaking broadly about his and the submarines’ missions.
“We trained to take the fight to our adversaries whether that is surface ships or submarines and conducting reconnaissance,” said Williamson.
He is interested in being a telecommunications or security specialist. He just left the Navy because of regulations limiting a petty officer to 25 years.
Some well-known firms, such as Lockheed Martin and Union Pacific Railroad, were among dozens of companies at the job fair.
“This is an especially great year to hire veterans — new tax credits for doing so apply throughout the year,” said Larry Slagel, senior vice president of sales at RecruitMilitary.
Eva Henninger’s life in the Army was a rather brief four years. She was part of the “Wounded Warrior” program, her service-connected disability the result of a reaction to multiple anthrax shots in Iraq. She is currently studying health-care administration and would like to get a job in a hospital, a doctor’s office, a health insurance company or a nursing home.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratz
