Veterans not meeting criteria to be hired by VA

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The Marines had a famous recruiting ad saying; they were, “Looking for a few good men.”

With all the headlines the Veterans Administration has made over the past few years, you’d think they would be looking for a few good men and women too. But it seems that some of the best — even ones who are veterans themselves — are being overlooked by the agency.

“I think I have a lot to offer them,” says Julie Lindner. Her resume seems to indicate so. She has a Ph.D. and a number of other certifications as a psychological counselor. Oh, and she is a 23-year veteran of the armed services.

Despite that, Lindner says, “They won’t hire me as a psychologist and they used to not think about me as a licensed professional counselor.” The reason? Part of Lindner’s education comes from an online course that the VA has listed in its system as not good enough.

“That tells me that they need to change the system,” says Lorin Price.

Price is a 10-year Navy vet. They trained him to be a Corpsman but it was in the 17 years of work in the Triad after he earned his nursing degree from Guilford Technical Community College that he learned he wanted to return to work with fellow vets.

“Sharing stories with other veterans is one of the better parts of my job. You meet a lot of them up in the cancer center,” at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, says Price.

But he, too, has been told by the VA that he doesn’t meet their criteria.

In this edition of the Buckley Report, find out why and what the VA is now doing about it.

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