Warbird Information Exchange

Wichita Planemakers Seek Returning Veterans For Jobs "Hire A Hero" Program Extends To Kansas

Wichita, KS is home to a
resurgent aerospace industry... to the point that qualified workers
to fill those jobs are difficult to come by, especially as older
workers retire. That is one reason companies such as Cessna,
Boeing, and Raytheon have launched a pilot program focused on
recruiting veterans and returning military personnel to fill those
jobs.

The Associated Press reports The Armed Forces Support
Foundation's Hire a Hero Program will use $10 million in federal
funds to help veterans find jobs, after their hitches in the armed
forces are up. The program aims to train, certify, and place
workers in jobs with participating companies.

"We have a great jewel here in the businesses and the people
that we have, but we also have a crisis on our hands and we are
going to have to recruit and train replacements plus people to
grow," said Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner.

Turner adds that in 2007 alone, as many as 6,000 positions will
need to be filled. The average age of aerospace workers in Wichita
is 48, he said, with 40 percent of the workforce expected to retire
within five years.

Most of those positions come from general aviation
manufacturers. Kansas companies build over half of all GA planes in
the nation, Turner said, and about 3,250 aviation-related companies
call the Sunflower State home.

Union leaders also support the initiative to draw more
ex-military personnel into the fold.

"We believe that this program that we are launching ... is truly
the answer to many of the problems we seek to resolve," said
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
president Tom Buffenbarger.

Dan Caulfield, president of the private recruiting consultancy
firm HQ Group, says 225,000 military personnel leave active duty
each year, and enter the job market. Unemployment among them is
twice as high as the general population.

"They are going to be trainable, drug-free and eager to take the
jobs you are offering," Caulfield said.

"You have told the whole country military service has value,"
added Dan's father, retired Maj. Gen. Matthew Caulfield.