Success Statements

“Operation Job Ready Vets is an amazing organization where vets help vets with many aspects of life. In 2019 when I returned home from 11 years working in China, I found that the job market had changed a lot. Many of the skills that I had used to get jobs before were no longer valid.

A friend told me about OJRV and gave me John Zeigler’s number. He made an appointment with me the same week that I requested a meeting. Within a few hours, he called me with a list of several job opportunities. He also told me about their week-long training. I went and made some good friends and learned new information about how to find a job in today’s world.

During one of the breaks, Mike Espinosa talked about VA medical disability filing. I was not sure that I qualified, but he said, ‘At least file. Even with a disability rating of 0%, there are benefits open to vets.’ He gave me a contact with the American Legion. Landry Foley proved to be an amazing contact for that. Long story short, I now have a disability rating of 40% thanks to the connections that OJRV had to help me get what I was entitled to. Thanks again!

Although I was not interested in the jobs being offered through OJRV’s connections, the skills I learned about resumes at OJRV helped me to adjust my resume in a way that made it more attractive to today’s employers. I ended up getting a job with UPS as a foreign trade zone analyst. As an extrovert, and that job being auditing paperwork, that was not my cup of tea. There was also a hostile workplace environment, so I ended up quitting (eight months later) after I developed an ulcer.

OJRV came to the rescue again! Although they did not have connections with jobs that were [up] my alley, John Zeigler did point me to another organization that ended up finding a teaching position that I qualified for. He knew I was a teacher and he had exhausted his limits, but he was willing to use his contacts to help a vet in need—even if OJRV was not able to do it directly. That is an amazing thing about his organization. They really are vets helping vets.

John calls me from time to time just to check in to see how my current work situation is going. Because I am a teacher, he goes beyond the call of duty to call on his way to coaching a sport or just before or after dinner. All the people I have met at OJRV take their job 100% seriously and will do their utmost to help a vet in need. For them it is a passion—not just a paycheck!

I know that OJRV is a not-for-profit organization and that they depend on grants from organizations to help them to function at the level that they do. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Call of Duty for their generous donations that allow OJRV to serve vets like me. They will help any vet or family member of a vet no matter how long they have been out of service. I got out of the Army in 1990. I keep OJRV business cards in my car so if I see a vet in need, I can point them to their organization.

Thanks again for all that you do, OJRV.”